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Old 11-10-2020, 11:37 AM   #1401
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Wow! That was a different direction on the A/C. That has to cool the whole AI easily and quickly.
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Old 11-17-2020, 09:37 PM   #1402
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.... this unit draws 8.3 at full tilt then ramps down as the inside cools off. Future plan is to make a cover for the compressor then add five 150 watt solar panels to the roof and lithium batteries so this will also operate while parked.
LOVE the use of an energy efficient mini split on an RV!!! Have been wondering why none of the manufacturers do this, they are so much better!

I'm having trouble with your math on thinking that you can run it off of solar though. Please feel free to correct my math but 8.3 amps at 120V is 996 Watts. Your talking about 750 watts worth of solar ... before losses, etc. etc. So while you should be able to run this off of batteries for a while depending on the size of your cells, and the solar will offset the use, seems you will still need some other power source to keep things up and running. What am I missing?
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Old 11-18-2020, 04:23 AM   #1403
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LOVE the use of an energy efficient mini split on an RV!!! Have been wondering why none of the manufacturers do this, they are so much better!

I'm having trouble with your math on thinking that you can run it off of solar though. Please feel free to correct my math but 8.3 amps at 120V is 996 Watts. Your talking about 750 watts worth of solar ... before losses, etc. etc. So while you should be able to run this off of batteries for a while depending on the size of your cells, and the solar will offset the use, seems you will still need some other power source to keep things up and running. What am I missing?
You are correct in your math, 996 watts to run the AC unit at full tilt, but remember the inverter technology ramps the compressor down so it will be less that 996 watts the closer the set temp gets to the actual temp on the inside. Lets say its a perfect world and turn on the ac and its hot on the inside it draws 996 watts, if your sitting in the direct sunlight your solar will give you 750 watts, you have a 246 watt deficit which must come from the batteries which are 12V divided by 246 is 20.5 amps draw. Right now I have 380 amp hours of glass and lead acid batteries which in a I could run my AC unit 18.5 hours with the storage capacity I have BUT we are not in a perfect world and we know thats not possible without destroying the batteries and your not going to get a full 750 watts from solar panels but if you had 12000 watts of lithium you can balance the best of system. The solar panel and lithium upgrade would not be for a full time boon docking but would be nice for my dogs when I'm out fishing or maybe for taking a nap in the back while underway. My plan is to have lithium someday but thats another project.
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Old 11-18-2020, 09:08 AM   #1404
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I love the mini split idea, and execution looks great! I do wish they made an exterior component one could place flat on the roof vs hanging it on the back door where it would be exposed to door slams, road grime, and get in the way of my bicycles and the rack I use to carry them.
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Old 11-19-2020, 05:01 AM   #1405
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I love the mini split idea, and execution looks great! I do wish they made an exterior component one could place flat on the roof vs hanging it on the back door where it would be exposed to door slams, road grime, and get in the way of my bicycles and the rack I use to carry them.
Absolutely! Even if they used the components of a inverter system and made a flat compressor unit that would fit on top it would game changer for RV'ers. I thought I might do that myself but the compressor stands vertical and its pretty tall so I took this route.
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Old 11-19-2020, 11:49 AM   #1406
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Absolutely! Even if they used the components of a inverter system and made a flat compressor unit that would fit on top it would game changer for RV'ers. I thought I might do that myself but the compressor stands vertical and its pretty tall so I took this route.
Agreed, I would also be quite reluctant to take a compressor intended for vertical deployment and lie it down flat on the roof. Your installation looks great.
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Old 11-27-2020, 12:24 PM   #1407
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What's missing?

Finally got around to removing that stupid, clumsy soap dispenser.
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Old 11-27-2020, 12:31 PM   #1408
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Mag board and sundries rack

We ditched the front TV as soon as we got the van. (Why have two TV's in the van, when we don't have even one at home?) But we never had a good use for the area freed up. Finally got around to mounting a handy magnetic board for maps etc and a shelf/rack unit for sundries. While this project is not in the same league as others here, it was within our scope of competence.
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Old 11-27-2020, 02:30 PM   #1409
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Finally got around to removing that stupid, clumsy soap dispenser.
Well done. Oh yes, we want to do this. How do we neatly remove that dispenser?
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Old 11-28-2020, 06:42 AM   #1410
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Well done. Oh yes, we want to do this. How do we neatly remove that dispenser?
As I said, this was in our scope of competence, so it is very easy (if yours is the same). Open the cover and carefully remove the liquid containers. That's the tricky part, because we have dropped/spilled them often when re-filling. Remove 4 small phillips screws and the unit comes off the wall. Fill the screw holes with caulk and it's done.

