2020 Overland Explorer Vehicles (OEV) CAMP-X pop-up slide-in pickup camper (renamed "Back Country" as of 2023)

[HowardH]

I was wondering the same after finding some problematic wiring tucked away in an overhead cabinet after some recent work by OEV to our Summit. Exposed screws (ask how I discovered these) and a power cable running through the metal cutout without a grommet, protected by a strip of duct tape. Maybe just an off day by the installer?

View attachment 706303

Ill bet money nobody is more appalled by this than Mark and Arnold. I assume you’ve brought it to their attention.

 

[john61ct]

QC processes, properly designed and implemented can 100% prevent this stuff

Understaffed comes only from management not paying enough.

Ramping production volume up while these other two issues have not been resolved, again all on management.

That's how you make money short term but destroy the rep of your brand.

 

[redthies]

Have you had a chat with the folks in Red Deer about this new possible model? I think I'll call it the CAMP-FXL.

You hear of the horror stories with RV dealers and warranty work, even on brand new units. This was paid work no less.

I haven’t bothered to call. I have an order in on another brand of pop-up. It will be a bit heavier, but has all the options I want, and is considerably less money. Will it be as well built? Maybe not, but I build custom Airstream trailers for a living, so I can address anything I’m not happy with in due time.

And as for part two of the quote, dealer techs are mostly good people, but they are not allowed to take the time it takes to do things correctly. Service departments are booking months ahead of schedule, “so it’s a slap it together” mentality these days. We are booking for spring of 2023 as of today.

 

[redthies]

Understaffed comes only from management not paying enough.

Wow. You clearly have no idea what it’s like trying to find good staff these days.

I’m paying guys with very little (like a couple of weeks to a month or two worth) experience in the rv industry over $40/hr and I can’t get any more staff. I’m not going to hire any “warm body”, as I am trying to build a high end product. I’m not saying everyone pays well, but McDonalds is paying $21/hr around here, and they can’t find staff either.

 

[redthies]

I haven't been able to find a 12v option for the Starlink yet, so I'm curious to see the hit we'll take if we want to run satellite internet all the time from the inverter.

Something tells me “Expedition” Portal should rebrand itself as “Soft-roader Glamping” Portal. Now I remember why I haven’t come here much in the past few years.

 

[Chadx]

Something tells me “Expedition” Portal should rebrand itself as “Soft-roader Glamping” Portal. Now I remember why I haven’t come here much in the past few years.

I know you are just poking fun (and we are all buddy's here and fun to do so) and it does sometimes feel like a lot of tech has crept into all parts of our lives. Many folks use such tech to stay connected to work while they are remote. If it means more days out in the camper compared to staying tied to the office or house, I'm all for it. Remote work location with a view. Log off for the day and already be "out there". I'm personally not one of those and prefer to keep driving until my cellular signal goes away which forces us to disconnect from it all, even if for a night or two. But others like to, or need to, have cellular data or voice connection for work, family communication, etc. so nice to have the option for those that need it. <thumbs up>

 

[Chadx]

The main power draw items I expect:
Occasional use of the microwave.
Possibility of charging my eBike.
Running the fridge.
Re-Charging electronic devices.
Running the WeBoost for cellular.
Running the Starlink for internet.

As I mentioned before, I think we're a little overpowered for the average overnight trip, but I don't like "battery anxiety", so it's nice to have. This is the system I installed in our TT camper.

Its got 900 Watts of solar and 540Ah of Battle Born LiFePO4. We hit this pretty hard every day we camp and it usually manages a complete recovery via solar, as long as our campsite doesn't have too much shade. The ratio of solar to battery on my CAMP-X is pretty low, but as you mentioned, the 200 Watt panel should be capable of topping off what we draw for most items. I haven't been able to find a 12v option for the Starlink yet, so I'm curious to see the hit we'll take if we want to run satellite internet all the time from the inverter.

Nice. Seems a reasonable draw. That diagram for your other camper was great. Fun to trace through the system and see how different folks build out their systems.

I like the Torqeedo setup. I'm assuming Cruise 4.0 since it's 48v battery bank and the 6.0 just came out. I'm trying to decide between the Torqeedo cruise 3.0 (which replaces the 2.0) because, unlike the similarly sized ePropulsion, it can tie directly into my 24v system rather than 48v. Other option is Torqeedo Travel/ePropulsion Spirit models which have self contained battery. I'll direct message, to keep this thread on topic, with some Torqeedo reliability/customer service questions.

 

[PaulPritchard]

Has anyone moved their Camp-X from a 5.5' truck bed to a 6.5' bed? If you use Torklift Anchorguard tie downs, did the rear ones adjust OK with the shortened distance from the Camp-X bracket to the bed bracket? Thanks.

 

[Chadx]

The rear Torklift may be too long. If the threaded rod is too long to allow a short enough adjustment, it's a simple matter of cutting down the threaded rod to the correct length. Keep in mind, for final measurement, that the camper being shifted slightly to one side or the other will throw you off. Get the camper perfectly centered before you measure and cut the rods. When I first brought home my CAMP-X, both rods were cut to the very shortest possible for where the dealership installed the camper, which happened to be slightly shifted to one side of the pickup bed. When I next removed and reinstalled the camper, perfectly centered, the one rod was too short so couldn't be adjusted long enough to compensate and they had to cut me a new, longer rod. Best way to avoid that is to keep the threaded rod as long as it can be; Maybe 1" short of bottoming out to give you some future adjustability if you need to adjust it shorter for some reason like the camper is slightly off center.

