I've watch most of you videos before purchasing our first travel trailer. They have been excellent and very helpful. I have a 2021 Intech Sol Horizon, previously owned,. Are there a step by step checklists for connecting to a tow vehicle and shore power/city water at a campsite? I'm specifically interested in at what point do I need to switch the battery bypass switch to the on position to ensure charging of the onboard 12V lead/acid battery. I recently blew the 30 Amp fuse at the battery and can't figure out if I turned the switch to on too soon when connecting to shore power.
There are many setup checklists out there, here's one from Keep Your Daydream that' good: www.keepyourdaydream.com/setup/ We have a separate video for connecting the Sol Horizon to a tow vehicle: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hMRIWAv7H0M.htmlsi=iNGyAKU3KPsKeDKX Its surprising 30 Amp fuse blew on the Sol Horizon when connecting to shore power. I'm wondering, based on what you're describing, if there's something else going on electrically with the trailer. The Sol Horizon should automatically switch the trailer from house battery to shore power when you connect the trailer to an external power source (that's not greater than 30 Amps). At that point, the trailer will run off the shore power AND recharge your house battery. You may want to have someone (an electrician) look at your trailer's electrical system. Thank you for watching!
Thanks for responding so quickly. Lets say a campground only has a 50 Amp service; I know the Sol Horizon system is 30 Amps and I have a 30 Amp surge protector and an adapter going from 50 Amp plug to 30 Amp; will there be any problem connecting the pedestal to the trailer via 50 to 30 Amp RV adapter - 30 Amp surge protector - 30 Amp cord - Intech Sol Horizon? We're going on our first short trip the end of this month and I want to make sure the trip is a good experience for my wife and I.@@CouchPotatoCamping
You will find many campgrounds (especially State Parks and many Federal: Corps of Engineers, National Park campgrounds, etc.) often only have 50 Amp and a 15/20 Amp electrical outlets at the power pole. You stated the correct use of plugging a 30 Amp into a 50 amp. Here's how I would do it if I were setting up: Step 1: Make sure the 50 amp circuit's switch is off at the site's power pole. Then, connect the 50 amp to 30 amp adapter (aka Dog Bone) to the outlet. Step 2: Plug your 30 amp power surge protector into the 50 to 30 amp adapter/'dog bone' and test the campsite's power outlet with your surge protector (without the trailer connected). Step 3: Turn off the 50 amp circuit at the power pole - keep the surge protector attached. Step 4: Plug your trailer's 30 amp cord into your surge protector's 30 amp outlet. Step 5: Turn On the 50 amp circuit's switch at the power pole to power your trailer. I can't stress enough, if your surge protector comes equipped with a circuit status indicator on it (as shown in our video) test the shore power outlet prior to electrically connecting your trailer to the surge protector. I can't tell you how many times I've tested electrical shore power connections (50, 30, and 20/15 amps) at well maintained campgrounds and we had a faulty/bad electrical outlet at our site. In those instances, we either switched sites or if there was a 50 amp circuit that was good (after testing with the surge protector), I connected our 30 amp trailer (using the steps above) with no issues. The amperage rating (50/30/20/15, etc.) is merely the limiting/highest capacity of amps that particular circuit can handle and is rated for before that circuit trips. Enjoy your Sol Horizon and safe travels!!!!
Great video - thank you. I notice that you’re not using a WDS/anti-sway hitch. We picked up our Horizon last week and our dealer told me these things weren’t required or recommended because of the aluminum frame. But I’ve seen posts from some owner that say they are using them. You have an F-150, but I have a smaller Ranger - do you think I’m taking a risk not using something for sway control?
With our F150 there’s enough stiffness in its frame and we have the factory tow package, etc. I felt sway control wasn’t necessary. No major sway issues on ours except a high 40+ mph crosswind condition out west. Since the Horizon is light for our particular F150 setup a WDH wasn’t necessary (with our previous, much heavier travel trailer we had both for our F150). I would imagine if you towed the Horizon with a Ranger you should consider a WDH and sway control. It would help distribute the tongue weight - our Horizon loaded for a trip tongue weight is about 560lbs - and would help you with any sway you might experience. For you a WDH will help with any sagging at the rear of the truck while towing- which you don’t want - and it will help distribute that tongue weight to the front of your truck which is good for many reasons. I always suggest people need to look at their particular vehicles max numbers (max hitch weight, max GVWR, etc.) to guide their decision and calculations to use a WDH or not.
