Take a look at @gendlert 's post #131 in this thread. He does a very good job walking through the installation specifics. He targeted 150 ft-lbs which is reasonable.
@CowboyKyle also posted a video link of his shock swap in post #300.
OBI Dweller Review and Discussion
- Thread starter gendlert
- Start date
@CowboyKyle also posted a video link of his shock swap in post #300.
@BernieMulcahy - Yes. When I got my new tow vehicle this fall, I did have an issue with the vehicle recognizing the trailer brakes. I have a Ram 1500 with a factory trailer brake controller (TBC). When I first hooked up my D13, it would not recognize the brakes.
It is a long story and I won’t bore everyone with the details, but I finally root caused the problem as a bad electrical connection to one of the brakes. My prior tow vehicle had a REDARC Tow-Pro Elite trailer brake controller and it never indicated a problem. I likely drove around several months with only one functioning brake when I was towing with that vehicle…not one of my most proud achievements. In retrospect, it was pretty obvious that I only had one good brake.
The RAM TBC measures the resistance of the brake circuit to determine if a trailer with electric brakes is attached. I got lucky and was able to quickly find where the issue was located.
There are water-tight electrical junction fittings on the exposed side of the brake backing plate that look like this:
Those fittings unscrew. Inside is a Wago-style electrical connector. It is a really nice electrical connector, but whoever wired the trailer did a really bad job of stripping the insulation on the wires. The wires were stripped too short and one wire pulled loose - photo below. It was a very easy fix to properly strip the wires and reinsert them in the connector.
Your issue may be different, but this would be where I would start to look.
Good luck.
BernieMulcahy
Member
Hey Guys,
I guess I should have been more clear. My trailer brake controller works just fine. My Range rover is prewired for the TBC. The 7-pin jack at the bumper is factory, and I just needed to plug in the TBC under the dash. I'm using a Tekonsha P3. The TBC and the brakes on the dweller work just fine.
The range rover itself is designed to sense when a trailer is plugged in. When I plug in my older utility trailer (with no brakes) the range rover displays a message on the console and lets me set the type of trailer. The rover then adjusts the transmission and other stuff since a trailer is attached. It also suppresses the backup sensors, because of course when I back up it is "seeing" the trailer and constantly beeps. Its trying to be high-tech.
Researching this with Google it seems that this is pretty common with trailers with LEDs. I'm told that the vehicle uses the resistance of the the incandescent bulbs to sense when a trailer is plugged in. No incandescent trailer bulbs means a lot less resistance, and the vehicle doesn't sense the trailer.
The solution is supposedly to install inline resistors on the brake/turn signals, with something like this 50W 6Ohm LED Load Resistors for LED Turn Signal Lights. So I've tried that and no luck.
I was thinking that maybe I used the wrong wires are the tail lights. Maybe someone had done this before and new specifically which wires to use.
I'll check the brake wiring as Willy described, but I don't think that's my issue since the TBC is working fine, and the rover recognizes my other trailer, that doesn't even have brakes.
Bernie
I guess I should have been more clear. My trailer brake controller works just fine. My Range rover is prewired for the TBC. The 7-pin jack at the bumper is factory, and I just needed to plug in the TBC under the dash. I'm using a Tekonsha P3. The TBC and the brakes on the dweller work just fine.
The range rover itself is designed to sense when a trailer is plugged in. When I plug in my older utility trailer (with no brakes) the range rover displays a message on the console and lets me set the type of trailer. The rover then adjusts the transmission and other stuff since a trailer is attached. It also suppresses the backup sensors, because of course when I back up it is "seeing" the trailer and constantly beeps. Its trying to be high-tech.
Researching this with Google it seems that this is pretty common with trailers with LEDs. I'm told that the vehicle uses the resistance of the the incandescent bulbs to sense when a trailer is plugged in. No incandescent trailer bulbs means a lot less resistance, and the vehicle doesn't sense the trailer.
The solution is supposedly to install inline resistors on the brake/turn signals, with something like this 50W 6Ohm LED Load Resistors for LED Turn Signal Lights. So I've tried that and no luck.
I was thinking that maybe I used the wrong wires are the tail lights. Maybe someone had done this before and new specifically which wires to use.
I'll check the brake wiring as Willy described, but I don't think that's my issue since the TBC is working fine, and the rover recognizes my other trailer, that doesn't even have brakes.
Bernie
nemesisnight
Member
So I did a thing yesterday.....I ordered a 17×19" sink without measuring a couple months ago because my caravan was at the dealership. Well I finally got it back and realized it was too big but I couldn't return to Amazon anymore and decided to make it work and think it turned out great. I will also show how I got the water lines to work without cutting Into anything.
The post is picture heavy but shows the steps best. The connectors just "T" the 3/8" NEW sink connection and maintain the 1/2" bathroom sink compression connection. There is probably a way to do it without the extra braided line but I had to work with what my local home depot had to finish the project in one day. With pre purchasing online you could skip that part and just have a smaller connector.
The post is picture heavy but shows the steps best. The connectors just "T" the 3/8" NEW sink connection and maintain the 1/2" bathroom sink compression connection. There is probably a way to do it without the extra braided line but I had to work with what my local home depot had to finish the project in one day. With pre purchasing online you could skip that part and just have a smaller connector.
