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Over the years I have found that more amp/hrs would be of benefit. I initially felt that the 300 amp/hrs of the BB batteries were enough but with the compressor fridge on 24/7 during winter traveling and a few cloudy days here and there, my batteries would draw down to less than I am comfortable with. Anyway, two of the 300 amp/hr batteries seem to be the wave of the future. Having two still gives me the redundancy that I like. As built, Oliver used 4/0 welding cable for the main battery connections to the inverter. These are large enough for the 2,000 watt inverter and are protected by a 250 amp fuse. The wire used for all other dc circuits is #6 welding cable and is adequate for the existing dc circuits in the trailer. I did not install a larger Progressive Dynamics charger or a larger inverter so I didn’t feel it necessary to upsize any wiring. I do have the air conditioner wired so that I can run it through the inverter but it only draws about 90 dc amps. The microwave by comparison draws about 120-130 dc amps. Really the only thing I did when I initially installed the lithium batteries six years ago was to clean up some of the wiring by moving all of the #6 wiring out of the battery box and I added a circuit breaker. Not too involved.

I had 3 BB 100’s in use for 5 years, worked great, no problems. I was getting increasingly paranoid about my family safety, so I sold them on Facebook Marketplace for $150 each. I tested each one and made sure the buyer was fully informed of the issues. He was aware, but was looking for a bargain and willing to take his chances. I could perhaps have gotten a higher price, but my conscience kept me from being greedy. The way I figure it, I had $2450 total invested, so the cost of 300AH of trouble-free use cost me $400/year. I saved way more than that by boondocking. There are several dozens of them for sale on FB Marketplace in my local rural area, so my guess is many others feel the same way. It might interest some that @Overland had 2 out of 4 go bad in 2021. This was before the present design problems were known, apparently BB told him the BMS went bad. I recall he did a lot of off-road, so maybe his terminals shook loose internally and got hot. @Overland was able to get BB to pay for shipping and replace. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/4956-lithium-battery-upgrade/page/2/ Those were the days when BB was widely regarded as the #1 brand, and there were no reliable Chinese competitors. See Will Prowse glowing endorsement on YouTube from 2020 if interested. Yep, same guy that blew this up on the web, may have been indirectly responsible for becoming one of BB best salespersons.

I don't mean to overwhelm you. While you are under the Oliver looking at the shocks, Pay close attention the leaf springs. Look to make sure the leafs are not sitting flat on one end or the other and/or over-sprung. If they are it could cause the shocks to wear out prematurely. If they are there is a huge topic on leaf springs ( more like a book). Remember to just take one thing at a time, you have an older trailer, but is built to last. There is a ton of information on this website, and people that care about there Olivers. Happy Travels.

Yes, I saw all of the glowing reviews six years ago when I did my upgrade to lithium batteries. Back then Oliver had just introduced their lithium trailer and there weren’t many choices for lithium batteries. Battle Born was the gold standard then. This goes to show that lab testing has little resemblance to real world life testing day in and day out over the years. Even now and with most things we buy, we do our homework and research the best we can and select the best option. I’m not too upset with the way this has turned out. These batteries have traveled many miles in six years and have been well used all without any maintenance. We on average spend four months out of the year in our trailer every year, in 2025 it was six months. We are ready for the next chapter!

I suggest Nylok nuts and washers, no loctite needed. First do the lift as @David and Gail has showed above. Drill a second hole, top of slot, hand tight both bolts. Also, the angle of your two support beams seems greater than in other pics. The base looks off angle (notice angle of base not square with floor in your first picture). Check below where it should be welded to the frame.

Similar outcome shown by the “Grand Adventurer” RV guy, the YouTube video I posted above. You have 1 of 3 bad and he had 2 of 6 bad. Both of you noticed your SOC was not what it used to be! Good test Ken! I still have a drawer full of incandescent GE Reveal bulbs at home, for the health of our eyes and heart!

So this may have been covered bf, but my shotgun rider pointed me to a video that used 8” stainless lag screws and 1 1/2” fender washers to use as tent stakes for our clam screen house. Boy what an easy way to secure your shelter. Beats the rock hammer by a mile.

