i recently got our 2008 256ts komfort travel trailer and had the dealer install a solar panel. to my surprise, a couple weeks later, the batteries were both dead. dead, dead, dead. The dealer is 7 hours (each way) from where I live, so taking the trailer for them to check out isn't exactly an easy option for me. I talked to them on the phone and they are basically useless and dumb as dirt. The komfort books make no mention of the pre-wiring.
I know how to use a meter properly (i do electrical work for a living) and was able to determine that at the batteries, the solar wires had no current or volts. They are dead. However, up at the solar panel itself, it has voltage/current. The panels work, but the wires to the battery are open circuit.
I wonder if there's a disconnect or a missing fuse somewhere? I have searched everywhere and I can't figure out what is going on. Does anybody know how the wires are routed or if there's a required disconnect or fuses or if some wires need landed inside the trailer to use the pre-wiring?
All that I can tell is the wires on top go down through the fridge vent and disappear straight down. On the battery side, they go about 3' and then go into the hidden area under the trailer into no man's land. No clue where they go without ripping everything out of the trailer. I opened up the breaker/fuse panel and don't see any trace of the wires. I was TOLD they go directly to the battery... this seems to be untrue, obviously. If they thought they went direct, maybe they missed something that needs landed or something.
Tell the Owner/Gen Mgr of the Dealership (not Service Dept) to provide you the installation instructions (or copy) to include warrantee cards, etc of the equipment (panels, controller, etc) they installed so you don't have to notify the manufacture of their lousy service.
This is the very reason for buying local, it might cost a little more but goodness isn't local service worth something, or in this case a lot. Some times it cost a lot to save a few bucks.
On my Komfort, if you lay on my back under the front where the wires disappear, there is a square of the belly pan that can be unscrewed to reveal 6-8 fuses. Check voltages or look for a fuse missed in the dealer installation of the solar panel.
For the most part, the wire diagram in my TT manual is close. However, nothing is clearly labeled, so I had to do a little searching to figure out which fuse serves which component. You could contact the Komfort factory, they are located near Portland OR, and ask for diagrams if your manual is missing them. The diagrams may be a little generic, but workable. I found their customer service to be excellent on other issues!
RVnRobin and DW.
Love my 94 Dodge 2500 almost as much as I love my DW.
Dennis Smith wrote: This is the very reason for buying local, it might cost a little more but goodness isn't local service worth something, or in this case a lot. Some times it cost a lot to save a few bucks.
For me, it would be impossible to buy local. I wanted a Komfort and that was the closest dealer. I simply couldn't find anything else that had the floor plan I wanted and of the same quality.
Dennis Smith wrote: This is the very reason for buying local, it might cost a little more but goodness isn't local service worth something, or in this case a lot. Some times it cost a lot to save a few bucks.
For me, it would be impossible to buy local. I wanted a Komfort and that was the closest dealer. I simply couldn't find anything else that had the floor plan I wanted and of the same quality.
Jeff
Jeff don't let other people tell you what you should have done.
You got what you wanted that is more important than maybe needing to take your trailer back to a dealer.
Others have good suggestions about finding fuse which sounds like your problem to me.
Is it panel or panels? You need many big panels to make much current from the sun. And, if this dealer is hooking panels directly to your battery, that's a big no no.
Are you talking to the service dept? Somebody there must have done this.
Is there a display in the trailer that indicates voltage/amps/etc.? If so, is it reading anything? If it is, then wouldn't the problem be between it and the batteries? Ours has a fuse behind it. I've also noticed that with our unit, if the trailer is plugged into shore power, no juice comes down from the panel to the battery. If my converter was not working, I'm assuming that the batteries could go dead.
Do both the solar wires, both pos & neg, go all the way to the battery as a separate wire?, or is the pos wired thru an electronic power disconnect switch (solanoid) that you turn off when you leave the trailer? They may have it wired to the wrong side and its unable to charge the batteries when this switch is off. Many systems are installed with the pos wired thru this switch instead of running wires all the way to the battery & creating another hole.
I don't have a Komfort trailer, but I have just finished a complete install of a 110 Watt solar system in my 26 Bigfoot.( not prewired)
Your wiring path should be from the solar panel, down the fridge vent to gain access to some point inside the trailer where there should be a charge controller mounted that has a visble readout of your battery volts, & the amps the solar is putting out at any given time. The charge controller should have a fuse in it somewhere. From the charge controller the wires should go directly to the battery. My previous post explains how sometimes this is not done. If the installers were mickey mouse then gawd knows where they tied into a "hot" wire somewhere along the line, figuring the juice would get to the batteries along that path.
Hope this helps....PM me if I can be of any further assistance.....
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