Leaderboard

When we purchased our 2015 LE2 used during 2016 it had two group 27 12V lead acid batteries without factory solar. The following information & installation has happened over a few years. Initially we purchased a Renogy 100W suitcase solar panel and used it charging the batteries through the trailer's 7 pin connector. Wanted to have a more efficient way to charge batteries. Installed a Furrion Solar port and mounted Renogy Waterproof solar charger in the battery compartment. Use about 36' of 10/2 cable with 12' sections from solar panel to Ollie's Furrion Port. Had to drill holes in Ollie's pretty finish for the Furrion Solar port next to battery compartment. Furrion inlet under port bed: Renogy Solar 20A Waterproof Charge Controller mounted on plastic kitchen cutting board in battery compartment: When Ollie is in the shade it's nice to be able to reach out up to 36' placing panel in the sun, panel in lower LH corner of photo. Highest charge amperage seen using 36' of panel cable is 6 amps and highest charge amperage seen is 7.1 amps using one 12' section of solar cable. We purchased a Honda EU2000i to charge batteries on poor solar days. Installed a EZ start on the 13.5K Dometic AC so the Honda gen-set can also run the AC unit, or microwave, or hot water heater. Been actively reducing Ollie's weight when possible, currently Ollie's ready to camp weight is around 4950 pounds with full 6 gallon hot water tank and all other water tanks empty as per CAT scales. Replaced two group 27 12V (125 pounds) batteries with one BattleBorn 100AH Lithium (35 pounds) battery for loss of weight and Lithium battery performance benefits. Also installed the Progressive Dynamics Lithium charging section in our Progressive Dynamics convertor that BattleBorn said would work fine with their battery. Using the Honda gen-set connected to Ollie's 30 amp connection, the Progressive charger slowly drops charge amperage then cycles charge rate between .25 amps to .4 amps at full charge. BattleBorn told me not to worry about TV alternator damage when connected to TV with 7 pin plug with our particular system. They said because of charge cable's small diameter and distance from TV to battery, would not see very high amperage charge with TV connected. So far with BattleBorn battery at 75% charge while connected to TV with engine idling have not seen more than 3.5 amps of charge. Our current TV has 180 amp alternator and with ignition turned off, the 12V power supply to Ollie is also switched off. Initially installed a Victron BlueTooth shunt to monitor the battery, but my Android 5 was not supported by the Victron system. Believe Victron unit is the way to go, but at the time my Android was not compatible so purchased an inexpensive shunt & monitor from Amazon to monitor the battery. Found a automotive 2" instrument mount on Ebay to mount the monitor: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FGFFHC6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details The battery monitor is not waterproof, use a 1 1/8" hole saw to cut out 1" OD plastic cutting board plugs to fill the existing ventilation holes in the battery compartment door. Did not want to mount these plugs permanently, sealed with clear RTV silicone for easy removal: The benefits of the Lithium battery is much faster charging with gen-set or solar panel with plenty of battery capacity for our style of camping. Will be doing more camping without electricity and water connections with this system, too.

https://issuu.com/rvcampingmagazine/docs/rv_0721_fn?mode=window

I owned a Casita for nearly ten years before my ILOVHER in the Midwest and I never had any moisture problems or odors with the carpeted walls. Any condensation was usually found on the single paned windows during cold weather. The carpet stayed very clean and never was musty although I rarely cooked in her. As others have said.. Airflow, Heat and/or A/C usage along and with Damprid are needed in most RVs.

We spent a few nights up at Bear Den. We really enjoyed the 2800’ elevation and much cooler sleeping weather and of course camp fires and great food.

