First 24 hours-Air8 in 2020 T@B 320 CSS Boondock Lite with solar

twocutes

I am in transition from a 2014 T@B 320 CSS Maxx to a 2020 T@B 320 CSS BDL.  2014 had a standard Frigidaire room air conditioner.  2020 has the Elwell Air8.  I have read many threads on the Air8, as I was concerned before buying.  Looks like most of the issues are occurring on the 400.  As a side comment, I am thrilled with the 3 air vents in the 2020 - love the air circulation when the Air8 is running.
Given that I'm coming from an A/C unit that basically had on/off, high/low cool, high/low fan, I'm trying to understand if the Air8 has a configuration setting that allows the fan to be always on - not auto - AND cooling at the same time.  Near as I can tell from working with it, it can only do Fan only Always on and Cooling to temp, etc., which switches compressor and fan off/on based upon set point.  Also, of course, my manual diagram doesn't match the control panel.  Manual has 2 snowflakes, control panel has snowflake and teardrop.  Any experts out there willing to offer their experience?  Thanks in advance!
Beth

Dutch061

You are correct, in AC mode (snowflake) the fan and compressor cycle at temperature. The teardrop mode is dehumidifier, never have used it. I am also certain that your air temperature sensor is the same as the 400 which is on the inlet of the AC unit and doesn't represent an accurate temperature reading. We have a 400 with the Air8, and I believe if the temperature sensor location was correct that it may work satisfactory. I am on the list for the upgrade when it is available, hopefully that will fix the sensor location also, if not I will fix it.

Brad

twocutes

Dutch061/Brad - Thank you!  It makes total sense that the temp sensor should be somewhere more logical, like where a human would be.    I was already thinking I could set the desired temp to something quite low to force it to run, if needed.  I will definitely try dehumidify setting, as Minnesota summers are humid for the latitude.  My personal opinion is that they may have overengineered the Air8 for features - sleep timer, daily schedule programming, etc., and forgot about some of the more practical settings.  I am pleased the control panel dims. 
Next project - read the Alde manual to see if that digital display can be dimmed ....

jkjenn

One thing to take note of, if you have pets, if the power goes out or flickers in the CG, the Air 8 does not automatically kick back on. Last weekend we had some serious storms roll through the CG where I was camping the power flickered consistently for 2 hours. I had to keep resetting the AC. Not such a big deal for Eocky since it was not hot and it was dark, but it gives me even more pause to leave him unattended in the T@b in hot weather when I can'teave the windows open and run the fan.

I havemt dug too deeply into the manual, yet, but I couldn't find anything about having to reset. I would love to be able to mod this to correct it. I plan on emailing Elwell tomorrow.

I am otherwise thrilled with the Air 8.

twocutes

Thanks, Jenn!  I don't know that I could leave my fur kids in the camper for any length of time without a temp monitoring app on my iPhone.  For now, I don't need to worry about it, since my fur kids are not quite busy-campground friendly.  They are spending this season's weekends with grandparents.  As far as the Elwell manual goes, it is lacking.  Mine has a total of 8 pages, including the back cover.  There are 2 pages of user information plus an alarm code table.

Denny16

You can set the Alde display to go to sleep, dark mode (black display, no light) and it wakes up when touching the control surface.  Fixed the light issue in my TaB.
cheers

twocutes

Denny16 - Immediately after I posted a response, I pulled out the Alde manual and found item 8 - Background Lighting - on page 20!  Thanks!

PhilW

twocutes, I just stumbled on this thread after searching for more info on the Elwell Air8. I, also, have a 2020S Boondock Edge. I noticed in the manual that my display did not match the manual just as you had stated. I assumed that the teardrop icon represented a dehumidifier but was not certain. Thank you for posting and thanks to Dutch061 for the affirmative response. I camped (in Michigan) early April (2022) and had 30 degree temps and rain over night. I woke up to heavy condensation due to closed vent (rain) and heat. That prompted me to look further and realized that I have a dehumidifier.

PhilW

Denny16, thanks for your response to twocutes related to the Alde display. I purchased my 320 S Boondock Edge new in 2020 and jumped right in to the enjoyments of camping with the intent to review all the manuals as I go. Two years later and I'm just now reviewing what I actually have in this unit  :-o

My wife has been putting a t-shirt over the Alde display at night. You would think that I would have looked at the manual two years ago.....but then again, I fit that old joke about guys not asking for directions LOL.

My wife will be pleased to know that we can dim/blackout the display at night

Denny16

Better late than never Phil, glad you got it sorted!

Cheers

Yoshi_TAB

Hi,  ...just reading this thread...the Air 8 dehumidification mode has always confused me on how it worked.  I assume it's like a home dehumidification unit which removes moisture without much cooling of the air.  I also emailed Elwell about it and received the response below, which really does not make sense to me.  The concept of pulling "more moisture" hurts my head since dehumidifiers and ACs essentially  work the same way by using cooling coils to drop out condensation of warm humid air, but the difference is ACs expell the warm air outside while dehumdifiers do not. I have on my to do list to change modes on the Air8 on a humid day and  observe closely what is does...more out of curiosity.  


"Hi Stuart,

 From my experience with the Air8, the dehumidification mode does not feel much different than the cooling/AC mode.

 It will still blow cold air in the dehumidify mode, but it will be attempting to pull more moisture out of the air at the same time"

On another note, the Air 8 manual says the middle trunk (I believe) should be used for the longest run which would be the one above the control panel.  Mine is not set up like that..not should how much of a difference it really makes, but I plan to swap mine at the unit becuase that is what the distributor recommends.

Happy TAB cooling....

PhilW

Yoshi_TAB - interesting comment " the Air 8 manual says the middle trunk (I believe) should be used for the longest run..."

After updating the Elwell Programming, I ran the A/C to verify all is working and noticed that I had no air at the nearest point (dinette bench). I found that the trunk had come off from the unit (probably from my trip a week ago when storing a few small items under the bench).

That trunk had been attached to the middle output port. So, on my unit, the middle trunk feeds the shortest run as opposed to the longest.

If you swap yours around, I would be interested in hearing if it made any difference. Thanks for you comments.