New TM Owner Check-In

[rtcassel]

Deal!

Tim, I'm impressed. This the second time recently that you've been able to delve into the old OLD stuff and pull up something that I thought was long gone. I should hire you,and split the salary budget 50-50 with you.

Bill

 

[rickst29]

No - "600 lbs" is not enough "bar strength" for a TM.

Thanks Bill!
And it sounds like you want to source a WDH so that you are using ~2/3 capacity? So for 400 # tongue weight, a WDH for 600#?

IMO, that's not "big enough". You'll be adjusting too close to the maximum torque all the time, and the bars will tend to become "worn out" and even bent over time. The problems occurs when you're at extremely high torque (compared to the design limit), and then hit a pothole. The bars go "whack!", kinda hard.

I agree with Rocky Mtn Ray's post. Go with 800 lbs as the lowest "design limit" for the possible 400-550 lb range of "heavily loaded" TM tongue weights. "1000 lb" designs also work pretty well, even though they're a bit harder to lift up and (theoretically) have a bit less flexibility for keeping things smooth over really rough roads.

I own "1000 lb" bars, and have never had an issue with actual performance.

 

[TnP-2027]

You are tickling a memory here. Long ago when the Forum was just getting organized, one of the original members (the original RockyMtnRay) bought a 600-pound WDH. I think he found it to be a bit light (his word). At about the same time, I got a 1200-pound unit, and found it to be way too stiff. So let those numbers bracket your choice - probably best to stay on the light side of the span.

I can't find Ray's original post. I think it disappeared when the Forum was re-organized early in its existence. We lost a lot of good info then.

Bill

https://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showthread.php?p=14936&highlight=IMHO#post14936

IMO, that's not "big enough". You'll be adjusting too close to the maximum torque all the time, and the bars will tend to become "worn out" and even bent over time. The problems occurs when you're at extremely high torque (compared to the design limit), and then hit a pothole. The bars go "whack!", kinda hard.

I agree with Rocky Mtn Ray's post. Go with 800 lbs as the lowest "design limit" for the possible 400-550 lb range of "heavily loaded" TM tongue weights. "1000 lb" designs also work pretty well, even though they're a bit harder to lift up and (theoretically) have a bit less flexibility for keeping things smooth over really rough roads.

I own "1000 lb" bars, and have never had an issue with actual performance.

You guys are great!
Getting closer. I need to figure out how much drop I need. The current owner will measure height of the TM hitch later today.
Unless one of y'all can tell me the height off the ground of a level 2720?

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

Welcome to the TM family!

And now a page from my history book...

We have a 2002 Tahoe with a tow rating of 8700 lbs, a good 2000 lbs more than your Lexus. Now, the story:
There is more storage room in the TM than what was in your pop-up, so it will be very easy to load it up, combined with loading up your LX-470. On our first bigish trip, we ended up going over the rear axle weight limit of our 2002 Tahoe. I was surprised we did it, but we did. Part of the reason was that we had 3 adults + 2 kids, my wife packed a ton of water and canned foods. We were underweight overall as far as the GCWR was concerned. This is probably the number you need to worry about most, and is not usually advertised. The second number you want to find out is the GAWR for each axle. A lot of people forget or ignore this number.

Bill has a good explanation of these terms here:
https://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9655

Lesson learned, weight adds up very quickly.

 

[TnP-2027]

We got our 2720 home - Yay!

Quick question - is it possible to run the fridge off the 12v battery in the camper by itself as long as battery is topped off and solar panel is charging?

Probably a rookie question. I turned the fridge power selector to 12v DC and temp setting to 3 but I do not think it turned on...

 

[TnP-2027]

Quick follow up to that question, I would rather start the fridge on AC 110 "shore power", but I do not have an adapter for the unique cord on the TM.

 

[Kidkraz]

You can run the fridge off of the battery, but I doubt it will run very long and you’ll drain the battery pretty quickly.
Before I had a 30 amp outlet added to the side of my garage for the trailer, I would open the camper and if I wanted to run the fridge, I figured out that I could plug the fridge directly with an extension cord to an outlet in my garage. If you remove the lower access panel for the fridge, you should find a 110 outlet the fridge is plugged into. I ran a short extension cord about 6-10” long and in the picture you’ll see orange short cord. I plug the garage extension into that and the fridge to the short cord. It works, I don’t use it at the camp ground. Now that I have a 30 amp plug, I no longer need the short extension, but I’ll have it as a backup.

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

I, too, tried running the fridge on battery while travelling. That always drained the battery very quickly.

Now, I leave ice packs in the freezer for our lunches, but also to place in the fridge compartment while travelling. This worked very well and I have never felt the need to put the fridge on battery.

I bought an adapter to adapt the TM plug to a 120 outlet. They aren't that expensive, and work very well. You may have trouble running the AC plugged into 120, but the fridge will cool well.

 

[TnP-2027]

You can run the fridge off of the battery, but I doubt it will run very long and you’ll drain the battery pretty quickly.
Before I had a 30 amp outlet added to the side of my garage for the trailer, I would open the camper and if I wanted to run the fridge, I figured out that I could plug the fridge directly with an extension cord to an outlet in my garage. If you remove the lower access panel for the fridge, you should find a 110 outlet the fridge is plugged into. I ran a short extension cord about 6-10” long and in the picture you’ll see orange short cord. I plug the garage extension into that and the fridge to the short cord. It works, I don’t use it at the camp ground. Now that I have a 30 amp plug, I no longer need the short extension, but I’ll have it as a backup.

Thank you!
My fridge looks hard wired.
Guessing yours is newer than '09? Or someone retro-fit? That would be useful for sure!

