SeaDawg

Very cute. And a great idea.

Mirna, many of the less expensive 12v coolers are thermoelectric. They use more power, and can really only cool 30 to 40 degrees below ambient temperatures. ABS, Dometic, Indel and other far more expensive machines use a danfoss/secop compressor, using half the power, and cooling through greater temp ranges. That's the similar compressor used in our 12v box, and others who have replaced their three ways with 12v fridges. A less expensive thermoelectric may work fine for you, if you don't often camp in extreme temps. I have a thermoelectric wine cooler in the family room. It's great. But, I'm only trying to go from 78 to 45. If you want serious refrigeration, with minimal power, youll want to look at units using the danfoss / secop compressor. ABS, Dometic, the new Truma, and the like. The danfoss/secop compressor units are much more expensive. It's up to you to decide if it's worth the much larger investment, based on how you will use it, and how often you will use it, and ambient temps. I'd honestly wait on buying an electric cooler til I'd camped a few seasons, to detrmine your needs . We just use a cooler, and ice, to refrigerate beverages, and save room in the fridge. Although I'd love to have another portable fridge, I'm good with the cooler plus fridge for the last 12 years. Just my thoughts. Sherry

I love it. I'm relatively new to the handle game. Just a few decades. Can't even remember my dad's handle on cn radio . Wish i could. So many memories. If I were choosing today, I'd probably use Cybertruck. But, you know, Seadawg has been our name for a long tome, too. We'll stick with that. As you have. It's all good. Sherry

Townesw, that's a "solution" I've seen on several of the 40 plus threads I've read on this thermostat's problems. It looks like a good trouble shooting idea, but not long term solution. Everyone who left the cover off, in the threads I read, had problems later, within a few weeks? Corrosion? Moisture? Would be my guess. Definitely, a worthwhile exercise to troubleshoot, Just not a long term solution. I've never seen so many bad reviews on a thermostat. I was stunned. I hope Dometic has resolved the issues, as I haven't found a replacement/ other brand stat yet in my research. Then again, others reported corroded connections, loose connections, on the ac and at the furnace, as other issues causing similar problems. It could be worth a try, Nan, if you have the time. It can rule out the messed up face plate. But, it won't rule out a faulty thermostat. Edited to add: townesw, that's a great troubleshooting technique for the faulty faceplate. . Not discounting it, at all . Sherry

No worries. I just hope it works for you. Fingers crossed.🤞 Sherry

Kudos on your persistence. And good luck. Sherry

Nan, I looked online for a manual for your thermostat. I found one for a newer "bluetooth" model. What I also found were many threads on other brand forums about the thermostat faceplate causing problems with the thermostat changing settings and causing erratic operation. Before I did anything else, if it were me, I would call Dometic technical support again. Do you have the model and serial number of the thermostat? They will need that to determine which version of the thermostat you have. With certain models, Dometic has apparently shipped replacement face plates to resolve the problem. The comment that you made about the dometic tech asking you to remove the faceplate, and the thermostat switching to celcius on its own, lead me down this line of thinking. From what I've read, on some of the models, the foam on the back of the faceplate springs back and changes settings on its own, sometimes hours after the user adjusted settings. 🥴 Again, I'd call Dometic. Especially since I don't have your model thermostat and furnace. I don't have any firsthand knowledge, just research. I wish I did. Sherry

I'll tell you why I ask. In our home system, two heat pumps, the Honeywell thermostats are the crash points. They do display weak batteries, on the display. If we replace batteries without shutting down the entire system, I'll get heat instead of ac. Sometimes, if the batteries are weak, we get heat, when the ac is called., after a power outage, so, weak battery in the thermostat. It's maddening, but now, we know where to look. Omg, not fun in Florida. 90 degrees outside , and running heat when the system is calling for cooling. Yikes. Our solution, as recommended by one of the several techs, was to cut power to the thermostat, and the heat pump. For fifteen minutes. For you, that would mean cutting dc and ac to the furnace (and everything else in the trailer) , and the thermostat . Or, hoping you can find the appropriate breakers. I'd just cut it all, if you want to try. Ps, before you go that route, what model is your dometic thermostat, and what are the current settings displayed? Sherry

