Hello all. New TM owner here

[Joelthewelder]

I got the futon installed. I added 14" of 1.5" abs pipe to the legs to clear the furnace. The tables would not open with the new futon in place so i put the tables on a 22" drawer slide so i can slide them out, open the legs and then slide them back in a bit.

 

[Joelthewelder]

Battery testing. I put a 500w wall shaker AC (smallest one i can find) into the kitchen window and ran it for 8 straight hours on the batteries yesterday. The counter said i could go 13 hours on the batteries but im not going to stress them like that. It was 85 degrees outside and it was 62 degrees in the TM.

Test passed.

 

[Kidkraz]

Thru the kitchen window? Can ya post a picture, just being nosey.

 

[Joelthewelder]

Thru the kitchen window? Can ya post a picture, just being nosey.

I bolted a few scraps of aluminum angle to some plywood so it sits down over the wall securely. The ac unit just sits on the shelf. Cardboard and painters tape to seal the voids temporary.. I did have to pull the window trim to remove the window screen but i can put the screen back in later.

 

[Kidkraz]

Wow, are you planning to keep it for camping trips?

 

[Joelthewelder]

If we end up going some place hot and sunny for a few days, yes. It fits snuggly under the couch easily enough. If i added another 200w of panels i could run it without draining the battery at all during the day.. Hmm

 

[BaconLover]

Wow! These are some really great and amazing upgrades! Thank you for sharing and keep on sharing as you do more!

 

[Joelthewelder]

Wow! These are some really great and amazing upgrades! Thank you for sharing and keep on sharing as you do more!

Thank you! My list of things left to do is getting pretty thin.

Upgrade the rest of the outlets to the ones with usb's.
Finish a few bodywork areas.
Finish the table drawer slide install
12v meter for each battery. (X6)
Wheel bearings and brake check.
Recertify the lp tanks or convert them to upright tanks.
Pack it with sheets, blankets, towels, tp, plates, silverware and gear stuff and hit the road...

 

[FllyboyTR]

Congrats on your NU2U TM. I have enjoyed reading this thread. Good info! Thanks.

 

[Wavery]

Battery testing. I put a 500w wall shaker AC (smallest one i can find) into the kitchen window and ran it for 8 straight hours on the batteries yesterday. The counter said i could go 13 hours on the batteries but im not going to stress them like that. It was 85 degrees outside and it was 62 degrees in the TM.

Test passed.

Congratulations on you new hobby........ Everyone has to have a hobby, RIGHT!!!. Might as well be a TrailManor.

Here's a suggestion for your A/C unit. I bought this 7,500BTU inverter A/C for our bedroom so that we don't have to run the central air while we are sleeping (kind dumb, in my mind).

I am amazed at how well this thing cools and it is a quite as the mini-splits. All we hear is a whisper light sound of whooshing air coming out of the air distributor. Can't hear the compressor at all.

I'm thinking of taking the roof A/C off our TraiManor and replacing it with one of this.

When I first turn it on in a warm room, it draws about 800W for the 1st 30 minutes or so. As the room cools, the wattage slowly drops (as the compressor slows) until about 300W, (I have a wall outlet watt meter).This type of compressor doesn't need that drastic surge of power that is a generator killer. This thing would easily run on a 1500W generator, I think.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09V1BBWS9?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

[Joelthewelder]

Congrats on your NU2U TM. I have enjoyed reading this thread. Good info! Thanks.

Thank you Sir!

Congratulations on you new hobby........ Everyone has to have a hobby, RIGHT!!!. Might as well be a TrailManor.

Here's a suggestion for your A/C unit. I bought this 7,500BTU inverter A/C for our bedroom so that we don't have to run the central air while we are sleeping (kind dumb, in my mind).

I am amazed at how well this thing cools and it is a quite as the mini-splits. All we hear is a whisper light sound of whooshing air coming out of the air distributor. Can't hear the compressor at all.

I'm thinking of taking the roof A/C off our TraiManor and replacing it with one of this.

When I first turn it on in a warm room, it draws about 800W for the 1st 30 minutes or so. As the room cools, the wattage slowly drops (as the compressor slows) until about 300W, (I have a wall outlet watt meter).This type of compressor doesn't need that drastic surge of power that is a generator killer. This thing would easily run on a 1500W generator, I think.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09V1BBWS9?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Thanks, I have been looking at those, i like the inverter quietness
but did not realize they can hit 300 watts! Nice..

i had this westinghouse just sitting here. It draws 515 amps on startup and drops to 450 watts after a while. Scouring the web, i dont see anything smaller than it, that uses less power really until now.

