Greenlee Turbro 13.5k Inverter AC / Heatpump install.

[Snackchaser]

Jd, so sorry to hear the bad news, what a drag!  I'm still biding my time waiting to see how this all plays out with the different brands. . .  well actually, wifey put an end to my new AC dreams; "we don't need no #&@! AC around here, buy a bigger heater!"  We did get one of those $79 dehumidifeirs though, I set it up with a Temp/Humidity gauge on top, then I saw your photo using the same gauge!  Had to laugh🤣

[Geronimo John]

7 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Secondly, why did the fan run OK but not so after the heat pump was turned on? I believe there may be a primary issue with this unit, still unknown.

JD:

For giggles and grins it would be fun to do a post mortum on your unit.  Then to get even, fix it to cool your Work Shop!  Granger carries a Ton of fans.  Even if you get the capacity off a bit, it will still cool your Work Shop just fine.  And you get to smile every time you turn it on!

GJ

[CRM]

On 12/28/2025 at 8:11 PM, Geronimo John said:

JD:

For giggles and grins it would be fun to do a post mortum on your unit.  Then to get even, fix it to cool your Work Shop!  Granger carries a Ton of fans.  Even if you get the capacity off a bit, it will still cool your Work Shop just fine.  And you get to smile every time you turn it on!

GJ

Heck, I'd pull the cover off and inspect it while it's still mounted up top. I've had the cover off of mine and it looks like it wouldn't take long at all to see what's going on inside the evaporator housing. Could be an easy fix. 

[jd1923]

3 hours ago, CRM said:

Heck, I'd pull the cover off and inspect it while it's still mounted up top. I've had the cover off of mine and it looks like it wouldn't take long at all to see what's going on inside the evaporator housing. Could be an easy fix. 

In 3 weeks we're heading to the Q and then points SE of Tucson. Thinking of SE Colorado again, when I have time off mid March through mid April, weather depending.

Won't be needing A/C for these trips! It could be an easy repair but it's never easy working on top of the Oliver. I won't be walking around up there like some might. Just getting the cover off is not just 4 screws like the Dometic P2 cover. There are 9 screws in all directions. Not easy reaching over on the awning side either.

I'd hate to pull the whole unit down for repair, but that may be the way to go. I could diagnose, repair and bench test in my garage/workshop.

I had made a custom wiring job for the 120VAC connection. OTT had cut the 12/2 Romex quite short wired to a single-gang junction box. The junction box would not fit above the Turbro Fixing Plate. I had to die-cut a new opening on the close side of the Turbro control box to wire this connection directly. It will also be a pain taking that down, and given success rewiring it again. Short wires make for difficult wiring.

Then there is the risk that besides the broken evaporator fan something else could be wrong. A new A/C unit for $100 +/- in parts and a few hours labor... ?

[jd1923]

On 12/28/2025 at 10:52 AM, CRM said:

I think I finally got mine working the way I want but it took more modification than I think most would be willing to do…

We’d like to know more about your mod to reduce air noise in the cabin, thanks!

[CRM]

3 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

We’d like to know more about your mod to reduce air noise in the cabin, thanks!

Haven't put a lot of effort towards that yet, but did cover the back vents with white tape and the noise dropped quite a bit. Didn't expect it to and was only trying to force more air forward in the cabin. Will probably add some sound deadening inside the plenum at some point to see if that helps further. It's really not too bad now, or maybe I've just gotten used to it?

Other mods I've done to it are- I added a 52k ohm resistor onto the thermistor in parallel to trick the unit into thinking that the cabin air is warmer than it actually is. The thermistor was always reading 5 degrees or more than actual which became a problem since the unit only allows the temp to be set as low as 64. On cooler days in the 70's with high humidity it wouldn't run long enough to bring the humidity down, even in dry mode. Since the mod, it works perfectly. I complained to support about this temp differential and they told me it was "normal" since the sensor is reading the air inside the plenum, lol... I asked why they didn't put the thermistor inside the remote like they do with mini split's and all I got was crickets.. Hoping Cielo finally gets my thermostat working, but that's another story...

I also added an On/On 4PDT Toggle Switch to control the fan speed circuit. One side to run the fan on low constant whether the unit was powered or not, and the other side of the switch to allow the unit to control fan speed normally. I did this mod since there was no way to keep the fan on constant while in heat mode. It was disturbing my wife's sleep by cycling on and off with the compressor and she wanted the steady sound of the fan. She's now happy, so I am happy! 

The last mod was to remove the speaker on the circuit board under the inside cover. Every time you make any adjustment to temp, fan, etc it would beep. To make matters worse, it conflicted with my TV remote and beeped whenever I used that too! 

