2720SL TM Wish List

[KB7OUR]

I don't recall reading a TM wish list on this group but I could be wrong. Ten days of fantastic camping on the way to and in Yellowstone and back revealed two major wish list items for our TM.

1) Engineer some way to fill the fresh water tank without opening the TM. After all these years I'm actually amazed the factory has not already figured this one out.

2) Engineer an external AC/BAT switch for the refer. Nice for pre-chilling the refer the night before a trip.

3) Engineer access to the power cable for battery charging and refer while closed.

Wade

[oilspot]

Wade,

Everything you mention sounds good to me!  Here a few of my wishes:

1.  Accessible Storage Space (as in no need to open trailer)

2.  Easier way to dump/clean the toilet without opening

[Bruce]

Wade,

I agree with you about needing some way to fill the water tank without opening up the trailer. I attached a short piece of garden hose with a female hose fitting to the water tank drain valve. I had to shim the drain valve fitting with a piece of 3/8" hose and then I pushed on the 4" section of 1/2" garden hose and clamped it down real tight. A plug will keep dirt out of the fitting when it is not in use.

Now when we pull into a campground without water at the camp site we just hook up the 25' hose I keep in the back of the van, open the TM drain valve and turn on the faucet. It takes about 8 minutes to fill up the 20 gallon tank because the drain opening is so small but we feel it beats having to open and then close down the TM or towing with a full tank. The water will come out of the vent located next to the fill cap when the tank is full and drip down between the outer and inner shells. The overfill will not go inside the trailer.

I also made a little adapter for the input (female) end of the 25' supply hose that allows us to get water from one of those chrome faucets with no hose threads. I call it my State Park Adapter since so many SP's have this style of faucet. It is just a short piece of 1/2" garden hose with a male fitting on one end, essentially the reverse of the piece attached to the TM drain valve.
I push it on the faucet, clamp it down and hold open the spring loaded valve while the tank fills up.

It would be nice if the factory would put on a larger drain valve to make this whole operation easier.

Bruce

[Bill]

Bruce - that is an ingenious solution to the water-fill problem. Simple and effective. I will probably add it to my TM in the next few days. Thanks!

Wade - I think your wish #3 (power cord access) is my wish #1. I have toyed with several potential solutions, but all of them seem either too elaborate or too failure-prone, or both. The only simple one seems to be to reroute the cord down into the rear bumper compartment, since the diamond-plate cover can be removed with the trailer down. I haven't done it yet because I hate to give up the space in the bumper compartment. But maybe I can move some of the bumper items into the power cord space. The biggest problem, though, is that the bumper compartment is a grubby location, subject to dust, sand, and water intrusion. If you put the cord in there, I think it would be a good

My interim solution has been to put a battery charger on the Bargeman connector up front. This charges the battery, which is great. However, it is only a partial help with the refrig, since it requires leaving the refrig turned on (easy) and the door closed (not so good - mildew).

I think it is unlikely that TM will provide an external AC/DC switch for the reefer. That would require modifying the reefer, which would probably void the warranty. That's not to say that you and I couldn't do it - it is not hard - especially after the warranty expires. But it is probably easier just to leave the reefer switch set to DC, and run 12 volts in through the Bargeman connector.

Keep thinking, and keep posting. Between all of us, we ought to be able to resolve some of these issues - and maybe TM is listening.

Bill

Hi Guys,
I might have a solution to the power problem. Some of the larger MH have a marine type plug with a screw cap. They use a twist lock plug and cords are available in various lengths or you could make your own.  You could route the power cord to one of them in a strategic location, underneath or in the bumper area, store the power cord in the back bumper compartment. We don't have TM yet, but I am glad to see the wish list it helps us look at things in perspective and start looking for solutions. I am still puzzling over the fridge issue, maybe go with one of the 2 way if AC current is present it will run otherwise it switches over to LP. Maybe a remote panel could be rigged up without voiding the warranty. Just a few thoughts.

Aaron

[Bill]

Re the refrig. These days, anyway, TMs these days come with a three-way fridge. Propane, 12vdc, or 115vac. The problem lies in the fact that selecting of one of these involves turning a manual switch on the front of the refrig - there is no automatic switchover from one to the other.

Re the marine power connector. You are right, they are available. WestMarine has them, so does Camping World, and undoubtedly other places. To me, they are incredibly expensive - check their web sites (they may be cheaper at Home Depot/Lowe's - I am going up there later today and will check.) Still, a very do-able solution if you can stomach the cost. The real question is where to mount one. I ruled out mounting it underneath, both because of the possibility of road damage and because I really don't want to crawl in the mud under my rig to hook and unhook the power. This seems to leave three possibilities - up forward on the A-frame somewhere, inside the rear bumper compartment, or on one of the folding shells.

