My First Extended Trip (cross post from Yahoo)

jkjenn

So, 5,000 miles later, I feel like I really know my T@b. Overall, I love it. It is great to tow, easy to set up, and comfortable enough for me. I am getting better all the time at backing into camping spaces.

What went well:

• Set up/tear down
• Shower/toilet/Sewer connections
• A/C - worked great
• Sleeping
• Paha Que Visor

What was a little buggy:

• I packed up camp at Echo Lake at Mt. Evans and my trailer lights did not work. I had forgot to switch my fridge over to propane so by the time I returned from a couple hours of sightseeing, my battery was dead. I won't bore you with the all that was entailed, but I ended up in Camping World in Golden, where they fixed my lighting issue for free! I had spoken to Ed Kaufman on the phone and he believed it was a bad ground, which it turned out to be on the T@b. I am not sure if it was bad from the factory or got screwed up when the dealer installed the charge wire on my TV. However, I found after that, my Jeep was supplying power to the trailer (I could tell from the 12v meter I had picked up) but my battery was not charging. If anyone has an idea that would save me the full day of travel and 2 tanks of gas to take it back to the dealer to be fixed, I would appreciate it. The battery fuse appears OK and it does charge on shore power.
• The other buggy issue I had was with my Renogy solar panel set up. The panel worked OK. The charger, however, was a beast. The wire is too thick for the terminals. IF anyone has suggestions as to what type of wire terminals I could use on the end of the wire that works with their terminals, I would appreciate it. When I could get the wires to stay put in the charger, it worked very well. I spent way too much time messing with this, however.
• One of my window shades continues to have a problem where the string gets off track. This has been an ongoing problem. I keep reinserting it.

Lessons Learned:

• The fridge requires some power to ignite when on propane. This makes complete sense, but it had not occurred to me before.,
• The A/C on the S models really requires the T@b to be pretty much completely level so as to not leak water back into the T@b.
• The A/C cooled down the T@b very quickly, even in Moab in 100+ degree weather.
• The Paha Que XL Visor was great and provided great shade and protection from the rain. It handled the higher winds pretty well, too.
• When they tell you that they are putting down Calcium Chloride on a dirt road, take another route! My T@b and Jeep were caked with mud from it when passing over Keller pass, despite going at a snail's pace. I had to take it to a car wash to rinse the thickest of it off and am going to give it a good washing this weekend at home.
• The wing nut on my propane tank holder was pretty tight and required 2 men and tools to release the first time.
• It's nice to have fellows T@bbers checking in on you. Thanks to JD from Durango!

It was a great trip and I am really glad I bought a T@b.

DurangoTaB

Jenn...I gotta hand it to you...that was quite a trip in many ways! You'd only been out once I believe before heading West, so it's not surprising you had some surprises. Thanks so much for summarizing your experiences; it's really helpful to all levels of our experience. Can't you take your Jeep (sans T@B) to an RV dealer in Pittsburgh (vs. Juniata) to check out if the wiring/7-pin connector are working? As I remember, looking under the T@B at the wiring from the tongue to the battery to that litttle black connector junction box, there isn't much between the T@B male plug and the battery (like maybe nothing)...perhaps Ed can help again. I hope you've taken some pix with the T@B and sell them to Little Guy...you do awesome work! p.s. it's mag chloride they put on Kebler Pass (and on MANY dirt roads in Colorado)...we werre there the week before...and turned around!

jkjenn

Thanks, JD! Yes, Only one outing with the new T@b before I ventured on a big trip. I learned a lot!

Yes, I am going to try to take it somewhere locally when I get the chance to check the 7 pin connector, 

I actually mostly took cell phone shots of the T@b. I was up by 4:30 nearly every morning and up late, too, so I was not back at the campsite too much. So much to shoot, so little time to do it, The wildflowers were fantastic, especially around Ouray and Crested Butte. 

Michigan_Mike

Sounds like you had a nice trip but don't understand the Renogy solar issue?  What charger are you referring to, the solar controller on the panel?  Zamp uses Anderson connectors and if you go to their site you might find what you need there:  zampsolar.com

You might be better off letting a local RV dealer or someone with an electrical background look at the wiring on the trailer as two tanks of gas and the drive could be offset this way as opposed to all that driving.   You SHOULD have a dedicated charge wire running back to the wiring harness from the vehicle alternator that is fused and will charge the vehicle and trailer battery while the vehicle is running or during travel.  If that is not in place or hooked up your battery isn't charging during times of travel.  

I have a small LED 12 volt meter that plugs into my cigarette style receptacle on my trailer to monitor voltage readings at the camp site.  If you get one of these:

1. Plug it in while the trailer is sitting and neither hooked to shore power or to the vehicle.  

2. Record the voltage reading.  

3. Hook the trailer up to your tow vehicle so that wiring harness to both the trailer and tow vehicle are connected.

4. Start up your car and see what the voltage reading is while the vehicle is running.  

Note: You should see the voltage jump up considerably, something around or slightly above 13.5 volts and if so, this indicates that the battery is charging off the vehicle.  

