Is the Hybrid worth the upgrade?

[Snakebitten]

Looking forward to you getting it too!

I will say that you are a braver bleeding edge early adopter than myself. I'm not a coward regarding, by any means. But I admit to riding in the wake of the bleeders at times.

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[Davexxxx]

Well it's been just short of a couple of weeks since you asked. The first thing I did to prepare to collect data was to insert the 30 Amp solar generator between the Furrion Chill Cube and any shore power or the Powerboost.
The Solar Generator has a management app that makes it very convenient for monitoring inout/output current.

I quickly found that the RV is so surprisingly energy efficient that I decided to set the RV up this way semi-permanent.

The entry closet is a convenient place to just keep the generator "indoors", and I re-routed the RV 30A chord under the couch and into this closet. You can see it plugged into the front 30A receptacle.

I am charging the generator with a traditional 120V 15 Amp power chord and it is now the official external shore power port of the RV. So much easier to manage and handle, and available in every length imaginable.

After several days of running the RV like this, and in 100F ambient, I have found that I can set the charging rate on the solar generator to 10% (max charge rate is 3600 watts) and never need to be concerned with depleting the battery.

So
What you really want to know is how efficient is the Furrion Chill Cube?

First I had to establish what the baseline draw of the RV is without the Air Conditioner. That way we can at least deduct that value from the overall draw.
It's about 125 watts. That's basically the 12V fridge and a couple of 12V ceiling lights.

So I turn the Air Conditioner back on and the temperature was set at 71F

The current draw is now 475 watts.
Subtract the 125 and the AC is drawing 350 watts. It's amazing!

Admittedly I hadn't had the AC off for more than a couple of minutes, and the RV internal temp hadn't risen.

So I grab the remote and change the thermostat setting to 69F

Immediately the fan speed begins to ramp up. It's not a jump-step like low/high, but rather a true variable speed soft ramp.

The compressor sound can also be heard if you are listening for it. A low frequency growl, but fairly subtle.

Current draw increases from the previous 350watts to ~475 watts, and over the next 30 seconds or so it tops off at 875 watts.

At 875 watts, a little over 7 amps, this thing is pumping out some serious volume of seriously cold air. And it does so much quieter than any of the other 5 RV rooftop units I have.

And so far that's about the highest draw I have ever seen this Furrion Chill Cube draw. And it's really quite rare for it to ever get that high unless it's the initial cool down event for a hot RV.

It's remarkable.
I don't know how reliable it will be but it's a game changer for folks needing RV air conditioning but have anemic power supply. Eliminating the startup spike alone is fantastic for those folks. No soft start intervention necessary.

Here is a test vid of the 2 Cube versions, with an install of the ductless.



I've talked to a guy who has installed the ducted version and while the vid shows that version to still be pretty loud, claims it must be because it wasn't installed for the test. He is very happy with it.

It does show the ducted version to be even more efficient and powerful, though both fall short of stated BTUs. Apparently, not an uncommon thing.

 

[Snakebitten]

Not surprised that it doesn't REALLY put out 18,000 BTU

But whatever it is putting out, in plain old country boy language it IS putting out the fire fast. Still, it's how it maintains the temperature, once it hits the target, that's so satisfying. So much less strain, is the best way to describe.

 

[Snakebitten]

Wow.
That video answers so many questions.

Why I don't see ANY surge at all
Why it's so insanely quiet (ductless)
And why I do hear a feint water bubble sound at times when the fan speeds up on the condenser. It's on purpose splashing the condensation on the coils.

I'm going to be converting my ducted Dometic in the RV I actually live in to the Ductless Cube. The RV is only ~22' long internally. And converting will likely only reduce the cooling in the rear bath with the door closed. I might be happy about that when I'm stepping out of the shower, if you know what I mean.

Thanks for that video!

 

[Davexxxx]

Wow.
That video answers so many questions.

Why I don't see ANY surge at all
Why it's so insanely quiet (ductless)
And why I do hear a feint water bubble sound at times when the fan speeds up on the condenser. It's on purpose splashing the condensation on the coils.

I'm going to be converting my ducted Dometic in the RV I actually live in to the Ductless Cube. The RV is only ~22' long internally. And converting will likely only reduce the cooling in the rear bath with the door closed. I might be happy about that when I'm stepping out of the shower, if you know what I mean.

Thanks for that video!

The return air and forced air locations are switched on the ductless.

I'm not sure what the best way would be to handle that if putting a ductless, into a ducted cutout.

At first, I thought they could serve as warm air returns but they'd be bypassing the filter. Probably not a great idea.

 

[turbopilot]

The return air and forced air locations are switched on the ductless.

