Leaderboard

Push the Battery button on your tank monitor. If your voltage is over 13 the battery is charging. If you have the surge suppressor option, your remote monitor will show shore power status, such as volts, frequency, amps and any error codes. Unfortunately you have to lift up the cushions and look in the streetside rear compartment, unless you have moved it to a better location. It is a very easy mod if you want it positioned where you can actually use it. I like to be able to monitor the amps when running on generator power. I did not want to keep evicting my wife from that bed to do it. Some people do not like seeing the flashing display, but it is simple enough to cover it if it is a nuisance. John Davies Spokane WA

First, Kudos to John Davies for discovering this problem. Second, Kudos to Oliver for a detailed description of the problem and solutions, and their willingness to pay for an RV tech to check out and correct the problem. When John first posted about the problem I went and looked at my ollie. This end of the inverter is not visible from the compartment opening. So I used this telescoping mirror doodad I had in my home toolbox. I could see the cable connected to the terminal, and I felt okay that the unit was grounded. When Matt Duncan posted details about the problem I realized that I did not know whether my grounding cable had a flat washer installed between the ring terminal and the inverter. I could not see well enough back there. So I went back to the trailer and put my cell phone down there and took enough photos that a few were in focus. Hmm. Not clear. I see this metal ring, indicated with the red arrow. Is that a flat washer, or part of the terminal on the inverter chassis? I am going to have to unscrew the nut to answer this question. Oliver offered to pay for an RV tech to look at this, which is really good. But I figured I could handle this, saving Oliver $150 and avoiding the hassle of scheduling the RV tech. Matt Duncan’s instructions had a bunch of good safety guidelines. Pop the circuit breaker, unplug 30 amp power cord, disconnect battery cables from the inverter. I did not do any of those. My Ollie is under cover when in storage, so no solar when in storage, so I have a battery disconnect switch. With the battery disconnected, I figured there are no electrons coming into the inverter, and so I did not follow any of Matt’s procedures for electrical isolation. (If I am wrong about this safety consideration, I know a wiser forum user will speak up!) I used a 10 mm socket wrench to loosen the nut, and then hand loosened the nut further, being careful not to take it all the way off and have nuts and washers spill to the bottom of the compartment. I could not convincingly determine whether my unit contained the problematic washer, either by touch or with my mirror. However, a cell phone photo shows that the metal ring is part of the terminal on the inverter chassis. No washer. Tighten up the nut, and all is good.

John, I must have missed your earlier reply about not having a fuse block or disconnect. IMO, I don't think the ground is worth much without a fuse to blow. 12v is unlikely to shock anyone unless they're soaking wet, but a short is absolutely a fire hazard on a high amperage unfused circuit. So adding a heavy gauge ground and giving any short a nice clean path straight back to the battery may actually increase the risk of fire, unless you add a fuse to your battery bank. That is, at the moment, your ground wire is also the fuse. If you can verify that you don't have a fuse, then I suggest you get one of these and a spare fuse, and install it on the positive side of the circuit as close to the batteries as possible. I'd guess on a 2000w inverter that a 300a fuse would be fine, perhaps even 200a, though I don't know the max draw of your inverter. I have a 400a fuse on mine, with a 3000w inverter, and that was the size fuse that AM Solar recommended to me. While you're at it, you may as well add a disconnect switch just after the fuse. I think Oliver should amend their TSB to include the installation of a fuse along with the ground cable.