During the month of June I took the Hiker Trailer to Ruidoso New Mexico for a few days. While there we stayed in Terri's brothers cabin. Our plan was to travel to Corpus Christi Texas and camp on the beach for a few days before returning home. The trailer was parked in the driveway with the trailer fridge plugged in and running full of food. On Sunday June 23rd I went out to the trailer to use the 12 volt plug to charge my laptop. I had no power. While checking the systems I found that sometime after we arrived the wiring had shorted and burned at the point where the wiring entered the electrical box. This required us to cut our trip short and return home without going to the beach. At home I started pulling the electrical components out of the box and upon removing the wires from the box discovered that the cause of the issue was that the entrance hole had been choked down to a point that the installer had forced the wires into the hole and they had used a small amount of electrical tape as the protection for the wires. A wire loom had also been installed around the wires but none of the loom could fit into the opening.
I removed all of the components along with the electrical box and cut a new hole in the trailer frame to allow me to install new wiring along with a new wire loom for protection. I also only reinstalled the trailer to vehicle wires in this hole. I drilled a new hole for the 110 volt and cabin 12 volt wiring to go through. I then reinstalled the components along with a shelf to hold the Solar Controller, new fuse block and disconnect switches so I could control the power going to the fridge and cabin. One of my main concerns was the lack of fuse protection that had been installed by the manufacturer. I read the literature provided by the component manufacturers and added the fuse block to allow me to put fuses on all the components as recommended by the product manufacturer. I have tested everything and have found no problems. I will be taking the trailer for a shakedown trip next week. Good news is that I now know enough about trailer electric and solar to write a book. I am defiantly disappointed in the quality control performed by Hiker where the electrical system is concerned. This is the second problem I have had and I guess I am lucky that this last problem didn't burn my trailer up......
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It was a very hot day to pour concrete but with rain in the forecast for Saturday I went ahead and sweated through it. This is another phase of the patio and a sidewalk from the front drive to the Safe-room. Cement mixer was one of the best investments I have made in a while. Would have hated to have mixed the cement by hand!
Now I can replace the backdoor. |
AuthorSteve Chapman (68 yoa) Welcome to my Retirement Journal. A little about myself: I was married to my high school sweetheart for almost 29 years. I have been a widower since 2008.
I worked for the City of Chickasha for over 38 years and held a variety of jobs for them during that time. I retired as the Parks and Recreation Director on January 6, 2017. Now that I have retired I will be working on the many projects that I have been putting off. I will also be deciding where I will live in retirement. I am not sure I want to stay in Chickasha. I do plan on traveling and doing a lot of hiking, kayaking, backpacking, camping, hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities as well as volunteer work during my retirement... ![]() New Hiking Buddy!
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