Black Series HQ Tips, Tricks, and Learning.....

[Shafferandy]

Yes, it’s a Dometic. I have tent poles and was thinking of doing something very similar to your picture.

Cheers,
Andy

 

[dags]

Bikepedals is correct. You need a separate charge controller. Most "suitcase" solar solutions do have a charge controller already built in, and if so you can hook that up to the Anderson connector no problem. If you're building your own custom setup, you'll have to search for a controller that fits your need. For example, does it need to be water proof? The Victron controllers are not.

Thanks for all the replys, i ended up mounting a panel on the roof of the leer topper on my pickup. Installed controller/battery and fridge on pickup with no link to the camper.

 

[dags]

Does anyone know of a gas hose that would connect to the external gas fitting on the HQ19, trying to run an external gas grill. Seems like the external fitting is not standard for the US?

 

[calicamper]

Any of you guys look at the Opus 15? I think these trailers are getting rebranded and sold in various forms now.
The opus seems far more family focused and less glitzy penthouse camper than the Black Series

 

[Bikepals]

Does anyone know of a gas hose that would connect to the external gas fitting on the HQ19, trying to run an external gas grill. Seems like the external fitting is not standard for the US?

My quick connector for my Weber wouldn’t fit (and I can’t find one that will) so I bought a propane hose that connects to the propane tank and I run it out through the vent holes In the bottom of the propane compartment to the grill. If you find one that works let us know.

 

[springman30]

My quick connector for my Weber wouldn’t fit (and I can’t find one that will) so I bought a propane hose that connects to the propane tank and I run it out through the vent holes In the bottom of the propane compartment to the grill. If you find one that works let us know.

following, I would like to get a hose with the correct fitting so I can use the quick connect to attach other accessories.

 

[Dmaxzr2]

Any of you guys look at the Opus 15? I think these trailers are getting rebranded and sold in various forms now.
The opus seems far more family focused and less glitzy penthouse camper than the Black Series

Yes. That is my current dilemma, I looked at one here in person and really like the floor layout of the opus 15, more spacious feeling in a small trailer

 

[Robbrown27]

Finally had enough time to go out and enjoy the HQ15 some more this weekend! I noticed my radio antenna had almost come all the way unscrewed off of its post. You folks may take a look at yours and double check it. The McHitch towed very nice, even with the Wyoming wind on the interstate. Hooking up that hitch is so much nicer than the polyblock! I highly recommend it.

 

[HQJoe]

To Rob Brown and others with the periodic blinking light problem:

By the way, I'm the Paul that Raspy mentioned in his post about the issue.

Here’s the test that needs to be done:

Truck off, I left the 7-way connected just for my convenience.

Disconnect the affected circuit wires at the tongue junction box. For me, it’s the trailer stoplight / turn signal circuits.

Truck on, note: didn’t actually start the engine, but the switch was in the RUN position.

Verify that you lose functionality of the circuits. For me, I disconnected both trailer stoplight / turn signal circuits. They didn’t work anymore.

Verify that the trailer stoplight / turn signal lights (for my problem) are still flashing a periodic rate. And you ask how can this be? The affected circuits are disconnected, the answer is down below.

Truck off.

Disconnect the trailer brake circuit.

Truck on, same as described above. Note: if done correctly you will lose the trailer connected advisory on the dash.

Verify that the periodic flashing of the (in my case) of the trailer stoplight / turn signals has stopped.

Truck off.

Reconnect both trailer stoplight / turn signal circuits. Leave the trailer brake circuit disconnected.

Truck on, same as described above.

Test trailer brake lights / turn signals, they now work as they are supposed to.

Truck off.

Reconnect the trailer brake circuit.

Verify that all circuits are operational. (Except for the periodic blinking light issue.)

The answer to the problem:

The problem is called inductive coupling. In simple terms, the trailer brake circuit is acting like a transmitting antenna. In my case, both the trailer stoplight / turn signal circuits are receiving antennas. The periodic signal that the truck sends down the trailer brake circuit is basically being broadcast to the other circuits. And, since LED’s are low current devices, it doesn’t take much to light them up.

