2017 Classic Recliner

[uncle_bob]

Hi

This is one of those "obvious after the fact" sort of things. It was not obvious (to me) before I started digging into the recliner.

The sub-woffer and a bunch of the power stuff are buried under the middle of the recliner. Doing much of anything with the solar charger or the audio amp is way easier if you pull the middle section of the recliner. Hmmmm...... how to do that? The first part is easy, but what about the rest?

Turns out it's all simple. You pull the two bolts at the front of the center section. They go through the frame just behind the center pop out panel. ( It's in-between the two recliner footrests).

Once that is out, the whole center section just lifts out. There's a sort of rod that goes thru a mount hole in the back. It may or may not hang up a bit. Yes, it is a bit heavy ....

Bob

[Airhead2018]

Been there done that Bob. I'm slowly trying to organize my wiring. These are before and after picks of bundling wires and screwing the control panel to the floor. This is like polishing a turd.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Ok, in the 2017 they did things a little different. It's AS why would they ever do it twice the same way? The sub mounts over the DC power stuff. The area that the sub mounts on the 2018 is empty. The 2017 does not have a bit fancy enclosure around the 12V stuff .... it's just out and about ...

I'm in the middle of a lithium upgrade so some of what's there DC wise is getting torn out. After looking at how the center section goes in, I thing it is headed for storage. I'm building a more functional ( for us ) center section to replace it. It will nuke the ability to sleep on the recliners like a sofa ... we can live with that.

Bob

[Airhead2018]

At this point I wouldn't doubt the 2018's are different from each other I was just doing some reading on the newer lithium batteries and by the time my AGM batteries go I might do the same. Do you have solar charging capabilities now? If so will you have to change anything on that end? Good luck!

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Simple answer on the lithium's - yes, I'm swapping out the solar controller, the charger / converter, and adding a DC/DC converter to charge from and isolate the truck. Lots more to do than just drop in the batteries.

Turns out all that "stuff" takes up some space. Who would have guessed? Two batteries mounted ok in the "empty" space under the 2017 center section. I'm building a mount at the back of the center section to mount the solar and dc/dc. They need cooling as well as space.

One "interesting" thing I may do to the recliner - I believe the recliner motors run on 29VDC. It normally comes from the adapters that hook to the inverter. Turning on the inverter means a pretty good battery hit. If I get ambitious, I'm going to put a DC/DC converter in to run the recliners directly off of the battery. I have not yet dug into it enough to see how much is involved in re-wiring them. The other plus would be power to the USB plugs on the recliner when only on battery.

Bob

[Bougeois]

Originally Posted by Airhead2018

Been there done that Bob. I'm slowly trying to organize my wiring. These are before and after picks of bundling wires and screwing the control panel to the floor. This is like polishing a turd.

I put a RCA power booster on the sub and it makes a big difference.

[Airhead2018]

Originally Posted by Bougeois

I put a RCA power booster on the sub and it makes a big difference.

Funny you should mention that Sub, when the Polk Audio is set on (Loud) it will shake the leaves of the trees. Volume has to be way low to use that function. The sound seems distorted also, like if you had a cracked speaker. I assume the booster would help with that?

[Airhead2018]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Simple answer on the lithium's - yes, I'm swapping out the solar controller, the charger / converter, and adding a DC/DC converter to charge from and isolate the truck. Lots more to do than just drop in the batteries.

Turns out all that "stuff" takes up some space. Who would have guessed? Two batteries mounted ok in the "empty" space under the 2017 center section. I'm building a mount at the back of the center section to mount the solar and dc/dc. They need cooling as well as space.

One "interesting" thing I may do to the recliner - I believe the recliner motors run on 29VDC. It normally comes from the adapters that hook to the inverter. Turning on the inverter means a pretty good battery hit. If I get ambitious, I'm going to put a DC/DC converter in to run the recliners directly off of the battery. I have not yet dug into it enough to see how much is involved in re-wiring them. The other plus would be power to the USB plugs on the recliner when only on battery.

Bob

Curious, what batteries did you have originally and did they die on you already? Also are you upgrading for boondocking purposes or just for wanting the latest technology?

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Airhead2018

Curious, what batteries did you have originally and did they die on you already? Also are you upgrading for boondocking purposes or just for wanting the latest technology?

Hi

The trailer came with almost 1 year old AGM's. The service guys flattened them ( like to 2V ) when I had the trailer inspected. They never had a problem holding a charge or any other issues. I simply did the math and figured out that for reasonable success off grid, we were going to need more battery. Sometimes you park in the shade

In the process of pulling out the old converter, I discovered it had died. I suppose I could have done a warranty repair on it ... why ... I'm guessing it must have died on the way back from our last adventure. I saw no issues with the 12V system at any point.

I went with four 100AH Battle Born lithium's. My guess at this point is that they will let us run off grid for quite a while. I want to see how the solar does with the new charge controller before I make any absolute predictions

I've done a new center section for the recliners. It seems to fit and I can mount the solar and dc/dc converter on the back of it. Things went a bit better once I decided to shim up the back. The early plan was to "keep it simple". Having it drop at the back ( the rear frame is a couple inches lower than the front) turned into a mess. The new gizmo will bolt in with three 1/2" carriage bolts. It should be plenty solid.

Bob

[Airhead2018]

Thanks for responding to my questions. Sounds like a good plan and I will keep all of this in mind for our possible future upgrades. Good Luck!

[uncle_bob]

Hi

All these trailer mod threads are very specific to an owner. Trading off the ability to sleep on the couch for a center section may not be for everybody. Even ripping things out of the "new" (ours is one year old) trailer is not for everybody. This set of mods is one of those "Is it a good idea? I'll let you know in 10 years " things even for us.

Maybe we'll cone back to this thread then and and the "here's the mistakes" to it.

Bob