OBI Dweller Review and Discussion

[gendlert]

I was just checking out the same battery. Let me know what you come up with as a fix to hide the hole from the Renogy controller.
Glad to hear you like the extra power. What appliances are your running ? and for how long ? The existing agm batteries do not do as well as I was hoping. Maybe because they sat on the rv lot for 1 year. How much where you asking for agm and controller on craigslist ?

Thank you !

My hole is still uncovered; I haven't been inspired by anything yet. We don't even see it anymore.

Many of us have tried to understand why AGMs are performing so poorly in the Dwellers, but I know the fridge is the primary culprit. I keep half of my fridge at 37F and the other half as a freezer (13F), so that has even more draw. In the winter months when the fridge doesn't have to work as hard we'll use a coffee maker inside (pour over coffee is much better, but not worth freezing in 30F temps when I can stay in bed and hit the easy button), which has a surprising draw (heating elements, ya know). You can get more efficient coffee makers, but I just use the one we had laying around which runs something like 1000W. Running that for an hour is a big hit on the bank. I've never used our AC, but on AGM forget about it. Other than that, we just use the lights when it's dark, charge phones and flashlights, and recharge dog collars, which are all very minor draws.

I had the stock batteries replaced under warranty at OBI, and they dropped in three Interstate SRM-31 batteries, and it still didn't hold up. I sold them when they were about a month old still under Interstate warranty for $100 each or $250 for all 3 and they were gone in a few hours. No one ever bought the solar controller. I was asking $20, but they're so cheap new, so I wasn't surprised. You might try giving it away with the battery bank and asking $275. I dunno. Tell them they can have mine, too. For free.

 

[USMCBladerunner]

Have any of you guys swapped out the agm batteries for the lithium ? The stock agm's don't seem to work that well for me. Or maybe they are just junk. After watching Will Prowse ( diy solar) There are some cheap china lithium ion with bms, 12 volts that are actually pretty good.
Or I was thinking about the EG4-LifePower4 Lithium Battery | 12V 400AH | Server Rack Battery. Looks like there would be enough room to install in front storage area. Or which batteries do you have ? Constructive critisim would be appreciated.

Thx !

I did the battery swap one for one with Renogy 100Ah lithiums...they made a difference, but I found that without direct sunlight all day the solar couldn't keep up, so I also added a solar suitcase setup (p58)...the front box as a location for the batteries wouldn't be my recommended location, though it would give you some tongue weight for countersway...it's a long run from the batteries there to the inverter, and that weight would be a little tall too...

 

[gendlert]

I did the battery swap one for one with Renogy 100Ah lithiums...they made a difference, but I found that without direct sunlight all day the solar couldn't keep up, so I also added a solar suitcase setup (p58)...the front box as a location for the batteries wouldn't be my recommended location, though it would give you some tongue weight for countersway...it's a long run from the batteries there to the inverter, and that weight would be a little tall too...

Interesting, you still had the bank giving out with 300Ah of lithium? I'm surprised. I will say that 300W of solar panels in practice only produces about 160W of solar power in direct sunlight at 80F (measured at the controller). I was talking to a friend of mine who went to a "solar talk" at an expo, and he said the panels will perform better if there's some air between the panels and the vehicle (e.g. rack mount). And not all panels are created equal either. The Renogy panels are pretty good, but there are other brands like Zamp that can perform better, but they're REALLY pricy comparatively.

For those of you struggling with the fridge/batteries keeping up, here are a few lessons I've learned:

• Turn the fridge on two days before you are leaving on shore power. I found that to be wildly helpful in terms of battery usage if I turn on the fridge Wednesday in the driveway when it's plugged into shore power for a Friday morning departure. Made a huge difference in performance.
• Load your fridge as full as you can with stuff, even if you aren't going to consume it. I use my freezer on every trip (cocktails gotta have ice, and brownies gotta have ice cream, and I have a fantastic recipe for Bloody Caesar Slushies if you're interested), and I take those things I'm using but then fill in the gaps with freezer packs, bags of frozen veggies, or a bag of meatballs so there's more thermal mass in there. Air space leaves every time you open the fridge. Solids don't. Fill the fridge side with more beer to fill any gaps there (obviously).
• Once you arrive at camp, leave the fridge compartment open for a couple hours if it's been a hot drive. I've got a little thermometer and even with the exhaust fan on it gets to be well over 115F in there on a hot AZ day. If it's cooler than that where you're camping, don't make the fridge work harder than it has to. Of course, if it's hot where you're camped (you fool), that won't work.

