Leaderboard

We did replace the 400 amp anl fuse with a 350 amp. Also installed a Blue Sea disconnect. I’m using a 350 MRBF terminal fuse block at the battery (it’s on the back terminal in the photo). Some day I may add them to each battery. For those who have been tracking my initial issue with the 300 amp Optifuse that kept tripping. It turned out I had a bad crimp on that cable connection. But I prefer the upgraded protection. 🙂

I have been using a Sensor Push (https://www.sensorpush.com/) for some time now. I keep it under the port side bunk near the controls for the outside faucet. There have been times when I did not winterize because our trailer is kept inside a large unheated garage. Temps rarely go down below freezing but to be safe we use a large oil filled heater with the hatches blow. I have also monitored the temp without the hatches blown and was surprised to find the difference in temp was only about a degree or two. This would be inside the trailer vs. in between the hulls with temps close to where you would worry about freezing lines. So my conclusion would be that even down to the 20's using a cube heater you should be fine. "SHOULD BE".... I would still monitor and use the on board heat if the between hull temps started to show a drop. When I first got the ceramic cube heater and I wasn't familiar with it I woke up around 3am and the temp inside was 85 degrees. Not fun but no broken pipes. The Sensor Push has provided a LOT of peace of mind for the last few years. Of course all the other advice like pulling in the outside faucet and insulating the inlets apply. YMMV... Good Luck Scotty

UPDATE on my above Norcold mod: The magnetic catch for the freezer door worked out great with one exception, the Alien Tape eventually failed to hold the interior vertical mount. Still hesitant to use screws, double sided 3M VHB Adhesive Mounting Tape seemed a better alternative. The stock freezer door hinges are notorious for breakage and aftermarket replacements are expensive. Thanks again to @topgun2 for inspiring the magnetic catch approach! A couple of other mods have worked out equally great, the top shelf swivel bars to secure my eggs and Beech Lane Evaporator Fin Fan for improved cold air circulation.

Never mind! I found my keys! thanks, Tanya ATX

Looks like this, several on Amazon, side shades too. https://a.co/d/95YrFh4 https://a.co/d/25pOwgP

We got it at Quartzsite at one of the vendors set up outside of the big tent. Not sure what the brand is, there are no markings. It slides into the one of the two Keder Rail slots on the Fiamma awning. There’s a short piece that slides in and then the larger part of the awning zips into the smaller part at the top. Mike

Dubbed "The Flying Sea Turtle" by my wonderful wife in summer of 2016. By next Summers camping season we will have had 10 years with her. Truly a unique Oliver for both the Logo... (many people remember the Turtle) and the unique stripes that no other Oliver has. They were a test pilot by Oliver but they decided to stay with the original "swoosh" design. I have to say I am still very proud to own her. See you on the road! Scotty

"Dexter offers a limited five-year warranty on its E-Z Flex equalizers and suspension systems. The warranty is valid for the original purchaser and covers defects in material and workmanship from the date of the trailer's original purchase." "Five-year limited warranty coverage" "The five-year warranty on equalizers and suspension components applies to all Dexter trailer axles, suspensions, and brake control systems manufactured on or after September 1, 2016."

An occasional good cleaning and a shot of WD-40 will make these things last a long time. Pay particular attention to the little "ball" in one end and the "push button" in the other and also give the holes in the bumper a little shot of lube (WD-40 or something similar) from time to time. Bill p.s. you might also take a look in Tractor Supply if that is easier - they used to carry these pins.

