katanapilot

That might work. I know there is active noise cancelling on some turboprop airplanes, so why not a trailer?

Missed it by that much. Darn. We were in Terlingua for three nights with our Elite II. Maybe next time...

"I'd like to buy a vowel please Pat". Black tank monitor shows "sht"? Seems appropriate to me. Sorry, I know this is zero help to SherMica and not trying to poke fun at her issues, but I just couldn't resist.

It's pretty bad that Ollie owners have to resort to sleeping with ANR headphones or turning the A/C off and sleeping in the heat and humidity just because the installed HVAC is too loud. Same issue when eating as well. Time for OTT to provide some relief for future owners. The solution(s) is/are available!

Best of luck with the installation. I think you will be very pleased at the quietness of the Houghton.

Thanks much. The install is straightforward. I still have a few incomplete items like the Dometic tstat hookup and two small holes in the ceiling from the original cover - but I will install screws with white caps to fill. I will provide a more detailed write up when I get it all done.

I bought a Valterra gasket kit - which if had bothered to RTFM (read the manual completely) - I would have known that the Houghton came with a hard plastic insert that is installed with RTV on the outside of the trailer. It seals the 14 x 14 opening and centers the outdoor unit in the hole. Pretty clever and very easy. So I didn't need the gasket kit, only a tube of RTV which I already had. The instruction manual is not the clearest I have seen and the hardest part of the install is getting the old unit down from the roof and the new unit onto the roof.

OMG. The Houghton is quiet. Really quiet. Just got it installed and hooked up. I'll post more info later but a very quick measurement with the unit running in heat or cool with high fan was about 64-65 dBA. The Dometic was about 78 dBA on my unit, so this very rough, unscientific measurement indicates the Houghton is less than half as noisy as the Dometic. The heat pump feature is a nice addition. OTT are you listening? Probably can't hear me over the sound of your noisy Dometic A/C 🤣

Not yet. Removed the Dometic “turbojet” Penguin II yesterday, though. Need to get a foam gasket kit for the new install first. I do have the Houghton unit here ready to go. Very nicely made. One minor challenge will be the furnace control. The Dometic CT thermostat is a communicating style that “talks” to a relay box that was installed in the 14 x 14 opening. The simplest solution will be to leave it in place and use the CT tsat to control only the furnace. The Houghton has a touchpad on the ceiling diffuser plus a remote control. I will provide sound level data once the new unit is up and running. Unfortunately the Houghton does not have a condensate drain catch like the Dometic, so it will drain onto the roof. If Oliver ever decided to use the Houghton- it wouldn’t be that difficult for them to design and install a gel coated fiberglass drain catch.

We went to Hohenwald for the factory tour over a year ago fully expecting to order the king bed layout. We looked at both models on site and ended up ordering the twin. At my age, it is not unusual to get up once in the middle of the night to use the loo. The twin bed model allows that without disturbing your partner. Not sure how you do that with the king. We like the nightstand in between the beds, too. Great place to store your phone or tablets. If at all possible, look at both before committing to the layout.

SherMica, You don't know me and you don't know Russell - but you would greatly benefit from taking him up on his generous offer. He doesn't live too far from David Crockett and he has several years of experience with his Ollie. I bought his Andersen weight distributing hitch when we were on our way to pick up our Ollie. It was a fair and honest transaction and I appreciated his advice. And he loves dogs, too. I know I dislike inconveniencing folks asking for help, but he is volunteering and you should take advantage of the knowledge and experience he is offering. Just my opinion, of course.

I don't think it's much larger and we should have adequate clearance from the fan. Of course, the opening is the 14 x 14 RV standard. I know the Air Command did not use an internal drain, but if there is a way to connect it on the Houghton- I certainly will. It's great news that there will be some higher quality, quieter options available. I'm sure Oliver is looking at these, as well - at least I hope they are.

Just ordered the RecPro (Houghton) 13.5k low profile heat pump ductless unit to replace the turbojet engine sounding Dometic Penguin. Unfortunately, the Atwood Air Command units are in very limited supply and most models are ducted. Fortunately, RecPro is now importing U.S. spec (120 volt) Houghton RV air conditioners into the U.S. Houghton is (was) Australian, as was Atwood before being bought by Dometic a few years ago. Specs show 56 dB on high and 47 dB on low. If this pans out, it's a huge improvement over the Dometic. Plus it is a heat pump, so we can avoid using the furnace under most conditions that we would ever be camping in. I will post results once installed. I'm not a big blogger, so don't expect a JD level of detail on the installation. I'm building another airplane and have had my fill of documentation requirements from the FAA.

