New “B” lookers / owners operation

[10thtp]

This may be a little long and basic but, it would have helped me. I’m 170 mile trip through the entire Dallas metroplex to my servicing dealer, 2 trips so far & the dealer is great & very busy (NIRVC). I had to purchase my Coachmen Beyond 22cli3 from their dealership in Georgia. The local dealership did not have the Beyond franchise. It was delivered 800 mi arrived in perfect condition, it had a really good PDI. Problem #1 no operator walk through. Problem #2 no Coach operator instruction manual, only 2 very good but technical manuals on Truma & Xantrex. This is no fault of the dealership. I chose to purchase out of state and pay a 3rd party to deliver 800 miles. However, I did not realize the coach would come with such poor to no owner operator instruction. I give high praise to NIRVC, Coachmen, Truma, Premier for their outstanding customer service technicians. I have communicated with all of them and without exception every one of them was patient and made me feel they were genuinely interested in helping. The problem is you have to know a little about how and what a system should do to ask a question plus most problems occur after hours.
Now, I purchased the B with full lithium no generator so we could be mobile and park off grid and have A/C without bothering fellow campers with a noisy generator. However, to our disappointment the 12v premier A/C makes more outside noise than the new generators, it is quieter inside. The manufacturer says sorry, that’s the way it is. The lithonics 630 amp batteries and Xantrex 3000 inverter/charger system will power the 12v A/C and 12v refer for 10 - 11 hours maintaining 80 degrees temp inside sitting in 90 degrees no shade outside. Fortunately Coachmen uses the lithonics lithium packaged with Xantrex inverter which coordinates with each other which makes it a seamless operating system. The Xantrex manual has confusing technical operation info about how to turn on/off the inverter and when to do so. After 4 months of hit & miss operation and talking to service technicians it boiled down to a simple layman term. Treat it like a fuel generator, turn it on when you need it off when you don’t. Sounds simple. The concern was, lithium batteries require certain charging procedure. With the Xantrex inverter/charger package will it maintain the charge with inverter off. Yes, it’s part of the coordination between lithonics & Xantrex just turn off inverter when not needed. Little side note. Xantrex manual says inverter off with switch in up position, on in down. The switch is a small button one push on one push off. I did not notice the slight detent in the on position. Would be easy to illustrate in a basic owners operator manual. That said the lithonics li3 is a fantastic system. The dealer pointed out how important the coordination and compatibility between the lithium batteries, charger & inverter is. They had another manufacturer coach with basic lithium batteries, charger, inverter & battery maintenance system that were not allowing seamless operation causing major problems.
Final personal comment. To do it again, because of the outside noisy 12v A/C I would look for a 22ft B coach with the Beyond build quality an li3 type lithium battery system, new quiet 120v A/C and new quiet generator. Would only have to run generator when lithium inverter system needed recharged. With more research the chassis under hood generator may support my needs without the coach generator. Over all we love this Coach. Would like to hear more from newer B owners and their experience with the 600amp lithium battery package. We’re Happy Campers just trying to find open slots in state, national, city, corp parks to visit.

 

[onntwo]

I am with you on all of your points. I just took delivery of a 2022 Nova 20RB Li3.

Try looking at the new Truma Aventa AC unit that Coachmen is starting to ship on some models. Supposed to be very quiet inside and out. Also, very efficient for Lithium coaches.

 

[10thtp]

Thanks for the input. We’re going to be on the road till November. If we get complaints or just get tired of the whining noise I’ll just bite the bullet and replace the A/C. That’s just a bummer to have to do that on a new $200,000 msrp coach.

 

[steve helline]

This may be a little long and basic but, it would have helped me. I’m 170 mile trip through the entire Dallas metroplex to my servicing dealer, 2 trips so far & the dealer is great & very busy (NIRVC). I had to purchase my Coachmen Beyond 22cli3 from their dealership in Georgia. The local dealership did not have the Beyond franchise. It was delivered 800 mi arrived in perfect condition, it had a really good PDI. Problem #1 no operator walk through. Problem #2 no Coach operator instruction manual, only 2 very good but technical manuals on Truma & Xantrex. This is no fault of the dealership. I chose to purchase out of state and pay a 3rd party to deliver 800 miles. However, I did not realize the coach would come with such poor to no owner operator instruction. I give high praise to NIRVC, Coachmen, Truma, Premier for their outstanding customer service technicians. I have communicated with all of them and without exception every one of them was patient and made me feel they were genuinely interested in helping. The problem is you have to know a little about how and what a system should do to ask a question plus most problems occur after hours.
Now, I purchased the B with full lithium no generator so we could be mobile and park off grid and have A/C without bothering fellow campers with a noisy generator. However, to our disappointment the 12v premier A/C makes more outside noise than the new generators, it is quieter inside. The manufacturer says sorry, that’s the way it is. The lithonics 630 amp batteries and Xantrex 3000 inverter/charger system will power the 12v A/C and 12v refer for 10 - 11 hours maintaining 80 degrees temp inside sitting in 90 degrees no shade outside. Fortunately Coachmen uses the lithonics lithium packaged with Xantrex inverter which coordinates with each other which makes it a seamless operating system. The Xantrex manual has confusing technical operation info about how to turn on/off the inverter and when to do so. After 4 months of hit & miss operation and talking to service technicians it boiled down to a simple layman term. Treat it like a fuel generator, turn it on when you need it off when you don’t. Sounds simple. The concern was, lithium batteries require certain charging procedure. With the Xantrex inverter/charger package will it maintain the charge with inverter off. Yes, it’s part of the coordination between lithonics & Xantrex just turn off inverter when not needed. Little side note. Xantrex manual says inverter off with switch in up position, on in down. The switch is a small button one push on one push off. I did not notice the slight detent in the on position. Would be easy to illustrate in a basic owners operator manual. That said the lithonics li3 is a fantastic system. The dealer pointed out how important the coordination and compatibility between the lithium batteries, charger & inverter is. They had another manufacturer coach with basic lithium batteries, charger, inverter & battery maintenance system that were not allowing seamless operation causing major problems.
Final personal comment. To do it again, because of the outside noisy 12v A/C I would look for a 22ft B coach with the Beyond build quality an li3 type lithium battery system, new quiet 120v A/C and new quiet generator. Would only have to run generator when lithium inverter system needed recharged. With more research the chassis under hood generator may support my needs without the coach generator. Over all we love this Coach. Would like to hear more from newer B owners and their experience with the 600amp lithium battery package. We’re Happy Campers just trying to find open slots in state, national, city, corp parks to visit.

Thank you for your well thought out post. I am looking at a 2020 beyond with the 330ah and gen set. Do you know if 2020 had the quiet generator and also did you consider the rear bath layout and why did you chose the side bath. Thank you!

 

[10thtp]

Sorry for the delayed response. Been on the road for past month and have not been getting connections. Not familiar with 2020. I really like the RB model however it has the small refrigerator which is a no go for us. We’re enjoying our trip so far. In Florida now, will head to Atlanta GA NIRVC in about a month to get new awning installed big wind tore it up. From there to North Carolina. Then who knows. If you get it good luck with your 22RB.