And unless you have a battery isolator installed on your vehicle you can easily run the battery down on the trailer if the trailer and vehicle are left plugged together via the wiring harness.  Always unhook the harness (and keep it safely up off the ground just in case you forget to re-hook it!) from the TV so that you are powering the trailer battery independent of the TV.  You also want to check the battery connections, ensure they are tight to the battery terminals, etc.  Bad battery or electrical connections can create issues and the ground wire is in most instances 90% the culprit/problem during these episodes.  And when hooking up or unhooking the battery terminals I revert back to an old saying when I was a lineman for the power company, "The ground wire is like the Marine Corps as they are the first to land and the last to leave!"  In other words, hook up the ground wire (-) first, before installing the hot wire (+) and when removing battery terminals, remove the hot wire (+) first and then unhook the ground (-) last.  If you follow that saying you will never go wrong and will not damage any equipment.  The ground wire is the most important wire on any electrical circuit and can get people into trouble if they don't respect it's importance.  

The trailer plug end is numbered too and you can test your wiring with a cheap voltage indicator that is available at Walmart or any automotive store.   Here is a wiring diagram that gives you an idea as to which wires feed the lights and auxiliary power to your trailer, etc.  The video is a basic concept of troubleshooting electrical problems and by starting at the tow vehicle and working back to the trailer you can easily find where the problem lies.  If you can establish that you have power to the the trailer, you can then start at the trailer and work back.  But again, if you are not comfortable with this I would let someone locally ferret out the issue and resolve your problem and if you DO NOT have a dedicated power feed back to the trailer from the TV your battery is going to run down quicker, especially running a refrigerator on it.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogz86q0n1tc

PaulaK

Hi Jenn, I am so impressed with your courage and fortitude. I was quietly applauding you on your 5,000 mile journey. We took delivery on our 2015 T@B long before you did, and we are finally going on our first weekend camping trip next weekend - about 70 miles from home in an ACOE campground in Wisconsin. Your nicely articulated list of learnings are much appreciated. Best of luck with the remaining issues. I am sure you will get them resolved quickly. Happy Trails,

jkjenn

Thanks, Mike! I hope to take a look at it tomorrow.

Thanks, Paula! I am prone to jumping right into things.

Torres2906tab

Hi Jenn, XL visor has arrived and I'm trying to install it. I'm exhausted. It just does not move within the rail. An hour later it is less than 1/4 of the way on. Was there anything you did that made it easier or potentially I'm not doing something right. I did read the instructions, which is a plus for me ;-) Suggestions appreciated! Elaine

jkjenn

Oh, my, Elaine, I had no trouble with the rail at all. Others have had difficulty, however and I believe lithium grease in the rails supposed to make it easier. Hour rail might be more narrow than mine. I have mine up in under 5 min., usually. Sorry I can't help!

IACamper

The keder rail needs to be widened slightly 4-6" from the back end so it will easily accept the visor or awning. Also, spray the rail with a silicone spray, and it should slide more easily.

Torres2906tab

Thank you Jenn and Kristi. I will try your suggestions and hopefully report back with success!

Torres2906tab

Probably a stupid question, BUT after making the rail a little wider near the end and applying lithium grease (amazed I found it so quickly in the garage) the black rubber/plastic within the rail started to come out so I removed the whole strip and viola the visor slid right into the aluminum rail. Is the black rubber/plastic supposed to stay in there or is it supposed to come out? It would seem like it should stay to help support the rope/keder??????

IACamper

I almost mentioned that because some others found the same thing! My old T@B didn't have that strip. Glad you got it to work. And thus you are initiated to the T@B world: do something to make it work, and just try not to break anything too noticeable in the process!

jkjenn

I almost asked you about the black trip. Why do they even leave it the rail at the factory? Glad you figured it out! I do not know if there is a purpose beyond protecting the rail via transport for sale.

sbhtennis

I don't understand most of electrical stuff, but  on my 7 way plug I found that if I plug it in upside down it fits but does not charge. ( no lights) . So  fortunately I figured this out before going to extreme electrical diagnosis. Now I have a piece of tape on the up side so I know which way to plug it in

Ratkity

What charger are you using on your Renogy panel? For anything bigger than 10g, I get the factory crimped cables, but there's a chance I'm misunderstanding your question.

I bet you got TONS of pictures!!! Can't wait to see them (I know, processing first! ).

At Costco, I got a washable bathmat and put I that on the cushion under the AC. That way, if any water splashes out of the AC pan by chance, it would be caught by the mat. It also doubled as protection on the bare cushions if I sat down with dirty britches or a floor mat after showers.

Eeeeep about the CaCl2!! 

Mike is on da mark with the ground wire thingie. Most important is how much charge your vehicle can put out with the alternator. Even with beefy ones, it's still like solar, a trickle charge. 

I can't wait for more stories!!!!