Anyone else got other things they do?

 

[skyhogg]

Forgive me for belaboring this point but the discussion has turned to this anyway. So is there any reason to do the lithium power upgrade other than keeping up with that 12v cooler? My current camper has an 80w panel and a single 12v marine deep cycle battery. My fridge runs on propane when I'm camping. I use all the lights, water pump, spark to light the stove, awning, and on cold mornings I turn on the heat for 15 minutes. I'm always topped off by 10 or 11am on a sunny day and mid afternoon on a cloudy one. I can boondocks indefinitely until I run out of LPG and my battery is always topped.

Are you guys using that incredible amount of power to run anything else that I'm missing? It seems overkill to me to spend $2000 on a lithium setup and 300-400 watts of solar just so you can keep up with that 12v fridge? Is there a 3 way fridge hack upgrade that could be done on these rigs? I'm looking at a 13 next week but I'm still having hang ups about switching to an RV that needs the amount of power equal to power a small apartment just to keep a small cooler running.

 

[USMCBladerunner]

Forgive me for belaboring this point but the discussion has turned to this anyway. So is there any reason to do the lithium power upgrade other than keeping up with that 12v cooler? My current camper has an 80w panel and a single 12v marine deep cycle battery. My fridge runs on propane when I'm camping. I use all the lights, water pump, spark to light the stove, awning, and on cold mornings I turn on the heat for 15 minutes. I'm always topped off by 10 or 11am on a sunny day and mid afternoon on a cloudy one. I can boondocks indefinitely until I run out of LPG and my battery is always topped.

Are you guys using that incredible amount of power to run anything else that I'm missing? It seems overkill to me to spend $2000 on a lithium setup and 300-400 watts of solar just so you can keep up with that 12v fridge? Is there a 3 way fridge hack upgrade that could be done on these rigs? I'm looking at a 13 next week but I'm still having hang ups about switching to an RV that needs the amount of power equal to power a small apartment just to keep a small cooler running.

I also run starlink and a swamp cooler/fan (when hot) on AC, i have a laptop when I'm working...wife uses a hot pot for tea/coffee in the am...tablets and phones...we are power hogs for sure...the system can recharge when in a sunny spot...usually by noon or 1, but I'm always seeking shade...now that I have a battery monitor, I can see better how consumptive our activities are, but for me, the driving factor is shade...hence the solar suitcase or small genny (I have the Champion dual fuel on propane).

 

[Treefarmer1]

Forgive me for belaboring this point but the discussion has turned to this anyway. So is there any reason to do the lithium power upgrade other than keeping up with that 12v cooler? My current camper has an 80w panel and a single 12v marine deep cycle battery. My fridge runs on propane when I'm camping. I use all the lights, water pump, spark to light the stove, awning, and on cold mornings I turn on the heat for 15 minutes. I'm always topped off by 10 or 11am on a sunny day and mid afternoon on a cloudy one. I can boondocks indefinitely until I run out of LPG and my battery is always topped.

Are you guys using that incredible amount of power to run anything else that I'm missing? It seems overkill to me to spend $2000 on a lithium setup and 300-400 watts of solar just so you can keep up with that 12v fridge? Is there a 3 way fridge hack upgrade that could be done on these rigs? I'm looking at a 13 next week but I'm still having hang ups about switching to an RV that needs the amount of power equal to power a small apartment just to keep a small cooler running.

You raise an excellent point. Big solar and litthium battery systems are generally only needed by people living full time in a trailer or who are trying to eliminate propane. We do both, so we have higher electric demands. We don't use propane refrigerators anymore because we had one try to catch fire on us, they are expensive, you need to have a lot of venting in that side walls (bad for heating and cooling efficiency), and it used about nine gallons of propane a month. Now we use less than a gallon of propane per month (heating and grilling). We need an excellent internet connection, so we also have Starlink. That is a bit of a power hog. We also cook with an induction cooktop. All powered by the sun and a big battery bank for those cloudy stretches of weather. What you described for your solar system and propane use is probably good enough for 95%+ of campers.

 

[Singler3360]

Are you guys using that incredible amount of power to run anything else that I'm missing? It seems overkill to e to spend $2000 on a lithium setup and 300-400 watts of solar just so you can keep up with that 12v fridge? Is there a 3 way fridge hack upgrade that could be done on these rigs? I'm looking at a 13 next week but I'm still having hang ups about switching to an RV that needs the amount of power equal to power a small apartment just to keep a small cooler running.

