New Owner Questions

[drdementia]

Hello, everyone,

Well, DH and I happily bought a TM 2720SL about a month ago and so we're not prospective owners anymore, but this seemed a likely place to post this thread rather than separate questions under battery, interior, electrical, etc. To moderators, please feel free to relocate it if there's a better place to put it.

We've muddled through a lot of the setup and workings of the TM ourselves thanks to this forum and the manuals and reference library--miraculously, we've figured out how to charge and use the recirculating toilet. However, there are a couple things we're cautious about that will likely seem silly to many TM owners, but we've never had a trailer or RV before and many of the manuals and instructions seem to assume some level of knowledge that neither of us has at this point. If anyone can given us some very basic instruction about these few things, I think we'll be good to go.

1. How do you get the on-board water tank to fill up? We've hooked up the shore waterhose and all the faucets work fine, but we don't know how to fill up the big tank that's directly under the kitchen sink, and to know how to stop the water coming in when it's full or does it automatically stop? DUH. :new_newbi

2. There's a "PUMP" switch on the panel in front of the kitchen sink, as well as a "TEST" switch that when it's flipped and held down illuminates ALL the lights. What does that pump switch operate, when should we turn it on, and should it stay on while we're camping? Does it activate the on-board water supply?

3. How do we light the hot water heater? Is that done outside? It seems that I recall some information about connections to the water heater and maybe the refrigerator on the outside but some clear directions on this will really help us from blowing something up or incurring an expensive problem, I think.

4. How do you empty the onboard water tank and the hot water heater before we tear down? We've successfully dumped the toilet and gray water tank previously, if that helps in directions.

5. How do we light and use the furnace? This may too broad a question to answer in this forum, but thought I'd add it in here. too. Because this involves propane, we want to make sure we are especially careful with this process.

6. Speaking of propane, is it as intuitively easy to open the propane as turning on both tanks, like our barbecue at home? Is that all you have to do to get the propane to the stove, etc.?

7. We had no battery power on our first trip. On checking the battery, we found one yellow wire disconnected so we connected it as we were tearing down, but just turning on a light inside the TM (after shore electric was disconnected) yielded nothing. Does the battery recharge only when the TM is being towed (via our towing vehicle's battery)? Is there any other switch somewhere that activates the battery for use inside the TM?

8. These questions may have to be handled by a Winegard dealer. We have a Winegard satellite dish on the roof (former owner never used it so couldn't tell us if the setup worked or not). On the interior wall of the TM right below the dish, there's a box mounted that refers to elevation; despite having TV/DirecTV unit plugged into the Winegard electrical connection on the side of the kitchen sink wall (and shore electrical plugged in and working) we could not get any response/light up/display on that box on the wall when we pushed the button. This was BEFORE we hooked up the unhooked wire on the battery. Does anyone know if that box operates from battery only and when our battery is operational, it should display elevation numbers? Probably need to have a Winegard dealer check it out, but thought I'd ask just in case someone knew.

Whew--lots of questions but sure appreciate anyone's help with them. We love our TM and know we'll appreciate it even more when these things are operational!!! Thanks, everyone.

[rumbleweed]

. How do you get the on-board water tank to fill up? We've hooked up the shore waterhose and all the faucets work fine, but we don't know how to fill up the big tank that's directly under the kitchen sink, and to know how to stop the water coming in when it's full or does it automatically stop? DUH. There is a white water fill fitting next to the shore water supply. You can use a hose or pour water in from a jug. You can look under the sink or use the Water level gauge on the control panel to check level. If you overfill, it will come out the vent. Obviously the TM must be open to do this.

2. There's a "PUMP" switch on the panel in front of the kitchen sink, as well as a "TEST" switch that when it's flipped and held down illuminates ALL the lights. What does that pump switch operate, when should we turn it on, and should it stay on while we're camping? Does it activate the on-board water supply? The pump switch operates the water pump when not connected to shore water and using water from the waer tank. Fill the water tank, open the Hot water faucet and turn on the pump. When water runs fairly steadily from the faucet, shut the faucet and the the pump will shut of automatically. When you use water the pump will periodically come on.

