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Thank you Bill, for your very kind offer! 🙂 Turns out, I'm good now. Please allow me to start by apologizing for wasting the time of those reading. I should have thought to reboot first, like when your PC is acting up. The reset function only resets the fan turn-on temp to 78. So, I climbed down to lay on the floor (Why did OTT mount a power panel, designed with the door opening in the wrong direction? Where you can only see and access the 12V fuses with your head down by the table post?). Quite painful. So, I pulled the 3rd fuse, and power to the fan cutoff. Laid there another half minute and installed the fuse. When I got up, I was very happy to see that the remote was able to power the fan and all functions worked! Set the turn-on temp and fan speed and it appears all is working again as designed.

Your can check to see if an IR transmitter is working with many cell phone cameras. In a dark room, point the remote at your cell camera and press a button. Most cell phone cameras can see IR light. FYI, another thing to watch with MaxxAir fans: some cell phones have a IR transmitter on the screen side. (It's used to detect when the phone is near your face, so your face doesn't press buttons while talking on the phone.) In our last trailer the fan was over the bed. If we left a cell phone face up on the bed the IR from the cell phone would interfere with the MaxxAir remote. (Took me forever to figure that one out!) I imagine the same could happen with a cell phone by the stove or pantry in an Ollie.

A few pictures as we move forward in Alaska. Now at Fairbanks for a few days. Any attractions that are “not miss”? Chime in…

That's great news! Happy Camping!

If you need a remote control, I have a spare that's 5 years old and it's free. Tested it a few minutes ago and it works with a late model 7000K MaxxFan deluxe. I can send it USPS. Please send PM if you need it. Bill

We've got the factory Dometic Penguin II AC unit on our rig, and I'm told by my better half that our's is pretty loud. A great working AC unit otherwise, IMO. The integrated MaxAir Soft Touch 'stat was a game changer mod for us...FYI. However, working around loud sounds my entire life, has left my hearing WAY less than adequate. Add to that a nice layer of constantly screaming tinnitus, and its not motivating me to swap out our fine-cooling 'Ol Penguin because its "too loud" - largely because I don't hear how bad its noise really is. But, that said, I take everyone's word how the Penguin got its moniker, "NoiseMaker"! Especially, D's! We've replaced several AC units ourselves over the years high atop Vintage AS rigs - these replacements were because of an INOP/unservicable unit, not because they were "too loud." With all this into account, I'm detecting another AC replacement on my radar screen. We too, look forward to the jury's decision regarding the Freshjet's performance - as it would be nice to have a relatively straightforward AC R&R effort. Changing out a Dometic for a Dometic sounds appealing rather than trying to engineer a size 13D foot into a size 9B boot. We shall keep a weather-eye on Dometic Freshjet posts! Not so quietly staying cool, A & D

I had a similar problem with a 6 pack of tablets that I had for couple of years. It seemed as if the had swollen up and they were also a little more likely to crumble. I just threw them away and the newer package worked fine. So my take away was to only buy them when needed. Mossey

Exactly. Doable with the Ollie, but not recommended. Road is quite messy, especially if wet. Take extra fuel unless your TV has really long legs. Yukon River Camp was out of fuel the day we passed through - so I'm glad we had Jerry Cans with extra fuel. It would have been very tight to make it up and back in our small tank supercharged Tundra.

We spotted an EII with the name Miss Bertie on the Alcan Hiway 124 km south of the US /Tok border entry point. Hull 505 - Galway Girl

The lack of a low temp charging cutoff wouldn't deter me from buying this battery. That problem can be easily solved by insulating the battery box, adding a heating mat underneath, or adding a low temp cutoff circuit to your charge controller (if that feature is available). Even if a battery has low temp cutoff built in I'd still have a heating mat under it and insulate the box if I lived or camped in cold weather environments.

I have had a pair of the AmpereTime 100Ah batteries for over a year now and I've used them for "extra" battery capacity. I do not use them inside of my Ollie, but I do put them outside and use them with a DC to DC charger that's installed inside to add time/life to my on-board lithium batteries - especially boon docking at night during quiet times when I want to run my A/C without the generator. I also use one of them in my small bass fishing boat to run my trolling motor. So much better than the heavier AGMs! The BMS seems to be working well as I've drained them to 0% quite often - no problem charging them back up to 100% and using them again so far. It's only been a year - and in lithium battery life that's not much but so far so good. But...in my opinion - not sophisticated or time tested enough to put in my Ollie battery tray.