I'm not sure what the best way would be to handle that if putting a ductless, into a ducted cutout.

At first, I thought they could serve as warm air returns but they'd be bypassing the filter. Probably not a great idea.

His idea to forget about the ducts and go with the ductless makes sense. I heat mapped the roof of my Airstream. The ducts have little or no insulation so the cold air takes heat from the roof as it passes through the ducts. Very inefficient. If you are in a hot area switching to ductless makes sense.

 

[Davexxxx]

His idea to forget about the ducts and go with the ductless makes sense. I heat mapped the roof of my Airstream. The ducts have little or no insulation so the cold air takes heat from the roof as it passes through the ducts. Very inefficient. If you are in a hot area switching to ductless makes sense.

I've no argument with it, especially in a one room camper but was just pointing out the reversal and that the ducts should probably be sealed, else bring in unfiltered air to a system that will already be harder to clean than normal.

 

[Snakebitten]

Definitely will be blocking off/sealing the ducts. I'm actually surprised that Aerolite (Dutchman/Thor) ducted such a small rig.
I purchased it 9 years ago for the rear bath. Literally. I knew for full timing I could make do without a lot of space, but not the bathroom.

My camping RV's can have camping bathrooms, but not my full-timer.

 

[turbopilot]

Definitely will be blocking off/sealing the ducts. I'm actually surprised that Aerolite (Dutchman/Thor) ducted such a small rig.
I purchased it 9 years ago for the rear bath. Literally. I knew for full timing I could make do without a lot of space, but not the bathroom.

My camping RV's can have camping bathrooms, but not my full-timer.

May make sense to fill those ducts with expandable foam.

 

[Chili]

I had a PB loaner and felt it had a hair more get up down low and mid, hair less up top. I have 3.31 gears and PBs have 3.73 though. But my 3.5 is a lot smoother and less clunky, the PB is just always turning off and on. As far as mpg goes, I was getting around 1.5 more over my 3.5

Personally I'd go for the 3.5 with 3.55 gears. Smoother and less crap to go wrong, with the same performance. You can always go for the Ford Performance tune too and it will just be more powerful in all conditions.

To me the 5.0 only makes sense as a RCSB sport truck. It just doesn't work that well in a crew cab 4wd.

 

[Kodiak]

I purchased it 9 years ago for the rear bath. Literally.

HA!

 

[Davexxxx]

Yeah, the Cube has sort of put me in a spot.

There are gadgets I can buy to make mine (Chill, not Cube) more efficient and more quiet but since the Cube came out in a ducted version, I'm of a mind not to spend a single cent, or any sweat and run it till it gives me reason to just replace it.

Changed my mind about this.

Didn't spend any money, as I had the materials but did some retrofit improvements on the Chill yesterday.

As it is a newer version, it already has some efficiency and sound dampening attributes relative to older units but is still a power hog, compared to the Cube. And as it doesn't have variable speed fans and compressor, its louder too.

Anyway, pulled the interior cover, tidied up some wires and made sure the plenum and ductwork were sealed properly. Then covered the central air dump with some foam and secured the dump grill, to assure no vibrations.

Air flow through the ductwork improved, as did noise level. I wouldn't say it was a radical amount but for no more cost than a hrs. worth of time, significant, especially in the bedroom, which only has a single AC vent.

OTOH, if it went down, it wouldn't take much to decide to switch to the Cube, being so much more quiet and so much less power hungry. As we have a private bedroom, it would be the ducted version though.

 

[Davexxxx]

Wish I could rationalize to myself replacing a basically brand new unit in my 2024 Casita. Our is LOUD.

There are things that can be done on a ducted machine.



Or if you're not in the mood for a DIY, several products.

https://rvairflow.com/ improves efficiency and dampens the noise.

This one is more of a silencer but is widely regarded as being effective at that.

https://wackoproducts.com/

Though both seem pretty expensive to me.

I'm a big fan of the Cube and had initially thought to not do anything to mine but eventually replace it with one but that seemed like a cutting nose to spite face kind of thing and did some minimal modding to good effect.

 

[tsigwing]

There are things that can be done on a ducted machine.



Or if you're not in the mood for a DIY, several products.

https://rvairflow.com/ improves efficiency and dampens the noise.

This one is more of a silencer but is widely regarded as being effective at that.

https://wackoproducts.com/

Though both seem pretty expensive to me.

I'm a big fan of the Cube and had initially thought to not do anything to mine but eventually replace it with one but that seemed like a cutting nose to spite face kind of thing and did some minimal modding to good effect.

The mach 3 in my Casita is ductless

 

[Davexxxx]

The mach 3 in my Casita is ductless

Sorry, if there are ways to make a ductless more quiet, I haven't run across them.

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