Aluminum Camper Forum

Let me say first that I love my trailer. I bought it for the aluminum frame and other quality build components like most here. The stain that this manufacture has is electrical wiring and their sloppiness. I have posted on Livin' Lite message board (they are now deleted by the moderator I think) about the issues and I the feed back I got was that I should have had a better dealer inspection. This may be true, but it wouldn't have caught a number of issues I have found since purchasing the trailer.

I felt the need to start a thread of wiring and electrical workmanship issues that owners of these trailers have seen and how they diagnosed and fixed them or perhaps how a dealer fixed them. My issues so far. (More to come on my transfer switch)

Issue No. 1: Trailer Running Marker Lights (Roof)
The roof marker lights were not working when I received the trailer (3rd party cross country delivery). After I pulled apart the wiring tray above the toy hauler door, I found that the wires were ran but they were not connected. Just sitting there with an open end. Spliced them in and good to go. This took a while to locate where these wires were ran to without any wiring diagrams available.



Issue No. 2: Turn Signal Lights
When the left turn signal was activated, both the left and right lights flashed. The yellow wire (left signal) was wired to both tail lights. The green was not wired to anything. Just a wire running around the trailer with nothing hooked to it. Solved this after pulling all of the rear lights off the trailer. Both Issue 1 and 2 were occurring at the same time.

Issue No. 3: Range Hood Fan
The fan was not operating when I received delivery of the trailer. After pulling the whole range hood off and inspecting the wiring I found that the connections were made with a wire nut, and that wires had pulled out of it. Repaired with crimp connections.



Issue No.4: Water Pump Circuit Fuse Blowing While Driving (8 Months after purchase)
This issue is the most frustrating. Whenever I would hit camp my fuse would be blown on the water pump circuit. I always make sure the pump is off before I leave. It shouldn't blow the fuse regardless, I have left those pumps on for months pumping dry (don't judge) and it doesn't blow a fuse.

Because the switch was always off I figured I had a short between the fuse box and the water pump switch. Problem is, a lot of this wire is in the galley wall. I was able to just barely get enough of the wire up to the switch hole in the wall to see that I had a wire splice (no good reason for it). The wire splice was crimped with what looks like side cutters and was cut almost clear through the crimp connection creating a hinge that opened and closed the circuit with movement. My first problem with this is that the splice was not necessary unless they broke the wire or they were changing wire spools. Both would cause them to scrap maybe 10' of wire or use it for another circuit. Then crimping this connection like this behind a wall! Very frustrating.




I hope all of this is helpful to others having similar issues.

Fellow Aluminum Campers.

We do a lot of the grid boondock camping/fishing/boating in colder weather up here in Washington State. Regularly in the 20's at night in the spring and the fall. The batteries don't last long with the furnace cycling and running a lot in cold temps and I HATE generators while sleeping (or any other time for that matter). So I bit the bullet and installed a Camco Olympian Wave 8 in our Quicksilver Toy Hauler.

Thought I would share my experiences with the heater install.


Step 1- Found a place to plumb in supply line. This was a tricky step as I found out. The propane manifold located near mid-trailer under the floor seemed optimal as it had a 3/8" NPT plug that I was hoping to remove and tap into. However, it became evident after my point of no return that the supply lines were Locktite glued in place and I couldn't remove the plug in place and had to rebuild the manifold. This involved a lot of fittings and some real thinking about reassembly. The original supply lines were male NPT and changed them to a swivel female for assembly purposes.


Step 2- In order to get this whole thing done I had to cut each of the supply lines and crimp new fittings on each end. I borrowed a crimper and went down to the local hose shop and got the parts. This step was a huge P.I.T.A. Had the plug been removable none of this would have been necessary. I'm not sure why these lines cannot be removed from the factory. Maybe there is something to them coming loose after driving or something, but it would not budge. I tried heat with a heat gun, then a propane torch and it wouldn't budge. I ended up melting the hoses as you can see in the below photo.



Step 3- I plumbed the supply line to the quick disconnect inside. The Camco Wave 8 heater can be mounted or on feet. I wanted to move it around and have a quick disconnect for storage under the front bed. Using a 3/8" Nipple Supply Kit purchased on Amazon, I was able to clamp the nipple to the floor solidly to support the quick disconnect on the inside of the trailer.





Step 4- Plumb supply line to the heater which is 3/8" flare male. I chose a 10' hose to allow me to set the thing anywhere out of the way.

Hope this is helpful to somebody looking to put one of these in. After running it, I couldn't be happier. Seems like less propane consumption and we were comfortable in the low 30's with the unit running on low. Inside temperature hovered around 60 with the furnace cycling once every hour or so. Please make sure you follow the venting instructions. The Wave 8 needs 24 Square Inches of fresh air venting

I was out rummaging and I came across a pickup truck bed bicycle rack. The rack uses clamp pressure to hold itself in the bed of a truck and was adjustable for width. We have 4 bikes (2 adult and 2 kids) that needed secured for travel. I had been trying to think of options for a while.

With a couple mods to the rack I was able to get this to function as a perfect toy hauler bike rack.







I hope someone finds this useful. I was pulling my hair out on how to mount these and this works perfectly. Two trips in and I can't think of a better way.

I have been following these forums and trying to keep up with this Livin' Lite moving around. I am never satisfied with things and am always modding to create slick solutions to my issues. Hope this is the place for the post as I don't see a Toy Hauler mod area.

Bryan