OBI Dweller Review and Discussion

[nemesisnight]

Have you tested this out yet?? I am definitely wanting to copy if it works and I'm guessing it will. Can you also post pics of how you mounted your Jerry can and propane together? I was messing with it the other day but had the Jerry can close to the middle and propane on the outside so I'm interested to see how yours fits, did you have to bring it up a bit? I seemed to have issues making it work unless I brought the can mount up on top of the frame portion then it snugged in perfectly.

I thought you'd never ask.

I've got a new project going on to try to address my Dweller’s appetite for inhaling dust on gravel roads. I getting tired of this:

Here is a preview of the work-in-progress:

Everything is going well so far. However, if this doesn’t work out, you will need to let me know where I can get one of those "My Other Ride is Your Mom" license plates to cover up the hole.

 

[nemesisnight]

EG4 LifePower4 Lithium Battery | 12V 400AH | Server Rack Battery

EG4 (12V/400AH) LifePower4 BatteryEG4 Lithium battery 12.8V (12V) 5.12kWh with 400AH internal BMS. Made of UL Listed Battery Cells. Off Grid Solar Batteries - Off Grid System - Solar Batteries for Home - Lithium Solar Batteries - Deep Cycle Solar Batteries - Power Reserve - Solar Panels Plus...

signaturesolar.com

Just bit the bullet and ordered this today!!! They are on sale for 5% off, I payed $1,490 for 400ah lithium with BMS and 7000 deep discharge cycle life span (they claim 15-20yr)!! That comes out to $372 per 100 AH including tax for lithium, seems like a pretty solid deal and easy with all the batteries combined. I have yet to measure the battery compartment but hopefully it fits without issue, time to loose some weight and more than double my usable power. Unfortunately 2 of my stock batteries are already bad or I would care yet.

 

[WillySwan]

Can you also post pics of how you mounted your Jerry can and propane together? I was messing with it the other day but had the Jerry can close to the middle and propane on the outside so I'm interested to see how yours fits, did you have to bring it up a bit? I seemed to have issues making it work unless I brought the can mount up on top of the frame portion then it snugged in perfectly.

Here are a couple of pictures. The other side is a mirror image. As you can hopefully see in the picture, I did have to raise the can mount up so that it was even with the top of the frame. I have it sitting on 3/4-inch square tube. It is all a really tight fit, but it does fit and both the tank and the can are easily removed and installed.

 

[gendlert]

EG4 LifePower4 Lithium Battery | 12V 400AH | Server Rack Battery

EG4 (12V/400AH) LifePower4 BatteryEG4 Lithium battery 12.8V (12V) 5.12kWh with 400AH internal BMS. Made of UL Listed Battery Cells. Off Grid Solar Batteries - Off Grid System - Solar Batteries for Home - Lithium Solar Batteries - Deep Cycle Solar Batteries - Power Reserve - Solar Panels Plus...

signaturesolar.com

Just bit the bullet and ordered this today!!! Today is the last day for 5% off sale, I payed $1,490 for 400ah lithium with BMS and 7000 deep discharge cycle life span (they claim 15-20yr)!! That comes out to $372 per 100 AH including tax for lithium, seems like a pretty solid deal and easy with all the batteries combined. I have yet to measure the battery compartment but hopefully it fits without issue, time to loose some weight.

Take pics of the install as you do it. Are the server rack batteries fragile at all? I've never even considered them.

 

[nemesisnight]

Yea I'm not exactly sure how durable they are compared to other types of batteries. I asked the vendor and they said alot of people are installing them in RVs without issues and having good sucess but they do recommend installing a vibration dampener to be safe. But they also said it's probably not necessary, I plan on just putting some thick felt padding or something under it to help a bit. I do like having the batteries enclosed in metal not just plastic and it also provides 2 barriers for fire protection in case something went wrong, plus other nice features like 4 low temp sensors, etc. Guess I don't know enough to know if it's a smart choice or not but alot of people on forums are doing it and this company seems to be really good with warranties, if anyone has a reason to talk me out of it for a valid reason please let me know.

Take pics of the install as you do it. Are the server rack batteries fragile at all? I've never even considered them.

 

[rblitz]

Disaster. Leaving on the maiden voyage tomorrow AM and when retracting the fridge tray the cord jammed in the track, and cut into the wire. The fridge (ICECO VL90) won't turn on. Popped the front panel and checked the 15A fuse assuming a short blew it, but it wasn't burnt. Swapped out a new fuse just to be sure. Fridge still won't come on.

