Who to believe?

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dibbons

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Purchased a new 17 foot travel trailer in August 2017. Had it delivered to a relative's house while I was away until last week. The first thing I noticed upon closer inspection of my new purchase was that both the tires and the front hitch assembly were "Made in China". What isn't, right? Opened the door for the first time, climbed in (this is now February, 2018) and none of the lights would work.

I pulled out the new "deep cycle" battery that was in a plastic (of course) box on the front/outside of the trailer (green top "Interstate" brand with semi-transparent walls). I could see the acid level through the sides of the battery and all the cells seemed to be OK, fluid wise.

Took the battery down to a recently opened O'Reilly auto parts store for a re-charge. The clerk guy called me to the back of the store before I could leave. He had hooked up some cables to the battery, pointed to some kind of meter, and told me the battery was shorted-out, defective, no-good (I don't remember his exact words). I aborted the idea of a re-charge when he told me I would need a another battery. I left with the battery in hand.

Dropped the new battery off with the salesperson who sold me the travel trailer. The service department was closed on Sundays. He said the service department would call me the next day. Of course, no one called me, so I called them. The gentleman in the service department told me they were going to charge the battery all day and get back to me.

The following day, the service dept. did call me, and told me to pick up my battery, nothing wrong with it. But now I left town again, and won't be back for who knows how many more months. They will have to hold onto it for me. Just wonder why the two businesses (O'Reilly and the Travel Center) had differing opinions on the condition of the battery?
 
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Something else I found interesting was in reading the owner's guide/manual. It stated in no uncertain terms that the trailer was not constructed/intended for being used as a year-round residence. It stated that, residing in the unit more often than occasionally, would prematurely degrade the floor, window coverings, appliances, and all other systems. Funny to find an admission of how cheaply constructed the unit is (If you can call $15,000.00 cheap?)
 
O'Reilly wanted to sell a battery; Travel Center did not want to warranty a battery......................
 
Interstate batteries are not worth a **** anymore. IMO. Camping world sells good deep cycle batteries...and a 15 Grand travel trailer is cheap. Hate to say.
 
You got further than I would’ve. Brand new never used? I would’ve called the company and told them the trailer they dropped off wasn’t working. Come fix it or drop off a new one. Bare minimum the service dept could go install that battery for you and do a systems check.
 
Also, you would do yourself a huge favor and get two 6 volt deep cycle batteries and connect them together.
Believe it or not two 6 volt deep cycles will last four times longer than a single 12 volt deep cycle and twice as long as two 12's.
Found this out in our RV days when we went were there were no hookups.

A lot of people I knew back then had their RV back in the dealerships right after they took delivery for all kinds of reasons.
They also have wiring that sucks because they used wire with so much aluminum in it to save weight and expense.
 
The battery wiring is very small gauge. I know my solar panel system (installed out of town in our ecological cabin) is set up with two 6 volt golf cart batteries (wired together to source a 12 volt system.

6 volt vs 12 volt video (2 minutes):
 
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Have my third RV trailer, from three dealers. One thing I have found is that you won't get much help from a dealer OR from the manufacturer. Most of them need some repair or modification as soon as you are able to take time to really look them over. Seems that they are a pretty sorry industry. I wish you good luck.
Yote
 
6 months will defiantly drain the battery to nothing.. my radio and co detectors are powered with the battery hooked up. a week or two and its dead.. one of these days i'll put a disconnect switch on it.. maybe this summer...

take the battery out and put it in the house on a battery tender while you are away

and yes 15k is cheap for a new travel trailer so yea i'm sure it will wear quick like stated..

so what did ya buy? last year i bought a 2017 bullet crossfire 2070BH. only been out in it once.
 
Have my third RV trailer, from three dealers. One thing I have found is that you won't get much help from a dealer OR from the manufacturer. Most of them need some repair or modification as soon as you are able to take time to really look them over. Seems that they are a pretty sorry industry. I wish you good luck.
Yote

the way i heard it was they were built pretty well until the industry crashed in the 80's. they lost all kinds of good fabricators. now the industry is booming again but without the good fabricators and they are being rushed out the door...
 
Brand new 5th wheel. Freakin brakes would not work. some one overgreased the bearings andsprayed greese all over the brakes! On the road, replacing all four brake assemblies at a camp ground. Then find out the axles are overloaded from the factory! O 10 percent of the trailer weight is supported by the truck, so it still legal.
not cheap either!! Are they kidding!!! Replaced axels with the correct capacity, and new wheels and tires as well. all on my nickel, no help from factory, It was not needed, and the brake work should have been done at an authorized dealer!!

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only had mine out once so far.. no problems yet.. hope it stays that way..lol have a couple booked trips already. have more planned just have to figure out when..

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We bought our first real travel trailer last summer. Had a popup before that.
It's a 2011 Forest river shamrock 19' It was in damn near perfect condition, very well cared for.
We had it out for several weekends in the woods last summer and even 2600mi round trip from Colorado to Oregon in Sept.
Best thing we ever bought, love it. Has everything, heat, A/C, hot and cold water, shower, TV, radio/cd/dvd player. Dual 12v batteries, and dual propane tanks. My '05 grand Cherokee pulls it quite well, even thought the camper makes the jeep look tiny.
And the kittys like it too

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Brand new 5th wheel. Freakin brakes would not work. some one overgreased the bearings andsprayed greese all over the brakes! On the road, replacing all four brake assemblies at a camp ground. Then find out the axles are overloaded from the factory! O 10 percent of the trailer weight is supported by the truck, so it still legal.
not cheap either!! Are they kidding!!! Replaced axels with the correct capacity, and new wheels and tires as well. all on my nickel, no help from factory, It was not needed, and the brake work should have been done at an authorized dealer!!

View attachment 1715142782
Had it weighed, just the unit empty was at max cap for the axles on there!!
 
Brand new 5th wheel. Freakin brakes would not work. some one overgreased the bearings andsprayed greese all over the brakes! On the road, replacing all four brake assemblies at a camp ground. Then find out the axles are overloaded from the factory! O 10 percent of the trailer weight is supported by the truck, so it still legal.
not cheap either!! Are they kidding!!! Replaced axels with the correct capacity, and new wheels and tires as well. all on my nickel, no help from factory, It was not needed, and the brake work should have been done at an authorized dealer!!

View attachment 1715142782
When I picked it up

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I don't have a tow vehicle. It is parked at a relative's house where I plan on crashing during my infrequent trips back to California from our new home in Mexico. This last trip, with the battery dead, I went into town and got a room at Motel 6 for one night ($70.00).
 
Interstate batteries are not worth a **** anymore. IMO. Camping world sells good deep cycle batteries...and a 15 Grand travel trailer is cheap. Hate to say.

X2 when I bought our used camper from a dealer a few years ago, everything worked great.

They put a new interstate battery in it.

I hooked the camper up the night before we were going to leave, it drained the battery in my truck.

Jumped the truck, grabbed the battery charger out of the garage, and went camping.

The plates in the battery in the camper had melted together, when I had time to look at it.

Also every new interstate battery I have had only seems to have a 2 year max life.
 
The conundrum I am going thru presently is whether to cover the RV during all the months I am gone. The covers are expensive, and there is the possibility that some moisture might get trapped inside or outside while covered up.
 
I have tarped every one I have had, and never had any leaking issues.
 
But just enough to cover the roof and let the rain go down the sides. Buy a quality tarp and replace it every year.
 
The other consideration is putting a lock on the hitch. I know there is a hole to slide on a common padlock, but I understand there is some other type of lock (better?) that fits up in the area where the ball fits. Never have had a close look at the second type of hitch security device, though.
 
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