I installed a system in our previous A-frame trailer similar to what you currently describe. When it came time to buy our Conqueror UEV-14 (same distributor for the Dwellers and also available at ROA), I paid then to upgrade the battery bank to 525 Ah of LIPo. The main reason for this was to be able to run the A/C on the battery bank for a few hours off the inverter for our dogs. Also, my wife has a medical condition in which cooling off the trailer for a brief period of time while trying to sleep means more activity she can do the next day. When ordering our retirement trailer (wife calls it The Mid-life Crisis), I didn't want to have to revisit this detail later. Frankly, without the dogs and the medical condition, I would think your current setup would be just fine.

EDIT: In addition, we sometimes want to cook inside, so I bought a single burner induction cooktop.

 

[skyhogg]

You raise an excellent point. Big solar and litthium battery systems are generally only needed by people living full time in a trailer or who are trying to eliminate propane. We do both, so we have higher electric demands. We don't use propane refrigerators anymore because we had one try to catch fire on us, they are expensive, you need to have a lot of venting in that side walls (bad for heating and cooling efficiency), and it used about nine gallons of propane a month. Now we use less than a gallon of propane per month (heating and grilling). We need an excellent internet connection, so we also have Starlink. That is a bit of a power hog. We also cook with an induction cooktop. All powered by the sun and a big battery bank for those cloudy stretches of weather. What you described for your solar system and propane use is probably good enough for 95%+ of campers.

I've read through this entire thread in doing my research and several folks have complained about the energy consumption of the fridge. Like I say I'm going o look at a Dweller next week but I dont want to deal with my batteries draining on a cloudy day or be forced to upgrade to a lithium system before I want to.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with non lithium, or prior to your switchover. Overall how many folks had problems with the batteries keeping up with the constant draw from the 12v fridge? We're just camping, albeit dry camping off grid for several days. Usually pretty fair weather and I dont anticipate much power use except the normal onboard items and maybe charging a phone or tablet.

Thanks everyone. This is an invaluable resource

 

[Chasingopenspaces]

I've read through this entire thread in doing my research and several folks have complained about the energy consumption of the fridge. Like I say I'm going o look at a Dweller next week but I dont want to deal with my batteries draining on a cloudy day or be forced to upgrade to a lithium system before I want to.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with non lithium, or prior to your switchover. Overall how many folks had problems with the batteries keeping up with the constant draw from the 12v fridge? We're just camping, albeit dry camping off grid for several days. Usually pretty fair weather and I dont anticipate much power use except the normal onboard items and maybe charging a phone or tablet.

Thanks everyone. This is an invaluable resource

Sounds like you have plenty of experience with the 3-way fridges, so to each their own. Don’t have a dweller but have had both a 12 V and a 3 way and I like the 12 V because it gets really cold, is mechanically simpler, and works regardless of the climate. My propane fridge used to take forever to get sort of cold, always had to tinker with it, and didn’t work worth anything in the winter. The 12V cools down FAST and hasn’t been finicky at all. If it helps, lithium batteries last longer so while they cost more up front, I don’t think it’s that different over time. Especially since 100Ah of lithium is effectively 200 of AGM since you can fully deplete them

 

[RJWB]

Has anyone tried to move the TV from the inside and mounted it to the outside bar area? I know you are supposed to be able to, but have yet tried. Do you have to buy another set of cords to plug it up?

My dweller 15 came with an additional set of cables in the plastic bag with all the manuals. I've had the TV on one time. I actually plan to remove the TV completely. In my opinion you're much better off viewing on a tablet or laptop.

 

[Treefarmer1]

Sounds like you have plenty of experience with the 3-way fridges, so to each their own. Don’t have a dweller but have had both a 12 V and a 3 way and I like the 12 V because it gets really cold, is mechanically simpler, and works regardless of the climate. My propane fridge used to take forever to get sort of cold, always had to tinker with it, and didn’t work worth anything in the winter. The 12V cools down FAST and hasn’t been finicky at all. If it helps, lithium batteries last longer so while they cost more up front, I don’t think it’s that different over time. Especially since 100Ah of lithium is effectively 200 of AGM since you can fully deplete them

Good point on lithium battery capacity. In addition, lithium batteries don't need to be equalized and are good for thousands of cycles. They will outlive most trailers. We used the traditional propane/120v refrigerator for the first eight years of our fulltiming life and have been on a 12v refrigerator fulltime for the last three and a half years. All Dometic brand and 10 cuft. We replaced the first fridge when it failed, the ammonia started to leak out of it, and we almost had a fire before we could shut off the propane pilot light just in time. If we had been away from camp when this happened, the trailer would have probably burned up. We were originally going to replace it with another propane/120v fridge, but then we started looking at 12v options. The power draw is so low that you really don't need a lot of solar/batteries. Like you said, they are efficient and cool really well. It was nice to eliminate a propane line (the fewer the better). Not needing to refill 40lb tanks every month has been nice.

