Leaderboard

Upon checking, I discovered that a re-certified tank is only good for an additional five years.

Yes there is a pin or foot at this end which acts as a pivot. They demonstrated on a concrete slab at the rally, so it will work on various surfaces. The frame folds up quite compact, sort of like a folding camp chair. Coy told me yesterday the company that makes the solar panel is developing a light weight panel that folds in the middle that will weigh about 11 lbs. This should greatly improve the portability of the whole system. The panels are the same brand that Oliver installs on the new campers.

Y @Steve-Gwenne, you will enjoy a very special relationship with the grandchildren. I know I do. My little grandson is my little buddy. I have the joy of spending 4 days a week, sometimes 5, watching him grow and learn, and play with me. I count myself lucky to be able to experience these days. I'm sure you feel the same. My daughter spent her days with my parents until she was three, and still has so many wonderful memories of those days. Who knows, you may even find that the grandkids enjoy the Ollie as a playhouse, and an early introduction to camping, even if it's just in the driveway, and daytime. (Our daughter loved camping in the boat, as a little girl. ) All the rounded corners, and stovetop closed away, make the Ollie ideal for Littles, with a bit of thought in childproofing outlets, bath door, etc. , imo. If you're not going to camp other than maybe local for the next 18 months, I would definitely not change out the tires now. Cover them. I wouldn't worry about flat spots, as we had to worry about with bias tires and old school radials. Depending on where you live, waxing with a good marine wax twice a year provides a lot of protection.

Yes, I've taken expired tanks that were in good condition, not rusty, to a propane dealer, not like Tractor Supply, and they can re-certify the tanks. Doesn't cost much. I believe they put new valves on the tanks at that time as well.

Does that also mean that it is "5 o'clock somewhere"? 😎 Bill

The production model will likely have a folding light-weight (about 11lbs) solar module like @Ollie-Haus describes which will make packing/storage/hauling/set-up much better. There were discussions at Q that included having a digital power output register incorporated into the frame and greater traction tires. It's interesting that the weight of the Tracker assembly (frame = 15lbs; solar module 23lbs) is the same as our 200W Renogy suitcase. This idea of an 11lb folding 200W module is a great one. An interesting feature discovered just yesterday after setting up the Tracker in front of Casablanca's "Man Cave" -- when the Tracker senses a 100% SOC, it stops tracking the sun. So, if you're out and about and within sight of the assembly, when you see that the Tracker has fallen "behind" the sun's path, you'll know've reached full SOC. Cool.

I'll throw my 2c in here. On my 2023 LE1 the furnace does have an outlet at the forward end under the bed street side. So far the lowest Temps I've stayed in with this one was in the low teens and very windy. I keep temp set at 68-70 and the only thing that froze was the hot water to the bathroom. Now that I've installed a hatch under the bathroom sink I suspect I won't have much issue there as I can leave it cracked open. More than likely I'll be back up in alaska this coming fall/winter and I'll really be able to put things to the test. I will say I do wish I could fit the 30# tanks on the LE1. When it's under 35 degrees I rip through both 20# tanks in only about 4 days. I'm considering adding an auxiliary propane line so that I can hook up to a much larger tank that I'd set next to the tongue for when I'm more permanently In the PNW and alaska.

Everybody with a hull number less than 200 should be aware that their propane tanks are nearing their 10 year fill by expiration date. Just before we left on our annual Quartzsite trip, I discovered both our 30 pound propane tanks were out of date and non-refillable. This was going to require us to buy two new tanks plus the cost of filling them. A great price is about $75 per tank with an average price nearing close to $90. I discovered that NexAir will exchange 30 pound tanks. I got two filled tanks with a 9 year life for $50.

Sage advice, for sure! Like most folks when one tank runs out we switch to the other and start looking for a place to refill. It takes a while for the big tanks to run out. When we lived in Belgium our home was an old (200 years) farmhouse and hot water was propane on demand, one in the bath and one in the kitchen. Propane was supplied by two tanks outside that didn’t switch automatically. More than once my not water stopped in the middle of a shower on a cold Belgian morning requiring a trip outside to switch tanks so I could finish my shower. That was better than when the well ran dry, though. Sometimes living in that house felt like we were camping. Mike

If the sensor is installed correctly and the tank is empty it will read zero percent.