 

[TnP-2027]

I, too, tried running the fridge on battery while travelling. That always drained the battery very quickly.

Now, I leave ice packs in the freezer for our lunches, but also to place in the fridge compartment while travelling. This worked very well and I have never felt the need to put the fridge on battery.

I bought an adapter to adapt the TM plug to a 120 outlet. They aren't that expensive, and work very well. You may have trouble running the AC plugged into 120, but the fridge will cool well.

Does your trailer plug provide power?
It looks like you have an '01 - is there a solar panel for charging the battery?
We will just put the fridge back in the truck for now.
Thanks!

 

[Larryjb-HILO]

My trailer plug provides AC power to plugs and fridge, and also to the converter which transforms the AC power into 12V DC. I don't have solar because solar panels would be horribly inefficient at 50°N, and it is quite expensive to install. I think one would require quite a big solar setup to run the fridge, and considering how well it keeps food cool during the day while travelling, I've never seriously considered finding a way to run the fridge while travelling.

My fridge has an AC, DC, and propane mode. If I plug my trailer in to my 120V outlet using the adapter, I can set the fridge to AC mode.

When you say you will put the fridge in the back of the truck for now, that confuses me because I don't know of any TM fridge that was movable like that. I believe all TM fridges throughout the years could run on propane, making it a permanent appliance.

 

[Szabo101]

Appreciate This site

Brand new owners of 2007 2720SL. This site has already been very helpful with our purchase and answer to our inquires, so decided to join.

 

[Bill]

When you say you will put the fridge in the back of the truck for now, that confuses me because I don't know of any TM fridge that was movable like that. I believe all TM fridges throughout the years could run on propane, making it a permanent appliance.

Like Larry, I'm a little confused by the "put it in the back of the truck" thought. Do you have a portable refrig? That changes the discussion a bit.

There are two kinds of portable electric refrigerators. One is called thermo-electric, and it operates on what is called the Peltier effect. I've had a couple, and they are good because they are inexpensive ($100 range). But they are not very effective, and they are horribly inefficient. They draw something like 10 amps continuously, so if you don't have an external source of DC to run it, they will kill an ordinary battery in about 3 hours.

The other is a compressor refrig - use the Forum search tool to find a lot of good information and user comments about them. They are much more expensive than a thermo-electric refrig (think $700-$1000+), but they have a real compressor (like a household refrig), which makes them very good at cooling while drawing much less DC power.

Are you describing either one of these in your post?

Bill

 

[Scubaroo]

Quick follow up to that question, I would rather start the fridge on AC 110 "shore power", but I do not have an adapter for the unique cord on the TM.

You can get a 30 amp to 15/20a converter anywhere that sells RV stuff (dealers but also Walmart/Menards/etc). The cord on the TM is standard. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Dogbone-Electrical-Innovative-PowerGrip/dp/B000BUU5YA/

Then you can plug the TM into your garage plug or similar and run things like the fridge. It won't deliver 30A of course so don't use high power devices like the AC unit but the fridge works great. It's nice to have the whole trailer having power as you can use the lights and the fan too.

 

[cjminear]

You can get a 30 amp to 15/20a converter anywhere that sells RV stuff (dealers but also Walmart/Menards/etc). The cord on the TM is standard. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-Dogbone-Electrical-Innovative-PowerGrip/dp/B000BUU5YA/

Then you can plug the TM into your garage plug or similar and run things like the fridge. It won't deliver 30A of course so don't use high power devices like the AC unit but the fridge works great. It's nice to have the whole trailer having power as you can use the lights and the fan too.

I put my hot water tank on its own beaker so I can run my fridge and A/C on a 20A Outlet. It also helps not to fry the water heater element when I am out of water and plug it in.

 

[TnP-2027]

My trailer plug provides AC power to plugs and fridge, and also to the converter which transforms the AC power into 12V DC. I don't have solar because solar panels would be horribly inefficient at 50°N, and it is quite expensive to install. I think one would require quite a big solar setup to run the fridge, and considering how well it keeps food cool during the day while travelling, I've never seriously considered finding a way to run the fridge while travelling.

My fridge has an AC, DC, and propane mode. If I plug my trailer in to my 120V outlet using the adapter, I can set the fridge to AC mode.

When you say you will put the fridge in the back of the truck for now, that confuses me because I don't know of any TM fridge that was movable like that. I believe all TM fridges throughout the years could run on propane, making it a permanent appliance.

Like Larry, I'm a little confused by the "put it in the back of the truck" thought. Do you have a portable refrig? That changes the discussion a bit.

There are two kinds of portable electric refrigerators. One is called thermo-electric, and it operates on what is called the Peltier effect. I've had a couple, and they are good because they are inexpensive ($100 range). But they are not very effective, and they are horribly inefficient. They draw something like 10 amps continuously, so if you don't have an external source of DC to run it, they will kill an ordinary battery in about 3 hours.

The other is a compressor refrig - use the Forum search tool to find a lot of good information and user comments about them. They are much more expensive than a thermo-electric refrig (think $700-$1000+), but they have a real compressor (like a household refrig), which makes them very good at cooling while drawing much less DC power.

Are you describing either one of these in your post?

Bill

I am sorry for the confusion I created!
Prior to buying our new-to-us TM, we have been using a electric compressor fridge in the back of our truck.
When we got the TM, my wife wanted to free up room in the back of the truck by leaving that fridge at home and solely using the fridge in the TM.
Once we realized I could not get the TM fridge cooling before our trip (and then running on 12v for the drive), I threw the electric compressor fridge back in the truck.
I hope that helps clarify!