When I first read your post, my first comment was 🤣!!! Just search for keyword 'Victron' to find MANY upgrade threads! Here is my DIY thread, new Epoch batteries with Victron MP2 and components. We now have 7 Victron components (see app screenshot below), from the Smartshunt to Solar Chargers, to DC-2-DC chargers, etc! Adding the Victron Orion 50A DC-2-DC charger => Only a couple of Oliver Owners had upgraded to the Victron Multiplus II inverter/charger and Epoch batteries before I did ours, summer of 2024. And many have done so since. In this post Patriot shows an excellent professional installation! You have dozens of upgrade threads here you can study to make yours what you want!

Mountainoliver, thanks for the clear writeup of your battery issue. I was wondering if you could elaborate on your choice of two 300 AH batteries versus 3 or 4 of the 105 AH, of course besides the increased AH! Your trailer is similar to ours in age-have you changed any of the wiring as to gauge to accommodate the increased AH? What is a general rundown on your electrical system? Again, appreciate your writeup. David

Our 2023 is the same, and we were surprised to see it in the middle of the compartment, especially after seeing older models with the vacuum formed tray in there. But I suspect it is to ease the cable angle as much as to prevent using the bay for storage. Our TP and paper towels get stored in there.

Looks like I have been very lucky with this battery box support issue. One, I only have a single bolt with no nut in sight. No real evidence it ever hat a nut, but I'm sure it did. The bolt has been bottomed out on the hand-cut slock for what appears to be forever. From all appearance, from outside and in, the box is still fairly in the spot it was from day one. I see no signs of separation. That is likely due to the fact that the bolt bottomed out on the slot and really could not come out of the hole. I will put double nuts, with Loctite, on the support beam this weekend. If anyone sees any issues I do not, let me know. I downsized the pics, but should be large enough to zoom in as needed. Also, I'm not sure why my pics have been uploading with such crappy quality. It's not what they look like on my computer. Might try another program to edit. PS. Replacing all pictures. \

The second test of the “bad” battery just finished. That battery started out fully charged this morning and only lasted for 6 1/2 hours. It again shut down with so little voltage that the charger will not recognize a voltage and start charging. The other two batteries took the load for over 12 hours, the inverter shut down at 10 volts as it should. The charger was able to begin charging immediately. This second test confirms that this one battery is defective in some way and can only handle a load for a short period of time. No telling how quickly it discharges under a much heavier load. My Battle Born testing is done! Two good batteries and one bad battery. Now I’ve got to find something to do with these two batteries.

Here's a couple more of the campsite and I have supplied GPS coordinates. We are a couple miles past the staging area. There are campsites at the staging area, one large flat one with picnic table and fire ring. Many RVs were also camping south of the entrance down Eagle Eye Rd. To get here, you'd have to tow down and up 4 narrow washes. Some may not want to pull their Olivers through these washes! I descend slowly, then when my truck is at the bottom I let off the brakes, the weight of the Oliver then pushes the truck through and then quickly hit the pedal to pull up, some were very steep! 😎 There were two other nice campsites on the way to ours and only one past this location. Yesterday we drove up some, to the turn-off to the Monterey Mine. The maps on On-X Offroad are good. With 2WD and not wanting to air down, this was enough. It gets very steep and sketchy the rest of the way to the top. Some of you, airing down with a capable 4x4 would have no problem getting to the top. I understand from the top you can see ALL of SW AZ, from Phoenix, all the way to California, south to Mexico and north to the heights of the Prescott NF! Harquahala Mountain at 5600 FT is the tallest peak in all of SW Arizona. I wish we could travel with the Oliver and somehow bring our 2018 Textron Havoc SxS with us! She would fly to the top with ease!!! 🤣

“Curiosity” is currently parked next to “Dickens” at CGI Detailing’s shop in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Getting the shine even shinier!

Hi Steve, thanks for your assistance with this plumbing project. I really appreciate it. Marc

We know that most of the older PD's had two RP fuses, and likewise some had the Lithium switch. I suggest testing the unit amp output to definatively end the discussion. Just turn off the solar controller, turn off the Inverter (If installed) turn on the Converter, and either check the SOC reading at the SOC display (If available) or use a clamp-on-amp meter at the battery to measure voltage and amps. Hopefully you see higher voltage and amperage when you think the Converter is on. If not, cry.

