A/C control swap

[tincan]

I have the AC that is ON or OFF.  The fan runs all the time when on.  One of my friends has what appears to be the exact same A/C in his camper(not a Livin Lite).  His runs on a wall mount Thermostat.  Is there anyway to swap the control function without purchasing a new A/C unit?

Once turned on the cooling circuit kicks on and off but the fan runs all the time.  I am guessing that the lower portion of the housing can be removed and the control board can be swapped and then wired to a  Regular thermostat with A/C controls. 

I am guessing that someone at the factory has considered this and maybe even implemented it in the newer campers. 

Thanks

[charliem]

[font size="3"]Most of that functionality is in the digital wall mounted thermostat. It would also require some additional wiring from the ceiling unit to the thermostat. The Rpods have just such a thermostat; I believe Dometic makes it. Don't look to LL to add it: it costs more $$ than the present grope and hope thermostat.
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[montedtrotter1]

Well, I will throw my two cents worth in on this issue. I traveled my entire working career and staying in hundreds of hotel rooms. It got to the point where I would not stay in a room with a wall ac unit that cut on and off constantly all night long. When I had no choice I would set the fan to run all the time to keep from being awaken due to the cycling on and off of the ac unit. Be careful what you wish for as you may get it.

[tincan]

LOL, man I love the cycling on and off!!!! OK maybe not, but it is so less annoying than the fan running constantly.  Mostly during the day when it is a problem.  Now mind you I spend most days outside, but on a HOT, Steamy July day with lots o rain, I find my self watching a movie from the couch.  The TV volume must be turned way up or I manually cycle the AC and pause the Movie while doing so.  Making it automatic would be the [strike]BOMB[/strike]  (Lets not use that word)  it would be cool beans!


I know the R-Pods have a virtually Identical AC with thermostat.  It seems like it would be an easy conversion to swap out one control board for the other and add a thermostat.  To this end I have been doing some research, but no real luck.  That is why I thought someone at the factory might have an idea.  

Dometic sells the things maybe they offer a conversion kit, but I can't get the Dometic site to load.  Perhaps tomorrow it will be working, or the next day, perhaps next week they will figure out what is going on.  Needless to say, preseason research is what this is about.  Make a change during cool weather not in July.

[spot1]

Have seen roof mount similar to our A/C inside cover & controls replaced to install wall mount thermostat.

[mjmoore17]

[quote timestamp="1457052164" author="@montedtrotter1" source="/post/19156/thread"]Well, I will throw my two cents worth in on this issue. I traveled my entire working career and staying in hundreds of hotel rooms. It got to the point where I would not stay in a room with a wall ac unit that cut on and off constantly all night long. When I had no choice I would set the fan to run all the time to keep from being awaken due to the cycling on and off of the ac unit. Be careful what you wish for as you may get it.[/quote]I am with you. Used to drive me nuts. Constant noise was more bearable.

michael

[mdpempsell]

I went to a 21' rear bath Camplite love it except for the a/c.  In my old Rpo the a/c cycled on and off, just like my house.  I would love to change over to a cycling a/c system.  I have installed the digital thermostat like charliem did. It is very good.  There has to be a way of covering the a/c to work so it cycles, even if it means using wire mold for the wiring.  

[charliem]

[font size="3"]I'll add my 3.5 cents (inflation) worth. I also wanted the cycling AC and despised the constantly on fan, but I'm now rethinking. The fan is very noisy and is serious competition for conversation and the radio. However I would more object to the shouting and jumping up for the volume control resulting when the fan cycled off. You get used to the fan when it's running and the sudden silence would be annoying. And the cycling fan may disturb some sleepers. A quiet AC would be the solution but that's not attainable. [/font][font size="3"]Recalling my RPOD days we generally left the fan constantly running for AC, then had to change it when heating.
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Secondly the poor insulation of the CL causes localized heating, depending on sun position. I think the constant fan is necessary for more even cooling.

All that said it would be nice for some AC wizard to post the solution so we each could have the choice.
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[daplumbr]

When I replaced the thermostat for the furnace with a Luxpro digital, I briefly thought about tying in the AC. We decided the constant run fan was in our best interests, so I didn't continue with the AC wall thermostat. However, it looked doable for our Coleman Mach 8. It requires a new inside ceiling panel with a new control box, a standard wall heat/AC thermostat of your choice, and running the thermostat wiring from the AC to the thermostat. Here's a Youtube with enough info to see what's involved, including the part number for the Coleman-Mach 8 inside parts and a pic of the thermostat the author chose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W2P0PBraSs

[davidb]

I have done extensive research on my Dometic Penguin roof top AC on my 6x15 toyhauler.

We have been using roof top AC's for years on our engineering trailers in the oil field and have used just about every brand and model ever used, I knew mine could do much better on a trailer as small as mine.

The problems I had with mine were the compressor would only stay on for a minute or so and then kick off (short cycling) it never got very cool. Two trips to a dealer and hundreds of dollars wasted I had to find a solution.

The main problem with the controls (thermostat) in the ceiling control assy is the thermostat can pick up cool refrigerated air if the cheap saran wrap duct is not installed properly or leaks, my problem was that the ac is close to an inner wall partition that reflects the cool air right back into the return air (filters) . I re-routed my thermostat sensing end over to the opposite side of the ac and it is 100% better.

I first noticed the wall mounted thermostats on the R-pods and started looking into them, they actually have an "auto" mode that cycles the fan off and on.

The remote thermostat would solve all of the short cycling problems but requires routing wires through the ceiling and down the wall.

An added bonus is if you have the gas heater, that can be controlled by that thermostat also.

The parts needed are a Dometic SZLCD thermostat and a relay control module assy.
They can be purchased as a complete kit.

#3313189.015 Black or #3313189.000 white
just search that part number on Ebay or Google and the whole kit with thermostat is under $100.00

David in Louisiana