 

[MisterSmith]

Has anyone moved their Camp-X from a 5.5' truck bed to a 6.5' bed? If you use Torklift Anchorguard tie downs, did the rear ones adjust OK with the shortened distance from the Camp-X bracket to the bed bracket? Thanks.

I didn't move mine from a 5.5' to 6.5', but mine is in a 6.5' bed and they measure about 17".

 

[MisterSmith]

Received my inverter on Friday, working on wiring it in. Question for those that have added an inverter.

There's a white negative (-) 6 AWG wire running from the battery to the REDARC Sensor/Shunt, then another white negative (-) 6 AWG wire running from the Sensor/Shunt to the REDARC manager box and on to the DC panel.

I'm using 1/0 cable for the inverter.

Did you wire the negative (-) of your inverter into the REDARC Sensor/Shunt to maintain the ability of monitoring the power draw via the REDARC, or did you just bypass it completely by connecting the inverter directly to the battery without using the REDARC Sensor/Shunt?

If I do wire the negative to the REDARC shunt, I'm assuming one would replace the 6 AWG cable from the battery to the shunt with a 1/0 cable?

Here's a simple diagram. Option A is direct wiring the battery to the inverter. Option B is going through the Sensor/Shunt.

 

[Chadx]

I've not wired an inverter into our CAMP-X but have thought about it quite a bit. While you can do it either way, I would personally value running it through the shunt otherwise the SOC will constantly be off (you will never know what you have drawn and REDARC won't know what to put back into the battery bank). You don't mention the size of the inverter and it's max draw, but I know you are thorough enough to have confirmed the shunt is rated for enough amps to handle the inverter and if so, then you are good to go with running it through the shunt as long as you replace that factory battery-to-shunt negative cable with the larger like you have speced in diagram B.

 

[PaulPritchard]

The rear Torklift will be too long, but it's a simple matter of cutting down the threaded rod to the correct length. Keep in mind, for final measurement, that the camper being shifted slightly to one side or the other will throw you off. Get the camper perfectly centered before you measure and cut the rods. When I first brought home my CAMP-X, both rods were cut to the very shortest possible for where the dealership installed the camper, which happened to be slightly shefted to one side of the pickup bed. When I next removed and reinstalled the camper, perfectly centered, the one rod was too short so couldn't be adjusted enough to compensate and they had to cut me a new one. So, make sure the camper is perfectly centered before you measure and then take a good look inside the handle to understand how much adjustment room there is before you cut them to a happy medium. Cutting to a mid point will then give you enough adjustability to compensate, in the future, for loading just slightly off center.

Thanks chadx for the reply. I think I'm missing something. Isn't the length of the silver tube that screws onto the threaded rod the limiting length factor? If you cut the threaded rod shorter, the silver tube's length, threaded all the way up to the handle, will limit how short the Torklift can be. If I screw the silver tube all the way in as far as it will go, there's only about an inch between the silver tube nut and the nut beneath the handle. Cutting down the threaded rod can eliminate that extra inch, but would that be enough? Like I said, I think I am missing something.

 

[PaulPritchard]

I didn't move mine from a 5.5' to 6.5', but mine is in a 6.5' bed and they measure about 17".

Thanks for your reply. What truck do you own?

 

[Chadx]

Thanks chadx for the reply. I think I'm missing something. Isn't the length of the silver tube that screws onto the threaded rod the limiting length factor? If you cut the threaded rod shorter, the silver tube's length, threaded all the way up to the handle, will limit how short the Torklift can be. If I screw the silver tube all the way in as far as it will go, there's only about an inch between the silver tube nut and the nut beneath the handle. Cutting down the threaded rod can eliminate that extra inch, but would that be enough? Like I said, I think I am missing something.

I went back an re-read my post and it didn't make much sense. Ha. I went back and edited it for clarity.
You are correct that the threaded rod, that feeds down in the silver tube, will be the limiting factor if/when it bottoms out. (The threaded rod in the folding handle can't really be adjusted due to handle clearance when shut). If you screw your current turnbuckle all the way into the silver tube so the threaded rod bottoms out, what is the measurement from the inside hook to inside hook (with the handle clamped shut like it was on and holding down the camper)? You mentioned only an inch or so of threaded rod showing when bottomed out so guessing you are around 17.25" inside-hook to inside-hook, so you might be fine. If you need to shorten the threaded rod, it will be a very small amount. Curious how much rod was left inside the silver tube when you had it adjusted out for your short bed? Or, the measurement from inside-hook to inside-hook when clamped down.

MisterSmith's is about 17" as shown above. Mine is about 16.25" which has next-to-no thread adjustment left and is the tightest you can make these turnbuckles. Mine used to be another 3/4" longer (around 17"), but adjusted my under-camper support to be the shortest possible while still clearing my bed rails. I used to have two 3/4" mats but now only have one 3/4" mat with a shim, so mine is likely the shortest turnbuckle setting you'll encounter. This is on a 2013 Toyota Tundra with 6.5' bed. Some pickups have taller bed rails and so require taller under-camper mats or pucks which means a longer turnbuckle adjustment.