Upfitters Resources by Advanced RV

[Davydd]

With Advanced RV's new facilities about 2.5 times their old they are expanding their offerings with Upfitters Resources for Sprinters, Metris and Promasters. Such things as the EP hydraulic levelers, VB Air Suspension, air conditioners, window curtains, bug screens, insulated curtains, etc. As you know they've extensively upfitted the FitRV's Travato and at the B-Rally there was another Travato upfitted with VB Air Suspension, levelers and air conditioning.

In the past their woodworking shop had reworked Winnebago ERAs with sliding door screens and filled in the space that housed to bed notch with a slide out pantry. Those features are not offered on this website.

https://www.upfittersresource.com

[BBQ]

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All I can say is... there are lots of $$$ around.

[gregmchugh]

For the air conditioner upgrade they are offering this on all types of RVs, not just for vans. We are scheduled to get the air conditioner upgrade on our expedition truck in November when we return from Alaska.

I doesn’t seem to me that the prices for the various upgrades are out of line compared to similar upgrades from other sources.

I think this is a great strategy to grow the company and hire more people by leveraging the expertise gained from the custom van side of the business while at the same time keeping the custom van side small enough to provide a very special experience for each customer

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Davydd

...

https://www.upfittersresource.com

Thanks for this. It just gave me an idea. I've been noodling on how to properly insulate our rear doors - no small task as the upper portions of the high-roof Sprinter doors are sealed (welded with only small ventilation holes present). I also asked about options on Sprinter Forum with no revolutionary ideas forthcoming from that particular peanut gallery.

That site sells a rear insulating blanket - outside the doors, not inside the doors as I had originally envisioned. Forehead-slapper. I have to get to work on a design of my own.

[Davydd]

I forgot to mention the Hydrodip process. They are able to match anything. All my dash metal is identical to my cabinetry. I was one of the first to get that process. They had outsourced it before but now they have in-house capability and expertise (and space).

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by BBQ

...All I can say is... there are lots of $$$ around.

Oh ya there is lots of money flowing. Staying off topic.... Just read a review of the new 2019 McLaren Senna hypercar. Here is key quote....
"The (McLaren) F1 racing and luxury sports car concern based in Woking, England, will build a mere 500 of these zero-altitude aeroships, which are all already sold, thank you, for about $1 million apiece. Many will then disappear into private collections of billionaire hoarders, to resurface once every few years..."

Back on topic... Glad to see Advanced RV expand their market. Should help ensure their future so they are still around in a few years when I want to buy my next B-van. [emoji41]



- - Mike
2012 Sprinter 3500 Extended converted B-Van by Airstream

[Davydd]

I can tell you one thing that will be very popular will be their installation of the imported air conditioner. It will be a game changer because it is whisper quiet and more energy efficient. Ultimately it will be a kick in the ass for the other manufacturer's to do likewise if nothing else.

I've experienced the sound in both a Sprinter Advanced RV and a Travato installation. It could make me, an avowed anti air-conditioner at all cost, be converted to accepting it.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Davydd

I can tell you one thing that will be very popular will be their installation of the imported air conditioner. ...

As was mentioned on another recent thread, ARV still cannot disclose that unit's inrush current. They don't know it, apparently. It may not matter for many customers, but for those of us who routinely run off lithium, it's a make-or-break number. I'm hoping that non-ARV van owners start taking them up on their installation offer, and that somehow this info does come to light during the retrofit process.

[Davydd]

I have no idea what you mean by inrush current. All Advanced RVs come with 3000 watt inverters and lithium ion batteries 400ah and above (and 800ah the most popular). They claim energy savings of 20% but it is the whisper sound that is the clinching desire. They put it in a Travato but I don't know what their setup was and it was on shore power when I checked it out at the B-Rally.

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

As was mentioned on another recent thread, ARV still cannot disclose that unit's inrush current. They don't know it, apparently. It may not matter for many customers, but for those of us who routinely run off lithium, it's a make-or-break number. I'm hoping that non-ARV van owners start taking them up on their installation offer, and that somehow this info does come to light during the retrofit process.

