New kid on the block! AWD Transit with composite camper AEONrv

skirunman

Member
That back of the exposed transfer switch is an accident wating to happen so is 110V wiring in a compartment that's not protected.

It's a good idea to use different color wire for AC and DC cabling.

We have a cover for the transfer switch that we had off for the photos. The compartment will be "protected" in the production units. The wiring is all Ancor marine wiring and clearly marked. Thanks for the feedback!
 

Alloy

Well-known member
We have a cover for the transfer switch that we had off for the photos. The compartment will be "protected" in the production units. The wiring is all Ancor marine wiring and clearly marked. Thanks for the feedback!
Dumping that Progressive panel and going all Bluesea will allow everthing to be incorporated. Much more professional than mix & match devices with wiring crossing back and forth.

.....and try a RV style knife gate valve for the grey tank drain.
 
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skirunman

Member
Dumping that Progressive panel and going all Bluesea will allow everthing to be incorporated. Much more professional than mix & match devices with wiring crossing back and forth.

.....and try a RV style knife gate valve for the grey tank drain.

We looked extensively at Bluesea panels. They obviously make good products, but we actually prefer the automotive style fuses on the 12V side instead of breakers and the cost difference is huge. Wires still need to come in and go out of a panel so not sure how that will clean up much except maybe we could use a Blusesea dual pole breaker for the solar panel cutoff. in the production units we will try to clean up the wiring even more, but we think we have optimized things fairly well in the prototype, not perfect of course. The two main user accessible Bluesea switches are the 24V battery cutoff switch and the 110 switch to select from shore or inverter/alternator charging. I'm not aware of anyway to not have these be installed separately. Anyway, we are always looking how to make things better.

We looked at the RV style knife gate valves and wanted to test out the ball valve. We may do something different in the production units. Thanks again for the feedback.
 
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Alloy

Well-known member
We looked extensively at Bluesea panels. They obviously make good products, but we actually prefer the automotive style fuses on the 12V side instead of breakers and the cost difference is huge. Wires still need to come in and go out of a panel so not sure how that will clean up much except maybe we could use a Blusesea dual pole breaker for the solar panel cutoff. in the production units we will try to clean up the wiring even more, but we think we have optimized things fairly well in the prototype, not perfect of course. The two main user accessible Bluesea switches are the 24V battery cutoff switch and the 110 switch to select from shore or inverter/alternator charging. I'm not aware of anyway to not have these be installed separately. Anyway, we are always looking how to make things better.

We looked at the RV style knife gate valves and wanted to test out the ball valve. We may do something different in the production units. Thanks again for the feedback.

I suggest looking at examples of marine/boat wiring for examples of optimized wiring.

Bluesea 360 is very expensive. I'd take a look at https://www.bluesea.com/products/category/26/21/ACDC_Panels/Traditional_Metal_Panels

A custom panel can be made with breakers and switches from Carlingtech. That's what Blue Sea uses.
 

gdaut

Active member
I am not sure it is larger than an Earthcrusier, and it certainly seems smaller than an EarthRoamer. Which may be a good thing, depending on what you want.
 

skirunman

Member
I am not sure it is larger than an EarthCrusier, and it certainly seems smaller than an EarthRoamer. Which may be a good thing, depending on what you want.

I could not find specs on size of living space on EarthCruiser EXP or FX, but based on the exterior dimensions and the pictures I think our box may have more useable space. We are 80" wide, 80" tall, and 162" long on the inside. I'm pretty sure the EarthRoamer LTi is bigger inside, but could not easily get the specs off their website either. We joke that AEONrv gives you 80% of an EarthRoamer for 20% of the cost. Of course we know this is not strictly true and both EC and ER make a great product and are really focused on overlanding as we are somewhat bridging the gap between traditional RVs and overlanding rigs.

Our external dimensions are definitely smaller than ER at 22' long, 8' wide and 10' tall to the edge of the box and 10'4" to the skylight. The EC models are pretty close in size, but slightly smaller when not deployed.
 
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Steve_382

Active member
A customer did this comparison of the AEONrv v EKKO and posted it in this Facebook group.
That's a nice overview, if a bit shaded toward the AEONrv ( :<), but quite helpful. In some ways I like the fact that the Ford driver and passenger seats are part of the living area though on the Ekko. It kind of opens things up a bit and adds to the living area. I know there are plusses and minuses to each arrangement. The EKKO has a quite clever deal on the shower/ toilet also. No idea how it works, but it looks clever. I like the entry bathroom on the AEONrv also.
 

EuroJoe

Adventurer
I really like the AEONrv, the bathroom/shower is the decider for the missus, hope to check one out at an expo. Big selling point for me is the 4 season aspect, we skied this weekend and it was -11F initially, thats what I want a camper or trailer to handle
 

Victorian

Approved Vendor : Total Composites
That's a nice overview, if a bit shaded toward the AEONrv ( :<), but quite helpful. In some ways I like the fact that the Ford driver and passenger seats are part of the living area though on the Ekko. It kind of opens things up a bit and adds to the living area. I know there are plusses and minuses to each arrangement. The EKKO has a quite clever deal on the shower/ toilet also. No idea how it works, but it looks clever. I like the entry bathroom on the AEONrv also.

Our transit has a big walk through to the camper. Our idea was also to use the drivers cab as an additional living space. In the summer it is great! Right now in the winter time it drives me crazy! The drivers cab is impossible to insulate. Although we have a thermal curtain there is still huge amounts of condensation (ONLY in the drivers cab) . That water is collecting everywhere and makes me worried about corrosion. This means that having a solid separation like AEON has is key to make winter camping enjoyable.
I'm now working on insulated fabric panels I can use to close off the walk through.
Btw, no condensation in the actual camper with 3 people, dog 80% humidity and -15C .
 

waveslider

Outdoorsman
Victorian, our experience with our kenworth these days (winter) is virtually identical btw. Owing to the large pass-thru we have in our truck as well.

It almost seems like it got worse - or at least more concentrated on any exposed metal available for thermal transfer - after I did our cab sound mat and insulation project.

It's bad enough that we've had water pour out from under the headliner if we've stayed in one spot in the cold.

I've noticed that its lessesend if we put up our curtain/insulation blocker in our passthru to isolate to cab from the cabin. But that kind of defeats the purpose of extending the "livable" space concept.

Not sure if it's worth a thread of its own but if anyone has figured out a secret to how to reduce this - I would be curious.
 

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