Nan, I'm curious. If I remember correctly, the preloved Oliver you bought had a furnace replacement? Or am I wrong? Was the thermostat also replaced? Which furnace and thermostat do you have? Sherry

For those of you in Florida, or traveling through, Truma opened a corporate sales and service office in Lakeland, just a few minutes off of I-4. (That's about halfway between Tampa and Orlando.) I spoke to the manager there a few months ago when I was looking into their new furnace. Sherry

210 ah, total. The battery tray in the 2008 Elite I only holds two group 27 batteries. And that's obviously not all useable. It's ok. With some conservation (maybe read power miser controls), and good monitoring tools, we've boondocked successfully for 12 years. 😃

Wow, Ct, that's sad. I suspect Dometic wouldn't be very happy to hear that an authorized warranty repair facility didn't want to work on your trailer. Frankly, I've never heard that response before. My local Dometic dealer, Campingworld in New Port Richey, was really gracious and thorough in working through my Dometic fridge issues years ago. So sorry. Sherry

🤣🤣🤣🤣

I'll second what Overland said, as I have said it before in other posts. The most effective use of the fossil fuel generator is in the morning, at bulk charge, when we need the honda 1000 genset boost. 45 minutes to an hour usually gets us out of bulk charge mode in shoulder season camping . We let the solar panels take care of the rest. On a crappy day, we might run the generator again for 30 minutes to an hour in the evening, if it's going to be a cold night, and we're in the mid 80s on percentage of battery. Agm batteries have many advantages. They're sealed, no fumes, less sulfation. (Great for me, as they're under my head in our Elite I, 2008.) They don't leak, even if damaged. Less susceptible to vibrations. Charge faster than flooded, in bulk mode, especially. Supposedly can be discharged further than flooded. I get twitchy when we get into the 70s percentage of full, as I want the expensive batteries to get their full / best life. Any battery, agm or flooded, lasts longer if not regularly discharged to the limit, and not overcharged, either. Keeping the batteries discharged to 70 to 80 per cent should prolong their life. Cycling is based on full discharge rating, so....longer life if you don't fully discharge. (Full discharge depends on your battery type. Often 50 per cent. I try to not go that low.) We have a dc danfoss/ secop compressor fridge now, so I really watch the battery states, more than I did when we had a three way. The big night time power user for us, as shoulder season campers, is the furnace fan. Noisy, and power greedy. In our older, original Elites, it's at the foot of the bed, under the kitchen drawer, unlike the newer trailers, where it's up forward, under the north seat. So, not only does it suck a lot of power, but it wakes me up every time it kicks in. Paul swears he doesn't hear it, but I do. So, I set the furnace to the lowest setting, and add a blanket. That helps. Both with warmrh, and battery useage. We have two agm 12v, 105 ah batteries, so not the same configuration the op was asking about. Sherry

I'm looking forward to seeing the photos, too. Have to say, I'm always a bit jealous when I see another Lagun table install. 🤫 This year's budget and time is devoted to solar upgrades and maintenance projects on the boat and the trailer. But, I would so love a 24 inch table that folds out to 48 in the small dinette, that I could elevate and use as a counterheight work station when prepping or working on projects. Plus, I would love to add a wood tabletop, vs the original black fiberglass top. One of these days, maybe Santa will figure it out. 🎅 Sherry

That's an awesome savings. For the many of us whose tvs run on gas, look into the credit cards that give cash discounts, by per centage. Check nerd wallet. There's on credit card now that gives 5 per cent cash back, pretty much anywhere in the USA. If you have a Costco or Sam's card, you'll pick up savings of 4 or 5 per cent. Much more when you gas uo at Sam's or Costco, as they're already 3 to 6 per cent below local prices. Then, enjoy the credit card savings. We use a combination of all of the above. We have a credit card (credit union) that gives us 5 per cent cash back anywhere, plus enjoy the savings at Costco, Sam's, and Murphy's attached to Walmart sites. And I use gasbuddy app and google to look ahead for gas prices on my phone. On a typical trip from Florida to north Carolina, we stop twice in South Carolina, where gas is cheaper by 15 to 20 cents. Our 34 gallon tank will take us into town in Asheville several times in nc , and back to a cheaper gas stop in SC, on the way home, if we fill up in Spartanburg. Sherry

