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I worked in the information security industry before retiring a few years ago and Facebook still has a long way to go before they regain my confidence in their information security and data privacy policies. MeWe is very similar and and a newcomer to rival FaceBook. I'll wait and see quite a while before joining. I'm sticking to this forum. This is the only forum I have ever joined in my life (so far) because I see great value in the honesty and helpful tips everyone provides. I'm going to remain an "internet introvert". 🙂

My Victron battery monitor lied to me. We’ve been out for a week or so in iffy conditions. Not much sun but enough to keep us going, or so we thought. Yesterday night when we got back from hiking our battery monitor said we were at 60%. Not ideal as we thought that we’d get a good bit more charge on our first full sun day in a while, but it was enough that we decided we had the power reserve to use the inverter and make some baked rice in the toaster oven. Tasted great, but after eating and just sitting around enjoying some music on the stereo suddenly everything in the trailer turned off. And I mean everything. Nothing at all worked, even the battery monitors - the whole trailer was black. I checked fuses and breakers but the only conclusion I could come to was that our battleborn batteries had tripped their protection circuit. And that was exactly what it was. After a while they tried to come back on, but that lasted maybe 30 seconds and they were off for the night. We woke up this morning to various things beeping as the solar struggled to return power to everything. The problem was that the batteries’ DOD was much more than the monitor was saying, and of course with lithiums you can’t tell very well what their DOD is just by looking at voltage alone, since they maintain a pretty constant voltage before they drop off a cliff at the end, meaning you’re largely dependent on the battery monitor’s algorithm giving you a percentage. So tripping the batteries’ protection circuit and going from just enjoying a nice evening to zero power was quite a surprise for us. So we’re at a KOA tonight before heading back out. A full charge should give us enough for the next leg of our trip. Plus we’ve got a fresh tank of water and clean laundry. I’ll contact both Victron and Battleborn to try to figure out why they got out of sync. I suspect it’s a Victron problem but we’ll see. We’ll be out of cell range for a week when we leave in the AM so I doubt I’ll be able to reply to comments for at least a while, but I thought I’d post about it just because it’s something new and interesting. Happy travels.

FYI, open cell (no load) voltage testing of AGM batteries really tells nothing, the readings can be very close to each other, but the batteries can still be bad. The ONLY way to check the health of an AGM is to load test it. Any battery shop like Batteries Plus Bulbs .... Batteries Plus Bulbs Store Locator ....... can do it in their parking lot at no cost, in a couple of minutes. The batteries need to be charged as much as possible, and then disconnected from each other for at least six hours so they can reach a true resting state of charge. Also FYI, if you install a Victron Connect smart bus, program it, and assume that it is giving you correct numbers about the percent of charge, you are traveling uncharted waters if you first don’t verify that all are perfectly healthy. I had three bad batteries and one almost bad one, and my monitor was saying I had 100% capacity, but any serious load would simply kill the system, the inverter would start cycling on and off. Only lithiums which have onboard diagnostics give you true information. My recommendation to AGM owners: charge, remove and have load tested all your batteries at the start of each camping season. Regular “wet” lead acid battery cells can be individually checked using a hydrometer, which gives useful info, but they still should be load tested. John Davies Spokane WA

Can I ask why? What can be accomplished there that is not already done here? How are spammers and obnoxious posts handled? Are there moderators? I try very hard to stay away from all social media apps. For those like me who are clueless about MeWe: .... https://www.google.com/amp/s/mashable.com/article/what-is-mewe-network-explainer.amp Thank you. John Davies Spokane WA

Nope. 😉 I was not going to reply to this because we have never pushed or even mentioned the FB page on the forum that I know of but feel I should say something. We have never intended to try to draw people away from the forum or anywhere else. We feel the FB group compliments the forum. People are constantly referred to the forum for additional information. FB definitely has its faults but is not a reflection of the FB Oliver Owners Group. It is not like most other FB groups and all members are screened before allowing them in. Not that a non owner or perspective owner could not get in but a lot of work is done by the moderators to make sure it is kept for just Oliver owners and prospective owners and about Oliver trailers. We decline a lot more people than we approve and are always on guard and remove anyone suspicious. All 5 of the moderators are also Oliver owners.

Good news on this issue. The Trojan Black AGM 6V batteries were found to be defective after testing by the regional distributor in our area. I had an hour trip to a service location that they service, but it was worth it to identify the issue. They only pick up or deliver the batteries once a week to this service location, but it means that we were without 2 of the 4 batteries for just two weeks. I will be reinstalling next week and doing some testing of the new batteries. Jason Essary, Oliver Service, facilitated this successful outcome to everyone's benefit.