3. How do we light the hot water heater? Is that done outside? It seems that I recall some information about connections to the water heater and maybe the refrigerator on the outside but some clear directions on this will really help us from blowing something up or incurring an expensive problem, I think. If you are on shore power, there is a switch that is accessible from the out side vent ( square one) . The switch is in the lower left side. Make sure the water heater is full of water before you turn it on. Also make sure you turn it off when you disconnect and empty just in case you connect to shore power and forget to fill the water heater.

4. How do you empty the onboard water tank and the hot water heater before we tear down? We've successfully dumped the toilet and gray water tank previously, if that helps in directions. Under the TM just below the water tank are two small black valves open both of them and they will drain automatically. Be careful, one is the Hot water heater and HOT water will come out. You can do this with the TM Closed. There are two more similar valves back under the outside shower. Opn these also when you winterize or wish to drain the entire system.

5. How do we light and use the furnace? This may too broad a question to answer in this forum, but thought I'd add it in here. too. Because this involves propane, we want to make sure we are especially careful with this process.

6. Speaking of propane, is it as intuitively easy to open the propane as turning on both tanks, like our barbecue at home? Is that all you have to do to get the propane to the stove, etc.? Yes. They will automatically switch tanks when one is empty. You will need to check the indicator on the regulator to note that the tanks have switched. If you haven't run the propane for a while, it may take a while to fill the lines. Run the stove for a few minutes before you try lighting the fridge or WH

7. We had no battery power on our first trip. On checking the battery, we found one yellow wire disconnected so we connected it as we were tearing down, but just turning on a light inside the TM (after shore electric was disconnected) yielded nothing. Does the battery recharge only when the TM is being towed (via our towing vehicle's battery)? Is there any other switch somewhere that activates the battery for use inside the TM? The battery has a fuse in line with it near the battery. Some dealers ( mine did) add a battery cut off switch near the battery. If your tow vehicle has the +12V wire in the connector connected properly, it will charge a little while towing. Most of the charging comes when you are connected to shore power. Also you need to have the bathroom walls up to activate the internal lights. There is a safety switch that shuts most of the 12V down when the back wall is down.

8. These questions may have to be handled by a Winegard dealer. We have a Winegard satellite dish on the roof (former owner never used it so couldn't tell us if the setup worked or not). On the interior wall of the TM right below the dish, there's a box mounted that refers to elevation; despite having TV/DirecTV unit plugged into the Winegard electrical connection on the side of the kitchen sink wall (and shore electrical plugged in and working) we could not get any response/light up/display on that box on the wall when we pushed the button. This was BEFORE we hooked up the unhooked wire on the battery. Does anyone know if that box operates from battery only and when our battery is operational, it should display elevation numbers? Probably need to have a Winegard dealer check it out, but thought I'd ask just in case someone knew. Can't help here.

Check out the online manuals on the forum, They will further explain many of these questions.

Whew--lots of questions but sure appreciate anyone's help with them. We love our TM and know we'll appreciate it even more when these things are operational!!! Thanks, everyone.

[drdementia]

Rumbleweed, thank you so much for helping out so quickly. We'll be able to get much more working now that you've explained all this.

I left out one important question--how do we fill the hot water heater? I'll check the online manuals again to see if I can find this, but if you have a simple answer, we'll take that, too!

You're a lifesaver and your instructions are clear and understandable--again, thanks.

[Redhawk]

I just went thru the same learning process, don't worry, it all comes together nicely after a couple trips. Rumbleweed did a good job getting you started.
- If you want to get hot water using the propane, turn on the propane, make sure the hot water tank is full and turn on the "water heater" switch. Described well in the manual.
- To turn on the furnace, turn on the propane and simply set your thermostat to what you want. Pretty nice....
- Not being able to fill up the water tank with the TM closed was the biggest disappointment for me. But doing the "fill it thru the drain" mod these guys came up with was a great improvement. Do a search when you're ready to try it. A five minute $3. fix!

Best advice I can give is to make sure you have your manual with you on a trip, I've been able to figure out most everything with it. Seems a bit unclear at times, but when you start looking, it makes sense.