I think, personally, there's a difference in evaluating trailer use tires vs suv/ truck use tires, especiallywhen it comes to noise. I don't care how much noise the trailer tires make. No one is (hopefully 🤣) inside to hear it. I've run bfg, goodyear, bridgestone, cooper and others on suvs and trucks the last thirty years. As soon as I find a tire that lasts 4 years, and doesn't generate a ton of noise, it's discontinued, anyway . In the trailer, we've run duros and maxxis, and now, a local brand, ST. Just my opinion. And, we still run on ST tires, not LT, on our trailer. So, I know we are in the small per centage, here. Trailer tires, imo, are meant to be drug around, since they have no driving power on their own. What do I want? Reputable company and warranty. Decent highway speed rating. Stiffer sidewall. Decent rolling resistance, so the trailer drag doesn't kill my mileage on the highway.. Proper load design for trailer weight. Any of Oliver's choices that I have seen, over the last twelve years, have been way and above what I see on other trailers and class c's, too. On those, if a load range c or d barely meets the specs, like my sister's sob trailer, that's what you get. I never have seen that on Oliver trailers. It's always above. A lot of people were happy with the Michelin tires. Unfortunately, they're no longer made for the Ollie size, so let's see how the Coopers work. If Cooper made a tire that fit my 2008 15 rim, I would be on it. I find a lot to like about Cooper. Sherry

In my case, we installed the Truckfridge tf130, still indel fridge, danfoss/ secop compressor. I picked up almost a half cubic ft of extra storage. Plus an interior (led) light. We love it, despite the Barbie sized freezer. I've looked at reviews from owners on irv2 and other websites. And, I flew through the amish refrigerator website. It doesn't talk about danfoss/secop compressor technology, but at some point, i saw draw of 4 or 5 amps running on dc, so... must be some kind of swing arm compressor. If I had to do it again, I'd still replace our old Dometic with the truckfridge. I picked up extra fridge space, although I now have a shoe box freezer. 🥴 Plus, I gained room for a drawer beneath. Without the heater behind, the replacement fridge can be slightly bigger. The danfoss/secop takes up much less space than the threeway ammonia/heater unit. The novakool a few people have installed gives even more fridge and freezer space, but I was looking at budget. And what would fit through my door, in an older Elite, without having to remove trim or shower wall. Basically, something we could do ourselves. Most reviews I read about jc/amish refrigerators were from big motorhomes, where they had the choice of removing the windshield to replace the fridge, or retrofit the old. In their case, I'd definitely retrofit. I know friends of ours, with an older class a, replaced the cooling unit in a 3way to avoid just such a hassle. I didn't find a unit to retrofit a dometic rm2454, but I could have flipped through too quickly. Possibly, it's there, but I think their focus is on bigger rvs, at least right now. Sherry

We don't have the newer furnace. Folks who do, do you have an issue with "auto" setting? I seem to remember that in other posts. Is there a manual heat setting that makes the furnace work properly? Off, gives nan 75 f, which is about 24 c. Sherry

Your thermostat serms to be reading Celsius, and you need to reset to Farenheit. Do you have a manual? If not, look up conversion tables.

You can probably find a replacement toggle boot at west marine, amazon, or any marine supply. Most of them are pretty similar. I don't know what brand the new trailers use. You could start here: https://www.amazon.com/Toggle-Switch-Boots-Black-Marine/dp/B01BIDTAEE/ref=asc_df_B01BIDTAEE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312114712708&hvpos=1o8&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2763488546385424426&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9012147&hvtargid=pla-569606906829&psc=1

KennyPenny, i think you have several accounts. Maybe try another?

I also disagree. Custer is beautiful. The sundown drive, vry slowly, through the adjoining preserve is awesome, for wildlife view. Be prepared to stop. A lot. Dave's photos are beautiful. And real. . I really enjoyed Teddy Roosevelt NP in North Dakota, if you have time. The Dakotas have their own special and unique beauty. Not a flyover, or run-through, imo. Sherry

I really like those legend pex connectors, Overland. When I tried to shop them, I could only find them at Ferguson. Guess I may have to reactivate my account with them. Any idea on pricing? Sherry

And, I just reread your post. Tpms is a must, for me. Even if it's not integrated. We use the tst sensors system.