Thanks again.

 

[Wavery]

Thank you Sir!



Thanks, I have been looking at those, i like the inverter quietness
but did not realize they can hit 300 watts! Nice..

i had this westinghouse just sitting here. It draws 515 amps on startup and drops to 450 watts after a while. Scouring the web, i dont see anything smaller than it, that uses less power really until now.

Thanks again.

Be careful about how small you go. The Coleman A/C on the roof of most RV's is (supposedly) 13,500BTU but they are horribly inefficient.

At one time, I had a 1998 2720 TrailManor and it had a 10,000BTU (window) A/C unit that was mounted about knee level, in the cabinetry, next to the stove. That's where the factory installed them at that time. Because of the way that the unit was installed, it wasn't very efficient. The TrailManor that I bought didn't have A/C at all so I installed a new 10,000BTU unit in the same place but I redesigned the airflow to the compressor unit so that it circulated better. It worked a lot better then the factory installation. However, trying to get cold air to rise is a challenge and the real failing of that installation location.

 

[Joelthewelder]

Be careful about how small you go. The Coleman A/C on the roof of most RV's is (supposedly) 13,500BTU but they are horribly inefficient.

At one time, I had a 1998 2720 TrailManor and it had a 10,000BTU (window) A/C unit that was mounted about knee level, in the cabinetry, next to the stove. That's where the factory installed them at that time. Because of the way that the unit was installed, it wasn't very efficient. The TrailManor that I bought didn't have A/C at all so I installed a new 10,000BTU unit in the same place but I redesigned the airflow to the compressor unit so that it circulated better. It worked a lot better then the factory installation. However, trying to get cold air to rise is a challenge and the real failing of that installation location.

The factory rooftop unit on mine draws 1200 watts when running, i can run it on my batteries for 7 hours if i maxed the capacity but i dont want that. This vintage wall shaker is loud but it produces a lot of cooling for a small foot print. (Fits under the couch and in the window)

 

[Joelthewelder]

Finished installing the drawer slides into the tables. Soft close even.

 

[Kmikesell]

Can you take some additional pictures of it open? DW wants this mod as well.

 

[Joelthewelder]

Can you take some additional pictures of it open? DW wants this mod as well.

Sure thing.

I first removed the 8) angle mounting brackets that secured the table to the tm wall completely.

I used 4) 1-3/4" x 22" drawer slides. One at top and bottom of each table. I used a angle grinder with an .045" cutoff wheel to countersink the slide into the legs a 1/4" deep or so.

I also used 4) pieces of 1-1/2" x 3/4" x 21" long chunks of plywood strips as a backer between the 2 legs and for something to screw the drawer slide into..

There is probably a better tool to use to countersink than an angle grinder but i could not find anything in my shop

 

[Kmikesell]

PERFECT...Thank you. This will be a project for those long winter nights!

 

[Joelthewelder]

Finished my curtains finally. Pretty terrible but you really have to look close to tell. I dont care. Lol

Finished putting in the slide rail on the pull down closet. That turned out pretty slick and is much less "floppy" than the plastic slide.

Full disclosure: My inverter is having an issue when solar kicks in while running on the batteries. It trips off and gives me an abnormal power output code 5 and code 6.

I contacted mppsolar and they are going to overnight me a new inverter motherboard at no charge after watching my video of the inverter throwing the codes. Pretty cool company. I have 2 other inverters from them on the house system and they have been working flawlessly for 4 years now.

Loading up with gear this week and preparing for our maiden voyage in our TM.

 

[Shane826]

Joel- What did you use for the wardrobe slide? My wardrobe slide rail is kinda, as you said, floppy. Suppose it would work for the bathroom sliding wall, too? Slide hinge is broken in all three TMs! Not plastic intrigues me.

 

[Joelthewelder]

Joel- What did you use for the wardrobe slide? My wardrobe slide rail is kinda, as you said, floppy. Suppose it would work for the bathroom sliding wall, too? Slide hinge is broken in all three TMs! Not plastic intrigues me.

The bathroom wall slide needs to be shorter than the wardrobe cabinet slide but the install is the same concept.
I used a * edit! 1-3/4" x 22" drawer slide for the wardrobe.
I used a 1-3/4" x 16" drawer slide for the bathroom wall.