It looks like this thread was started in 2023 but I will put in my two bits. I know people disagree with me but we tow with a 2022 diesel GMC canyon. it has a tow capacity of 7700 pounds. I have loaded the truck and trailer many different ways and have taken it to the cat scales more than you care to know. Ive come close to maxing out the trucks GVW but was still under by 400 lbs. Thats including full fuel me my wife 2 kayaks, tent, 5 gallons extra water a full cooler of ice and food, cooking stove, fire pit,IMG_3990.HEIC one e bike and a regular bike. The trailer weighs in at about 5,600. The truck has no problem towing as far as power and so far braking hasn't been an issue. If I had a bigger garage I might consider a bigger truck but so far we have been very happy. Good luck Bill and Nancy

Yep, that would be us! Our hull #113 is titled a 2016, yet every time I tear something apart I see 2015 dates! Everything on our hull is approaching 10-years-old in 2025. I filled our tanks in November after our October trip to the Texas Rally. I asked the parts guy at our Ford dealer (best local LP price at $2.50/gal) about the date codes and neither he nor I could decipher the codes on our 30# tanks. Any advice? The date codes on brand new 20# tanks, purchased locally for our grill and fire ring on our deck, has very clearly marked date codes. I run the furnace while parked outdoors over the winter at 40F, to keep the cabin just above freezing (40F is the lowest setting on the Dometic thermostat). I used one tank in ten weeks since and just recently turned to tank #2. Friday when home I will refill the empty tank for a week in Quartzsite! I guess if the local tech can't determine the dates then I'm good for this trip! 🤣

Absolutely agree - that is a good deal. Unfortunately, there are no Nexair stores near Asheville, NC. Perhaps other "gas distributers" similar to NexAir also would do this kind of swap. Yes, there are facilities that will/can recertify older tanks. I've been told that our local propane dealer will do this but since my original tanks do not expire until later this year, I'll wait until then to investigate further. I really would prefer to keep my original tank versus either exchanging them or buying new ones. Bill

@ScubaRx Steve - That sounds like a great deal with it including the propane. I have been told that there are some facilities that will/can test your tank and recertify it with new expiration dates.

That is a difference between the Elite and the Elite II's. There is no "long" ducting in the Elite; there's just not enough room under the floor to get very far. In our 2018, like @DavePhelps 2015, the furnace is under the side dinette's forward seat, immediately adjacent to the bathroom. There are 2 fan-forced heat ducts; one dumps directly from under that dinette seat into the aisle adjacent to the bathroom door and the other dumps into the bathroom space on the wall to the left of the toilet. The only return ducting as delivered is via a vent from under that front dinette seat (i.e. beneath the side dinette table) into the furnace.

Stating the obvious there Bill 😂. Fortunately we have never run out of LP thanks to 30# tanks. And as mentioned, we have never encountered a problem locating an LP refill station anywhere we have traveled and base camped out west or on the east coast. Seek and you shall find. Patriot🇺🇸🇺🇸

The 4,000 miles round trip to do so would get to be expensive and "Tireing" . LOL GJ

Please note that second section of the sentence in the first quote above. Not only does one have to "watch out what you're trading for" but with all of the vendors of those "swapped out tanks" you do not actually get a full tank as you would if you simply have your own tank(s) refilled. However, again, "if you are in dire need of propane ...." Bill

Three 20 pounders here. Two mounted, and one for the fire pit. Versatile, easy to maneuver (I’m 5’7” and apparently shrinking), and easy to refill or swap positions. Allows the fire pit to be anywhere, including toting to friends’s sites.

Mine reads zero when the water tank level is empty.

