Hello,
I have had a 2023 springdale mini 1750RD for a few weeks now, and am loving it.
Upgrades I've made so far:
1.
Tail lights! The tail light lens tab was broken on the lot before i pulled off. I swapped it from another unit before leaving (picked up on a weekend and only salespeople were in). I wish that were the end of the troubles. My Ford pickup complained of tail-light faults sporadically. I pulled the wiring in out/traced it, checked for continuity and it all seemed fine. The truck tested fine also.
I ended up ordering a set of LED lights, and after installing them the faults have vanished (for now). I assume this is a two-fold issue. First, Keystone has used the absolute bottom of the barrel rear tail-lights with tiny, cheap dual-filament bulbs. I suspect current draw was near nil, causing the overly sensitive truck to assume that the bulb was out.
2.
Water miser! The tankless water heater is a curse, not a blessing. When taking conservative showers, turning water off even momentarily causes the heater to kick out, and then to get warm water again it is 20-30s of running. I installed an elbow watermiser, routing under the shower, back to the water tank under the bed. I plumbed into the vent line, as the only other connection (aside from the large, corrugated fill), was a T valve that fed the low point drain, and then directly into the water pump. The instructions say not to put it in place of the water pump else you may introduce air. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the result - I can let the water hit temp before switching back to rinsing without filling the gray water or wasting the meager fresh.
3.
Backup camera - Anything on this trailer that is labelled "prep" is a scam. The backup camera prep was a 1" hole saw being used to go over the 12v running lights line, with a hastily attached plate overtop. I figured it would have the furrion pigtail, mount, etc. No dice. I bought a cheaper camera & monitor off amazon and just spliced the running wires. I then siliconed the hell out of the partially visible jagged hole cut. Visibility with my truck was pretty poor before (I could see maybe 50' past the rear of the trailer in each lane next to me), and with this I don't even feel the need to use the clip on tow mirrors.
4.
Inverter & Automatic Transfer Switch - This trailer was "inverter prepped" - which really means that they ran romex to the outlets through the front cubby, used what i can only assume was a crudely sharpened stick to jab a hole through the wall, sloppily pulled a loop of the romex out, then covered it with a plate reading "inverter prepped". The hole is seriously jagged, and the messiest part of the my install by far...
What I did was run an extension from an inverted outlet, took the RV off shore power, killed all battery power, killed the solar panels via the disconnect. I then cut the loop of romex. One end came from the AC breaker box, the other end went to the outlets. Keystone COULD have labeled this, but the person in charge must have been the one that jabbed through the wall.
I ended up mounting further into the passthrough, close to the centerline. I did this primarily as the battery cables provided with my inverter were approximately 16". I didn't feel like waiting on additional hardware (though I did have some appropriately sized welding cable leftover from wiring a winch previously), and keeping the run short is a good thing. I went with the "FIT4LESS" 2000w pure sine wave inverter. Seemed to have good reviews, and a remote monitor screen that you can use to power the thing on and off. Next to the inverter I mounted a a WFCO 30 amp automatic transfer switch, primarily because they had an amazon return for $25 instead of the usual $88.
When wiring the inverter to the transfer switch i ran into one additional complexity - this inverter did not have a direct load/neutral/ground output. Instead i bought a 15amp male plug, and a coil of romex to wire into the transfer switch. This was a dumb move. Romex is not sold by the foot at my local box store, so I ended up spending $27 on 12/2 romex, and $3 on a connector. Instead, I should have just bought a 12ga extension in the shortest length possible, and chopped that up.
The only remaining thing I need to do is run the remote into the storage under the bed, then cut out a hole to mount through the wall. I also need to address the unseemly hole the romex protrudes from. I'm debating taking the factory cover, and chopping it up (as it won't fit now due to my backing board holding the inverter & transfer switch).
5.
Soft start AC - I went with a Briidea copy for $210 off amazon. install was fairly straightforward, though the capacitor was hidden behind a box within the factory GE unit. The instructions were just the files from the softstart (name brand) website
.
It lights up like it is working, and is quite quiet when it kicks in, but then I never thought it was loud. I trust it is working well, but know that even testing these things is difficult because the compressor spike is so momentary (watt meters don't capture often). Took about an hour, so there are worse ways to spend a sunday morning.
Other than the above, I did the usual upgrades. the storage under the bottom of the U shaped dinette (i.e. not the passthrough parts) seemed slightly useless, but I bought one of those double, folding ottoman. I trusted a reviewer claiming it was half an inch shy of the 15" advertised, and ordered. Unfortunately, it is the full 15" so it is currently crammed in there hopefully "learning" to have a compressed padding on top. Will be nice to have somewhere to throw a couple blankets.
Future upgrades:
1.
Water tank - The black tank is 30 gallons, the gray tank is 30 gallons, and the fresh is.... 21 gallons? I realize water is heavy, but 99% of the driving with the trailer is BEFORE it is filled with water. We can get a couple showers each, and 4 days cooking (plus filling brita filter, etc.). This was before shower miser so that will hopefully help the situation (plus spouse is not as conservative with water during her showers). We will be planning on boondocking/some remote usage for a week or so, and would like some more headroom. I pulled the plywood under the bed, and it would quite easily take a larger tank (a foot or so of length available, more than double the height, 4-6" of width headroom). I'll want to hit the scale ahead of time to see where I sit, but an additional 21 gallons is 175lbs. I would hope I have that headroom. In the interim, 6gallon camping totes will do to top up. On a separate rant, why is this thing screwed in? I'll be putting a few pieces of furring strips on the inside so I can leave the screws behind.
2.
Storage in back - There is a small ledge behind the dinette on the driver side of the trailer. This ledge is a great place to throw a modem, store a blanket temporarily, catch a charging ipad, etc. It would also make a greater storage bin/wine locker. The passthrough storage below goes straight through to the dinette seat, and up to the storage. It makes sort of an L shape. My thought was, pop the screws out on the top, put a few blocks on the inside to keep it in place but still removable, and put in a floor above the passthrough storage. Keystone apparently not only screwed it in, but also nailed the everliving hell out of it. I'll eventually pry it off, but that made it lower priority.
3.
Solar upgrade - I am pleasantly surprised the 200w panel has been adequate in keeping the fridge trucking along. I am going to be storing this at a local outdoorsmen club I belong to. While I don't need the fridge going then, it'd be nice to have the modem going with a few cameras (now that i have that fancy inverter).
I am still trying to figure out what I need. The trailer has the Victron Bluetooth MPPT 75/15 from the factory. I think I'd like to add 200w more of panel (prefer a single panel to match factory). I understand that the factory controller will not support more than 15amps of output at peak, but generally the panels are not running anywhere near stated power, so a second panel with existing controller would still be a substantial upgrade. I've also not researched the existing configuration to see how connections are made (i.e. in series, parallel, are additional connections needed, etc.). I do understand I'll need to pair 2x 12v panels or make sure I get a 24v panel. I could also upgrade the controller in the future (seems the existing victron only offers up to 20amp, so I'd probably look at a 40amp renogy to give best capacity).
As an alternative, I might sneak an extension cable at the club to keep it topped off.
Any feedback is welcome (particularly on the planned upgrades - the water tank has me most skeptical/cautious). If you made it this far I think I owe you a drink at the bar.
Linear Mode