Have fun!!!!!

[wbmiller3]

To fill the hot water heater - once you are hooked up to campground water supply with it turned on, just open a hot water faucet. A burst of air will come out, then nothing for a while, then water. The tank should be full then.

My dad taught me to open the relief valve on the heater and make sure water comes out. I don't know if that is really required but I always do it.

Same instructions if you are using the water storage tank - once this is full, turn on the pump, open a hot water faucet, etc.

[drdementia]

John and Bill, thanks for your info, too--can never have enough instruction when you're trying something for the first time. Your responses, along with Rumbleweed's, will go a long way to getting us through a Labor Day trip, I'm sure.

If anyone else wants to add other suggestions, we'll gladly take them. Off to the manual again....

Happy and safe Labor Day, everyone!

[Redhawk]

You're more then welcome....that darn safety switch on the rear bathroom wall that keeps the 12V off got me too...but it only happens once!

Where ya headed over the holiday?

[wesslvm]

Is your camper new or used?

Couple of lessons learned concerning the battery. When the camper is not in use, or even if you are using it for long stretches at a time, you can damage your battery if you let it charge ALL the time. What happened to me was I left it plugged in for over a month while sitting in my driveway. My battery slowly lost water level until the battery was ruined. My first clue was the propane/gas detector was alarming due to low DC voltage.

Also, if your camper is connected to your tow vehicle with the reefer running and the reefer fan running you can kill both the battery in your camper and your car if you park for a long enough period. No fun!

Good luck!

Vince

[drdementia]

We're headed up to the Ft. Collins area to check out the town and wander through the Poudre Canyon area. We love living in Colorado because there are so many beautiful places to use our trailer within just a few hours.

[drdementia]

Vince, thanks so much for letting us know about the battery and issues with charging. I wouldn't have thought about that and surely don't want a major battery problem when it can be avoided. Hopefully this thread can help some other new owners, too.

We bought our TM used but it was it great shape. However, because we bought it from an individual, we didn't have the benefit of a walkthrough by a dealer. We're going to go to The Car Show in Colorado Springs to have them check it out and help us understand some of the things we haven't already figured out.

[TexasCamper]

1. How do you get the on-board water tank to fill up? We've hooked up the shore waterhose and all the faucets work fine, but we don't know how to fill up the big tank that's directly under the kitchen sink, and to know how to stop the water coming in when it's full or does it automatically stop? DUH..

Hi,
You probably figured this out already, but I didn't see any posts clearing this little detail out......

Unless your TM is different than my 3023, the tank under the kitchen sink is the hot water heater. The clean water tank is a square poly tank under the sofa, with the clean water pump sitting right next to it.

People have already posted how to fill each, so I won't repeat. But I'll mention the obvious.....if you're hooking up to a water supply at the campground, you can ignore the clean water tank and pump.

John

[Scott O]

Haven't read the entire thread so sorry if this has been mentioned. There is a glass fuse on the battery. Many people have swapped it to a blade type fuse, readily available at Wall Mart, Pep Boys, Home Depot, etc. Be sure to get a 30 amp fuse...it is a really easy fix.

[ZekenSpider]

Hello, everyone,

8. These questions may have to be handled by a Winegard dealer. We have a Winegard satellite dish on the roof (former owner never used it so couldn't tell us if the setup worked or not). On the interior wall of the TM right below the dish, there's a box mounted that refers to elevation; despite having TV/DirecTV unit plugged into the Winegard electrical connection on the side of the kitchen sink wall (and shore electrical plugged in and working) we could not get any response/light up/display on that box on the wall when we pushed the button. This was BEFORE we hooked up the unhooked wire on the battery. Does anyone know if that box operates from battery only and when our battery is operational, it should display elevation numbers? Probably need to have a Winegard dealer check it out, but thought I'd ask just in case someone knew.

This is all assuming you have the same antenna that I have (the Winegard RD-4610 with both a Dish and a UHF/VHF Disk). See the attached .pdf manual on the RD-4610 (with RM-DM61 elevation sensor) to confirm your equipment is the same as the one installed by the factory on my 3326. In my installation, the elevation display and the television connection plate are right next to each other on the end of the refrigerator cabinet. The wall plate to the right of the elevation display has two television type connectors and a black button.