Well, two things. On old school push button phones, stuff would get gummed up, over time. I'd unplug the phone, and push sharply and repeatedly on keys, and try again. Usually worked. (Worked on my mom's TV remote a few months back.) If that brings no joy, open up the battery compartment, remove batteries, and clean the contacts. Reinsert batteries, and see if you have success. If that doesn't work, if it were me, I'd be ordering a new remote. Then again, could be the receiver in the fan...

Those RV'ers entering into the camping community during the C-19 debacle are no longer interested in camping saturating the used market by selling their 2-year old rigs - softening the pre-owned market and driving down first-time RV buyers, IMO.

Thanks guys, I guess I was not wasting your time. We all love writing and talking about our toys, the Ollie being new for me, for sure! I wonder could the IR from one of our cellphones (mine is a years old iPhone, but Chris has a brand-new Samsung) was what caused the MAXXAIR to get confused in the first place?

We don't have a need to winterize, so we installed the accumulator horizontally with access to the Shrader valve. Easy install including the longer ShureFlow hoses for the "quiet modification." We've mounted a small mountain bike hand pump on the underside of the forward curbside hatch cover for easier accumulator bladder air adjustments. We've played with air pressure settings between 20 and 40psi; settled on 30. With this pressure, water seems to flow longer from the kitchen sink before the pump starts. FWIW: It does seem to run a bit quieter, according to D. However, I can barely hear it at all... Cheers! A & D

Good to know I’m not the only one. I do think moving the temperature probe helped with the cycling. Yesterday I installed a relay which shuts off the interior fan when compressor shuts off. So far in testing, it doesn’t cycle nearly as much. I’m also hoping this will address the humidity issue we have at night. The consensus on the Houghton unit regarding humidity is that the interior fan never shuts off, thus reintroducing humidity back into the cabin. Can’t wait for next trip to try it out.

On my 22 it would cause it to retract any time the lights of the truck came on such as opening the doors or locking/unlocking it. i suspect its tied to the trailers running lights as those would come on as well.

John, Thanks for your comment. I agree, without replacing the external Zamp connector and fuse inside the trailer, one seems to be limited to approx 10 amp/140 watts max given the internal fuse limits (connector limit <=20A, inline fuse 10A, 10 AWG wiring should be good for 30 amp given the short runs inside the trailer). 😁Hoover factor is high with MC4 and SAE/Zamp style connectors compared to Powerwerx/Anderson style connectors you suggest. For larger panels/arrays it seems that in addition to replacing the Zamp connector, the internal 10A fuse would also need to be changed up to 400-500 watts - or - simply go straight to the battery as you outlined in your article. Victron has a cool spreadsheet to help size their MPPT controllers given your own panel specs (spreadsheet attached). I use Southwire's wire sizing tool here. Thanks again! VE-MPPT-Calc-4_0.xlsm

FYI: I've noticed that the Bull Dog rotates UP slightly when raising the front of the trailer while attached to the TV hitch. I've torqued the nuts to 93ft-lbs, but it still literally "pops" up about 3/16" when raising. Not a good sign. I'm planning to remove the Bull Dog this afternoon to inspect the holes as you've shown here....

Another secret incantation to remember! I would not have thought of that, thanks for sharing!

Thanks for your post. I thought the same thing about the forces. Abundance of caution seems like very good advice. I was thinking that the main force would come from behind the rear axle, but you also mentioned the movement at the tv hitch in the front of the trailer. I would think that those of us that use the Anderson hitch have some more moderation of movement than without the Anderson. John

Thanks SeaDawg, I appreciate your help and quick response! Of course, you're not here and cannot see what's going on, but I don't think it is the remote, unless the IR output of the remote has failed. The remote is extremely clean, no dust around the buttons, like it has hardly been used at all. Every button works, and as you click the various buttons the large LCD screens respond in changing the icons and numbers up and down as it should. When we got home, it was the first time I used the buttons on the fan to control it. I was wondering if there is something I could have done, in working the main controls to disconnect the fan from the remote. Is the remote not sending the IR signal, or is the fan not receiving the IR signal? I get no fan control from the remote, but it makes the changes on the screen, and I get no fan beeps in using the remote. I've read some issues here with the control board of these fans. I'm going to try a fan reset. Though, it is 95 degrees here today at 5400 ft in Prescott AZ, so I will have to brave out and run the "got earplugs" AC for a while first! Not sure a reset will change things. I'll pull the fuse too. Keep you posted and other ideas are certainly welcome from all! Thanks again.

