OBI Dweller Review and Discussion

Suns_PSD

New member
It did not. The kid that runs Obi, Vincent is in his mid 20's and has no idea how to run a business. I assume they do not care either. I have contacted every dealer on their webpage in regards to parts. All of them have the same snicker and say " good luck " . They want to help but their hands are tied due to Obi, being incompetent and not willing to do the right thing. The really strange thing is, we love our Dweller, it's been a great product, Just everything else about obi has sucked ! I contacted Roa, they really wanted to help out but same story. Vincent, with Obi is a conman. I would be surprised if Obi, makes it another 6 months to a year.

This forum has been great and a life saver !

Thx guys ! For all your knowledge !

Daddy money. That said, at mid $20K's you can't beat a left over D15.

RV warranty isn't worth much anyways and components all have their own warranties separate from the chassis anyways.

Really, if you don't want a project RV, buy an Oliver with few features for $110K.
 

Obsessed2findARuggedHybid

Well-known member
I'd be curious which plant manufacturers MDC. Just because when I dig around MDC's, I see Compaks, but they claim otherwise. I really know what the look for now and next time I see an MDC I will look for a few things.

If anyone knows, please PM me.

Rongcheng Mingjun Outdoor Leisure P

XINGLONG ROAD,RONGCHENG CITY WEIHAI CN
Importer
 

landy66

New member
First weeks .. new trailer D13 from ROA ... Valley Of Gods .....
Top tip - as you can see in this picture, I **************** my ARK 500 jockey wheel ... apparently I wound it out too far - there is a difficult-to-see engraved line on the tube that you shouldn't extend past ... lucky for me the good folks at ARK sent me a replacement :)
 
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landy66

New member
Hi folks, I've had my Dweller 13 for almost a year now but I've only taken it out a few times (because I was unemployed for a bit). Anywho. I am going to start on a few upgrades this week, one of which is some stick on insulations panels under the bed area. Its about 4mm foam with the silver top. I can feel the cold straight through the spring mattress. And speaking of the mattress, I have decided to get 2 twin mattresses as my camper only came with a queen size. The 2 twins can stack as opposed to folding. Also, I'm thinking of adding a 12v heating pad, as I like having the air a little colder, but the bed nice and toasty :D . I'll take some before and after pics.

After that will be 2 SOK Lithium 280ah batteries to replace the 3 normal batteries, but those are a little to expensive right now.
I did 3 LiTime 100Ah batteries (with BT connectivity) - they fitted great .. a bit smaller (and MUCH lighter) than the AGM's it came with ... never looked back .. SO MUCH BETTER ....
 
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landy66

New member
Top Tip - there was a handy remote control taped to my HB9000 unit .. with way more functionality than the little panel down near the floor .. go hunt for your remote! :)
 

Dweller Feller

Active member
Daddy money. That said, at mid $20K's you can't beat a left over D15.

RV warranty isn't worth much anyways and components all have their own warranties separate from the chassis anyways.

Really, if you don't want a project RV, buy an Oliver with few features for $110K.
Good point.
 

gtbike96

New member
I was able to fit four batteries in place of the original three on my D13. I went with HQST for the batteries and a new MPPT.
 

BruderMaximus

New member
Top tip - as you can see in this picture, I **************** my ARK 500 jockey wheel ... apparently I wound it out too far - there is a difficult-to-see engraved line on the tube that you shouldn't extend past ... lucky for me the good folks at ARK sent me a replacement :)
I took some fingernail polish and painted a line around it.
also, what not to do, NEVER jack up our campers with the ARK HD lifting stabilizers (i bought and added them myself-a must have IMHO (get the short 25" and use blocks, not the 33" ones)
UNLESS the jack/stabilizer is straight down. i thought i could get away with it a little bit at 45deg setting, survey says XXX. i had to pull it, tear it down, pull the pins, throw them in a vice and straighten them. They really did mean it when they said, don't do that.
 

BruderMaximus

New member
If I wanted to do this what do I “have” todo to swap them?

Are they direct drop in, charger settings on the existing system?

I don’t really want to get into a full system change.
I don't know you're system, so with a grain of salt:

I have the 3 100ah AGM batteries. I've been troubleshooting a DC switch panel issue (bad ground inside one of my DC panel switches by the door- there's a lot of good stuff in our campers, but those DC on off switches lights, plugs, water pump... are kinda crappy inside)

but until i suckled in the bad ground contact inside the switch, I thought I had a bad battery cell. So spent much time and almost bought one of the new Renogy 200ah Pro batteries with the BT and newer BMS. Until I found my real problem was the switch ground wire.

But in getting to this point- I learned a lot about LiFePo4 batteries.

BIG difference in wiring needs between LiFePO4 and AGM/Lead acid batteries. Best i've come up with - What shipped with our campers is 16mm wire which equals 6 AWG. Ok for a 100ah AGM battery. But a LiFePo4 will feed its rated amps 100ah could supply 100amps, 200ah 200amps. you need a battery to bus bar wire that can handle that. Me, id use a 1AWG for a 100ah Lifepo4 and 2/0 (not 2AWG) for a 200. And you'll have room to grow. Get Ancor marine grade or TEMCo marine grade wire, and you'll be good.

