questions on propane heater

[grayghost]

yesterday we were giving the tm a onceover before our maiden voyage next week. we turned on the heater by pushing the thermostat to 74 degrees.

then last night we planned on spending the first night in the tm. at 10:30 pm tom goes out to turn on the heater in advance of our 11 pm bedtime. he pushes the thermostat to 74 degrees and the alarm over the front couch (2720sl) goes off. ??? so we don't spend the night there. what went wrong? what is that alarm?

thanks so much, we'll get this thing right yet

eileen

[arknoah]

That is usually the smoke alarm, which for many of us, goes on when you are using the stove or oven. My guess is that when using most heaters, there may have been some oil residue in the burners which set off the alarm. You can try opening the vent fan to remove any smoke while it burns, and the alarm will go off. (Or take out the battery in the alarm, turn on the fan, and after ten minutes or so, put the battery back in. If it doesn't go off again, you've burned off enough of the "stuff" in the system.

The alarm on the floor near the sink if the propace gas leak detector, which detects is there is some kind of break in the line that lets in propace gas, and is something to really pay attention to. So is the smoke alarm, though I'm hoping in this case it's just some gunk in the line. Taking some action as you did however is wise, because you never know if something else may be amiss.

[grayghost]

F.J. & Ellen

hi thanks for the help. tom did talk to our dealer this
morning and they suggested exactly what you did. they
did say to let it run for a few hours without the gas on
to get rid of everything. guess it's like when you get
a new oven. i was glad to look out the window this morning
and see that our tm had not exploded LOL.

i also found out something else - didn't know this but the
tv doesn't work off the battery. but we did try out the
tv with a dvd player connected and that worked fine.

still working on that radio hum

will we ever get all this right before our trip to michgan?

eileen

[Bill]

Eileen -

When you say the tv doesn't work off the battery, what exactly do you mean?

First of all, I assume that when you say "tv", you mean "television", not "tow vehicle". On this board, there is always some confusion about that.

Second, is the tv supposed to work from 12-volts? Did it come with a cigarette lighter cord? If it came with a cig lighter cord, then it definitely *should* work off battery, plugged into the cig lighter outlet next to the refrig.

If it did NOT come with a cig lighter cord, then no, it won't work off battery. It has to be plugged into one of the AC outlets (like the ones in your house), and these outlets have power only when the TM is plugged into shore power (or a generator).

How about your DVD player? How is that powered?

Just checking ...

Bill

[grayghost]

bill, the television was plugged into the outlet at the
end of the counter where the fridge is. when i said the
battery, i meant the battery in the back of the trailmanor.
the lights worked so there was juice getting to the tm, but
until we plugged into shore power the television did not work.
it has a regular ac cord same as the house. but if the tm
was not hooked up to the outside outlet at our house, the
television would not work. so therefore i am assuming
anything electrical would work off the battery.

there is a double outlet there, then the cable hookup and
a phone jack. i plugged the television into one the outlet
and next to it i plugged in one of those flat glow in the
dark night lights. the night light did not glow. yet
on the other side of the tm i plugged in another night light
at the outlet near the stove and that one worked.

thanks for any help

eileen

[aldebnj]

Hi Eileen,

The regular house hold outlets will only work when hooked up to shore power. They are for 120 VAC only. If your Television could run on 12 VDC and had a car power cord, you could hook the car power cord up to the car power jack next to the cable connection and it would always work. But your television must be one that works on 12VDC and have the cord.

Once again, the regular household type outlets will only work when the TrailManor is plugged in.

I hope this helps.

Al

[RockyMtnRay]

so therefore i am assuming
anything electrical would work off the battery.

Eileen...

Your TM actually has two electrical systems: the 12 volt DC system and the 110 Volt AC system.

The following (and only the following) run on the 12 Volt system: all the lights, the furnace, the various fans, the water pump, the refrigerator (when set to DC), the propane leak detector, and the cigarette lighter style plug next to the TV antenna hookup. If you 're not hooked up to "shore power" (campground power), the 12 volt power for these devices is supplied by the battery. If you do hook up to shore power, the converter converts 110 V AC into 12 volt to power this system (and recharge the battery).

The household type outlets in the TM are on the 110 V AC system. The battery does NOT power this system...it is powered only if you're hooked up to "shore" power...such as when you plug your TM into an outlet at your house, a campground, or a generator. Your TV is apparently the 110 V type...it will work only when the TM is hooked to a source of 110 V AC power; it will not work if you are operating with only battery power.

[mjlaupp]

...i plugged the television into one the outlet
and next to it i plugged in one of those flat glow in the
dark night lights. the night light did not glow. yet
on the other side of the tm i plugged in another night light
at the outlet near the stove and that one worked....
The duplex outlet next to the stove and the duplex outlet by the TV antenna outlet should both be hot at the same time. They run off of the same ground fault circuit breaker in the power panel. Check for a broken or disconnected wire in the power panel. You may have to trace the 115vac wiring from the breaker to both of the duplex outlets to find the open wire. Is the bathroom duplex outlet working?
MJL

[grayghost]

al, i have three more questions then. can the television be hooked up to a generator? is there any kind of adapter to convert the 120 v ac to 12v? and thirdly, if we want to use our laptop while dry camping can we use the car power adaptor thingie?

thanks for all your help - i'll certainly let you all know how this trip goes.

eileen

[RockyMtnRay]

can the television be hooked up to a generator

Yes. Just hook up the TM to a generator with the shore power plug. Some generators produce an electrically noisy output so the TV picture quality might not be perfect.

is there any kind of adapter to convert the 120 v ac to 12v

Yes, but the converter in the TM does this automatically. Why/where did you want to have 12V outside of your TM or TV? It is possible to buy stand alone converters but they're kinda pricey.

if we want to use our laptop while dry camping can we use the car power adaptor thingie

Maybe. The Laptop's car power adaptor may not work properly if the input voltage drops much below 13 volts (in my experience, these are usually designed to work only when the car is running and its alternator is producing around 14 volts). But even if does work, be advised that a laptop powered through such an adaptor typically will pull around 5 to 8 amps steadily from the TM's 12 volt battery. If you only use the laptop for a short time (like half an hour), this is no big deal. If, OTOH, you use it for 3 or 4 hours, then you've drained perhaps a quarter of your TM's total battery power. The TM's battery is a very limited resource.

[Bill]

i plugged the television into one the outlet
and next to it i plugged in one of those flat glow in the
dark night lights. the night light did not glow. yet
on the other side of the tm i plugged in another night light
at the outlet near the stove and that one worked.
Eileen, as Mike L points out, you have a wiring problem. I would not attempt to troubleshoot it yourself - you need the help of your dealer or an electrician. You are playing with household electricity here, which can kill. Please find someone who is experienced with household wiring and electricity, show them what you described above with the two night lights, show them the wiring diagram in the TM owners manual, and let them fix it. It is almost certainly an easily fixed problem, but you need to ensure that it is done right.

Bill