Again... Not trying to compete... draw people away... split... from either the FB group or this forum. I see the different groups as having different aspects / strengths. The forums are awesome and I have received a LOT of help here, and given some back. The FB group is fun and has helped me to keep in touch with Oliver friends both old and new. The MeWe group is new so it remains to be seen, but I think it might be a good place for discussions for the Oliver OWNERS Community only. As to the moderation of the mewe group, people you know and trust are involved in the moderation. I plan to be active on all three platforms for as long as I own my Oliver. If mewe is not your cup of tea.. I understand. If you are judging mewe from the google article that John posted, I am not finding that to be representative of what I see on mewe. So, best wishes to everyone. Safe Travels. Happy Camping. Scotty

Current count is 33 people rescued from this campground..... https://www.wbtv.com/2020/11/12/water-rescues-underway-alexander-county-more-than-dozen-campers-trapped/ Always check your escape routes when choosing a campground. In the West, you need to keep wildfires in mind, not so much floods. The last thing you need is a remote spot miles back, with only a single access point. Scout out alternative routes - you may not be able to get your Ollie out the back way but you might get your TV and people out. John Davies Spokane WA

My poor MTB, it gets treated like a mongrel dog - dirty, muddy, and cleaned only when I do maintenance, or its so muddy I can't stand it. The roadie, just a little better treatment, but then its on the road. I primarily put the road bike under wraps cause its more valuable overall. As for inside the Oliver - my only reason for not - is bikes would take up too much room, access to stuff would be very restrictive. We us the Oliver a lot between stops, and along the way.... The Oliver is so easy clean. A little mud and such would not be that big a deal for the floor, the other areas, upholstery I would worry about.

I totally agree, I used to be in the information security business with IBM. After 10 years of avoiding Facebook (after IBM), I finally had to join so I could get information being shared for work. I use it for work only, I do not post, and I have a very restrictive account. I don't friend people, infact some of the crap facebook sends me just pisses me off. (Ok off my high Horse). I know that Oliver just like any other business with a web present is not secure. I will be staying here only for my Oliver information. I like this web site. It is friendly, full of knowledge, and supported by an honest business. I love the "internet introvert" comment.

David, Brooks AFB is now Brooks City Base, not sure what they do there. I was working at Kelly (Security Hill) in Oct 91, you should have stopped by! We could have discussed future Oliver adventures... 🤪🇺🇸🇺🇸 Mike

Happy Veterans Day to all my fellow veterans! I have some pictures somewhere, they were all taken before iPhone days so they aren’t digital.... Alas, Brooks AFB has transitioned to civilian status. I worked at Kelly AFB here in San Antonio and it is also gone, with parts incorporated into Lackland AFB and Medina Base. Randolph AFB is still here as is Fort Sam Houston, Camp Bullis and Camp Stanley. There’s a reason San Antonio is called Military City USA. Mike

I agree. It actually irks me that the facebook group splits the community. The knowledge here is better than the sales team and the mods are top notch. I appreciate your enthusiasm but why fracture the community/knowledge base? If things like quality issues started to be censored here I'd support you 100% but for now, this place is pretty fantastic.

Hey Everyone, Just an FYI to let you know that I have started an Oliver Trailer Owners Group on MeWe. The URL is: https://mewe.com/join/olivertrailerowners This will be a group for Oliver Trailer Owners only. To discuss all things Oliver related. Hope to see you there. Scotty Hey Everyone.... I just want to clear a few things up regarding the MeWe group. This group is on a separate platform from the Oliver Trailer Owners face book group. My intent is NOT to compete with OTO on fb or to cause people to leave that group. I have renamed the MeWe group to "Oliver Trailer Owners on MeWe" to make sure there is no confusion Reasons for starting the group are: * having a group that is restricted to Owners only ( a group I never would have started on fb because that would have caused a lot of confusion and problems ) * Providing a group for those that wish to reduce their presence or "addiction" to fb * There seemed to be some interest in an Oliver group on other platforms and I figured it might be best to have people who are actually Oliver TT Owners start and run it. We all love and are proud of our Oliver Trailers. We are all very interested in promoting the brand and helping each other with the knowledge and work that it takes to use and maintain our trailers. I remember the early days when owners would fall over each other in their eagerness to help. I tell people about the time that Steve Landrum called me out of the blue and spent an hour with me on the phone trouble shooting a problem when I first got my trailer. That's the kind of family we have and the spirit we should foster. With regard to the MeWe platform. From what I see... it's kind of like face book lite. I am still new to the site but the appeal of MeWe is that (at least so far) the users don't seem to be the "product" as much as on fb, and it seems more open. Where it goes from here.. who knows. But as for the Oliver group it should remain as A-political and as well managed as the fb Oliver group. I hope this clears up any of your questions. Please join or not as you see fit. And, I look forward to sharing our Oliver passion on the Forums, the FB group and the MeWe group. Happy Camping and Safe Travels. Scotty

