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mebirkle's avatar
mebirkle
Explorer
Jun 04, 2014

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 boats and know my way around a bit in terms of calking, electrics, etc., but am definitely in virgin territory. At least the camper is in very good shape with all new canvas and an awning and looks very clean inside. I still need to test all systems in the driveway or at the campsite.

Ok, so here are my dumb questions... Any help would be greatly appreciated as I just need some basics.

1. Electric Hitch / 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? I saw a great video on e-trailer with a list of parts I need for the van.

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.

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.

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???

Thanks so much for any and all help. I want to pretend that I know what I'm doing when I set the camper up on Friday. Fat chance on that happening! :)

Looking forwards to helping someone else out here on this great resource when I know a little more than a doughnut.

Take care, Dave
Folding Trailers

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  • mebirkle's avatar
    mebirkle
    Explorer
    Jun 05, 2014
    Tomorrow is the first camping / RV trip for me and my family ever! Thanks everyone for getting me this far. i feel as ready as I'll ever be. Now it's time to learn from hopoefully minimal mistakes. :)

    The camper is loaded and I think I have everything figured out but the toilet (just need to read the manual) and why a 120 v recepticle doesn't work in the front of the new rig; Those can wait until next week or later.

    I'll start a new thread regarding my first trip and fhe stories that will come with it.
  • opnspaces's avatar
    opnspaces
    Navigator III
    Jun 04, 2014
    I love these kinds of question posts. Welcome to the forum. :)
    mebirkle wrote:
    Electric Hitch / 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?

    Yes correct. You will need a 7 blade socket mounted to your tow vehicle (TV) and an electric brake controller installed in the Honda before the brakes will work.

    mebirkle wrote:
    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?
    Yes it's easy to replace. If the site you are going to has water hookups, you won't need the pump. But you should at least buy a cheap water pressure regulator from the RV section at Walmart. Link

    mebirkle wrote:
    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.

    Probably correct. Everyone will tell you that white is usually ground and black is positive on the battery. But nobody wants to come out and say that is correct in case you have that one in a million that is wired in reverse. I don't think I've ever heard of that though unless it's obvious that the previous owner was doing some rewiring.

    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???

    Try popupportal.com. They have a large owners manual section available for download.

    Also the AC drains right onto the roof. You have to pull the top cover to verify if the drains are clear.

    Here's some unsolicited advice.

    Block the wheels before unhitching and the safety chains come off last. I have read more than one post on here of someones trailer rolling away toward the lake as it came off the ball.

    Disconnect the battery in storage so it doesn't drain.

    The refrigerator takes overnight to cool down. Avoid the 12 volt setting if it has one or you'll have a dead battery in no time.

    The 120v household outlets don't work unless you have electrical hookups. Water pump, heater, and refrigerator will work fine on battery.

    Stow the awning at night so a gust of wind doesn't tear it off.

    If it's going to rain drop one end of the awning down or water will pool and ruin the fabric.

    Make sure you put down the rear stabilizers before crawling onto the rear bed. Forget this and you'll have a trailer popping a wheelie for the entire campground to see. :B

    It sounds like a great buy, get out to the five mile away campsite and have a good time. Oh and take pictures and give us a trip report when you get back.
  • JordanH's avatar
    JordanH
    Explorer II
    Jun 04, 2014
    I wouldn't worry about towing the pop up without breaks, Ive been towing my 25 foot TT without any break controller hooked up since I got it last year. But I did just get my new P3 controller today
  • mebirkle's avatar
    mebirkle
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2014
    awesome... just found the centurion converter manual and realized i had one. Lot's of discoveries lately. Nothing like flying by the seat of my pants.

    I tested the a/c and it works well. I couldn't find where it condenses/drains. Where would a rooftop unit drain out to? I want to make sure it's not clogged.
  • Mvander's avatar
    Mvander
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2014
    When you plug in the 120v appliances will work if you have any. The plug in should charge the battery also and the converter will use the shore power to to run all 12v acessories. So in short nothing for you to do.
  • mebirkle's avatar
    mebirkle
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2014
    Thanks so much everyone!!! I feel like I found a new home with you all.

    I will definitely ask for help when I'm setting up. I'm not the kind of guy that doesn't ask for directions as some of us are. Well, I actually just ask Siri... does that count?

    Water pump sounds like a no-brainer, so I'll order one as a backup in case I don't have power available.

    I wish I could fix the brake/hitch plug before I go anywhere, as I agree I shouldn't be going anywhere without trailer brakes. Luckily, the campground is within 5 miles from home so it's a test run for us/me. The van did a great job at stopping the trailer when I drove home. I almost thought it had surge brakes which is definitely not the case. I will be ok and I just bought RV insurance.... (yes, I'm being silly and ignorant). I'll be super careful.

    One more question - If I plug into the electric at the campsite, will the battery be turned/switched off automatically as a source of power so I user electric only instead of battery? Is there a switch somewhere I should be hunting for to tell the camper to use the plug vs. battery?

    Again... thanks everyone. I feel so much better.
  • RoyF's avatar
    RoyF
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2014
    Rather than "pretend that I know what I'm doing" at first setup, you might bite the bullet and ask some likely fellow camper to assist you. We all had to start sometime, and almost all of us are glad to help out when asked.

    I remember trying to put up my popup's awning for the first time. Must have taken me a dozen tries, and I'm sure other the campers were provided with much entertainment.
  • BurbMan's avatar
    BurbMan
    Explorer III
    Jun 04, 2014
    Hi Dave and welcome to the forum!

    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....
  • DougE's avatar
    DougE
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2014
    1. Although I recommend a 7-way on anything for maximum utility, you can go to a 5-way flat for your installation. However you can also put a 12v power wire in the 7-way so it charges the trailer battery while traveling.
    2. Replacing the pump is no big deal. Two wires and two hoses. You can just work out of water jugs till you fix it though.
    3. Typically if the wire pair is black and white, the white is ground. If red and black the black is ground. Get a cheap volt meter to verify. You will need one for trouble shooting anyway.
    4. Not usually any manuals for any trailers I've had.
    Have fun! I enjoyed my popup more than my hard-sided trailer or Class A.
  • the_bear_II's avatar
    the_bear_II
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2014
    RVs are wired with black positive.

    Water pump is simple to replace, usually they are near the fresh water tank. A few screws and a couple of hose connections and wire nuts for the electrical.

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