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nemesisnight
Member
We surprisingly loose alot of depth in our cabinets for the wire runs.
This sink is definitely max size it could handle and I like the sideways orientation to maintain maximal counter space. I did have to cut the supports front and rear for the counter top but the sink has pretty beefy metal channels and will provide the needed support I removed.
This sink is definitely max size it could handle and I like the sideways orientation to maintain maximal counter space. I did have to cut the supports front and rear for the counter top but the sink has pretty beefy metal channels and will provide the needed support I removed.
Hey all. I'm looking at buying an OBi Dweller 13 in the next few weeks and happened on this thread. Thought I'd share some interesting info here:
rvhomeland.m.en.alibaba.com
OBi is using these guys, Rongcheng Molin Outdoor Technology, as the ODM for these trailers. They seem to be a pretty decent company and they make a lot for Purple Line as well as AusRV.
My wife and I have been going back and forth trying to figure if we'd rather buy an Intech and stick to RV sites or get the OBi and be able to go more places. We're planning on towing it with our '23 Tacoma TRD OR, which this is kinda pushing the capacity of it, but glad to see others have been successful with a similar truck. Luckily we're not in the mountains for the most part.
This thread has been great so far, thanks for all of the great info and thought I'd at least share what I've found in researching as well.
Products list direct from CN
Main products RV parts, camping trailer and 88 more Products from Rongcheng RV Homeland Technology Co., Ltd. on Alibaba.com
rvhomeland.m.en.alibaba.com
OBi is using these guys, Rongcheng Molin Outdoor Technology, as the ODM for these trailers. They seem to be a pretty decent company and they make a lot for Purple Line as well as AusRV.
My wife and I have been going back and forth trying to figure if we'd rather buy an Intech and stick to RV sites or get the OBi and be able to go more places. We're planning on towing it with our '23 Tacoma TRD OR, which this is kinda pushing the capacity of it, but glad to see others have been successful with a similar truck. Luckily we're not in the mountains for the most part.
This thread has been great so far, thanks for all of the great info and thought I'd at least share what I've found in researching as well.
CORVDealers
New member
Hey all. I'm looking at buying an OBi Dweller 13 in the next few weeks and happened on this thread. Thought I'd share some interesting info here:
Products list direct from CN
Main products RV parts, camping trailer and 88 more Products from Rongcheng RV Homeland Technology Co., Ltd. on Alibaba.com
OBi is using these guys, Rongcheng Molin Outdoor Technology, as the ODM for these trailers. They seem to be a pretty decent company and they make a lot for Purple Line as well as AusRV.
My wife and I have been going back and forth trying to figure if we'd rather buy an Intech and stick to RV sites or get the OBi and be able to go more places. We're planning on towing it with our '23 Tacoma TRD OR, which this is kinda pushing the capacity of it, but glad to see others have been successful with a similar truck. Luckily we're not in the mountains for the most part.
This thread has been great so far, thanks for all of the great info and thought I'd at least share what I've found in researching as well.
I'm not sure if they are related, but the company that imports the OBIs and the Conquerors is Rongcheng Compaks New Energy Automotive. You can see their shipments here https://www.importgenius.com/importers/obi-conqueror-corp
My wife and I were about one month away from buying a Cougar 1/2 ton and we started researching RV quality and got really "depressed". Then a light bulb went off: given the growth in RVing, we were competing with a huge number of "campers" for scarce spaces. We love tent camping but getting older makes that a challenge. The combined idea of avoiding the high demand for RV spaces and our love of being out in the wilderness made a pivot to the "off-grid" market a no-brainer. We started by looking at Opus, but didn't like the cargo/sleeping config. The Dweller 15 was the closest to our needs.Hey all. I'm looking at buying an OBi Dweller 13 in the next few weeks and happened on this thread. Thought I'd share some interesting info here:
Products list direct from CN
Main products RV parts, camping trailer and 88 more Products from Rongcheng RV Homeland Technology Co., Ltd. on Alibaba.com
OBi is using these guys, Rongcheng Molin Outdoor Technology, as the ODM for these trailers. They seem to be a pretty decent company and they make a lot for Purple Line as well as AusRV.
My wife and I have been going back and forth trying to figure if we'd rather buy an Intech and stick to RV sites or get the OBi and be able to go more places. We're planning on towing it with our '23 Tacoma TRD OR, which this is kinda pushing the capacity of it, but glad to see others have been successful with a similar truck. Luckily we're not in the mountains for the most part.
This thread has been great so far, thanks for all of the great info and thought I'd at least share what I've found in researching as well.
I went the camlock route for the grey water.Gray water management is something which could be improved on the Dweller 13. I’m not sure what is customary in other geographies, but I am finding more and more areas in the US where regulations ban the dumping of gray water onto the ground. I have specifically run into this in Texas state parks and US national parks.
The D13 has a nice sized 21 gallon gray water tank. My issue with it is that there is no means for connecting a dump hose. There is a large PVC drain pipe which has a ball valve and which terminates with a PVC elbow. I brought this up with my dealer prior to purchase and was basically told - that’s the way it is.