All in all I'm happy with it now, though I wish I didn't have to do any mods to get there. If it weren't so efficient I might have just sent it back. I'm convinced this unit was designed by two separate set of engineers. One group designing the outside part of the unit and another designing the inside fan control and ducting. 

[Geronimo John]

1 hour ago, jd1923 said:

I'd hate to pull the whole unit down for repair, but that may be the way to go. I could diagnose, repair and bench test in my garage/workshop.

GJ LOGIC:  Time before your trip is precious, and with the mods you have done, and the electrical short wires, and the exploratory work you will be doing to fix the original, and unknown supply chain difficulities, and that you may need reliable Heat Pump, and possibly the A/C even for a winter trip, and there are lots of time stealers in all the "and's" listed above.  So goal is to get your A/C Heat Pump on line soonest as time saved to do so before a trip is important.  Besides, how long it takes you to fix the old one while it is on your work bench is not a worry.  Hence, I would take it down, install the new one, mod it as you have done, and roll on to travel. 

EARLY ADOPTORS:  Your experience reminds me of mine with the Houghton.  Early adoptors seem to pay a high price for beng early.  But as was my experience with the Houghton Mods, it paid off very nicely.  But it also resulted in my caution for other owners not to go down that path unless they were very handy and willing to toss the warranty out the window.  I suspect that you'll echo that thought down the road.

GI Tongue in Cheek:  On the other hand, wif you go the bench route, then have fun with experimenting on it for shop use and noise reduction idea.  You could go with agressive ideas that you would not risk on the one in Ollie.  That turns the process into FUN in my world.  Heck you'll likely end up with a 10 page mod post that makes that unit THE best on the market.  So before posting the DIY, blackmail the MFG to pay you $$$ for the solution or you'll not post it and your's will be the last one sold to OTT owners as well as the SOB owners that read our forum.  Considering all the time you spent on this upgrade, that really would bring you a smile!  LOL

GJ

 

51 minutes ago, CRM said:

She's now happy, so I am happy! 

Happy wife, happy life.  Smart guy.... with a grin!

 

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, CRM said:

I asked why they didn't put the thermistor inside the remote like they do with mini split's and all I got was crickets...

That's one of those Chinese things I was referring too! They will ignore what they don't want to answer. 🙃

Excellent electronics work @CRM! If I save my unit I'll ask more of the details.

If my repair becomes not worth doing, I now have another brand in mind. It wouldn't be for everyone but it's very interesting. 😎 I'll write a post on it soon... 

Edited December 30, 2025 by jd1923
typo

[Steve and MA]

3 hours ago, jd1923 said:

I now have another brand in mind. It wouldn't be for everyone but it's very interesting.

Another 120v unit with an inverter compressor (e.g. Furrion Chill Cube), or are you thinking of a 12v DC unit to run off of your 600 AH Epoch lithium battery bank?

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, Steve and MA said:

Another 120v unit with an inverter compressor (e.g. Furrion Chill Cube), or are you thinking of a 12v DC unit to run off of your 600 AH Epoch lithium battery bank?

Yes Steve, you got me! It's the Furrion Chill Cube!
12VDC units are not practical given wiring requirements.

Too tall for some, but extremely quiet and very efficient, with the interior air handler almost flush to the ceiling for more head room! Perhaps it's too tall and ugly for some of us, but I relish in ugly given superior functionality!

For example, I mounted a rather large Parsec Husky cell antenna on my truck, love it's utility! Those with pretty trucks, big wheels and tires would not go there, but we have 5G on highways most of the time! 😎 Hey, what's that on top of you truck? A question I hear every other time I'm filling the tank!

[CRM]

7 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

Yes Steve, you got me! It's the Furrion Chill Cube!

I looked at that one too but really wanted a heat pump. A big plus with the Chill Cube is you can force it to run at 50% capacity if you want. 

[Steve and MA]

We installed a Furrion Chill Cube on our Pleasure-Way Excel class B last August. In this application it sits down in a well, so it isn't the highest thing on the roof. We're very happy with its performance. Cools well in South Texas' August heat. I don't have hygrometer, but humidity doesn't seem to fluctuate.  And it's quiet, even quieter than the Truma in our LE2. Very little condensation runs off the back of our rig. Supposedly some of it is used to cool the condensation coils, but I can't confirm this. The air distribution box and the remote have controls for heat, but I don't see that Furrion has released an optional heat strip yet.

The only thing I don't like about this unit is the oscillating vent.  It cycles between straight down and straight forward, closing completely before opening back up.  It could be a hazard when it's blowing forward due to its sharp edge. Fortunately, the oscillating feature can be turned off and it automatically closes when not running.

[jd1923]

16 hours ago, Steve and MA said:

We installed a Furrion Chill Cube on our Pleasure-Way Excel class B last August.

Thanks Steve, see this --