That’s us. We use our screen often with the awning (Fiamma). If it’s windy we also stake down the support poles and the awning stays secure in some pretty high winds. Mike

I second Ronbrink's endorsement of the LockNLube coupler for your grease gun. I must grease lots of zerks on my Kubota tractor, so have become a LockNLube coupler fan. I also recommend LockNLube's zerk caps. They have worked well on my tractor to keep dirt out of the zerks, so I have also installed them on the zerks on my Elite II. They are overpriced at $11 for what they are, but they work. I have no financial interest in LockNLube, just positive experience with these two products. https://www.amazon.com/LockNLube-Grease-Fitting-Count-Yellow/dp/B0779K66DW/ref=sr_1_1_pp?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.T8hZ8VHh7n8q0Y30ncw1Zvsvok5f6vxLfm-VFmTE4o9O5jCMC0xZl_8Qis_WTuJx0T23YcDDPnRHvDiYoH8C9l0hDEQcd_u_ciE36NWaysFxgMqQa5lvjJjPQz52Q-v0amx0f3bbIlAln7jMclOsI57EAMXdty7ZBK_jpW4S_BMU5glY7lQwHlt_P-Ro-gGdnON8stpS6I21R2IHz41-VJZuRFrkf2HY_L1p9vYcEeb2wYpNkXEUEJTXPlcQi1UG-GK4sqUYFBtfzKmV24VB4I2On4pTDUB94-w1_dl6aEQ.jnjsiornpd_gBb-D-BGini1OeYpO1kK6xBhHgEc6HcE&dib_tag=se&hvadid=695444684338&hvdev=c&hvexpln=67&hvlocphy=9029558&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=17929369996106615123--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=17929369996106615123&hvtargid=kwd-488087789682&hydadcr=7441_13183977&keywords=lock%2Bn%2Blube%2Bgrease%2Bfitting%2Bcaps&mcid=bf8e3ce829e9318caf67405886b6af15&qid=1761057611&sr=8-1&th=1

Here is a setup that @Mike and Carol posted, the awning is further stabilized with support posts and screen anchored for better securement. Maybe they or others with a similar setup will chime in with their experiences. This may be an adaptation of the Lippert Solera RV Awning Shade Screen or similar product, provided pic for example only:

In response to a question by @Gliddenwoods, I answered with the above statement based on mental recall; but in finding a comment made on FB from several years ago I can honestly say “it ain’t what it used to be”! I stand corrected in the following:

Those questions totally depend on where you camp, and local weather .

Hello everyone here is a copy of the agenda for the Texas Rally looking forward to seeing everyone.

When returning home from the Oregon Coast this April, my wife and I boondocked at a Harvest Host site. That cold evening, we tried to heat water for hot drinks in the microwave using the inverter, but it shut down after just a few seconds. We were surprised and disappointed, because our Lithium Pro Package with Xantrex Freedom XC Pro 3000 watt inverter should enable us to use the microwave on inverted power for at least a few minutes. It had been a cloudy day so we got minimal solar recharge, and with our Nordcold fridge running on DC while on the road, our battery State of Charge was down to about 74%. When we submitted a service ticket, Jason Essary confirmed that we should be able to run the microwave on inverted power at 74% State of Charge (SOC), and much lower, down to 25-30% SOC. With Jason's helpful guidance, I then spent dozens of hours trying to troubleshoot the electrical system, both on the DC and the AC sides. The inverter/charger was charging as designed, and would run 120V appliances that pull up to 1100-1200 watts (including the Truma air conditioner, which pulls 1100 watts with the compressor running), but loads greater than 1400 watts (like the microwave or a space heater on a high setting) caused the inverter to shut down. Nothing we tried solved the problem, including replacement of the Optifuse 300A inverter breaker, which Oliver sent to me under warranty. I also spoke with a Xantrex customer service rep (after45 minutes on eternahold) who assured me the problem could not be with the inverter, so it must be in the trailer wiring. Jason then authorized me to engage an RV service tech at Oliver's expense to try to find a solution. But that was right before I had planned to use the trailer boondocking at the Lochsa River the week of May 15. I decided to engage a tech after I returned home. But while camping (and running the Lochsa river during the day) I happened to mention the inverter issue to another RVer. He asked me if my inverter is a Xantrex. Yup. He then told me he had been advised by an RV service tech to do a "hard reboot" of his Xantrex inverter to resolve a similar issue. He explained that this involves disconnecting both the positive and negative DC cables from the inverter, and leaving it at least overnight, then reconnecting. I determined to give it a try after I returned home, as it would be relatively easy to do. To my surprise, the "hard reboot" solved the problem. My tests have confirmed that we can now run the microwave on full power (1540 watts) for 4 minutes or more at a time, at SOC levels down to 35%. So, the Xantrex customer service guy was wrong--the problem was with the inverter. And, the solution was relatively easy to implement: turn off all batteries, and ensure that shore power is disconnected (so there is no power to the DC cables), then disconnect the DC cables from the inverter and leave at least overnight. I left mine disconnected for 3 days. Then reconnect, and turn the batteries back on. If your Xantrex inverter is not performing up to spec, try a hard reboot.

