November 4, 2021
We discovered our air conditioner wasn't working when we were on the central Oregon Coast and it got hot for the first time at Newhalem Bay State Park. Getting the air conditioner repaired has been quite an ordeal between Poulsbo RV in Mt. Vernon as the servicing dealership and the Warrantec extended RV warranty company. We took it in for diagnostics and repair on May 18, 2021. They had it until May 26, 2021, concluding the AC wasn't working and that it was under warranty, but they were awaiting authorization from Warrantec to move forward with the repairs. They did allow us to take the RV home to use over the Memorial Day weekend, and returned it to Poulsbo RV on June 1, 2021. We were allowed to pick it up June 10, 2021 after diagnostics were completed and some parts were on order. A replacement AC controller arrived and the RV was taken back to Poulsbo RV August 17, 2021. We were told to expect it to be there less than a week, but we didn't hear from them until weeks later. Apparently, replacement of the AC controller box did not fix the AC, so they had to go through another round of communications with Warrantec. We picked up the RV September 16, 2021 and brought it home. It took until the end of October for Poulsbo RV to get a replacement air conditioner in their shop, so we brought it back in on November 3, 2021. We told them we needed to have it back by the next week at the latest because we had scheduled a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis service and recall work the following week. Much to our surprise, they called us back the next day saying the new air conditioner was installed and working. So we got the RV back with a working air conditioner on November 4, 2021- a whole 5-1/2 months after we first took it in. I guess the pandemic supply chain disruptions may have played a part in how long it took to get the air conditioner replaced, but that's pretty ridiculous.
Once we got the air conditioner back and confirmed it was working by confirming a 20˚F drop in air temperature at the cold air outlet relative to the outside air temperature, Ben's next RV modification was to add a SoftStartRV module to the air conditioner. The Coleman Mach 10 15K BTH heat pump that is stock with the Winnebago View 24D can draw upwards of 50A briefly (less than a second) when starting up the compressor. This is why a 30A 110v circuit is required to run the AC at a campground, and why the RV's generator must be rated at 3.6KW, 30A 120v. The SoftStartRV module replaces the starting capacitor for the compressor and modifies the current curve by flattening it out, delivering the same amount of power but over a slightly longer period of time. This reduces the peak current demand by 65%. This allows the air conditioner to start and operate on a 20A household circuit, rather than a dedicated 30A RV circuit. It also reduces the peak load on the generator, and supposedly also prolongs the theoretical life of the compressor. This will also allow us to operate more electrical appliances simultaneously in the RV while the air conditioner is running, without tripping the circuit breakers or overloading the generator.
Ben ended up doing a YouTube video of the installation. https://youtu.be/87cQe4-7pf8
Following the installation, it was possible to run the AC on a 20A 110v garage electrical outlet rather than the 30A 110v dedicated RV outlet, and the AC was able to drop the cold air outlet temperature more than 20˚F below the outside temperature to 33˚F. This also means that if we end up "Mooch-docking" in someone's driveway, we'll be able to run our air conditioner with an extension cord plugged into any standard 110V 20A garage or outdoor outlet.