I had to run a few errands so took the truck and looked at the original sticker, reviewed the owners manual, and the recommended services at each service interval. I had not done this in years. A good exercise. Our tow package contains the following: 10,300 lbs towing capacity, 1580 payload capacity, supplemental transmission cooler, tow/haul mode with 430 rear differential with 10.5 ring gear, 150 amp alternator, transmission temp gauge, and pre wire for the brake controller. Our truck has a 6 speed transmission and is very basic, the lowest trim level with just a few options. I reviewed the owners manual for towing. There were no specific instructions about towing in lower gear at higher revs for normal use. We have never experienced any over heating issues. The gauges all work including the transmission temp gauge. We have relatively low miles at 97,000 for a 2008 model. We always have a full service done before we head out. The same will happen in late November for our 5 months on the road. We are getting new tires at that time too. I will have the transmission fluid checked at that time. If it warrants replacement I will use Toyota fluid as our manual was very specific about this. I reviewed all of the required service and the manual indicates to only change the fluid when necessary. It indicates "special use" as a reason to change the transmission fluid. Special use is indicated as significant off road use and/or lots of towing and very dusty conditions. We have about 12,000 towing miles. I will have our mechanic change the transmission and both differentials if needed before we head out. Our truck does receive regular scheduled maintenance. I'll leave it (transmission fluid change if needed ect) to our trusted mechanic. I am not interested in snapping any bolts in my driveway!!!! We are taking our Ollie back to Oliver for them to go through it at the beginning of our trip. We are already scheduled for the first few days of December. This truck maybe one of the better vehicle purchases we made. I got a huge discount as we bought it during the financial crisis and gas prices were very high. The salesman was my son's football coach so on top of the huge Toyota incentives we got a bunch more off. They wanted to move the truck as it had been on the lot and model year was changing. I had someone looking for a used truck offer me better than 75% of what I paid! I can't replace the truck economically at this time. I think if I continue to maintain it the truck may out live me!!!!

The early models of the Escape fifth wheels only had one axle. Apparently nobody was paying any attention to the models either. The single axle would be several, several years old.

Dan, Oliver did a special install for us back when they did that stuff - 640 watts of solar total - you can see the configuration here. At the factory though, they got their wires crossed and installed the standard array first, then had to redo it in service (twice, actually, since they didn’t install them like we had agreed). Anyway, all that to say that Oliver repaired the holes from the original install and I honestly couldn’t find those spots if I tried. And we haven’t had any problems with wind, with essentially an aircraft carrier deck on the roof. Also, at least one owner has installed additional panels similar to mine, simply using VHB tape to secure the mounts to the roof.

Valid Point Dewdev, In the event I do decide to part with it I will cross that bridge. On the other hand I have seen inside the guts of some Solar equipped Ollies here that I would not touch with a ten foot pole..... because I am not a qualified solar tinkerer with a mobile machine shop in my TV with the want to or know how to maintain those systems.... Nothing against those that do its simply not what I am looking to get from my Oliver. That being said if you see a picture of my Oliver here in a few years with more flexible solar panels than gelcoat visible.... well I have been known to flip the script like that before once I am convinced of something. 😉

Dan: One thing not mentioned that you might want to conside is the resale value of the Oliver. I noticed that on the Oliver classified forum one used Elite II took 5 or 6 months to sell that did not have solar panels when used Elite II's with solar sold within the same week listed.

My Oliver will spend 10-11 months inside my shop while plugged into shore power, I will travel for one month and sometimes two months per year staying long term at full service RV parks like Rocky Point in Mexico that cost $6-$700.00 per month. I can literally fund my trips for 5 years for the cost of a solar system on my Oliver. I was concerned about the mounting system and holes in the Gel Coat, Thanks to your replies, I am not longer worried in the least about that issue. I will not be adding solar at this time, I expect that I will do so in the future if I keep the Oliver more than a few years I will likely hand it over to the Boondoctor and let him have his way with it. Until then I will have a "portable" solution of some sort and it may be suitcase solar of some type, it may be solar mounted on the bed cover of my truck or it might just be my Honda 2000... Time will determine this. Someone suggested I visit the factory and this was sound advice but the one thing I don't have? is time to do this prior to my pick up date, I will try not to bother you with any more silly questions. Thanks again to all of you for your input on my original questions I appreciate it. Happy Trails Dan

@AndrewK. That's awesome. And, I'm sure a comfortable ride, too.

Most of our travel has been in California and there is no fast lane travel here, for those towing a trailer. The speed limit, when towing, is 55 mph. We typically travel 62 - 65 mpg and after 16,000 miles, we have average 19 mpg with our 2018 BMW X5 diesel. The best we have seen is 22.1 mpg, driving from Mammoth Lakes, CA to San Diego, CA. About 400 miles, mostly down hill. The worst was driving from San Diego, CA to Independence, CA, with a constant 25 mph head wind and mostly up hill. We got 15.7 mpg for 325 mile trip. We couldn't be more happy with our TV. Great towing and even better when not. Best mileage not towing was from Zion NP to Bryce NP and back. 49 mpg! Andrew

Because those Oliver interiors look so great??? Somebody obviously pulled old file photos, and mixed them generously. Just like incorrectly modifying a cake recipe, it fell flat...