Here's a pic of a couple of "dummy" 200 amp/hr Victrons mocked up in my tray to see if they would fit. Dave

Well, plans change! After deciding this whole conversion project was above my pay grade, I spent some time talking with my local solar company reps about my system. I have run out of battery several times with my old AGM's when camping off grid where the sun was rarely seen. Rain and gray here in the PNW, especially in the shoulder seasons. For my current needs, the 400 amp/hr Victron will have more than 3 times the power available to me compared to my old AGM's. Maybe overkill. But looking to the future where I may be getting a compressor fridge (when my 3 way gives up the ghost) then things start to even out. As far as I know, this is the most power one can pack in to the Elite 1 while maintaining the OEM battery box and tray. I also changed my mind and am getting a Victron inverter/charger. Mostly for the better charging compatibility with the Victron batteries. We'll see how this all pans out. The components are expensive but I believe Victron makes a quality product with stellar representation. Pics will be forthcoming when this all gets completed for Elite 1 owners (and anyone else) who may be interested. Cheers, Dave

The victron batteries and gear are expensive, but used by many offshore sailors, for many reasons. Separate components are easier to replace than entire batteries, service available around the world. Great technical support, from what i hear from my sailing friends.

From the pictures, it appears that the tracker pivots around this end as the sun transverses the sky. Is that correct? GJ

Thanks , I have the 2023 E2. I think that turning up the thermostat and keeping the wet bath door opened will probably heat that area enough but we’ll see. I’ll be heading back again soon so I hope that will be enough. If not I’ll be back here crying about it! 😂

Yes. Better said! Thanks gj

I agree John, heard some horror stories about issues with exchanged bottles!

@topgun2 - Good morning, Bill - could you administratively start a new thread for this topic, calling it, "Solar Tracker Module"? @dewdev, @Ollie-Haus - sorry for the delayed reply. Been on the road and just saw the above inquiries. The best way to obtain tracker information is to go to the company's website at: solartrackpro.com The tracker company name is, "Solar MaXX RV, LLC", FYI... The "Tracker" is not in full production yet. Beta and field tests need to be completed on these first three units before production commences. Regarding the question of connecting the Tracker to the OTT - the real answer is, "it depends". Not all owners have configured their trailer the same. For an unmodified factory trailer, the Tracker can either be connected directly to the battery bank with supplied alligator clips or plugged into an owner-installed SAE outlet while insuring correct polarity. In our case, we installed an SAE outlet on the battery compartment hatch for our Renogy 400W suitcase solar module, where the negative lead goes to the Victron Smart Shunt and the positive lead to the battery terminal block. After insuring correct polarity, we simply plug the Tracker into the SAE plug on the hatch allowing us to record the Tracker's output into the 3 Battle Borns using the Victron app. More news to come...

Our 2018 Elite I battery bay overall dimensions (without the tray installed) are 17-1/4" wide x 11-3/4"H x 18"D (only 11-1/4"H where the 1/2" aluminum block hangs down for the door latch). The tray inside dimensions are 14"W x 14-1/8"D x 11"H (10-1/2"H where the 1/2" aluminum block hangs down for the door latch). Epoch 460's (either variant) will still not fit, even with the battery tray removed. Should be able to fit two Epoch 300's without the tray, or one Epoch 300 with the tray. There's only 1/2" clearance for cable/lug above the battery when using the tray... which *may* require laying the single Epoch 300A battery on its side to provide sufficient clearance for a fat cable on top. Also note that a "without the tray" configuration will require engineering an alternate method for holding the battery(s) down.