If wires are long enough, and laid out in parallel lengths in close proximity, you will get inductive coupling. It’s a bit more complicated than I’ve described, as other factors come into play.

There are ways to mitigate this, like moving the wires farther apart, or twisted pairs, or shielded twisted pairs. In this case, am going to have to look into how the trailer brake circuit is done on the trailer and run some experiments on the easiest way to fix.
That is, if I’m smart enough and / or lucky enough to figure out how to fix it…………….

There are many variables involved in this type of problem, the brand and year of tow vehicle, the auto trailer detect scheme that it uses, how the trailer harness was laid out (and even how a particular person did it), the DC return scheme used on the trailer, the resonant frequency of the trailer brake coils, and other factors that are way above my abilities to say whether or not any particular trailer and tow vehicle will exhibit this problem.

For reference (at least on mine):

Trailer
7-way connector
Pin number
1 —> Ground / DC return. —> White wire in junction box.
2 —> Trailer Brakes ———> Blue wire in junction box.
3 —> Marker Lights ————> Green wire in junction box.
4 —> +12V Charging ————> Black wire in junction box, yes, it’s hooked up.
5 —> L Turn / Stoplight ————> Red wire in junction box.
6 —> R Turn / Stoplight ————> Brown wire in junction box.
7 —> Backup Lights —————> Yellow wire in junction box.

Paul

Paul and friends with the tail light flashing/blinking problem.

About 4 weeks ago I was talking to a Black Series deal mechanic and he told me about this problem. At first i did not believe him since low voltage with slow speed signal "CAN pulses" don't cause inductive coupling. This would be a first time seeing it in my 20 year of Electrical engineering. However he showed the flashing tail light on a HQ19.

After getting home from my trip I decided to test my HQ15 with a 2016 MB Sprinter. Knowing that new vehicles use a CAN bus system and send test signals out to all light to see if they are still functional.

Test:
1) So connection with vehicle and I noticed the test pulse ( for MB its one at first connection and another one 30 sec later). However it kept blinking.
2) On Sprinters you use an after market electric braking unit plugged into the stock wiring harness. So I disconnected my Tekonsha Prodigy P3 trailer brake controller unit. Problem solved!!
Why? Well the new Trailer brake units send out a signal to auto detect the trailer for you!

After going through the wiring harness of the HQ 15 I found the problem.... An engineer "maybe" forgot electrical 101. "Signal feedback loop" Diodes only work in one directions and someone used them to stop the signal from one direction but forgot all about the signal coming from the other direction. The Trailer Brake Control Unit. Will explain later to save your time.

Not everybody will see this problem.
If you tow with older vehicles or aftermarket trailer braking system that don't auto detect you may never see this problem.

However if you have a 2000 or newer vehicle with OEM electric brake system or like me a trailer brake unit that auto detects you will have this problem. Some flashing lights will be faster or brighter depending on the vehicle. So it maybe so quick and weak you don't need to do this fix. That is up to you.

How to Fix: "The fun part" Remember that these wires can be hot. So make sure you disconnect all power sources.
1) Locate the emergency breakaway brake system in your trailer. The HQ15 is under the bed "fun" and located within the water heater access panel (Picture #1)
2) The emergency breakaway unit in on the left side looking down or after wall (pic #2)
FYI, the Black Series does use car fuses and they are for the trail light.. So if any of your trailer lights (brake, turn, driving, reverse, ) goes out check these fuses.. (pic #3)
3) Locate the wire bundle under the fuse panel with the two blues, a black, a red, and brown wire (picture #4). Colors may very since I've only work on one HQ.
My HQ has a twist-on wire connector to connect these wires. The bad part is this wire bundle is the signal wire to your emergency breakaway system to apply the brake power to your brakes. I'm going to use a different method of connecting these wire.
4) Remove the left and right tail light signal wire (Red and Brown for my unit) with the diodes installed (pic #5) from this connection. You decide how you want to remove these wire but they don't need to be connector however they are not when connected to the tow vehicle. So use wire end cap or tap to make sure they are not open to shorting. They connected the tail lights to the emergency breakaway unit so the tail light would come on if your trailer broke away.