Hmm. I hope not with those wonky stars. I'd never heard of that program before, but apparently it's been around since 2013. But really, let's get it right.

Ocala Guy If you go to Micro Air Easy start website, they have resources on how to install their product plus specific schematic for the Houghton AC. Print them off for reference when installing. Under the hood of the Houghton space is limited, you can't see from the pictures but there are two electrical boxes, one on each side of the insulated portion of the AC. Looking at the pictures, the enclosure that has the lead wire from the Micro Air soft start going to it contains the capacitor you will need to connect to. You will also have to run wire to the other enclosure to connect the black wire from Easy Start to the switched-L-1 connects coming from the main control board or main contactor that connects to the compressor common terminal wire. I chose to make a shorter wire run directly to compressor just in front of the over load protection devise. For mounting the Micro Air I used Velcro but added two straps made from banding to help support it since it was hook to Styrofoam. Paul

Yes, the floorllan looks very familiar.

I noted that Mossey mentioned "useable" amp hours. With wet cell batteries, it's recommended to not deplete your batteries by more than 50 per cent, so 280 ah useable. With my agms, I try to not deplete by more than 30 per cent, but I still know that I can deplete to 50 per cent and not damage the batteries.

I gotta see this "dye-cast fiberglass" process.

That sounds like a nice battery package and I guess the label indicates that they are 140 amp-hour rated, giving you 280 usable amp-hours. Excellent battery choice! Mossey

after i punched submit/reply, Maggie reminded me that we have reg. fabric. her comment was, "it may not work as well on ultra-fabric". So no, this may not work for you. 😬

Welcome to the forum. There are a number of members who have made the change, and a number (including us) who looked at Airstream and decided on Oliver. Have you seen an Oliver II? It's all about seeing, touching, and imagining myself in the space, for me. Good luck in your decision. My only comment will be this-- our Oliver survived a major hailstorm storm , with no dings or dents. That day, I was extra glad for our decision.

At least they didn't use the Oliver specs... A friend recently ordered one of those Escape 5th wheels. I wish I liked their trailers as much as I like the Oliver as it would have been convenient for me to buy from someone just 5 hours' drive from me instead of from TN.

As a general rule, accessory devices like grills and fire pits will not work with more than one regulator in-line. And it can sometimes be a challenge to eliminate the accessory regulator. And the rear quick connect is capped off because the original owner did not chose that option. Mossey

I didn't know whether to hit the laugh or cry emoji. Major oops!

Great Post! Thank You for sharing.

I’m not sure which model I got. I got the same for both and it doesn’t read humidity (which is fine by me) the ones I got let you to put the probes into the fridge and freezer and keep the unit with the radio that reports back to the base in one of the adjacent drawers.

Well, that's a crummy (and sticky) situation. I have both adhesive, and non-adhesive, meant to be sewn, velcro in my supply crate. Good warning. I've not had velcro on the walls weep adhesive in Florida, but the trailer is usually only home for brief periods in the hot, humid summers .

Debbie and I camped at Linville Falls Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway earlier this week. It's a Federal campground without electric or water hookups, but beautiful and $10 per night with the geezer card. High temps were in the upper 70s. Table Rock Mountain just to the right of Ollie on NC Rt. 181 on the way to Linville Falls: We hiked a mile from Table Rock parking/picnic area to the top of Table Rock NC:

In the spirit of keeping this thread going, here are a couple more random ideas I've found useful. We had remotes everywhere until I put this wasted horizontal surface to use! Velcro dots keep them in place when the tv is down. We're on the move quite a bit and at each new location I pick up as much info as I can to plan our time there. All that paper ended up stacked on the table. This simple little file holder mounted out of the way under the dinette table keeps the current info handy without clutter. It can also hold a charging laptop, again freeing up the table surface. When you're living in a small space little things like this can make a big difference?

This is where some of us park our shoes and boots. I usually keep my house shoes there while I am out getting dirty.

@mossemi and @SeaDawg Right now we are on our 6-week tour of the midwest and east I can't tell you how many people I have seen rinsing their blackwater tanks from the drinking water spigots. I definitely sanitize, filter, and purify our fill water...and avoid drinking it directly from the fw tank ... even after sanitizing the fw tank prior to lift off. Not having the switch at the outdoor shower is not too big a deal since I usually am inside right before taking a shower But when dumping, everything is always shut up tight and off and there is no need to go inside...except to turn on the water pump. An inconvenience for me and the people waiting behind me at the dump station.