Well, I finished my other projects, semi-retired and I was able to get back to the Shackles on the Oliver. I emailed Alcan around December 16, 2024 and the special die set for punching the shackles without bending them was on still on backorder. So I canceled my order with them. Got some hot rolled low carbon steel, and purchased some Cobalt drills from drill bit warehouse. BTW, I have never used the cobalt drills before. Man are they nice. Cut that hot roll like butter. Never use them in a hand drill they can break easily. Only use something like a mill, Drill press, etc. I only had a .002" variance in Center line on the holes and they assembled easily. I made my Shackles 2-5/8" on centers. The original shackles were 2-1/4". When I was replacing the the leaf springs originally, I found rub marks on all EZ-Flex arms where the original Dexter leafs had rubbed against the arm. With the Original shackles and the new Alcan leafs I had .040 clearance between the 2nd leaf and the EZ-flex arm. The thickness of the individual leaf was about 3/8. So I added 3/8" to the Hole to hole distance making them 2-5/8. THis set the distance close to what the original distance was on the Dexters. This lowered the trailer back down by 3/16", The Alcans raised the height by 1/2" so a net gain of about 5/16" in height. I also went back to the original Dexter Wet bolts. The reason I did this I was having problems getting grease pumped through the bushings with the wet (grease-able) shackle bolts from Alcan when torqued down to 60 Ft/#. The Dexter bolts are shoulder bolts and the Alcan's are straight bolts. The shoulder/wet bolts measured about .010-.015 wider then the shackles/leafs or hangers/leafs. So that meant that Dexter designed that .010-.015 of side to side slop so that grease could moved to all surfaces and the EZ-FLEX could move freely. So I am using the Dexter Wet bolts. I finished all of this before the end of the year. I decided it was time to change all my coolant hoses on the truck before a cross country adventure, added larger heated mirrors with blinkers to the old F250 SD diesel, and did some other maintenance. So I just got the Oliver out on dry pavement (that does happen often in the Pacific NW). I took her on a 105 mile trip. 45 miles was small curvy roads and about 10 miles was rutted, sunken, patch road. The Oliver performed great. I could barely feel her / see her move, and she didn't rock around all over like before. I did my Torques at 9, 45,68,105 mile points. I will plan on torquing her again at 250, 500, 1000 mile marks. I may also do more torques if there is any movement at the 1000 mile point. I feel comfortable where I am at with the suspension. I may go back in a 2-3 years when it is time to re-grease the axle bearings. At that time I will check bushings, wet bolt wear with the leafs and ez-flex. The ex-flex bushings in the arms are not the thickest metal. and I will replace what is needed. When I put the new leafs on I replaced all of the axle bearing with Timken bearings. I also had small spots of rust al over the 3" axle tubes and leaf plates. So I sanded the tubes/plates and what I could of the Brake Backing plates, then coated with a Rust neutralized, primed and painted and coated with Cosmomline RP-342 after everything was reassembled. Hopefully this will stop/deter the rust. I was disappointed that the tubes had a small amount of rust on it when we got the Oli at 9 months old. We also frequent the Pacific NW beaches a lot so that did not help the rust increasing.

Problem solved! The exterior receptacle is not a GFCI out, but is downstream from the one under the dinette. Unplugging the refrigerator extension cord solved the problem. We’ve had worse rain than this before, but usually plug it into the power pedestal. This campground doesn’t have a 15A outlet in the box. I use two 25’ extension cords, and the juncture was underneath the trailer. But with the rain, it was half buried in wet sand. I took it apart, and cleaned and dried it, but apparently not enough, as it tripped the GFCI outlet immediately when I plugged it back in. So for now, I’m using one Bluetti to power the fry while the other is charging inside the trailer. I’ll swap as needed until I get things dried out. Thank you for all of the help and advice!

Could be a number of different things, but it wouldn’t have anything to do with the circuit breakers or park power. The fault will be at the GFIC outlet, or one of the downstream outlets fed by it. GFIC’s are not overcurrent devices, rather they detect minute circuit imbalances where either the hot wire or neutral wire is leaking current to ground. So one of the most common problems is moisture, usually in the outdoor outlet/box. Make sure the cover seal is good and dry it off as best you can. Another common cause is improperly wired devices, so make sure everything is unplugged. If that doesn't fix it, then disconnect the "load" side of the GFIC outlet and see if it’s still tripping. If so, then replace the GFIC. If it doesn’t trip with the load disconnected, the GFIC is okay and I’d go back to the outdoor outlet and really dry it well. Good luck!

They can go bad but very seldom. I agree, try unplugging from shore power, then reconnect the shore power and try resetting the GFCI. When this has happened to me, I have had to use a butter knife to reset the breaker as for some reason my finger was not getting the reset button in enough.

Had similar issues with my Legacy1 trailer. Washboarded roads really puts these connections to the test. I had Oliver send me some extra clips which I added in addition to the OEM clips. One or two per shade as I recall. I then used thin nylon washers to shim the clips out so they were all in plane and fully engaged the groove on the back of the frame (use a straightedge). Since then, I have also started towing with all shades in the up position (both sheer and blackout pulled up). This puts the drawbars (?) at the top of the shade frame, placing a little more weight at the top of the frame and not stressing out the clips as much. So far so good. Dave

Just by noticing some had them and some did not. Yes, they are on the back of the clips.