An eternal heartfelt thank you to all Brothers and Sisters in arms who have served our great country honorably. Let’s also remember those who gave all for the continued freedoms we presently still enjoy. If so inclined maybe post up a photo of your service days. May God continue to bless this awesome country of ours. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 “Freedom is not Free”

As it turns out, we have cloudy day today and I will testing the two remaining AGMs to see that they work well under extended use. I have the VictronConnect and Smart shunt to gather stats and monitor easily over the next few days. I will only run the refrigerator on LP, the furnace and turn a few lights after it gets dark and recheck after a few hours a couple or three times tonight and when I wake up tomorrow.

For better or worse I often choose such spots. In the WA Cascades, this gives access to some fine areas - e.g. I spent some nights in early May camped (in a socially distant fashion 🙂) up the north fork Teanaway where we did some excellent spring ski mountaineering/touring. I would think twice about such a move during red flag warning periods though, and if a burn was happening nearby I would for sure avoid it. Same deal in UT where such roads and camps offer access to some excellent terrain for hiking and photography and canyoneering. But I avoid doing so if it looks like rain may come through and soak the road and fill the washes with flash floods (many of the red dirt roads in particular become impassable when soaked even though they're super easy to drive when dry), and in any case I bring at least a week's worth of water and food when out such roads there in case I unexpectedly need to wait for the road to dry and washes to dry out. Plus an always-charged inReach which I can use to let my wife know I'm OK and waiting, and to call for help if my supplies are dwindling and I'm still stuck. I'd modify the admonition to being aware of the risks one is taking on and being thoughtful about how to mitigate them.

One critical different between MeWe and Facebook I see that I see, and that the google article did not address, is on business model. Facebook's customers are their advertisers and others who buy data about users/members. Our attention and Facebook's surprisingly detailed and accurate inferences about us* are the product that Facebook sells. On MeWe, we are the customers - they commit not to sell our attention or data about our usage of the platform. They have taken a bet that they can convert enough users to their premium subscription service to make a go of it. It's going to be a tough road ahead for them frankly, though recent political fun may help them a bit in the near term. If you want to see how Facebook's business model impacts the nature of the experience along with your privacy (or utter lack therof) there, watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix (the interviews are great, the "dramatizations" a bit corny) or check out the Social Dilemma web site. I would not be shocked if MeWe has *security* issues that may negatively impact users andn their privacy, but they do not have fundamental business model issues in terms of seeking to exploit intimate knowledge of your social media activity for profit, at least afaik. *e.g. see this article on 2013 work from a former colleague of mine who worked with a team to show that your "likes" on Facebook can be mined via machine learning to predict things like your sexual orientation, your food preferences, etc. This article goes into a bit more detail on this work, and how it led to the Cambridge Analytica use of Facebook data and inferences built atop it during the 2016 election (whether this constituted a "data breach" or privacy violation is hotly debated - you can make your own decision as a potential Facebook user 🙂 )

You're all good, Scotty. I was just bringing it up because I'm basically locked out of the Facebook group because I'll never create an account there and thus never have access to Oliver information posted there. That is my problem, not yours. 😁 -Another internet introvert from IT

David and I use both the current groups, the FB page and this forum. We have found both to be civil and helpful. I doubt that I will want to add a third place to check for Oliver info. FB, as much as it drives me crazy at times, is the only platform for some important (to me) groups I belong to. I read through the link John Davies provided about MeWe and there wasn't anything that made me want to switch. As far as having a group that is ONLY for Oliver owners I can see the appeal but before we ordered The Swallow we got lots of good info from both the FB group and the forum. I think there is value in being willing to answer questions from prospective buyers. One other thing, on the FB group you often see postings from Oliver employees jumping in to answer questions. OK, diatribe over! 🙂. Paula

GraniteStaters - Good news and thank you for sharing the final positive outcome. In our experience Service Manager Jason Essary is top shelf and will do everything he can to help resolve issues. He knows how to get things done! Happy Camping!

I was with Cisco. I have lots of other colleagues in the industry who also will not use Facebook due to it's history of abuse of peoples private data. They were often used as an example of how to put your business at great risk by ignoring data privacy policies and best practices. I also have a Facebook account where I don't friend anyone, I don't post anything and I use it just for the MarketPlace - which I do find some value in from time to time. I like that if I google my name it still doesn't find this site (yet). 🙂

You'll be more likely to get it if everything is wired correctly.

I got strange readings from ourBlue Sky IPN-Pro for a while. Until I figured out that not everything was running through the shunt. After a little negative re-routing all is good. The main problem was that the onboard charger's negative wire was bypassing the shunt therefore the IPN-Pro did not see any of the power going into the batteries from it. Check the grounds from your charge controller and converter/charger and make sure they go to the shunt before grounding out to the trailer.

