External Temperature Sensor

For the first year of the Revel (2018), Winnebago offered an upgraded audio 'infotainment' system that had an external temperature sensor on the screen. After I replaced the audio system, I was always sorry that I also lost the ability to monitor the external temperature.

However, Walter Abercrombie from the Facebook group recently found a good thermometer (ThermPro TP63) that offers a waterproof, rechargeable external sensor, and I bought one for use in our Revel. 

The problem, though, was where to mount the sensor.  The requirements that I saw were the following:

• Must be isolated from the sun's influence;
• Must be isolated from engine heat;
• Must be exposed to open air;
• Must be easily accessible for recharging while on the road.

Unfortunately, the sensor doesn't have good hooks or holes that I could use to attach it to a surface, so I decided to suspend the sensor in a mesh BBQ bag, reasoning that if the bag can survive the heat & punishment of a grill, then it can survive the splashes under the van.

I decided to mount the bag and sensor in a place where it's thermally protected, yet easily accessible for removal when it needs recharged: behind the rear bumper on the passenger side. I attached it with two self-drilling screws. 

Update September 2020: 

I'm now recharging the sensor for the first time in 6.5 months, so a single charge will last almost 7 months.  System has worked beautifully.

Update May 2021:

Back in black.

2020-02-24

Taking Apart the Dash's Center Console

In case you’ve wondered what’s in the Revel’s center console or need to do some work in there, here are some pictures.
Note: all of the screws in the dash are a small Torx size, there are no Philips at all.

The center of the dash is fastened in place solely by about 8 clips. Use some plastic panel poppers to work around the edges, the clips will pop out, and the entire dash face will come off.

The upgraded audio system doesn’t actually fit like the OEM system and it causes the climate control panel (the 3 big knobs here) to ride too low. This means that the knobs won’t turn freely because they are getting pinched. The fix for this is to move the climate unit out of MB’s designed place, and shift it up a notch, which is what WGO did. I won’t try to describe it in any more detail, but if anyone has trouble with this, they should get in touch with me and I can explain it more.

The climate module is attached with two screws along its bottom edge.

The touch screen is really just the display, and the brains of the unit is the black box in the dash with the HDMI port, down below.

Audio System Part 1

We are a couple of picky audiophiles who prioritize music over almost everything, so we upgraded most of the already-upgraded sound system. Here are a few details about what we did.

In my opinion, the Xite MB9 head unit doesn't sound bad, and it offers a few features that other units are hard-pressed to meet: temperature integration with the Sprinter chassis thermometer, and an extra large screen. Yes, it's slow and uses resistive touch rather than capacitive touch for the interface, but those temperature and screen size features are nice to have for us, and after spending 10 straight days with it on a trip, we have learned to like/accept the head unit as it is. We may still replace it someday, but we're not in a hurry to remove it. (Also, I should mention that it offers a stupefying amount of GPS and RV-related features that some people may want to use.)

The underwhelming sound quality seems to be more directly related to the speakers and the lack of power in the system, which we addressed by adding an amplifier, subwoofer, door soundproofing, and speakers. After doing this, the system sounds far, far better (excellent) while driving, and now just lacks some more speakers in the living compartment to take the party to the dinette & bedroom. It is strong, rich, distortion-free, has as much bass as you could want, and is really damned loud. (Note: we do not use Bluetooth due to the audio compression that it introduces into the signal path, and are just using USB from our iPod to the head unit.)

Also, I want to mention that when we opened the dash, we found 2-3 more HDMI ports on the back of the head unit that are not exposed, along with another USB port and an Aux port. I was unable to get the USB port to function properly, but the Aux port can be used - - the Xite unit offers two female RCA jacks (L and R) on the rear pigtail, so you just need to convert that to a 3.5mm jack for most audio applications. And hey, Winnebago, it was kind of lame that you didn't expose this port on the dash somewhere -- the Xite unit is ready for it, and some of us still want to plug in certain electronics with an analog output. Please fix this in future models.

We removed the JBL subwoofer that Winnebago installed as part of the upgraded sound system under the passenger seat.

We bought this powerful 5-channel amp (Arc Audio XDi 850.5) and installed it under the passenger seat. We tapped it into the same circuitry that the dashboard switch controls, meaning that it can be switched on and off without the keys in the ignition.

We pulled out the speakers in the doors and the tweeters in the dash. The door speakers were JBL upgrades, but the tweeters were Mercedes-Benz OEM.

We replaced the speakers with these. To be honest, these are probably overkill and are very expensive, and you could probably get by with something a bit less and still have a great system. But we're audiophiles.... *sigh*

We installed a 12" JBL sealed, unpowered subwoofer and strapped it to the back of the driver's seat. This provides incredible bass throughout the vehicle (and especially for the driver!) It does not obstruct the table, uses up only a little bit of the foot room, but does not allow the driver's seat to swivel. This can be fixed by installing a 6" sub instead of a 12", and maybe we'll do that sometime, and move the 12" sub to the garage.

We installed the subwoofer knob in one of the 'blanks', rather than making a more destructive modification to the dash itself. Blanks are easily replaced.

See Part 2 for the continuation of this project.

UPDATE 2019

We finally replaced the head unit due to its extremely slow/laggy responses & interminable boot times for the reverse camera.  We installed an Alpine Halo 9", and are (mostly) happy with it. Key factors for us were screen size, Carplay integration, and capacitive touch.  

It does not match the same aspect ratio as the dash opening, so it protrudes a bit from the dash, which I do not like. But it is what it is...

I also hacked this Alpine unit a bit, see here.