When I plug in the Anderson plug that feeds the fridge, turn on the circuit and enable the little switch in the bay, I hear a faint buzzing sound coming from the fan.

Anyone know if the fan is wired into the circuit so that if it can't turn on the fridge won't get power?

 

[henderson.341]

Disaster. Leaving on the maiden voyage tomorrow AM and when retracting the fridge tray the cord jammed in the track, and cut into the wire. The fridge (ICECO VL90) won't turn on. Popped the front panel and checked the 15A fuse assuming a short blew it, but it wasn't burnt. Swapped out a new fuse just to be sure. Fridge still won't come on.

When I plug in the Anderson plug that feeds the fridge, turn on the circuit and enable the little switch in the bay, I hear a faint buzzing sound coming from the fan.

Anyone know if the fan is wired into the circuit so that if it can't turn on the fridge won't get power?

When you say “popped the front panel and checked the 15amp fuse” you mean the fuse panel inside the camper right? This has happened to me and on my D15 the first door to your left as you walk in is the master panel. I popped that fuse. If yea to this make sure your wire is good. Hope it works.


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[rblitz]

When you say “popped the front panel and checked the 15amp fuse” you mean the fuse panel inside the camper right? This has happened to me and on my D15 the first door to your left as you walk in is the master panel. I popped that fuse. If yea to this make sure your wire is good. Hope it works.


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I had pulled the control panel off of the fridge and inspected the 15 amp inline fuse there and it was OK.
Just checked the fuse panel (screwed on cover plate? that's not helpful) and indeed the fridge fuse was blown. Threw a new one in there and everything lit up.

Thanks from me (and my wife blows you a kiss )

 

[NatersXJ6]

Is it possible you reversed the polarity when you repaired the cord?

 

[rblitz]

Is it possible you reversed the polarity when you repaired the cord?

The Anderson plug I installed (because the cigarette adapter never stayed in) was correctly wired. The damage to the fridge wire was just enough for the slide rail to make contact which cause the fuse to blow. All by design, just wish it wasn't right before our trip! Anyway, all good now.

 

[boydwalker]

Picked our 15 up from ROA on 3-30 and stayed out on Burr Point on 3-31. We have the equalizer and fox shocks and it did well. The drive also consisted of high wind and snow. We took off the equalizer in Hanksville and drove about 15 miles of highway before going off road. Without the equalizer the trailer was all over the road on the highway , it was like night and day. We drove back to Castle Rock south of Denver without any problems, even survived the crater potholes on I70.

 

[WillySwan]

Honestly, the McHitch is trash and getting rid of mine was one of the best upgrades I did.

That's some strong sentiment. I know that the McHitch is polarizing. Can you explain what specifically about it warrants your "trash" rating?

 

[FordGuy1]

Valid question.

Check out this video.


I experienced everything he listed at the following time stamps:

1:45
2:30
3:10
5:30

I greatly disliked the added leverage out from the hitch. That being said, I did not experience catastrophic failure that he talks about. But... I did experience everything he talked about last summer (2022) when I bought my trailer, and he only uploaded the video in Feb of 2023.

I am surprised to hear you don't like the McHitch. For me, its hands down the best hitch I have ever used. I use it on a Rhino hitch, and love it. My truck is so much smoother going down the road, and my trailer tracks very well to 75mph. I really like just backing right into the pin and locking in. The added leverage made zero difference with my set-up.

 

[WillySwan]

Are your parts and pieces in their factory location? Mine are in very different places.

I have not moved any equipment around. This is how it came. I have noticed that in different production runs of the D13 they have relocated the equipment several times. I am not sure what they are trying to optimize. The build date per my VIN tag is 07/2021. All in all, I am pretty satisfied with the location of things.

The biggest issue I am currently fighting is with the location of the HB9000 heat pump. It appears to be impossible to remove the washable air filter to clean it. See photo below. I "think" the HB9000 is in the same location on all of the various D13s I have seen. Has anyone else ran into this issue?

 

[WillySwan]

I'm also convinced either these trailers have trash batteries, or there's a big parasitic draw killing them.

You likely have a bad cell(s). Did you look over @gendlert posts #309 and #335? He had a bad cell in one battery and he walks though the procedure for testing.