 

[RJWB]

Our view out the back window of our Dweller 15, Kirk Creek campground Big Sur California.

 

[WillySwan]

I've read through this entire thread in doing my research and several folks have complained about the energy consumption of the fridge. Like I say I'm going o look at a Dweller next week but I dont want to deal with my batteries draining on a cloudy day or be forced to upgrade to a lithium system before I want to.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with non lithium, or prior to your switchover. Overall how many folks had problems with the batteries keeping up with the constant draw from the 12v fridge? We're just camping, albeit dry camping off grid for several days. Usually pretty fair weather and I dont anticipate much power use except the normal onboard items and maybe charging a phone or tablet.

I've owned my Dweller for 2 years this week. It was built in Q2-2021, but it is titled as a 2022. I'm have the stock AGM batteries, solar panels, solar charger and inverter. My refrigerator is the SnoMaster 96 Liter Low Profile Dual Compartment (which is fantastic). It is ridiculously large which I really enjoy. I typically use both sides of it as refrigerators set at 38 degrees, the same as my home refrigerator. The SnoMaster has three operating modes: high, low and auto. I run it on low mode, which appears to draw about 4 amps, and have no issues with it keeping cool. My "pure guess" is that the operating cycle is typically 40%.

In addition to the refrigerator, I typically run the hot water heater and use the interior lights and charging ports as needed. This time of year I run the Truma heater on eco-mode at 48 degrees during the night. We both like to take a quick shower daily to get the stink off before climbing into bed. My "non-standard" power draws are:
- a portable induction stove top, but I only occasionally use it.
- my pressurization blower which I run when driving on gravel roads. It draws about 6 amps.
- I run a 120V battery charger off the inverter to charge the batteries on my Makita electric chainsaw.

When not camping, my Dweller is stored in covered parking. No sunlight directly reaches the panels. I have plugged into shore power only one time this summer. My Dweller did not come with the Anderson connector, but the 12V+ on the 7-pin connector is directly wired to the house battery buss. My typical drive to go camping is 3-ish hours. When not underway, I unplug the 7-pin connector. Many of my camping trips this summer have been in the tall trees where I get maybe 6 hours of direct sunlight on the panels. I have been lucky and only had one really rainy, cloudy trip this summer.

With this usage model, I have never run out of power. Per the voltage display on the 12V control panel, my voltage will drop to 12.1 volts or so by morning, but it usually is in the high 12s at the end of the day.

With all of that said, I will likely upgrade to lithium batteries at some point. I do always feel like I am on the edge of running out of power and I would like to feel free to run the induction cook-top more often.

 

[WillySwan]

Has anyone tried to move the TV from the inside and mounted it to the outside bar area? I know you are supposed to be able to, but have yet tried. Do you have to buy another set of cords to plug it up?

My dweller 15 came with an additional set of cables in the plastic bag with all the manuals. I've had the TV on one time. I actually plan to remove the TV completely. In my opinion you're much better off viewing on a tablet or laptop.

I did set up the TV outside just once to see whether it would work. It worked fine.

I have since pulled out the TV out of my D13 as well as the interior table top. We spend very little time sitting around inside, but we find a small portable folding table to work much better for the two of us than the built in table.

 

[WillySwan]

DWELLER 13 Does the Parking brake work? Mine does not. Do I just tighten it up?

It depends on the build-spec of your Dweller.

My '22 D13 was built in the first half of 2021. The parking brake cable is pretty primitive on it; it is a vinyl-coated cable routed through guides that are welded to the frame. The ends of the cable are looped through the parking brake actuators on the wheel hubs and fixed with cable clamps. My parking brake quit working shortly after delivery and I could not "tighten it up" using the adjuster nut near the brake lever. I found that the cable clamps were slipping. Once I properly tightened the cable clamps, I was able to adjust the parking brake.

I have noticed that new Dwellers have a proper sheathed parking brake cable assembly. It is a nice upgrade. If that is what you have, there should be no issue with just "tightening it up" the adjuster near the brake lever. Before doing that, I would advise to jack up each wheel off the ground and make sure your adjusters for the brake shoes are properly set.