Bullet connector woes

After having some intermittent electrical problems with our TM... sound quiet/loud/quiet from the new stereo, rear shell lights going off when more than two lights were turned on, and water heater switch issues, I decided to dig in and figure out what the heck was going on.

To quote Texas Camper from an '04 TM Quality posting... "An RV, any RV, is not like your house. It is not just another residence but with wheels. Things will vibrate loose, fall off and not operate properly. But with a little regular maintenance and attention to the pecularities of a TT, these can be fixed and mostly prevented beforehand." - I agree whole heartedly with his statement and can accept that. What I found with the bullet connectors had nothing to do with any wear, lack of maintenance or "pecularities of a TT". Neither with the crimp terminals on the water heater switches. I would call it agravating. Take a look at the pic. Notice the location of the crimp indentations. Almost all, atleast on one end, had been crimped on only the plastic part. Particulary note the yellow spade terminals from the water heater switches. 3 of the 4 had no metal crimped at all. I am amazed the water heater worked as it did for 3 1/2 years! I cut out all the connections, stripped the wires, and went back with wire nuts in place of the "quick connect" bullet connectors. I replaced the spade terminals when I did the switch mod. What a difference it made. The lights are "bright" now and the stereo volume is wonderful.

I am grateful to this TM forum for sharing problems and ideas and in this case knowing exactly where to "look for problems" when they occur. Sorry if this post sounds soap boxey. Its just that the issue with the poorly crimped terminals doesn't speak well of an otherwise high quality product.

Besides these crimped terminals behind the fridge and heater switch, are there any other ones I need to do some "preventative maintenance" on?

Troy

[wbmiller3]

That's pretty amazing. It's like the assembler didn't understand the whole idea of crimping. I hope he or she didn't work on mine!

I think that photo should be sent on to TrailManor! That is ridiculous - It's like they had no idea what they were doing. I hate crimp connectors any way, but to crimp them like that is just plain stupid. Ed should be made aware of the situation and maybe he'll do something about it. Future generations of TM owners will thank you if you send that in and if they quit the sloppy work!

FWIW, be aware that there are two different types of crimping tools.

One type just smashes it flat, and can be undone by using the crimping tool but rotate the connector 90 degrees.

The other type punches the metal down, leaving quite an indent. These ca not be undone.

For some situations, such as the full circle connectors that I use on the end of the wires where I attach them to the batteries, I also solder the wire to the connector. So I have it crimped with the permanent type and then soldered. I have never seen this technique result in a failure.

[Caver]

Originally Posted by KSBASS

Besides these crimped terminals behind the fridge and heater switch, are there any other ones I need to do some "preventative maintenance" on?

Troy

Ouch... I haven't had the same problem with the crimps on my 04 but it does show a major breech in QC while your TM was being constructed. I did have an unacceptable connection on the battery ground wire.

I would take a digital voltmeter and check the voltage at various locations with and without some of the lighting and other high current devices on to see if you can locate any other potential problems. With a 12 volt system in an RV you can't tolerate much voltage drop.

Thanks for documenting and sharing the information. I would like to see the factory reaction. Ray

Got an email back from TM on the crimp connections....

Thank you for the information and pictures on your TrailManor. I have passed this along to our production and quality departments for their review. This is certainly not normal and I am not sure what may have happen to let these items occur. Please let me know if I can assist you in any way.
Thanks again,
Ed Lytle
TrailManor Inc.