I'm new!! Dumb questions alert... :)
Hi there, I have bought a 2000 Coleman Timberlake yesterday and am camping this weekend. Nothing liking jumping into a lake before you can swim!! And it's my first pop-up / camper! I have had bo...
Forum Discussion
Hi Dave and welcome to the forum!
That is correct. Most state laws require trailers over a certain weight to have brakes, so if your popup has them it probably needs them. Personally I would not tow the trailer anywhere until you get the brakes working. In addition to the wiring you will also need a brake controller to activate the trailer brakes. Don't cheap out on this, here is one I would recommend, the Prodigy 2 at eTrailer.
The water pump pumps water from the onboard fresh water tank to the faucet. It uses 12v power and looks like this:
The water pump is typically located in a cabinet under the sink or sometimes by the water tank under the dinette. Easy to change. If you don't have water available at the campsite it's nice to have some onboard, but you can get by without it.
RV's are a combination of house and car and in residential wiring the black is positive and the white is negative or neutral. In automotive wiring the red is positive and the black is negative or neutral. Sounds like you have it figured out right...the wires going to the breakaway switch should be one to the (+) of the battery and the other to the brakes.
The breakaway switch is designed to activate the trailer brakes using the onboard battery if the trailer breaks away from the van. This stops a runaway trailer from careening across the road and hitting another vehicle. The cable from the switch attaches to the van, and if the trailer becomes separated from the van, the cable pulls the pin out of the breakaway switch and activates the trailer brakes at full power. You should have the new battery connected and working before towing the pop up.
Good luck...Coleman pop-ups were made by Fleetwood who got out of the trailer business when the economy took a dive in 2009. Try Google....
mebirkle wrote:
1. Electric Hitch and Brakes - I have a 4-blade round on my Honda van. The PO rigged the old 7 blade to work with a 4-blade round so that all lights work. I'm assuming that I won't have electric brakes going until I have a proper 7 blade out of my van to the 7 blade on the camper, correct?
That is correct. Most state laws require trailers over a certain weight to have brakes, so if your popup has them it probably needs them. Personally I would not tow the trailer anywhere until you get the brakes working. In addition to the wiring you will also need a brake controller to activate the trailer brakes. Don't cheap out on this, here is one I would recommend, the Prodigy 2 at eTrailer.
mebirkle wrote:
2. Electric water pump - I have been told by the PO that the electric water pump is bad. Is this difficult to replace? Do I just need it if I am going to a site without electric/water? I'm assuming it's fairly easy but I don't even know where it's located.
The water pump pumps water from the onboard fresh water tank to the faucet. It uses 12v power and looks like this:
The water pump is typically located in a cabinet under the sink or sometimes by the water tank under the dinette. Easy to change. If you don't have water available at the campsite it's nice to have some onboard, but you can get by without it.
mebirkle wrote:
3. Battery - The old deep cycle battery was toast and wouldn't take a charge and was severely corroded. I have the new battery from good old walmart and bought their biggest deep cycle boat battery. Q - 2 black wires were going to positive and once white was going to negative. Is this really the way it goes on RV's? One of the blacks goes to the emergency brak chord that goes to your trailer hitch so I'm assuming it's an electrical switch so positive makes sense.
RV's are a combination of house and car and in residential wiring the black is positive and the white is negative or neutral. In automotive wiring the red is positive and the black is negative or neutral. Sounds like you have it figured out right...the wires going to the breakaway switch should be one to the (+) of the battery and the other to the brakes.
The breakaway switch is designed to activate the trailer brakes using the onboard battery if the trailer breaks away from the van. This stops a runaway trailer from careening across the road and hitting another vehicle. The cable from the switch attaches to the van, and if the trailer becomes separated from the van, the cable pulls the pin out of the breakaway switch and activates the trailer brakes at full power. You should have the new battery connected and working before towing the pop up.
mebirkle wrote:
4. Documentation/manual - Would anyone happen to know where I can get a manual for this camper so I don't have to ask all these dumb questions???
Good luck...Coleman pop-ups were made by Fleetwood who got out of the trailer business when the economy took a dive in 2009. Try Google....