Why this fixes the problem. So your tow vehicle electric brake unit sends a signal down the brake wire. This signal passes through the diode at the connector (pic 4) and to your tail light. The best part. It travel back and hits the diode and then goes back the the tail light.

I'm in the middle of writing up my report to Black Series with all my test data, video, more pictures and results on this problem. I don't work for them but I figure they need to know the root cause in detail with wiring diagrams and other solution (custom circuit board) if you still want the trail lights connected to the emergency breakaway unit and not have blinking problems.

Hope this is helpful...

 

[paulg]

HQJoe,

It looks like I was wrong on the inductive coupling issue. Thank you. I'd have never thought that the break-away system was tied to the brake light/turn signal circuits.

Haven't gone back to look at it in more detail, as I put it on the back burner. I still have unanswered questions to some of the things I saw.

Completed fixing (I think, haven't taken a trip yet) my 50 gallon fresh water tank issue. My HQ19 has been sitting in storage now with a full tank for awhile to see how it holds up statically, if the the Anza-Borrego desert camping ban is lifted in time, may go out next weekend to give the tank fix a good test. I don't think newer 2020 models will have the same issue, as the videos I seen of the underside show that Black Series has changed the tank straps (the outboard straps now look like the center, and all have additional reinforcement).

Paul

 

[mvbeggs]

Paul and friends with the tail light flashing/blinking problem.

About 4 weeks ago I was talking to a Black Series deal mechanic and he told me about this problem. At first i did not believe him since low voltage with slow speed signal "CAN pulses" don't cause inductive coupling. This would be a first time seeing it in my 20 year of Electrical engineering. However he showed the flashing tail light on a HQ19.
...

Had the same issue on our 2020 HQ-19. On the HQ-19, the location of the tail light connections to the break away circuit is under the kitchen sink.

 

[Raspy]

On my HQ19 with the blinking problem, I simply ran a new brake wire from the junction box on the tongue, to the brake plug at the front axle. And I clipped the factory brake wire near the plug. This bypassed the factory in-frame wire that ran from the junction box the the front axle brake plug. I simply replaced one wire with another, and took a different route. Nothing else was done. That fixed the blinking tail lights.

This was based on Paul's conclusion that it was inductive coupling. It seems he was right as the only functional difference is the distance between the wires.

I can't see how Joe's conclusion can be right, but it seems it could be tested by disconnecting the wires downstream of the diodes, and looking for the signal there, after the diodes. If a blinking signal is there, it must be right. But how can that theory fit what I did to fix the problem? For the signal to be there, after the diodes, it would have to pass through the charger, the emergency battery, and the diodes, and still be strong enough to fire the LED strip in the tail lights.

 

[drhappy]

Here's a picture from the day I picked it up.
View attachment 576231

Hi Junkyardrules, I have a 17' Raptor and have zeroed in on the HQ15 as well. How does the Raptor handle the towing? Thanks in advance!

 

[JumpJ]

NO HOT WATER COMING OUT? 7 I have a 2020 HQ17, that has been nothing but issues. Just as I thought we were coming out of the fog I'm having hot water issues. Under the bed there is the back of the hot water heater. I have the valves all open. Water pump is on but get no hot water coming through. Cold comes through just fine. Anyone got an idea. It is most likely me but would appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Robbrown27]

NO HOT WATER COMING OUT? 7 I have a 2020 HQ17, that has been nothing but issues. Just as I thought we were coming out of the fog I'm having hot water issues. Under the bed there is the back of the hot water heater. I have the valves all open. Water pump is on but get no hot water coming through. Cold comes through just fine. Anyone got an idea. It is most likely me but would appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

Make sure the winterizing valve in between the middle of inlet and outlet is in proper position, should be closed.