Thanks for the warning . . . . . going to Medford tomorrow to have my BMW serviced. Glad it's tomorrow and not Friday. I hope the following week Mother Nature gets some of this nonsense out of her system as we'll be heading to Hohenwald the end of the month.

This storm coming in...what time? What's it's ETA?

Patriot - Thank you for your service. I, too, have the deepest appreciation for all members of our military. My Dad is a WW2 veteran. 93 years old and soon to be 94. He went into the service when he was 17...

Our rain gauge this morning here in Western NC and it’s still raining...so glad we live up on a ridge. Check the mailbox and the rain gauge, just me. 😂

Hopefully all fellow vets had a pleasant Veterans Day.

To Seadawg, all the other Oliver owners and the rest of those people living around and north of Tampa - Be safe and good luck with this storm, Eta. From what I hear, while it is not as powerful as some it is a bit slow moving, Thus the potential for flooding is increased. Also, after it passes over Florida it is scheduled to move up the east coast until it gets just past North Carolina. While it is forecast to be slightly offshore it should cause flooding and fairly severe beach erosion. Bill

I don't see the value. Another place to look?? Really. I agree Farcebook needs competition, but I would rather the FB group all come to this platform, I won't go into the FB, Google, and other platforms, but as has been stated - you are the product, at least here, we have some semblance of service - from a customer perspective. I appreciate the effort - I don't need another place to scan - Me - no MeWe. Update - I changed my mind - checked out and joined MEWE - out of curiosity and being fed up with FB.

I belong to a few "split communities" with overlapping membership circles between forums and FB. Some folks just prefer the social media platforms as a single place to go. I find the forums generally better for finding and re-referencing old threads - they are more broadly browsable and tend to be a bit easier to search as well. But more eyeballs seem to go to the social media platforms. That's just the way of it. I've read claims that "forms are dead" which may be premature but I see why the claim is made. I love the notion of MeWe - we users are not products to be sold to advertisers on that platform, unlike Facebook. Unfortunately Facebook has the lock-in of an overwhelming network effect of all the existing users' friends lists, and the fact that that is where nearly all social media users are. I spent July off Facebook and on MeWe, and I prefer the design for the most part and the business model is frankly what's needed to not have creepy platforms whose interests are selling our attention along with data and increasingly sophisticated inferences about us based on our usage patterns. But the hallways loudly echo there right now.

JD, Comanche was his name and he was a certified USAF patrol dog. The day of this photo I was assigned at Brooks Air Force base in San Antonio as the Supervisor over the base military working dog program. Brooks was a sort of a sleepy small Areospace R&D base. As for Comanche he was an exceptional Rottweiler having a kind temperament and 100% loyalty/handler bond. That said, he was quickly all business when it came to his work as a patrol dog. He excelled in attack sleeve or decoy work, scouting and tracking. What I found most interesting is he did not constantly bark or act overly aggressive. He was not a dog fighter, just an overall great partner. He was quiet and extremely fast during training sessions and spot on in obedience and in the obstacle course. I have fond memories of working and training him. A great loyal partner and glad I still have this photo of him.

Good news for Vets. “Entrance fees for the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and standard amenity recreation fees for the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Reclamation sites will be waived for Veterans and Gold Star Families. They will have free access to approximately 2,000 public locations spread out across more than 400 million acres of public lands, which host activities to fit any lifestyle, from serene to high octane, including hiking, fishing, paddling, biking, hunting, stargazing and climbing. Many Department managed lands have direct connections to the American military, such as frontier forts, Cold War sites, battlefields, national cemeteries, and memorials. These special places pay tribute to our veterans and serve as reminders of their courage and sacrifice throughout the history of our nation, from Minuteman National Historic Park where colonists stood in defense of their rights, to Yellowstone National Park, which was protected from vandalism and poaching by the 1st U.S. Cavalry before the National Park Service was established, to Mount Rushmore where modern warriors attend reenlistment ceremonies.” https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/80547/veterans-gold-star-families-get-free-entrance-national-parks-refuges-public-lands/ John Davies Spokane WA

I have never seen a road bike transported in this manner. As you said - all MTB. Patriot - exactly - simple fork mount - works very well. KISS. Thanks for the pic. I carry my MTB's outside, the Felt roadie - under the camper top.

Emptied a brimming full rain gauge this morning - 5” from this system so far. I emptied the gauge at 7 am, we’ll see how much more we get before it moves out at noon. The 1700 acre lake we live on has a lot of dead fall wooden limbs and debris scattered and floating around. Storms like this dump a lot of unwanted silt into the lake from the streams that feed it.