The first strikes me as the best possibility - you would need to run some new 10/3 round cable under the trailer from the A-frame to the power entry, but that is no problem. There are a number of cables under there now - just add it to the bundle.

Number two is also pretty easy, and is easier to wire, but perhaps not as convenient to use. It would probably be a good idea to construct a 6" wide box inside one end of the compartment to protect the connector, but that isn't hard, either. (I carry heavy things like my bottle jack in this compartment.) Besides, I'm not sure that this is any better than simply rerouting the existing cord down through there.

Number three would actually be the most convenient to use, I think, but the connector is longer than the thickness of the wall, so a through-wall mount won't work. If you find a good location, you would simply run the 10-3 cable down the lift arm, beside the cables that are already in place there.

Other ideas greatly welcomed ... It is an interesting challenge.

Bill

[KB7OUR]

Bill,

I doubt there would be much of a need to run 30 amps
when the TM was closed. What I had in mind from the original post was more of an extension cable port that could carry say 10-15 amps power to the refer and maybe to charge the battery. This would mean you could go with a smaller diameter cable which would make it lighter and easier to route.

Wade

[KB7OUR]

Bill,

I agree your fresh water drain valve solution for filling the tank without opening the TM is ingenious! I absolutely will work on this fix soon. Several times while camping we left a campground to go dump and I got tired of having to raise the TM every time we had to fill the fresh water tank. Seems very silly to me that there would not be a better way to do this. Now there is. Thanks!

Wade

[tipper]

Wade and Bill first mentioned using 12v external and then discussion begins about 120VAC.

I didn't understand the need for 120VAC access while the TM is closed?  Wouldn't you want the refer to be set to 12v and then powered by 12v applied externally?  This way you're fully prepped for towing.  

Like Bill, I do this with a battery charger.  It can be applied by several methods.  My refer draws about 4 amps. Of course the vent fan will also runs.

Tipper, Re the fridge: The one I currently have is in a Coleman, it does not cool particularly well on 12 volt, it does best on LP for cool down. 120 VAC is the next choice. Bill, my thinking on 2 way fridges is that some of the newer TT I have seen are coming with an automatic 2 way. 120 VAC and LP. Possibly something to consider if you need replacement. However I am not a fan of towing with the LP turned on( a whole 'nother subject in it's self) I suppose you could isolate the converter and fridge circuit and run a separate plug for them. I agree that the Marine Plugs are expensive!

Aaron

[Bill]

Bill,

I doubt there would be much of a need to run 30 amps
when the TM was closed. What I had in mind from the original post was more of an extension cable port that could carry say 10-15 amps power to the refer and maybe to charge the battery. This would mean you could go with a smaller diameter cable which would make it lighter and easier to route.

Wade

Wade -
You are right, there is no need to run 30 amps. Ten would certainly be sufficient. But what would be the electrical connections? How would you connect (electrically, not mechanically) a smaller cable to the existing wiring? It would be extremely dangerous to have both cables connected to the wiring at the same time. There would have to be some kind of enclosed switch, to connect only one at a time. Such switches certainly exist, but they are big and expensive. I should have been clearer - this is one of the solutions I considered too elaborate or too expensive. That's why I restricted myself to thinking about access via the 30-amp cord only. Sorry I wasn't more clear.

Bill

[Bruce]

  One thing I should have mentioned in my directions on hooking up a water tank fill adapter is to clamp all the fittings from the drain valve up to the tank. The pressure from the water supply system running through the small 1/4" drain valve puts a strain on the barbed fittings and the tubing could pop off and spray water inside the cabinet.
 I usually only open the water valve part way so as not to put the full force of the supply water pressure on the drain system. As I said it takes about 8 minutes to fill the tank this way.
  There are 2 drain valves under the front of our TM, one small drain for the tank and a larger one for the pump. Be sure to hook up to the valve for the tank and not the one for the pump. I do not know what the consquences of putting 40 or more lbs of water pressure on the drain side of the pump would be!
  It's possible that the rate of flow through the drain valve is determined by the size of the vent rather than the size of the drain valve & tubing in which case having a larger valve & tubing would not speed up the process?

Bruce

I don't think you would want the trailer plugged in when it is folded down. In the down position, the wardrobe is right next to the converter, and I think the lack of air flow could cause it to overheat. Isn't there a kill switch anyway that prevents this when the bathroom walls are folded down?

[oilspot]

The newer ones may have a kill switch, but my 1996 does not. However my 1996 is equipped with a fan that thermostatically operates when the converter gets warm. So far it seems to work okay (I hear it cycle on an off during camping trips or maintenance work in the driveway).