Could be....also wiggle the corners slightly. If it's not secure you'll know. Best of luck :)

We resolved the issue with the Vizio television. Rather than mess around with trying to fit a 32” set where the old 24” one was, I just opted for a different 24” set. Figured that we didn’t really -need- a bigger screen. (Trailer’s not that big.) And it was more just the aggravating behaviour of the Vizio set that irked me so much. Went to Walmart and bought an “Onn” Roku set for the princely sum of $78. The mounting hole pattern is the same as the Vizio, so it was an easy swap out. If anybody loves the 24” Vizio and wants a spare, we’re traveling through Florida now and I’ll gift it to you.

While working on my travel plans for 2025 I found that Garmin had an update for my 890. In addition, they have an update for "Garmin Express". Both of these updates took longer than usual. Initially I was simply using WiFi to perform the map update but since that seemed to be taking longer I switched to using the Garmin Express. The update to Garmin Express took about 10 minutes and the maps update (still going on as I type this) is forecast to take about an hour and 10 minutes. Bill

Yeah, but so do the positive connections to the truck starter and alternator, and there are no fuses for protection in those circuits. That's why the first step in most auto service procedures is to disconnect battery ground. Only mechanic working on my truck, has been and will be me. 🤣 I want things up and ready vs. having switches under the hood or worse under the streetside bed! (or even the dinette.) I don't mind the additional parasitic draw when chargers are on standby (I'll have 4 always ON, the MP2, two MPPT SCs and soon the Orion). The Anderson Environmental Boot is enough protection for me.

That's a really clean installation, great work! One word of caution though is that manual disconnecting / connecting with an active load applied can cause contact pitting and heating of the contacts in breakers of this type. A heavy duty marine spec. switch with larger contact areas would also fit the bill since the circuit breaker is redundant in this application.

I used the following that were recommended by Artek. 1. Blue Seas MRBF Terminal Fuse Block and a MRBF 60 amp Fuse. 2. Blue Seas Series 187 Surface Mount Thermal Circuit Breaker 60 amp. I have attached photos.

JD: Good ideas for my Phase 2 efforts. Phase 1 is to adjust the parameters and add cooling fans. That Snackchaser 3% loss per a few degrees of temp rise of the Orion 30 amp unit was an eyeopener! If the numbers don't come up to something close to 28 amps to my Battleborns, then I'll circle back to your two suggestions. Both have merit. But they also are not pretty much free as what Snackchaser suggested! 🙂 I would however modify your "with and without the hitch connected" test. To also include disco the Anderson Chains, Safety Chains, 7 Pin Connection, and for grins the emergency safety cable for the Dexter's. Basically severing all metallic paths between TV and OE2 except my 4 AWG cables for the DC to DC system. But then I suspect that's what you were suggesting to do. GJ

Geoff: Good info for sure. Was not aware of the Victron SS log. I'll check it out next summer. Some follow-ups: From my understanding of the 30 amp Victron Orion 12-12/30 charger, the unit is specifically designed not to overamp the draw from the TV battery. As such, the max draw to the Lithium batteries in the RV would by design be 30 amps. How is it possible you get 35.8 amps out of the Orion as it acts as a TV battery 30 overamp "fire wall"? Not by design. My 4AWG cables run: B+: TV battery to Circuit Breaker, an Anderson 175 plug, to Orion to Ollie Lithium (via outside terminal of Orion). B-: Ollie Litho's to Orion to Ollie trailer ground (Center Terminal of the Orion), and then (Outside terminal) to Anderson plug to B- at TV Battery But my 712 Smart display says 22 amps or so, and my clamp on amp meter only shows 16.5 amps. I therefore conclude that about 5.5 amps are going along a metal path of the TV/Ollie team. Yes. That's correct and it is what I am seeing in my system. But in this case the B- has two loops in it's path. The 4 awg cables and the metal path of TV/Ollie. Your statement is true. But I fully expected to see both B+ and B- cables as measured at the hitch area to show the same amperage as you also stated. But the meters don't validate my expectation. The return paths of the B- each has it's own resistance. Per my meters and assumptions, the resistance of the two paths look like the metal path has a higher resistance than the cable path. Specifically, the ratio balances the current measured by their flows. Since less current is flowing in the metal path, it must have a higher resistance than the cable path. Could it be possible that my Victron Orion non-isolated unit ground wire (Center wire of the cable connection) is the source of our observation? If so, are others with this set up seeing similar same amp flows? Roger. I think that most of us that have the older 30 amp Orion's would benefit from both of your suggestions. GJ