We have not owned our LEII for very long, but I'll give you a single data point. Hopefully others will weigh in as well. 2011 Tundra Crew Max Platinum with tow package, Andersen WDH, Firestone Ride-Rite airbags. 105,000 miles. We recently set out on our first "long" trip - drove about 4500 miles over two weeks. Atlanta to Memphis, then Hot Springs, AR, Dallas and on out to White Sands, NM. Guadalupe Mountains and then on to Big Bend NP. Highest elevation seen was about 7000', steepest grade was up to Guadalupe Mountains. Worst mileage was 8.5 mpg, best 11.5 mpg. I drove as fast as 75 MPH when the winds weren't on the nose. The truck worked hard at times, but the coolant and transmission temps never budged. Would I like a diesel? Sure, but only if it were the Toyota diesel available in the LC in non-U.S markets. I have ordered a Magnusson supercharger as it is bolt on and Magnusson used to supply Toyota these kits under the TRD badge. I'll provide a report back once it's installed. Also going to do a suspension upgrade with ARB/OME shocks/struts and springs for better ride and handling. I would like the 38 gallon tank for the Alaska trip, but I've decided not to do that mod. The Andersen WDH does require a few extra minutes to hook up and remove, but I didn't find it problematic. As to what was in the bed of the truck - tool box, Clam (which we didn't use at all), Camp Chef stove, RTIC cooler, chairs and other misc. stuff. For our Alaska trip, we will put two Honda generators in the front basket of the Ollie and I'm building an aluminum rear rack similar to the one I saw on another Ollie - to carry two spare tires, a Jerry can and the RTIC cooler. This will remove some of the tongue weight added by the generators. Haven't been on a CAT scale yet, but will do this once all the truck mods are done. Between the airbags and the WDH, the truck rides level, as does the Ollie.

And just like Tex's barrel roll, it's a positive 1G maneuver and you didn't spill your drinks. Cool coffee mug.

Zero emission vehicle. Yeah, right.

Our 2020 LEII has the factory installed rear camera option. Yes, there is a switch on the main panel inside the entry door that turns on the power to the camera mounted on the rear of the trailer. Once it's powered and paired to the receiver/monitor in your tow vehicle, the video provided by the camera remains on at all times. There are no connections to the tow vehicle (like a reverse switch), other than the 12 volt power needed by the monitor.

There is nothing quiet about the 11K BTU Dometic a/c. I did sound level comparisons with John Davies who was fortunate enough to have Oliver install a 13.5K BTU Atwood Air Command unit in his Oliver. The Atwood was half as noisy as the Dometic. I’m ordering an Atwood for retrofit as soon possible. The Dometic is horribly noisy. I did the same retrofit in our previous motor home.

I recently bought a similar model, but it uses dies. I was planning to use it to redo the battery cables on our Forest River motorhome that were poorly made (FR used a hammer style crimper) - but we sold the FR and bought the Ollie. We are now using it for the high current cables on the new airplane we are building. It does a really nice job crimping the large terminals. I did ask to see how Oliver made battery cables when we toured the plant. I was happy to see they use a proper crimper.

We just spent our first two nights in the Oliver. The a/c noise is awful. The Atwood installation is now top of my modification list.

Not sure how the switch from U.S. made Trojan batteries to the basically no-name Chinese produced batteries jive with your statement. I agree that some of the changes have been positive, but this is one that (in my view) is not.

Like Susan, we had a MB Sprinter based RV. Never had any issues with it, but the wheel sensor issue was quite well known and carrying a spare set of rear sensors was good insurance. They aren't hard to change on the side of the road if needed. I don't think having an RV coach on the chassis had any bearing on wheel sensor longevity - it's just a weak spot in the design. But so is the emissions system on the 3.0 diesel - many of which have now been recalled due to some "cheating" by Bosch and the various German chassis manufacturers. Also like Susan, we sold our MBS RV recently when we bought our Ollie. We are planning a long journey from Georgia to Alaska and I really didn't trust the MB chassis (or the Forest River coach). As mentioned, MB or Freightliner dealers are few and far between in certain areas. I know folks love their Fords, Chevy/GMC and Ram trucks, but it's hard to beat the reliability of a Tacoma or Tundra. The Tacoma still outsells the Ranger and Colorado, even though it is a dated design and not as feature-laden.

The Dometic installed in my Oliver is an 11K BTU Dometic Penguin, so smaller capacity and twice as loud as John's Air Command. If someone has an earlier model that was built with the 13.5K units, I would be interested to see the sound measurements.

Great information John. Assuming our phones are reasonably close in measurements (and the baseline numbers would confirm that they are) - the Atwood is approximately half as loud as the Dometic. This corresponds very nicely to our experience in our MBS motorhome where we replaced a Dometic with an Atwood. In that case, it was a ducted system and the unit sat directly over the dinette area. We had to turn the fan off when we ate because the sound level was so high. The Atwood cured that and we could easily converse over meals with the system even on high. However, the ducted system did allow you to close off the "dump" vent right there at the grill and force all of the air through the ducts. This is not possible on the non-ducted units of course. I agree with your assessment of outside noise. I can hear the Dometic running from a long way away and the Atwood is much quieter. Now I just have to decide whether or not it's worth the time and expense to replace the a/c. The Atwood is available as a heat pump, however it's 15K BTU which might be too much for the Ollie even in our hot and humid environment in the South. Time to do some additional research...

Thanks for the information and video. The other systems show some promise. I’m really hoping that John provides sound level data that supports my desire to install the Air Command heat pump. Better cooling, quieter, lower amp draw plus it’s a heat pump as well.