My original plan was to install some type of hose connection onto that PVC elbow so that I could attach a drain line for times when I wanted/needed to dispose of the gray water at a dump station. Executing the plan proved to be a bit more difficult. Like all of the other plumbing in the Dweller, the gray water waste pipe is metric sized. It is plumbed in 40mm PVC.
Luckily, it is pretty to solve. The outlet from the gray water tank uses a rubber union joint to connect to the 40mm PVC. It was pretty simple to remove the factory drain pipe assembly and replace it with 1-1/4 inch PVC which has an OD of 42mm. The 1-1/4 inch PVC pipe easily slipped into the rubber union.
Apologies for the poor picture, but this shows what my gray water drain plumbing now looks like.
To Do:
- 1-1/4 inch PVC pipe attached to existing 40mm rubber union fitting
- 1-1/4 inch PVC ball valve - I will probably replace this with a "true union" ball valve in the future.
- More 1-1/4 inch PVC pipe
- 1-1/4 inch PVC elbow (socket by thread)
- 1-1/4 inch to 1-1/2 inch adapter (male x male)
- My drain hose is currently a 1-1/2 inch swimming pool vacuum hose to which I added threaded “fire hose” fittings. I tried a flat discharge hose that would roll up very small, but it was an absolute failure...it would easily kink and would not drain well under gravity flow.
- I still need to figure out an elbow fitting for easily attaching the hose at an RV dump station. Suggestions welcome.
- For version 2 I might use 1-1/4 inch swimming pool vacuum hose with camlock fittings. I think the camlock fittings would make it easier to attach the drain hose and the bill of materials would be simpler. 1-1/4 inch hose should still drain the tank at a reasonable rate.
1.25" camlock connects to a 1.25" to 40mm adapter. I took off the downward facing elbow and used a new elbow facing towards the trailer's driver side then used the extra 40mm pipe to extend to right under the side frame. I'm not really too concerned with bottoming out here as my wife and I don't do overlanding, just forest roads. Besides, the Dwellers steps are even lower than this is. I may reinforce this so it doesn't loosen over time though. The whole thing cost me about $40 USD, not including the hose.
This sounds pretty much exactly like what we just went through. We can still tent camp, and plan to, but having something like this gives us a nice "FOB" to camp more primitively from if we choose to. We're finishing up the purchase of our Dweller 13 today, and should probably be picking it up next week.
Yeah, pretty sure they're the same company. I found Rongcheng via looking around on importgenius/importyeti to see how these were being brought over, and dug from there.
Exciting!
We got ours in November and haven't even had a chance to christen it. First trip is a state forest in April then a roadtrip from the Mid-Atlantic to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Will post any "discoveries" from those trips.
nemesisnight
Member
Just realized I never posted how I hooked up my sink drains together so here it is. I got 2 of these RV drain taps to start with. Cut one drain hose in half for the shower sink then used the 3 way fitting and slid the smaller diameter hose into the larger.
Camco Flexible Camper Drain Tap...
Seachoice 3-Way Y Fitting, Fits...
Camco Flexible Camper Drain Tap...
Seachoice 3-Way Y Fitting, Fits...
Attachments
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This weekend I replaced my stock shocks with the Monroe 66440 shocks researched and mentioned by WillySwan. I got a decent deal of $37.5 for each at Rockauto.com.
Installation was pretty easy although one of the brackets was too narrow and it took some finagling to get the upper bolt in place. Having all the right tools really made a difference, especially having a line-up pry bar.
I got everything tightened up an took my Dweller 15 out on the highway to test (pretty much dry.) Basically, my objective was to see what my max speed could be if I need to drive faster (e.g., passing.) My tow vehicle is a 2018 Chevy Silverado 1500 with a max tow package.
Everything was going great even up to 70 mph. But higher than that, pitching set in (so much so that I had to pull over.) So while I think I may have bought myself 5-10mph more with stiffer shocks, this rig DOES NOT run safely above 65Mph (per OBi and my frazzled nerves.)
I suspect tat two things make elimination of the pitching impossible: the independent suspension and three degrees of motion on the articulating hitch. The things that allow the caravan to negotiate rough terrain also make is highly unstable at certain speeds.
Installation was pretty easy although one of the brackets was too narrow and it took some finagling to get the upper bolt in place. Having all the right tools really made a difference, especially having a line-up pry bar.
I got everything tightened up an took my Dweller 15 out on the highway to test (pretty much dry.) Basically, my objective was to see what my max speed could be if I need to drive faster (e.g., passing.) My tow vehicle is a 2018 Chevy Silverado 1500 with a max tow package.
Everything was going great even up to 70 mph. But higher than that, pitching set in (so much so that I had to pull over.) So while I think I may have bought myself 5-10mph more with stiffer shocks, this rig DOES NOT run safely above 65Mph (per OBi and my frazzled nerves.)
I suspect tat two things make elimination of the pitching impossible: the independent suspension and three degrees of motion on the articulating hitch. The things that allow the caravan to negotiate rough terrain also make is highly unstable at certain speeds.