We didn't add back anything to the bath, like a wrack for soaps. We just temporarily put a bottle of soap/shampoo in the wash basin during showers. We are minimalists (lazy).
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Old 11-28-2020, 07:09 AM   #1411
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Remove 4 small phillips screws and the unit comes off the wall. Fill the screw holes with caulk and it's done.
I think this link may have been posted before. i used these little white plugs for the holes.
https://www.amazon.com/Pack-White-Pl...6572409&sr=8-2
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Old 11-28-2020, 09:04 AM   #1412
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it was within our scope of competence.
"A man's got to know his limitations."

Clint Eastwood, Magnum Force!
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Old 11-28-2020, 11:12 AM   #1413
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TayaraTravel View Post
As I said, this was in our scope of competence, so it is very easy (if yours is the same). Open the cover and carefully remove the liquid containers. That's the tricky part, because we have dropped/spilled them often when re-filling. Remove 4 small phillips screws and the unit comes off the wall. Fill the screw holes with caulk and it's done.

We didn't add back anything to the bath, like a wrack for soaps. We just temporarily put a bottle of soap/shampoo in the wash basin during showers. We are minimalists (lazy).
Perfect, thanks. Will pick up a small tube of some kind of white waterproof / mildew-resistant caulk before attempting removal.
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Old 11-28-2020, 11:17 AM   #1414
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I think this link may have been posted before. i used these little white plugs for the holes.
https://www.amazon.com/Pack-White-Pl...6572409&sr=8-2
Those look promising as well, thanks! Did you also caulk around them to prevent leakage, or just pop them in?
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Old 11-28-2020, 12:07 PM   #1415
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Those look promising as well, thanks! Did you also caulk around them to prevent leakage, or just pop them in?
Yes, full disclosure. filled the holes with caulk and pushed in plugs and then held plugs in place with masking tape until caulk dried.
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Old 12-02-2020, 09:11 PM   #1416
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We removed the dispenser, too. That little bit of extra room made a world of difference for me.
The screws were put back into their holes using screw Snap-Caps.
Check out www.pro-dec.com to order these inexpensive little gems. They're just like those used in other locations within your AI.
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Old 12-03-2020, 06:43 AM   #1417
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We removed the dispenser, too. That little bit of extra room made a world of difference for me.
The screws were put back into their holes using screw Snap-Caps.
Check out www.pro-dec.com to order these inexpensive little gems. They're just like those used in other locations within your AI.
Oh, this looks quite promising! Did you caulk them as well, or just put them in? Would I need a "snap cap washer" and a "Snap Cap" for each screw? Would that washer be the flat bottom or counter-sunk variety? Also, just making sure, did you use the 8/8 size?

Thanks!
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Old 05-29-2021, 10:29 AM   #1418
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bluetooth radio

This is pretty old tech, but a big upgrade for my 2007: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/pioneer...?skuId=6387902

My phone stands in clips attached to the radio so better for navigation and audiobook/music access. I've been using headset, so this is great improvement. the mic for the phone is mounted in the gauge "cave." Haven't tried the phone on the highway yet, but my husband said he could hear me fine when I tried it.

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Old 05-29-2021, 03:28 PM   #1419
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Interstate Mods - I'll go First

On covering screw holes: We used a product called FastCaps:

https://www.fastcap.com/product/fast...er-caps?cat=31

We used white PVC for the dispenser and found a pretty good match to our laminate in one of the wood grain pvc colors. They’ve worked well for us, and we’ve found them less likely to fall off than the screw caps.
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Old 03-13-2022, 08:46 PM   #1420
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Was this the table mount that you used?

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/sprin...?recordNum=140
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