Camping with Dobermans
Hello all, were new to rving,supposed to pick up our TT on Saturday. We started talking about getting a camper early last year when my oldest dog started slowing down and we didn’t want to leave her ...
Forum Discussion
I didn't mean for this post to become a battle of the breeds, there is always going to be issues with people that do not like certain breeds or are afraid of them, the best I can do is make sure my dogs are well behaved and trained in hopes to change peoples' minds.
As far as camping, it looks like it is a no go for us, or at least put on the back burner for now. It is kind of a long story but I'll try to make it short.
We get to the dealership, do our walk through, and get hooked up. We go to finance, sign all of our paperwork and head over to parts to get a few items, which included a furion backup camera. We wanted the camera installed before we left and there were some other issues that we noticed during our walkthrough...missing light cover, no battery in the smoke detector, missing gasket, no power cord and a few other minor things. So we wait for them to get all of that done. 2 hours later they come over and tell us that they are having a problem getting the camera to connect to the display, they think its a problem with the camera and they're going to switch it out. Another hour goes by and they tell have tried 5 cameras but they cannot get it to work. The camera works and connects to the display when it is connected to an independent power source but as soon as they wire it to the camper it disconnects. They say that they think that the camera system on the truck is interfering with the signal, my husband asks if they've check to make sure there is power as the connections on the camper, yes. OK, it doesn't make sense that the hard wired cameras on the truck interfere with the bluetooth signal, but maybe the bluetooth on the truck is interfering, so now my husband gets involved (he was an auto tech for years that specialized in electrical). Turns off the blue tooth, same issue, connects the camera to independent power source at the back of the camper, plugs the display into the truck and it works, so that means it's not the truck system interfering, asks you checked the power coming out of the camper right? yes we did. Let me see a voltmeter, Less than 11 volts coming out of it, well there's your problem, there's a drop in voltage and it's not enough to power the camera, 11 volts should be fine, well obviously it's not. So now why is there a drop in voltage, is it a ground wire issue, an inverter, or something else. Voltage coming off the truck is fine, voltage inside the camper is fine. We find a ground wire that is busted up, they replace the resistor, still nothing. At this point we're ready to walk, ask for a manager, sales manager comes over and is very nice but says I don't know anything about this stuff, has the service manager been over? No, service manager comes over and bring the master tech with her....I guess 4+ hours, diagnosing your own issue and asking for a manager is the threshold to get the most experienced tech involved.
He says it's our truck, there's a problem with the 2019 chevy's and they got an email about it. Basically the email says that LED lights don't pull enough power and that the truck has an issue recognizing there is a trailer hooked up and you can experience LED flash, may also effect power for camera set up. Okay, we experience this with our boat trailer when the truck is off, about every 30 seconds the trailer lights flash but the camper does not have LED lights. The email specifically says if you have a 2019 chevy and a trailer with LED lights....we go back and forth with them. He hooks up a jump box to the camper, tests the voltage at the back, still a 3V drop. Husband says alright there's the answer, it's not the truck it's the camper, unhook it we're done.
I went and started the process of cancelling the deal, returning our down payment and all of the stuff we purchased. In the meantime, sales tried to salvage the deal by offering us 1500$ off to which we said no thank you, and the master tech hooked it up to his truck and there was more voltage at the camera hook up. So I don't know, it doesn't make a lot of sense that it didn't work with our truck or with the jump box but it worked with his truck. At the end of the day, after 5 hours of dealing with this and being given the run around we didn't feel good with moving forward and went through with cancelling the purchase. We're extremely disappointed, wasted 3 days dealing with this (2 hour drive each way), have to cancel our storage and the campsite we booked and change our plans for summer.
As far as camping, it looks like it is a no go for us, or at least put on the back burner for now. It is kind of a long story but I'll try to make it short.
We get to the dealership, do our walk through, and get hooked up. We go to finance, sign all of our paperwork and head over to parts to get a few items, which included a furion backup camera. We wanted the camera installed before we left and there were some other issues that we noticed during our walkthrough...missing light cover, no battery in the smoke detector, missing gasket, no power cord and a few other minor things. So we wait for them to get all of that done. 2 hours later they come over and tell us that they are having a problem getting the camera to connect to the display, they think its a problem with the camera and they're going to switch it out. Another hour goes by and they tell have tried 5 cameras but they cannot get it to work. The camera works and connects to the display when it is connected to an independent power source but as soon as they wire it to the camper it disconnects. They say that they think that the camera system on the truck is interfering with the signal, my husband asks if they've check to make sure there is power as the connections on the camper, yes. OK, it doesn't make sense that the hard wired cameras on the truck interfere with the bluetooth signal, but maybe the bluetooth on the truck is interfering, so now my husband gets involved (he was an auto tech for years that specialized in electrical). Turns off the blue tooth, same issue, connects the camera to independent power source at the back of the camper, plugs the display into the truck and it works, so that means it's not the truck system interfering, asks you checked the power coming out of the camper right? yes we did. Let me see a voltmeter, Less than 11 volts coming out of it, well there's your problem, there's a drop in voltage and it's not enough to power the camera, 11 volts should be fine, well obviously it's not. So now why is there a drop in voltage, is it a ground wire issue, an inverter, or something else. Voltage coming off the truck is fine, voltage inside the camper is fine. We find a ground wire that is busted up, they replace the resistor, still nothing. At this point we're ready to walk, ask for a manager, sales manager comes over and is very nice but says I don't know anything about this stuff, has the service manager been over? No, service manager comes over and bring the master tech with her....I guess 4+ hours, diagnosing your own issue and asking for a manager is the threshold to get the most experienced tech involved.
He says it's our truck, there's a problem with the 2019 chevy's and they got an email about it. Basically the email says that LED lights don't pull enough power and that the truck has an issue recognizing there is a trailer hooked up and you can experience LED flash, may also effect power for camera set up. Okay, we experience this with our boat trailer when the truck is off, about every 30 seconds the trailer lights flash but the camper does not have LED lights. The email specifically says if you have a 2019 chevy and a trailer with LED lights....we go back and forth with them. He hooks up a jump box to the camper, tests the voltage at the back, still a 3V drop. Husband says alright there's the answer, it's not the truck it's the camper, unhook it we're done.
I went and started the process of cancelling the deal, returning our down payment and all of the stuff we purchased. In the meantime, sales tried to salvage the deal by offering us 1500$ off to which we said no thank you, and the master tech hooked it up to his truck and there was more voltage at the camera hook up. So I don't know, it doesn't make a lot of sense that it didn't work with our truck or with the jump box but it worked with his truck. At the end of the day, after 5 hours of dealing with this and being given the run around we didn't feel good with moving forward and went through with cancelling the purchase. We're extremely disappointed, wasted 3 days dealing with this (2 hour drive each way), have to cancel our storage and the campsite we booked and change our plans for summer.