Yes, it looks a bit crude, but he did remark on the strength of the case, which in other teardown hasn't been so good. Kind of irrelevant, since case looks different, two year later. Since we often camp in cool weather, and sometimes into below freezing temps, wouldn't probably work for us. Unless, we monitored (yet another thing!) carefully, and disconnected from charging below freezing. Price is great. For folks who don't camp in cooler temps, might be ok. Idk. I really respect Will's opinions. I'm surprised, actually, that they haven't added a low temp cutoff.

His teardown technique is a little crude 😂. But he does point out a big missing feature. No low temp charging cutoff. And looking at the Amazon comments, it looks like that still hasn’t been addressed with the name change.

Made it to Congdon Creek CG on Kluhane Lake -Yukon A beautiful campground. Starlink is working great at our site 7 because the trees are a bit back from the trailer.

Something to consider-they were in a blister pack that I bought from OTT in April 2022, thanks

When you fix it, be sure to put an upwards load on the front using a jack stand or the hitch ball, to take out the slack. Then tighten. Post pics of what you find please!. John Davies Spokane WA

That is on the OTT bike rack. I removed the aluminum 1-1/4" receiver, and drilled new holes for this one. I have the 1UP Super Duty Double rack, which requires 2". I inserted a thin tough plastic pad between the hitch and the crossbar.

I’m hoping the Dometic Freshjet works out, it sould make switching to a quieter AC easier.

Oliver hasn’t tried to install the Truma on Ralph’s trailer, it was a Truma installer.

I haven’t yet removed the box from our Ollie, but I’m estimating it to be under 50 pounds. It mounts to the two receivers shown in your photo with the bike rack.

No. The larger hitch provides more margin but the 2” works fine without the Andersen. I’d like to have the 2 5/16” and may do it at some point. We’ve used the 2” for 7 years and it’s still more than adequate. Also, we’ve towed about 30K without the Andersen and have not had a single issue. High winds, large trucks, etc, no issues. Mike

Yup, my wife thought it was someone from the rally, but told her it was probably you. 🙂 I was trying not to rearrange the concrete construction dividers The Bluebonnet was OK, but the owner of the sole Elite 1 I wanted to see left Thursday before I found his site…well camouflaged by all the Casitas 🙂

After all the discussion, I discovered that by WD40 and Oil I was able to clean up the 2" Coupler Assembly. The previous owner said he was told to Oil and then Don't Oil... so he Did not Oil and the mechanism was all 'gummed up'. I am an Oiler and I Grease my Ball and moving parts when towing. With elbow grease, and a fine steel wool... the Coupler SNAPS And the Collar slides over with no effort. I am GREASING the Ball and Oiling the Bulldog. Every time we are detached, I wipe everything down, clean the coupler and all Hitch Parts that need grease. Has worked since 2006 on Airstreams... and as of today... the Bulldog will SNAP at anyone who gets close to it. Grrrrr.

The Oliver LEll owner I have spoken with the same rack and mod actually carries (2) much heavier ebikes with a total weight on the rack of 130#. He recently put 1000 hard miles on his Ollie with bikes loaded and there are no visible signs of aluminum fatigue, cracking etc. Zero issues with the 1Up Super Duty rack which is encouraging news. This mod is absolutely worth keeping an eye on for sure. Just like all the other inspection checklist areas on the Ollie, I will inspect it before, during and after a trip. A great question would be with over 800 plus Ollies on the road, how many actually use the bike rack and for those that do how many catastrophic failures have occurred with the bike rack? I have not read about any reported failures which is a good thing!

