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Here is a video to help show you how to winterize your Oliver Travel Trailer. Note there are two valve configurations depending on the year model that can be seen at the 27 sec and 35 sec time frames in the video. Hope this helps!

First, that is not true. The grounding process was not changed in 2015 and I can prove it. Hull #200 had the same problem until Reed and I fixed it. Second, where does it say in the manual to do regular maintenance of the ball in order to make the brakes work? And what about the Anderson hitch? Third: why is the "industry standard" an excuse for making the system not charge from the tow vehicle and make the brakes weak. We bought an Oliver that we thought was better than the "industry standard" and now it turns out we have to design fixes and figure out how to install them while Oliver refuses to accept any responsibility. This acknowledgement clears up all of the speculation as to why Oliver wired the trailers this way, year after year. It's a bad design, and now it has turned into a denial of responsibility and a lie. Worse, Oliver, while saying they are better, is actually only barely meeting what they call "industry standard", as though that justifies this problem. And even worse than that, is denying any responsibility for the mistake which leaves people with poor brakes and no trailer charging. This is just like the water tank problem: More denial, which is another and separate issue. Oliver's true expertise is in fiberglass work. These trailers are undeniably beautiful and the glass is very well done. But, the mechanical and electrical design is a different issue. As good as their intentions are, they have made mistakes, and now it seems they are attempting to fix the issues by denying them. I went into this believing Oliver was better, not only in mechanical design, but in spirit. I've designed and installed fixes at my own expense. I've helped others with my knowledge and experience. And now, once again, Oliver presents a denial by hiding behind the term "industry standard" after constantly telling us they are better and worth the cost. Maverick fixed his electrical problem, I fixed mine and Reed and I fixed his. None of these would charge while being towed and the idea that a current carrying connection through the ball makes sense, is ridiculous. It's a ridiculous design and it has been proven to not work by actual owners who can't get the batteries to charge and have weak brakes. Now Oliver is lying to us about it. To say it's OK because it's an industry standard is denial and a way to get out of responsibility. Oliver should never be in the position of justifying a bad design by saying that others do it, so it's fine. And further, denying problems that stem from poor decisions is a recipe for disaster as your very best form of advertising, the owners of your trailers, are having problems and being told Oliver is not at fault and not going to correct the problems. Oliver: get ready for a business failure unless you accept responsibility for poor decisions as well as fix them and use sound engineering in the future. The water tank issue is another example of poor design and denial of responsibility. I believed the water tank problem was an honest mistake and I came up with a good fix. Then Maverick found the electrical problem which lead to a lot of talk and analysis to make it work. Now, Oliver is denying responsibility for either of the two. I'm disgusted. I really like my Oliver, but when I hear the factory is hiding behind excuses and denying mistakes, it pops my bubble and my willingness to promote them is lost. I'm afraid Oliver has not yet learned the most basic lessons of customer relations and standing behind their product. Becoming "part of the family" is a nice saying they use, but when the rubber meets the road, they won't help you with their design mistakes. Think about it. I certainly hope I have no problems where I need Oliver to help me!

I was thinking there was a quick reference made at one point for care and maintenance, but not 100% if it has been updated according the model/year. I'll double check and have the team put something together. We are working on an entire "how-to" video series that will include everything covered at delivery, plus frequently asked questions. We will try to have these done within the month. We have shot several videos, but have not had time to cut/edit them. We will be adding them to our Youtube channel as we complete them. The team is also working on a new "ticketing" system for service/warranty issues so we can track any issues our customers may have. It will allow owners to submit issues, view the status and allow our management team a better understanding of manpower needs. Our forum here is a great tool to learn from our customers and make our trailers better, but we don't always have a lot of time to read through all the posts. The ticketing system will be just a better way of handling our service/warranty needs of our customer with quicker response times. We hope to get the ticketing system live within the next few weeks. Included in the ticketing system will be a knowledge base of frequently asked questions & answers that we can build upon as "service & support" tickets are completed. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I think it is fairly safe to assume that grounding is not a problem if your brakes work great and the battery seems to charge off the TV..... but I plan to look at my wiring just in case. I will probably wait until off-season. Maverick, thanks for starting this thread. I really don't understand why some of these really important issues haven't already appeared as Tech Bulletins. John Davies Spokane WA

Congratulation. Great looking trailer. What the World needs is more Oliver Travel Trailers!

Thank you Mat and John, Videos like this make a big difference in understanding care and maintenance for our travel trailers. While delivery-day orientation and the manual are great tools, it is seeing the steps in order that really help, especially for items that are done infrequently. A suggestion, if I might. Just as many of us have a checklist for arrival and departure, it would be helpful to have a care and maintenance matrix based on model, mileage traveled, months and conditions that references these type videos. While I am sure I can dig through the manual and ask other owners here in the forum, having a matrix for quick reference and recording care and maintenance becomes a value tool for original and future owners.

Yep...

Google maps has a download feature that is helpful, but doesn't give voice instructions. I used it extensively in Iceland and the Faroes this year. Maps.me is free, and really quite good for offline use. At least in Australia... I used it in Canada,and the Faroes, too. It tracks your location with gps, whether you have cell signal or not. Sherry

Welcome to the club! I too like the fabric. Our floor is similar (gray), and the fiber-granite is the same. We also chose the black/grey exterior. What good taste!

Congratulations on your beautiful Ollie! Will check out the Natchez Trace RV campground, too. Thanks for the tip!

Jeff, having lived in Sierra Vista for years I know the lowest temps you will get are about like what we experience here in San Antonio. On those days it gets below freezing, even into the mid to low 20s, I just turn on a small space heater and open the hatches under the rear dinette and beds. It usually gets above freezing during daylight hours. We like to be ready to go year round and since the south Texas weather isn’t severe we can safely skip winterizing. If I was back in Sierra Vista I would do the same thing. Mike

Jeff, I'm not the one to accurately answer this question but I will ask and either update here or have someone with more expertise answer this.