Keep in mind that four wheel alignment becomes a periodic maintenance requirement with independent suspension. There's always trade offs so depending on your style of camping. Also there are a lot of other possible fail points with that system. It's a very complex system. I wander what the cost of a conversion would be? Edit: PS - The beauty of the current suspension is you can pick up replacement parts rather cheap, albeit not lifetime quality, at any local farm store and be back on the road in hours. The high end suspension would likely require sourcing parts long distance that would have at least a few days lead time. I think I would be hard pressed to consider this type of upgrade.

This is an update to the continuing saga of shutdown issues with our Xantrex Freedom XC Pro 3000 Watt inverter. In short, several days after the first hard reboot, we again began to get inverter shutdowns under heavy load. A second hard reboot also produced good short-term results, but did not "stick" long term. Earlier this week, Jason Essary authorized me to drop the Low Battery Cutoff (LBCO) level from the default 12.0V advised by Lithionics to 11.5V. I then ran another 4-minute test using 12V battery power through the inverter to run the microwave at 100% (with a pitcher or water inside to protect the microwave), at various SOC levels from 97% down to 22%. Although the Xantrex remote continued to report DC voltages as low as 11.8V during this test, the Seelevel "Batt" gauge reported DC voltages no lower than 12.2V. And most important, my trusty multimeter reported actual battery voltages (at the battery bank) no lower than 12.7V, with the microwave on full power at 22% SOC! So, under 11500+watt load, there was a 0.4V variance between the DC voltage perceived by the inverter and that perceived by the Seelevel monitor, while there was a 0.9V variance between the voltage perceived by the inverter and actual DC battery voltage verified with a multimeter. To me, this confirms that those expensive Lithionics batteries are not at risk under these conditions, since actual DC voltage did not drop below 12.7V. It appears to me that setting the LBCO at 11.5V compensates for the fact that, when under heavy load, our inverter misperceives the actual battery voltage by as much as 0.9V (12.7V actual -11.8V perceived=0.9V). It still concerns me that our Xantrex inverter misperceives DC voltage when under heavy load, but this new "workaround", i.e., setting the LBCO artificially low, enabled me to run heavy wattage loads on inverted power even at lower SOC levels, as the system was designed to do. With the LBCO set at 11.5V, even though the Xantrex inverter perceived DC voltage of 11.8V, there, of course, were no inverter shutdowns or LBCO "[01]" warnings. With that setting, it appears we can use high-wattage appliances on inverted power at least down to 22% State of Charge (SOC). This is encouraging. My wife and I are boondocking this weekend. We plan to use high-wattage appliances, including a hair dryer and the Truma AC, as needed. I will update this thread after that "real world" test .

Try adjusting a setting in the Xantrex app. Look under inverter settings and find "Low Battery Cut Off". I have mine set at 12.5 v. ....could go lower but never needed to do so. Just watch the SOC so batteries don't fully deplete. The LBCO delay timer is set for 10 s. There is no doubt that this LBCO setting will cut the inverter off. Steve

Update and new plan. I have determined that two of the open holes of the three missing Dexter equalizer zerk have little/no remaining threads. Replacement zerks just slip in and fall out. New larger tapped threads would be required. So...the new plan is to replace the existing Dexter equalizers with new equalizers. I have no faith in the equalizer product on my Oliver. I have been in touch with Dexter and I am filing a warranty claim. Not sure how the claim will go, but new equalizers will be installed either way.