New To The Trailmanor community (help :) )

Jcav09 · 07-08-2023, 06:40 AM

Hey all,

New to the community, my wife had had us pick up a unity not too long ago and we have been in the process of fixing it up and remodeling it. I've run into a few rough spots and I cant seem to find YouTube guides on them. Thank you in advance for helping me out. I'll rank them from most pressing to least.

We have a 2005 year model just as a heads up.

1: Refrigerator - Doesn't seem to want to power up. We are currently hooked up to our house, read the instruction book that came with it. It should be as simple as turning it to the electrical cord icon and setting temp? Nothing happens. Nothing happens with the battery icon either. I haven't tried propane yet. That's a today troubleshoot. Am I missing something? Do you need to start it on propane, ignite it then change your power source? I also found a box on the outside wall where there appears to be a piolet light and an ignition switch. Does that control the fridge or hot water?

2: Installing a radio - I'll attach photos below but bought a radio install kit. Pulled the wooden block panel out and found the three cords behind it. Blue , White antenna. I attached blue - blue, white to white and no power... What am I missing? (I plugged in the antenna also but that wouldn't cause the unit to power on.) Headed to the store to buy a volt meter this morning to ensure power is coming out.

Radio pics are uploaded in the attachments. Thank you again for taking the time to comment and help. I'm sure I'll ask plenty of questions in the coming weeks. Our first trip is in August, so I'm trying to make sure we are fully up and running.

Thanks!

**Bill** · 07-08-2023, 08:11 AM

What year and model TM do you have?

Quote:

Do you need to start it on propane, ignite it then change your power source?

No

Quote:

I also found a box on the outside wall where there appears to be a piolet light and an ignition switch. Does that control the fridge or hot water?

I'm not recognizing this description. There are no control boxes on the outside of the TM. Can you provide a picture?

You should start by opening the converter box, on the wall in the hall outside the bathroom, down
near the floor. Inside you will find 4 or 5 circuit breakers (black snap handles). These control the 120 VAC distribution within the trailer. Snap each one off, then on.

Near the circuit breakers you will see a row of 12 or more fuses - small colored plastic items. These control the 12 VDC distribution within the trailer. Pull each one, confirm by eye that the small U-shaped loop of metal within each one is complete (not broken), and then put it back.

If you open the outside panels behind the refrig, you will find that the refrig cord is plugged into a normal household outlet. Confirm that the outlet is "live". By the way, are any of the indoor outlets live?

Let us know.

Bill

Jcav09 · 07-08-2023, 09:21 AM

Hey man thanks for the quick response and helping me locate the fuse box! So to back track its model number 2619. Hope that helps.

The box was labeled making it easy to track. I did visually check every fuse and all looked fine besides the one for the radio. Blown, good catch. For now I swapped out the toilet fuse for the radio until, I'll head to Walmart later and pick up spares.

The second image is the outside panel I was referring too. At first glance I thought it was directly connected to the hot water heater, but wanted to rule out if it needed to be lit to control the fridge.

Check behind the fridge I can confirm power is working. Plugged in a different device and power came on. I did notice it was really warm back there. Came around inside the camper and found water in the fridge. I guess I left it on the electric icon and level 2 last night. EDIT: ( I am going to assume it works. I think I was looking for a sound signaling it kicking on. But I never heard anything so assumed it wasn't working.)

After trying to hook up the head unit again still nothing. Tried my voltmeter and it wasn't lighting up. It would be a large task to strip all the wire out to find where its dead... I'm wondering if its just best to give up the head unit idea and just run a blue tooth speaker from a phone.

**Kidkraz** · 07-08-2023, 09:59 AM

Welcome to the forum and the Trailmanor. Did you get a copy of the owner's manual or as folks call it here the blue binder book? If not there's copies in the Tech Library section. There's also other good reading info there too.
I've attached the three pages on the electrical system for the trailer. On the trailer, white is ground, not black as on your radio.

https://www.trailmanorowners.com/for...ead.php?t=2456

https://www.trailmanorowners.com/for...ad.php?t=13839

**Bill** · 07-08-2023, 01:59 PM

The 3-way fridge in the TM is called an absorption refrigerator. Its advantage is that it can run from three sources - 120VAC, 12VDC, and propane. Its disadvantage is that it is very slow to cool. The usual advice is to turn it on max, then wait at least two hours, then put your hand on the floor of the freezer. You should feel some coldness - but not a lot. As you noted, the unit is totally silent since it does not have a compressor motor running like a household refrig. Incidentally, the heat you feel in back is normal - it is part of the operation. On the kitchen sink panel, there is a switch labeled something like Refrigerator Fan. It is good to leave it on, as it removes the excess from the back.

Bill

Jcav09 · 07-08-2023, 02:49 PM

Thanks for the PDF's Kidkraz and Bill for the follow up. Good to know about the fan and the slow cool. As a follow up I did get the sound system to work! I'll attach my process below to make it easy for someone else to follow.

My question for you guys... The fridge builds a lot of heat. Ive seen people write about their concern with the head unit building heat. Do you advice removing the insulation behind the head unit and above the fridge, and removing the heat shield infront of that? My thought process is this would make for a clear path for air to flow.

Installing the head unit...

1: Remove the wooden panel. fish into the left side, you should find a blue, white , antenna and gold/silver wire. Pull it through.

2: The blue wire is your live wire in your camper. Connect the blue camper wire to the red & yellow wire on your head unit. I tried just red and just yellow you wont get power. You need both.

3: Connect your white camper wire to your black ground wire on your head unit.

4: Cut the silver / gold wire. These loop back to the speakers connecting them together. Just make the now two silver wires negative and the two gold wires positive. Hook them up to your head unit using your color code system. I will attach mine. Plz note do not hook the gold and silver wires to your red / yellow wire from the head unit. It will blow.

5: If you haven't already. Make sure all your fuses are good. They are located behind the brown panel near the bathroom. My fuse was dead causing no power to come through.

**Kidkraz** · 07-08-2023, 03:55 PM

Jcav09, if I can suggest add a signature block with version of TM and any upgrades you have. That makes it easier for forum folks to answer questions. Things can slow down when we have to ask what version/model. Do ya have slides and mods that can change an answer. I wish you many good trips with your camper.

Jcav09 · 07-09-2023, 04:23 AM

Changed the original post title. Was that what you meant?

**Bill** · 07-09-2023, 05:46 AM

I think Kidkraz was referring to various optional bits of info that you can list about yourself and your trailer. Some of it will be automatically included in every post you make. For example, you can specify the year and model of your TM, and your geographic location. This info is helpful when other members set out to answer a question you have asked.

At the top of the login page, look at the left end of the blue bar, and click on "User CP" (User Command Post). In the resulting menu, scroll down to Edit Your Details. Under this entry, you can give stuff like your email address (not normally displayed but available in your profile) to be used if someone wants to contact you directly. There are other optional entries that you can fill in if you want to.

Back to the menu, scroll down to Edit Your Avatar - the small picture that comes up at the top of every post. You can put in any picture you want, as long as it is non-commercial and in good taste.

Next entry is Edit Signature. This is one or more lines of text, often used to specify the year and model of your trailer. You can also add info about yourself, and/or info about your specific trailer and its configuration, including any mods you have made.

There are many entries in the User CP menu. It is interesting to scroll down through them and see what is available. In addition to the optional info, there are several settings that specify how you interact with the Forum. Here you can change the default settings.

Bill