That photo always cracks me up.

Then today, after helping a friend replace a broken spring on his trailer caused by a bubble in the steel during manufacture, he gave me a telescoping ladder. So I dug back into the archives... (the closet) and made a space for it against the front wall. I put an old tee shirt over it to slow down the scratches, then put everything back into the closet, and now have my 330lb emergency ladder in place. Once again my 18" Crescent Wrench and 4" grinder got put to work, and this time they paid for themselves with our new ladder. I'm going to add v-mat to the top 3 sections that I don't need, to keep it from scratching the trailer when in use. Here it is, tucked into its new home :) Also, when we had the trailer built we had them add in a shower curtain bar like Buzzy's. We ended up not needing the shower curtain, so now it holds towels that need drying and then it doubles as a drying rack for Karen's clothes that need to air dry. Today was laundry day also, so emptying the closet was a quick and easy task. Reed

John, I have the EezTire T515 system. You have me thinking about the sensor auto shut off. I was pretty sure it is pressure activated, but maybe it is no motion activated. The monitor itself has a sleep mode if it detects no motion. I'll have to call and find out about the sensors, it would be good to confirm. And yes, each sensor is individually marked and lives only on its own particular wheel. They also use replaceable button batteries (CR1632) rated from 3 to 4 years of life. We'll' see about that, I've had the system for one year now. Dave

Steve: Thank you for getting involved with this grounding issue on the Oliver Travel Trailers. This is a major safety issue that could result in a life effecting condition. When Oliver Travel Trailers first learned of this problem, they should have contacted ALL trailer owners about the problem and a solution. I understand that most of the time the trailer breaks would work to some extent because of being connected to the tow vehicle, obtaining a ground through the trailer ball. If you are only obtaining a ground through the trailer ball connection, which is high resistance there is a reduced voltage being delivered to the trailer breaks. Hopefully Oliver Travel Trailer Management will contact all owners of trailers affected by this grounding problem very quickly; with directions on how to correct this problem. Not all trailer owners are electrical engineers or have the ability to correct this grounding problem. I like our Elite II trailer and I believe that Oliver Travel Trailers provides good customer service; but a safety issue needs attention ASAP.

Horace, you are correct in that not all the trailers were being corrected in a timely manner. I should have stated "They were supposed to be repairing them as they came back into the factory for any work..." I agree that this was/is a problem because ours had been back to the factory at least a half dozen times before it was fixed. I drove 4500 miles on a trip listening to our truck almost constantly beep a warning of a brake disconnect. A half dozen calls to the factory during that trip yielded us no relief. When I took it in, Justin immediately knew what the problem was. It took all of 5 minutes to fix it. Obviously not everybody knows to look for that particular issue. I spoke with Richie Carroll this morning and he will be addressing this situation with management today. A solution will be worked out quickly.

Thanks for the thread, Just checked continuity between trailer frame and trailer 7 pin plug. Our trailer has continuity between the plug's ground pin and trailer frame. Also checked trailer batteries disconnected from TV at 12.75V and connected to TV with engine running at 13.26V. The original owner took our Ollie back to Oliver to have some warranty issues corrected before we purchased it, may have been corrected then. I replaced the PD 4045 converter section about a month ago due to trailer battery over charging while connected to shore power, but did not modify wiring.

I had the same issue with my 2015 Oliver Elite II. The tow vehicle was not charging the battery. We were on a month trip out west when we discovered this. I got a plug diagram and checked the tow vehicle battery charge and was OK. I checked the ground lead at the plug and it had continuity to the truck frame. Between the battery charge and ground was 12 volts, proving that the tow vehicle was not the problem. I then checked the mating connections on the Oliver plug. I discovered that the ground connection at the plug was not grounded to the trailer frame using the multimeter test. I disassembled the plug and checked all the connections. All was OK. I then traced the ground wire from the plug all the way back to the grounding bar beneath the rear dinette seat and found it not connected. It just continued to the rear of the trailer. After the trip, we took the trailer to Oliver for some other issues and to correct the charging problem. They told me the problem was in the tow vehicle and asked me to bring it in so they could check it. They did the same checks that I did and agreed with me that the tow vehicle was OK. I went inside with the technician and asked him to show me why he thinks the trailer is OK. He showed me that he had 12 volts between the battery lead and the trailer frame. That's because he's measuring the voltage across the battery terminals. I asked him to check the voltage between the battery lead and the ground connection in the plug and it read zero. Then we checked continuity between the plug grounding lead and the frame and it showed none. The ground lead coming from the plug through the trailer was NOT connected to the grounding bar. The technician said that during manufacture, it is cut in two and both leads are supposed to be on the grounding bar terminal. He made the fix and we always have a charged up battery when we get to our destination. Oliver makes a high quality product and something as simple as this should have been caught before it left the factory. A little bit of quality control testing of all circuits would have caught this simple mistake.

All the early trailers (say, below hull #100) were wired with the tow vehicle ground not bonded to the trailer. Ours had that problem. The white wire (ground) from the vehicle (thru the umbilical) must be connected to the buss bar in order for the brakes to work properly. They repaired them as they came back into the factory for any work, but most likely there are some still out there that have never been addressed. So, if your trailer is wired this way, it has everything to do with the trailer disconnect (brake) issues. Putting a six inch jumper from the white wire to the buss bar will solve that. As was stated previously, the only ground for the trailer from the vehicle was thru the ball mount and this was the case in those early builds. That worked pretty well when everything was brand new. As the ball was worn down, the connection became intermittent (thus the connect errors.)