ALSO,

at least on mine, there is no fuse between my AGM batteries and the positive bus bar. Theoretically, each battery should have one to protect the wire (not the battery). Mine are in parallel with separate runs to the +\- bus bars. I guess if yours is in ' daisy chain' style you could use one fuse going to the buses. But i'll need 3. If you go Lifepo, lots of folks recommend using Class T fuses (they don't ARC when they blow as they are encased in silica) and LiFePO4 can feed a lot of current! $50 each for Blue Sea brand (don't buy cheap). I suppose some could say the BMS in a LiFePo4 has a disconnect built in........ meh. i'll do in the T fuse rated for the battery amps and sleep well.

all this leads to another concern. The provided Pos and Negative Bus blocks.... not sure they will take a 1 AWG or better yet a 2/0 wire size?? And if you want to add 3 Class T fuses, One for each battery, with its personal fuse block... now you're adding a bus bar before the one the inverter is going to now. I'm pondering what I want to do here as I would have to add a plate or something for all this to sit on. I don't want that down at floor level with our slide out kitchen and the sink drain hose that if you forget will be dumping water inside that area :/ (ask me how I know that)

So, a bit of a data dump.

all to say, meh, you could just drop in new batteries and fit as big a wire as you can into the existing fuse block and let the BMS in the battery do its thing. cost of some 3' wires pre made and you'll be ok (i'm not an electrician don't call if you burn it down)(and disconnect the solar panels FIRST! Or you'll cook your solar controller- or do it in the middle of the night when it's dark, but for sure, lick the wires first just to be sure there isn't any residual charge up there (see part about i'm not an electrician, these are all jokes;)

But i'd just beef up the whole battery side of the house to NEMA code while you're in there.

Add some 2 pole DC solar disconnect circuit breakers to the front end of your panels while your in there. Then you can easily disconnect them for your battery swap. There's room in there. ours are wired direct into the Solar charge controller. Guess what you have to replace when you disconnect the battery before the panels in the daytime - solar charge controller.

what else - Renogy has a new dual MPPT-/ DC-DC solar & vehicle alternator simultaneous charge controller, just came out this month. I'm going to wire that in and use the truck alternator to charge the camper while driving. 1/0 wire from vehicle to back bumper mount an Andersen plug, plug Andersen from camper into that. find the other end back there under bunk and redirect to the new controller and it will use both solar and your vehicle alternator to charge as you go. or better yet, repurpose that tiny wire they provided going too the hitch Andersen plug as an external solar panel in-wire (cut and crimp MC4 connectors on it so you know what's what, run that wire to your old Adventure Solar controller. then wire a while new 1/0 wire to the back from the hitch, and run that to the new Alternator charge controller (and you'll have no voltage drop on that line from your alternator and the charge controller won't have to work so hard to boost the alternator 13.8 volts to 14.7 that the LiFePo4s want for a charge voltage. ;)

see- easy peazy!

that's it for now

nothing is ever as simple as drop it in is it:/ haha
 

BruderMaximus

New member
Top Tip - there was a handy remote control taped to my HB9000 unit .. with way more functionality than the little panel down near the floor .. go hunt for your remote! :)

New here, but thank you to all who contribute, it's been a great resource in finding my way round my D13.

Added some useful items photos attached.

Molle panel on the tool box for rec boards.

Hitch receiver for bike rack

Moved propane tank to fit gas can holder

Added a Starlink, didn’t want to drill roof so used the excess thread on the awning bolts and attached a steel Z bracket. (For stationery use only)

I have an Anderson plug at the back of my truck, I spoke to an auto electrician who told me I can connect the Anderson plug on my D13 direct to my truck to charge my batteries while driving. Want to dbl check this before I do it, has anyone did this ? Any problems ?
Errrr DON'T do that! Especially if you have LiFePo4 batteries. Maybe if you have AGMs. But there will be voltage drop on that long a wire run. A DC-DC alternator charge controller will boost the voltage back up to what the batteries chemistry, temp, and charge state require. I would look at intercepting the cable after the marine resettable fuse that is back there, and run to an alternator charge controller, then to your battery bus bars. Especially! if you have lithium. if your lithiums are low, they could overtax your alternator and burn it up. Electricity flows to the lowest resistance point and lithium batteries have much lower internal resistance to Lead Acid or AGM. There are some good youtube videos covering why this happens and what could go wrong wiring direct from vehicle alternator to camper batteries out there. Watch those before you go with your mechanic;) Or call a solar outfit and ask them.
 
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BruderMaximus

New member
My understanding is there are several Chinese mfg plants that make a very similar design as OBI, Black Series, Opus and MDC. I do believe that MDC uses a different MFGering plant then OBI. I know this plant sells what looks to be the same basic units as the MDC branded with different companies. You can see them on Alibaba.
I found a COMPAKS serial number riveted to the frame of mine. look on your frame towards the back stabilizer - passengers side. And the outside cooktop drawer - l found a COMPAKS stamp there as well;)
 
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