The top connector is connected to your RD-4610 UHF/VHF Disk and the black button to the right of the connector turns on the preamplifier to the Disk portion only(UHF/VHF). This top connector(and the black button) have nothing to do with the satellite receiver connection. The top connector should go directly to the television antenna input(if you want to use it). It is like a "rabbit ears" antenna.

The bottom connector goes directly to the Dish portion of your antenna and is powered by 12 to 20 Volts DC from the satellite receiver. The Elevation Display is powered by Alkaline batteries behind the display(it is not powered by the TrailManor 12 volt system). The batteries may be missing or depleted. The manual says they should last 88 days based on 5 minutes/day usage but since yours is a used TrailManor, they may be so old that they are dead. Working properly, the display should "light up" when you push the button on the display, then "go out" automatically after a short time(whether-or-not your satellite receiver is connected).

FYI, the other television type connectors spread around the TrailManor are for connection to the campground cable service(if any) The input connection is on the side opposite the door.

My Dish portion worked really well(the UHF/VHF Disk portion was marginal), but it was a trick to get aligned. It is really important to get the north pointer "dead on" to either true north or magnetic north (which ever your SatFinder reference says to use). Then, line up the Azimuth and Elevation to the correct satellite position as stated for your Direct TV satellite. The Azimuth and the Elevation settings that will be required will change as you travel. There is a free application called Satellite Finder 4.9 available on the web that will give you the exact location of your particular Direct TV satellite (there are 6 of them, so you need to know which one is assigned to your account).

Once you are "close", use the receiver "System Setup" under "Menu" to home in on the signal. Make minor changes in Elevation, then sweep the Azimuth back and forth, slowly.

Of course none of this will work out if you cannot "see-direct line of sight" the satellite position from the position of your Dish.

Hope this helps,

Jerry

[larsandlisa]

Does the battery need to be disconnected after each trip? We just bought a used TM2720 but it appears the battery is not working at all. Shouldn't it be charging while you are camping?

[ZekenSpider]

Does the battery need to be disconnected after each trip? We just bought a used TM2720 but it appears the battery is not working at all. Shouldn't it be charging while you are camping?

Simple question, very complex answers. It depends on what type battery you have and what kind of converter is built into your TM. I will assume for this answer that your battery is a conventional wet cell, lead acid, deep cycle, battery and that your TM converter has a three mode battery charger.

Usually the battery stays in the TM so that it can be maintained in a "float mode" condition by the TM converter charger. That means the TM stays on "shore power" all the time in storage. There are exceptions, especially if the TM converter does not have a "float" mode.

If the TM converter is not able to "float mode" charge the battery or if the TM will be stored in cold weather conditions, it is best to remove the battery to an area where it can be kept warm and on "float mode" charge.

Normally the TM battery will be somewhat charged by the tow vehicle during towing(if the TM refrigerator is on DC while towing, the battery can go dead very quickly if the tow vehicle generator is not running).

Most of the time the battery will be charged by the TM converter while on "shore power" during camping or parked where you can plug it into 120 volt AC power.

If your battery is indeed dead, it may be because the tow vehicle charging circuit or the TM battery fuses are bad.

Please take the time to read the many other posts on this subject in the thread "TrailManor information you won't find anywhere else".

Best Regards,

Jerry

[Bill]

Lars and Lisa -

In addition to Jerry's comments.

1. Check the water level in the battery. It is possible that the previous owner didn't add water when needed. If the level is really low, and has been for a long time, the battery may very well be ruined.

2. As Jerry said, check the fuses, especially the one that is in line just a few inches from the battery positive post. If this fuse (or the fuseholder) is bad, it completely isolates the battery from everything. It won't charge on the road, it won't charge in the campground, it won't charge at home, and it won't power any TM loads. On the other hand, if the fuse is good, the battery should charge whenever shore power is available, and should charge on the road as you dirve if your tow vehicle is properly set up and you turn the refrig off. Use the Search tool to find discussions on that topic.