Had a bit of a delay coordinating with a friend to use his drill press. With the aid of John’s detailed instructions, here was my installation. First a couple of pics of the receiver, showing how the steel channel sides are not strictly parallel and the top is slightly bent or shallowly “U” shaped. Another pic shows the weld at the rear of the reinforcement steel tube. That weld prevents the Oliver aluminum tongue from sliding forward to directly contact the steel tube within the receiver hitch. If you force the receiver onto the aluminum tongue the forward section of the receiver is raised by the height of the weld. Good luck getting accurate measurements for drilling if that occurs. To measure for drilling I set the receiver onto the tongue in a stable manner then scribed lines onto the aluminum tongue along the bottom and rear edges of the receiver. Measurements to center of the bolt holes were then made and recorded. After a friend drilled the receiver holes with a drill press, I found that the rearward holes lined up well but the forward holes were ~2 mm off on street side and ~1 mm off on curbside. Then it was a matter of enlarging the holes for a proper fit. Once aligned there was priming, final paint coats and installation. Thank you, John Davies for this two year old valuable thread.

Update on ball wear, after 3000 miles of towing, with a greased ball, it is very minor, quite unlike the 2” ball which was trashed in under 1000. . I am happy with the upgrade. John Davies Spokane WA

First, thanks to John for the incredibly detailed install photos and notes on the Bulldog upgrade. I’ve been considering doing this update to the larger Bulldog coupler. Still undecided. I’m under 6,000 lbs for my loaded weight, but I’m always a fan of overkill/big safety margins. For me the one worrisome single point of failure in the whole towing setup is that EVERYTHING is held to your tow vehicle by a single 5/8” diameter hitch pin holding your hitch into your tow vehicle receiver. So no matter how large the bolts on the Bulldog, or whether you use the Andersen hitch, etc., we all still have to trust that one single hitch pin (with safety cables as the backup in case of failure). And I’ve found that a lot of the off-brand hitch pins don’t even list a weight rating. I’m using an Andersen stainless steel locking hitch pin and Andersen claims a shear strength of 30,000 lbs. so I guess I’m ok there. Maybe the Bulldog upgrade at my next service visit to Oliver.

If there is an Oliver rumor out there Steve has either started it or ended it.

Best way to end the rumor is to challenge it.

I would tell you the story but then I’d have to kill you all. And that’s just too much paperwork.

If you are NOT using the Andersen hitch, the 2” ball is fine for both trailers. But there is not enough surface area for the unusual and rapid wear that the chains apply ... they jam the back of the Bulldog hard into the back of the ball. It is made worse in dirty conditions. The Bulldog is designed for a strictly vertical load. Just look inside the opening to see why. It is the combination that is not good. The small ball just makes it worse. It is the Achilles heel of the hitch. The appalling Wake the Dead Spawn of Satan noises it makes sometimes is hopefully cured, time will tell with this redesign... Thanks for the kind comments. John Davies Spokane WA

It had about 5000 miles, and I had flipped it around at about 4500 so that the fresh side would be taking the thrust load from the coupler. It still had a lot of life left, I just could not deal with the squealing and popping when it got wet. I had used four inserts in that time, attempting to keep it quiet.... John Davies Spokane WA

INSTALLING THE ANDERSEN BALL MOUNT: Follow the Andersen instructions, apply an upward load (to remove slack) if you plan to keep the chains tight. If you are running them loose like me, as a dead weight hitch, you can let gravity pull the mount down. Torque both big bolts to 150 ft lbs. **** RECHECK THE BIG BOLTS FOR CORRECT TORQUE AFTER TOWING ***** Since the new ball is taller, and the new coupler cavity is at about the same horizontal position as the old one, the tongue will sit a little higher. My tongue was already a little high. so I was able to drop down one set of holes and ended up with a very nice alignment. Trailer level, truck level with 10 psi in the airbags, chains just snug. I REALLY think that these trailers should be delivered with the larger couplers installed, the cost is the same and it is a much better setup for the Elite II. For the baby Ollie, the smaller coupler is fine.. John Davies Spokane WA