The unit they are selling is a standard RV air conditioner in other countries and it is a 220v model in those countries which reduces the current draw by a factor of two but not for the 120v units over here of course. Not sure if there is a capacitor in this unit to help with the startup current which is the typical strategy to deal with the spike.

I am getting it installed as a replacement for a 13,000 BTU Coleman Mach 8 which is running fine off of our 720 AH lithium battery bank through a 4000 watt pure sine wave inverter which has a 7500 watt peak load spec so I am not to worried about the compressor start up current spike even if it is larger than the Coleman. As David says, it works fine with the Advanced RV lithium battery systems so it must not do anything too crazy in terms of current spikes.

What is your concern with the spike on your lithium based system?

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Davydd

I have no idea what you mean by inrush current. ....

Wiki: "Inrush current, input surge current or switch-on surge is the maximal instantaneous input current drawn by an electrical device when first turned on."

In lay terms, how much is needed to get the danged thing fired up? Not to continue its operation, but just to start it?

We DIY'd a 2,000 watt Xantrex inverter and 300 AH of lithium batteries with an Electrodacus BMS and X number of other components. We retrofitted an EasyStart on our existing roof A/C in order to be able to start it up successfully using this inverter and batteries. I might be inclined to buy this new Houghton A/C unit from ARV, but without being able to confirm in advance that it could work with our system as built, it's a no-go.

What ARV is installing in the way of electrical system components in their own vans is all well and fine - obviously they have confirmed that the Houghton works with their stuff.

But now they are trying to market it to other owners with other configurations, such as ours. There has to be a way for them to determine in advance whether it will actually work with different systems, or else they may be looking at installing a unit that requires heretofore unknown upstream systems modifications of the type that people may not be willing to make.

[Davydd]

I have an Outback 2800 watt pure sine wave inverter. Advanced RV is currently installing the Xantrex Freedom 3012 3000 watt pure sine wave inverter for two of their lithium design systems or the Volta System inverter whatever that is for that system. If that is any help.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Davydd

I have an Outback 2800 watt pure sine wave inverter. Advanced RV is currently installing the Xantrex Freedom 3012 3000 watt pure sine wave inverter for two of their lithium design systems or the Volta System inverter whatever that is for that system. If that is any help.

ARV needs to tell us whether it will work with a Xantrex 2,000 watt inverter (plus peripherals).

Telling us whether it will work with their own equipment is not relevant to our question - we KNOW it will work with theirs.

If they are going to market this equipment to third parties, and they've made it clear that they are, they need to answer this question. They need to invest in making the measurements necessary to answer this pivotal question. Nobody else can do that for as long as they remain the only Houghton distributor in North America.

[Davydd]

Since I am not an Advanced RV employing and didn't know what inrush was, I hardly the guy to answer that question. ARV is a small company, and you aren't exactly a third party with a known system considering you have a DIY inverter and battery system they can't possibly answer your question until you get serious if you really want one.

gregmchugh maybe could fill you in with what that process entails. As Greg said, he had to schedule it. That means he talked directly with ARV to make arrangements. Asking the question in a general forum where I don't think ARV participates in is non-productive but grousing maybe for no reason.

[kite_rider]

Originally Posted by Davydd

I can tell you one thing that will be very popular will be their installation of the imported air conditioner. It will be a game changer because it is whisper quiet and more energy efficient. Ultimately it will be a kick in the ass for the other manufacturer's to do likewise if nothing else.

I've experienced the sound in both a Sprinter Advanced RV and a Travato installation. It could make me, an avowed anti air-conditioner at all cost, be converted to accepting it.

Count me as an air-conditioner skeptic as well. Rare that I ever need the silly thing and it's a heavy, noisy, space hogging, power hungry beast!

Hopefully Gregm will share all he learns from the process. I like the sound of a *quiet* AC unit!

The in-rush current issue is a real thing. I've been meaning to tear into the dometic unit on my rig to see what Hymer did to make it work off the el' cheapo 2KW inverter / alternator or tiny AGM battery installed in the Axion. Most (older perhaps) classB's require shore power for the AC to operate..

