New Owners

[Jdanielm1]

Good day, all.

We recently purchased a 2020 Bighorn Traveler 39MB. We would like any reasonable advice from the professional camper community as we are new to the scene. I’ve done a lot of research and I think I’ve got most of it figured out but would love to hear from you all.

Thanks!!

 

[danemayer]

Hi Jdanielm1,

Congratulations on your new Bighorn Traveler and welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. We've got a great bunch of people here who are quick to share what they've learned, so feel free to ask any questions.

Also, we have a large collections of owner-written user guides that supplement the information in your manual. Here's a link.

Be sure to check out our owners club. It's free to join and membership gets you into rallies where you'll meet like-minded people and have a great time.

 

[Jdanielm1]

Hi Jdanielm1,

Congratulations on your new Bighorn Traveler and welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. We've got a great bunch of people here who are quick to share what they've learned, so feel free to ask any questions.

Also, we have a large collections of owner-written user guides that supplement the information in your manual. Here's a link.

Be sure to check out our owners club. It's free to join and membership gets you into rallies where you'll meet like-minded people and have a great time.

Thanks, Dan. We’re pretty excited. Taking it out for the first time this weekend. I would love to post a photo of the new toy but it says I’m not allowed to add attachments as of yet. So I’ll post one here when I’m allowed.

Our only real question about the gig this far is how to get the propane to operate the fridge. Slowly trying to figure things like that out.

Thanks again for the warm welcome.

 

[danemayer]

To get the refrigerator going on propane,

1. Make sure there's propane in the tanks
2. Close the valves on each tank. Wait about 15 seconds. Re-open the valves verrrry slowly. There's an overflow protection device that can trigger if you open the valves too quickly.
3. Purge air from the propane lines by lighting a burner on the stovetop. Let it burn for 1 minute.
4. Switch the refrigerator from AUTO or ELECTRIC mode to PROPANE mode.

You also need 12V DC to operate the propane side of the refrigerator. But since that's also needed for inside lights, I'm assuming you're good there.

 

[NP_Chief]

Congrats and welcome to the forum!

 

[NYSUPstater]

CONGRATS as well and Dan is spot on (1st reply). I might add that while some leave the gas on while in transit, we don't, so applying Dan's method above is what I use each time after we get set up (except 99.9% of the time we are on shore power so fridge is not on gas, but still use the stove to get air out of the line).

 

[Jdanielm1]

Thanks for all the information, guys. It is much appreciated. Just went out to hook up for our trip tomorrow and the battery is dead. 😂🤣😂 Beginners issues. Lol

 

[danemayer]

Thanks for all the information, guys. It is much appreciated. Just went out to hook up for our trip tomorrow and the battery is dead. 😂🤣😂 Beginners issues. Lol

If the trailer was not plugged into a power source, you need to set the battery cutoff switch to OFF or the battery will run down in a week or two, even if you turn everything off, due to parasitic loads from things like the propane detector. If any lights or appliances are left ON, the battery will run down very quickly.

Not all RVs come with cutoff switches. If yours didn't, you'll want to add one.

If the trailer was plugged in to shore power, you probably need to reset a 12V DC mini-circuit breaker near the battery. There's a row of little breakers that are covered by red rubber boots. One breaker has a teeny-tiny reset button on the end. That breaker sits in between the Power Converter and the battery.

Here's what the breakers look like with rubber boot removed. Your arrangement will be a bit different.

 

[Jdanielm1]

Thanks again for the help. I do have cutoff switches that I forgot to turn to off. Finally got hooked up, got out on the road on our first trip, and just got back.

We found numerous issues on our first trip out that the dealer is currently addressing. The fridge would not run on the inverter and they found an open between the inverter and the fridge.

We found the landing gear wouldn’t come all the way up upon departure. I found some wires that come out of a terminal lug on the hydraulic manifold. Got those put back in just to have another set fall out when they were lightly bumped.

The second bedroom door will not latch when closed.

We also found that the dealer did not fill one of the propane tanks upon pickup. So they filled it for us.

Other than that... the kids loved it. I learned that my truck (2011 F350 KR SRW) needed airbags pretty badly so I just got through installing the Firestone Ride Rite 2597 kit accompanied with the Air Lift 72000 wireless air compressor. I also have a 65 gallon Titan midship tank on the way. My truck is thirsty when he’s got a load hooked up.

Thanks again for the warm welcome.