3. What year is your used 2720? What is the make and model of the charger/converter? This will tell us whether it has the float capability that Jerry mentioned.

4. If you can't keep shore power on the TM when it is in storage, then you should disconnect the battery. The parasitic loads (plug that term into the Search tool!) will drain the battery in less than a week. To avoid this, many users have installed a battery disconnect switch (use the Search tool there, too!)

Bill

[lnussbau]

Hi,
You probably figured this out already, but I didn't see any posts clearing this little detail out......

Unless your TM is different than my 3023, the tank under the kitchen sink is the hot water heater. The clean water tank is a square poly tank under the sofa, with the clean water pump sitting right next to it.

People have already posted how to fill each, so I won't repeat. But I'll mention the obvious.....if you're hooking up to a water supply at the campground, you can ignore the clean water tank and pump.

John

The 2720SL (and presumably other "slide" models) have the fresh water tank under the sink, which fills up the area behind the right hand under-sink door, since there is no way to put it on the slide. As nearly as I can tell, all other models have it up front under the couch, etc. Unfortunately, there is no option for a 40 gallon tank, because of this. There's very little under-sink storage, either, on these models.

[mjlaupp]

FYI
The fresh water tank on the 3326 is located under the stove. The stove is located between the sink and fridge on the street side in this model. The cabinet under the sink is open except for the plumbing and electrical connection box.
Mike

[robertkennel]

Jerry,

It's off topic but I'm a big fan of the Blackbird after reading the Skunkworks by Ben Rich. I had no idea just how great that plane really was until after reading the book. Brian Shul's book was good pilot's perspective too. Robert

[ZekenSpider]

Jerry,

It's off topic but I'm a big fan of the Blackbird after reading the Skunkworks by Ben Rich. I had no idea just how great that plane really was until after reading the book. Brian Shul's book was good pilot's perspective too. Robert

Robert;

I certainly agree. I have been impressed with that aircraft ever since I first set my eyes on it in a hanger at "the ranch".
It is a marvelous machine and an experience of a lifetime....but......you know your old when everything you've worked on is now in a museum.

My current avitar is a shot of the Lockheed M/D-21 (Mother/Daughter-21). The program was short lived but involved an air launched, ramjet powered, photo reconnaissance drone launched off the back of an A-12 (forerunner to the SR-71).

You can read and see more details at:

<www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/d21~1.htm>

Near the end of the article is a short item that I wrote regarding the Ramjet Engine in the drone.

I suspect I am attracted to the TrailManor for similar reasons. It too is a marvelous machine albeit the quality control is somewhat disappointing.

Regards,

Jerry

[drdementia]

Jerry, thanks so much for your response on my question about the Winegard. I haven't checked this forum site in a while so please pardon the delay in my reply. The greatest help was confirming that the Elevation Display is powered by alkaline batteries behind the display and not powered by the TrailManor 12 volt system. We're having our TM checked out thoroughly (bought it used) this week so will add new batteries when we get it back. Hopefully, with the other information you provided, we can get connected! Thanks again.

[ZekenSpider]

Jerry, thanks so much for your response on my question about the Winegard. I haven't checked this forum site in a while so please pardon the delay in my reply. The greatest help was confirming that the Elevation Display is powered by alkaline batteries behind the display and not powered by the TrailManor 12 volt system. We're having our TM checked out thoroughly (bought it used) this week so will add new batteries when we get it back. Hopefully, with the other information you provided, we can get connected! Thanks again.

Glad that you found the information useful. Were you able to download the attachments also? If not let me know so I can send them again.

Jerry

[drdementia]

Jerry, yes, I was able to download the attachments, so we should be good to go. Simply can't be out there communing with nature without being able to watch my Dallas Cowboys every weekend! :o)

[OneMoBear]

Hey,

I can't recommend strongly enough that you download Mike and Kelly's user manual. It has been our best friend for the past six weeks! Also, are you going to the TM rally in Ft. Collins in October?

[P and B]

Jerry,
Quality could be improved on the TM with a modest infusion of $10B or so to TM. Might just take $10M- A bargain by government standards ;-)

Phil