TOPO2 | Teardrop Trailer | Dometic RTX 1000 A/C Unit

All right, today we are going to take a look at the Dometic RTX 1000 air conditioning unit. It's a 12 volt air conditioning unit that we install in the Topo II trailer. The RTX 1000 is gonna be a really great option for customers who live in really hot and humid climates. You can still get off grid with this air conditioning unit because as I mentioned, it's a 12 volt unit, which means that it runs off of the electrical system that is powered by the 12 volt batteries on board the Topo II. While it's a fairly efficient unit, it does use a lot of energy compared to the rest of the trailer. So if you are looking for extended use off grid, we definitely recommend a backup generator that you can use to recharge the lithium batteries. In our experience, you can recharge the batteries in about an hour using a generator, and then this unit will run for 12 plus hours. That is variable depending on how hot it is outside and how cold you are setting the AC and expecting the interior of the cabin to get. But because this is such a small space, this unit cools things down really quickly. And because of the insulation that the Topo II has with the addition of the insulated window covers, you can do a pretty good job of keeping things nice and cool inside the trailer using this unit and still have a lot of battery left to power the rest of your trailer. Now that we've given you an overview of why this air conditioning unit might be valuable to add to your trailer build, we're gonna dive into how to operate it. When you pick up your trailer and you have the RTX 1000, it will come with a lovely little manual like this. Do not be intimidated. There are several different languages included here. There's really two pages that have anything to do with operation and a handful more for care and maintenance over time. In terms of operating the unit itself, there are two different mechanisms by which you can do that. One is with this remote control. The other is with the display on the unit itself. The remote is a great option for when you're laying in bed and you are feeling lazy and don't wanna sit over here and mess with things. They both do the same thing. It's just slightly different application. You'll notice a few different icons. These icons carry over onto the display. You just activate them by pressing a menu button instead of having everything upfront and transparent here. The first is this power button. You'll notice at the moment there is a blue light on the Dometic. This blue light indicates that we are in standby mode, which means that by a simple press of the button, it will turn the unit on. If we wanted to power it down completely so that there is truly no draw from the system at all, you're just gonna hold that power button down for about three seconds until you see the blue light go off. If we do have the unit on, there's a few different ways you can operate things. The thermostat icon is very obviously just your temperature setting. So you're gonna hit minus or plus depending on what internal cabin temperature you are hoping to achieve. Once you power the unit on, it will default to 62 degrees and it will run on auto mode. The next icon that you'll see here is a fan icon. There are five different fan speeds that you can toggle through, but you'll have to do that when you are on a manual mode and you can slow the speed down or increase the fan speed using the plus and minus button here. At the bottom, you have auto, eco, and boost mode. Each of these different modes mean slightly different things. Auto is just going to run until the preset temperature is reached and it's just going to run consistently until that time. There will be no time limits or anything to it. Boost is going to work as hard as possible for 20 minutes to achieve the desired temperature. If it's not achieved within 20 minutes, it's going to shift to auto mode. If that internal temperature is achieved prior to 20 minutes, then it will shift to auto mode. And the E is eco. So this limits the compressor capacity. So the compressor will not work to its full potential. So it will cool slightly slower, but it is going to conserve battery life because it is such a small space. Eco is not necessarily a bad option. And the final detail here is this timer button that you will notice. So you can set this to a specific amount of time that you want the air conditioner to be running for. A few final things to note. In order for the remote control to work, you do need the unit in standby mode. So you will initially have to power the unit on by pressing this button. And to turn it off and into standby mode, you can either use the remote and just press the power button once from there, or press the power button once from there. As long as that little blue light is on, you'll know that the air conditioner is in standby mode and then the remote can be used to operate it. Additionally, I talked about the manual mode. Manual mode allows you to control the fan speed versus auto, eco, and boost are going to have automated programming that will control the fan speed. In order to enter manual mode, you use the remote and you simply push the plus or minus button to the left or right of that fan icon, and that'll move you into manual mode. A lot of customers have asked if this has a fan mode that isn't using the compressor and the AC. And while it doesn't necessarily have just a fan mode, you can set the temperature slightly higher than maybe would be ideal for the internal cabin, but it is still much cooler than it is outside. And you can use that manual mode for the fan to slow things down or speed things up as needed and really dial in the efficiency of the unit. If you have any questions about the Dometic or our trailers in general, feel free to leave us a question in the comments below and be sure to like this video and subscribe to our channel so you can stay up to date on all of the latest product innovations and new features coming at you from Escapod.