Clean up the coupler and paint it inside and out, at least two coats. I used Duplicolor Brake Caliper Paint gloss black. It requires no primer, is super easy to apply and it is extremely durable. Clean up the tongue, sand down the rough bits and prime with several coats. I used Duplicolor Self Etching Primer, which is specifically OK for aluminum. (Many primers do not work well on AL.) ... https://www.amazon.com/Dupli-Color-EDAP16907-General-Purpose-Self-Etching/dp/B002984MU0 .... I primed a little beyond the new coupler since there is wear there from the bungee cord I use to hold up the Andersen chains. Here is the new hardware, make sure the bolt is GRADE 8, GRADE 5 and has at least a 3.5" unthreaded shank. NO threads should be inside the coupler or frame rail.Cut off the excess so you can install a cap nut. I added an extra washer under each nut, since the factory nuts were cutting into the shank. EDiT 08/23/20. Replaced Grade 8 bolts with Grade 5 - IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ THIS: .... Coat the bolts and threads with anti-seize compound and insert: Apply an upward load on the coupler. I used a jack stand and retracted the electric jack. Torque gradually to 80 ft lbs 45 ft lbs if lubricated. Alternate back and forth, keep tightening until there is no further nut turning. The sides of the coupler will draw in tight against the frame. When done, add the stainless cap nuts to make it pretty and keep from scraping your shin. ***RECHECK THE TORQUE OFTEN WHEN TOWING UNTIL THE NUTS NO LONGER MOVE.*** Optional: paint a bright stripe on top of the coupler, it highlights the ratings label and makes it easier to see in your tow vehicle camera when hitching up. I used silver caliper paint. Done! John Davies Spokane WA

LAPPING THE COUPLER: This is SO very optional, I thought about not even posting it. But maybe there is somebody as anal as me who wants to do this. The inside of the coupler is crudely forged. It would be nice if Bulldog would run a power hone up inside afterwards to remove all the rough bits. Those sharp pointy bits are hard on the Andersen ball, which is intentionally made of a softer steel. I bought a cheap Walmart 2 5/16" ball to use as a lapping tool. I used the fine valve lapping compound only. Apply downward pressure, into the top part of the cup, rotate frequently, spin and rock back and forth; whack the collar every now and then with a mallet to ensure the pivoting part is moved fully in. This shows the contact areas, the high spots that need smoothing: After a couple of minutes, you will feel the ball start to move more easily, without hanging up. I quit after twenty minutes. The ball moved very easily. Here is the inside, cleaned up with brake cleaner: Here is the ball, showing where the contact occurs: It's still usable, just scuffed. More to come. John Davies Spokane WA

INSTALLING THE BULLDOG COUPLER: Remove the old one. The bolts are tight. Uh oh.... Not good - a 1/2" bolt inside a 5/8" hole: The only thing holding the coupler tight is the pinch effect against the side of the frame rail. The loose fit at the holes is a poor design. New vs old: The new one has a heavy sleeve welded inside the front part. The smaller one just has a thin reinforcement gusset: The new one has less "free length" since there is more stuff at the front. There is enough for the Ollie frame however: Here is the oversized hole in the old coupler: here is the frame, showing the staked in place steel inserts, to keep the sides from collapsing under the load of the bolts: There was some damage due to sharp edges inside the old coupler: John Davies Spokane WA

The spare tire will simply roll out to either side after you remove the big threaded rod in the center of the mount. You do not have to disturb the rack or any cargo. This will NOT work with a tire cover installed, for obvious reasons. It is hard to see here, I was able to position the eight tray 3/8” holes so that the washers fit neatly between the raised diamonds, not straddling them, which is not so good: [attachment file=IMG_8171 copy.jpg] John Davies Spokane WA

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it, but the only places I can think that wouldn't be covered by the bikes would either be on the rack itself or up above the window. A few of us have the license plates mounted to the side, but I think they'd be no more visible there. The 1up rack on my truck completely covers the license plate when it's folded. You can't even tell I have one. But I've only gotten pulled over once, in Hohenwald. I said I was going to Oliver and he said in that case no problem sir nice truck. Not sure how far outside of Hohenwald that trick works.

Russell thanks! We purchased the original Oliver rack. We didn’t like that it is difficult to remove /install due to its weight & access to the back sewer connection is harder. But now that we want to change to heavy electric bikes knowing that this flat bed setup can carry 150 lbs is great news. And John Davies idea of removing the batteries is a good idea.