Geronimo, JD, I also have the 30 amp Orion with around 90' of #4. With the TV at idle, and the lithium batteries around 60%, the average TV input to the Orion was 42.5 amps, and the Orion's output to the battery was 35.8 amps. Decent efficiency! Amperage flows equally in a loop, so the B+ and B- will always be the same value. Knowing that, the 25% difference that you were seeing between measurements was most likely due to the Orion auto adjusting the battery charging current, or changing the output current due to low voltage, or even the smart alternator searching. It's really hard to get a consistently stable amp reading with all that going on. The Victron smart shunt has a log feature that might provide a better overall picture of its performance. You have 18' more wire than me, and that will increase resistance and voltage drop more than it may seem. It sounds like you might also have some added resistance from using the frame through the hitch for B-. That can cause the Orion to reduce the output amperage, which reduces the voltage drop, which brings it back within the default set points. So it might help to change your Orion's default “Start Voltage” from 14 to 13 volts, and the “Shutdown Voltage” from 13.1 to 12.8 volts. I get into more detail in my post "More DC to DC charger Installation Tid Bits." You might also re-check the battery type settings while you're at it. A cooling fan would be good for the 30 amp Orion, especially considering it ramps down 3% for every degree above 104 F. I described a way to install fans using a 104 degree thermo switch so that it doesn't create a parasite draw. It's also in the afore mentioned post. FYI, I was checking into adding parallel wires with the existing #4 for a 50 amp Orion upgrade. Geez, I'd have to add at least a #1, but better a #1/0 to stay within acceptable voltage drop. That's a lot of trouble and expense so I'm going to stick with the 30 amp for now. I'm very pleased with its battery charging performance, but not so much for running the AC. Hope you will find this useful! Cheers! Geoff

Thanks Bill, done! The RV890 has served us well!

John, Have not had to pay for updates on our Garmin Nuvi or RV-780 GPS units. Updating our Garmin RV-780 right now with Garmin Express.

Good guess!!

These are made in MT. I am a huge Red Oxx fan but their larger items are $$$$. The smaller ones are made from remnants and are cheaper, like the wallet or small “possibles” bag, and make great Christmas presents. Red Oxx Travel Tray These are especially cool and handy: … https://www.redoxx.com/monkey-s-fist-zip-knot-92009/p They have a wonderful retail store in Billings. Do not enter unless you are prepared to lose some money! 😀 John Davies Spokane WA

The SeeLevel monitor must be an industry favorite because in the past, when I was deciding whether or not I wanted a trailer, I rented a Jayco and also an Airstream. Both had the same SeeLevel monitor. It definitely wasn't accurate with those two trailers tanks. I like your advice John, and I'm going to do that just because I'm curious. If it turns out that I can pull out 30 gallons and the SeeLevel still says I have 20% left, I won't be surprised. That's why if I'm going boondocking I always have extra water jugs.

There may be an error in your gauge, the only way to really know is to look at the water level in the tank, using a strong light, or do a bucket test - fill the tank completely, then pump it all out using the outside shower into a five gallon bucket, dump, then repeat, to measure the real volume. If you are not getting most of the water, the suction tube may not be down all the way.. that would mean opening a service ticket. And make sure the trailer is really level, do not trust that little bubble on the jack, use the frame or the floor with a 12” or longer carpenters level, not your phone. If the hitch is even a little low it will make it hard to get out that last bit of water. The tank is long and short in height. John Davies Spokane WA