[InterBlog]

I wasn't suggesting that anyone on this forum should be able to answer that question. I was just generally advising that it has not been answered, and that anyone who is considering that unit should be aware of this. There's a lot of interest in it in both the trailer and RV community.

I asked ARV directly and did not get a response. IRRC, someone else on another forum also asked independently. Same outcome.

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

I wasn't suggesting that anyone on this forum should be able to answer that question. I was just generally advising that it has not been answered, and that anyone who is considering that unit should be aware of this. There's a lot of interest in it in both the trailer and RV community.

I asked ARV directly and did not get a response. IRRC, someone else on another forum also asked independently. Same outcome.

I got good responses to my questions on the air conditioner upgrade but the electrical load was not something that I needed info on since I knew that the compressor current spike was not an issue with our electrical system. Our Coleman Mach 8 has no issues and the lowest power of our options for the air conditioner is the 30 amp shore connection. Our inverter is 4000 watts continuous with a 7500 watt short term max power and our generator is an Onan QD 6000 watt diesel generator.

The main discussion had to do with the dimensions of the Houghton vs the Coleman. The only issue that came up with ours was the fact that the Houghton is wider than the Coleman we have and there is a solar cable encased in an aluminum protective channel near the current air conditioner that will end up under the edge of the Houghton. ARV will add a spacer under the Houghton to lift it up enough to clear the cable channel which is less than an inch high. This was easier than moving the location of the cable since the aluminum channel is firmly attached to the roof.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

... the electrical load was not something that I needed info on since I knew that the compressor current spike was not an issue ...Our inverter is 4000 watts continuous with a 7500 watt short term max power and our generator is an Onan QD 6000 watt diesel generator.
....

Exactly. If your system meets or exceeds what ARV is installing on its own units, you are good to go by default.

But our system was conceived, sized, and built before we knew that there would be such a thing as the Houghton on the market. Instead, it was sized to accommodate that pig, the absolute oinker, that I have as an over-sized computer workstation. A big computer with multiple monitors draws a lot of power, but it can't hold a candle to any roof a/c. Therefore, we need to know what the Houghton's effective lower cut-off is, and/or, we need to know if it can tolerate an EasyStart kind of peripheral (assuming it doesn't come with such a device already integrated).

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Exactly. If your system meets or exceeds what ARV is installing on its own units, you are good to go by default.

But our system was conceived, sized, and built before we knew that there would be such a thing as the Houghton on the market. Instead, it was sized to accommodate that pig, the absolute oinker, that I have as an over-sized computer workstation. A big computer with multiple monitors draws a lot of power, but it can't hold a candle to any roof a/c. Therefore, we need to know what the Houghton's effective lower cut-off is, and/or, we need to know if it can tolerate an EasyStart kind of peripheral (assuming it doesn't come with such a device already integrated).

What do you expect ARV to do to address your question?

Realistically, they can measure the current spike using either one of their van electrical systems or off of a regular AC power source or they can get a spec from Houghton that indicates the max current draw. This is what I would expect them to do. Also, indicate if there are any additional options to deal with the current spike.

I wouldn’t expect them to make any sort of guarantee that it will work with your DIY system and in the end the only way to determine that it will work reliably in your system is to run it with your system. I think they can be confident that the Houghton will work on most standard RVs that are set up to work with the typical RV air conditioners of similar power but a system like yours could respond in many different ways depending on lots of factors. Knowing ARV, I would expect that they would be amenable to giving you some type of refund if, in the end, after the installation, it didn’t work with your system.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

What do you expect ARV to do to address your question?

Realistically, they can measure the current spike using either one of their van electrical systems or off of a regular AC power source or they can get a spec from Houghton that indicates the max current draw. This is what I would expect them to do. Also, indicate if there are any additional options to deal with the current spike.....

That's pretty much it. Whether a non-ARV target customer's electrical upfit was done by a DIYer like us, or Lew Farber, or WGO, any one of a number of other service providers or builders, we are all going to have the same questions.

My husband is the engineer of the two of us. He was able to get the information needed to verify in advance that our existing Dometic roof A/C could be made to run on our 2,000 watt inverter and battery set up, as long as we coupled it with an EasyStart. And it works like a charm, every time. It is a do-able calculation, in other words.