The existing wiring is adequate just as long as you don’t try to use all 600 amp/hrs at once! 🌋

Thank you Mountainoliver. There is the cost differential from the 3X 105 to two X 300 AH batteries versus, but two 300 AH would allow for future upgrades and it’s good to know that the existing wiring on my system would be adequate. Thanks again. David

I apologize for the thread drift - but - those battery slide tray stops are interesting. Cheap, easy to remove/replace and appear to be effective. Bill

Especially in the rainy season. The views sound amazing, but I probably wouldn't try to tow my Oliver through that.

I was thinking the same thing as you JD. However, I am not confident, no matter what I do, even multiple bolts, that my home-brew fix will hold up to the weight of four AGMs above, with road bumps. I'm no metal guy but I'm thinking of an adjustable solution. Something like this device, (only an example and quick search). https://www.rockler.com/heavy-duty-lifting-leveler?country=US&promo=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PL&sid=V91190&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17424410624&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtfXMBhDzARIsAJ0jp3C2O8eZqs9M8M7CpmGG4oAKjWuDowPNrbrKNJUMh9-A2esKafqTJ6IaAlxpEALw_wcB I will notify Oliver Service so they know of the issue and see what they suggest as well. It's best they have proper metrics for future improvements. Cheers,

Thank you

Jolli Olli is camped in San Antonio for 4 nights visiting college friends and reliving the early 70's. Highs in the 60's and lows in the high 30's. Thursday headed to 3 stops along the Gulf Coast for 13 days.

Yep, ours are ABS. And don’t the new Olivers have electric waste valves and something different for the pull handle for the bathroom gray? I replaced that one with electric but an electric valve would not fit on the black tank waste valve where they plumbed ours without replacing all the ABS.

That is interesting, I wonder if there is an electric valve option that we cannot see in that view? That is the first PVC drain pipe I have seen Oliver use. Mossey

Tell the guys "Hi" for me. I'll be there in September. Bill

It's interesting how OTT installed your black tank waste valve, laying on an angle in the center of the area under the front dinette seat! Mine was installed straight up vertically in the corner. There are pluses and minuses of both. Further up and on an angle, the pull on the 144” cable would be smoother but it takes away from the storage space. I had to replace our cable since it got kinked from the hard angle (see pic below), and even with a brand new cable it's still not easy to pull. We have a lot of storage though, where a large basket fits nicely down there! Every Oliver is truly unique.

If anyone needs new chocks for the upcoming season, Harbor Freight has them on sale with the coupon below: Bill

Yes - your year and hull # now appear - thanks for doing this. Of course, you can add other information , tow vehicle, battery configuration, inverter size, fridge, furnace, and hot water configurations, etc. if you want. Take a look at the signatures of others to get ideas. All these details are not necessary, but, they do help the members of the Forum to help you in the event that arises again. Bill

After I had heard about the issues that Battle Born was having, I initially tested my three batteries. I installed my batteries about six years ago and at least initially didn’t have any issues with them. We were in the midst of a two month trip so my testing was very rudimentary. I just ran a 1500 watt electric heater on my inverter for about a half hour. That loaded the batteries to 122 amps which only put about 41 amps on each battery. With this test I was only checking for hot positive terminals. No issues there. After we got back home I decided to replace all of the Battle Born batteries with two Epoch 300 ah batteries at the wise counsel of another Oliver owner. Anyway, I decided to perform a more detailed test on the three old batteries. I had an old 400 watt inverter that I connected with a 100 watt incandescent light bulb (remember those) and connected the input to each battery one at a time. This would put approximately 8 amps load on the battery. I first charged each battery to make sure they were fully charged. I finished my initial battery test today. First and third batteries lasted about 12 hours each. The inverter will turn itself off at 10 volts which is the voltage that a lithium battery is considered dead. The 12 hour time frame seems about right, 100 amp/hr (battery) divided by 8 amps (load) is about 12.5 hours so I think my actual test is fairly accurate. The second battery only lasted a few hours and died to the point that the charger would not recognize any voltage so wouldn’t start charging. I had to jumper a good battery in parallel with the dead one so that the charger would start then after just a couple of minutes I removed the good battery and charging continued. Anyway, I’m going to re test the bad one tomorrow. My original 300 ah had turned into 200 ah! Over the past couple of years I had noticed that the battery pack seemed to draw down quicker than before and that I had to recharge them more frequently. We do all sorts of camping typically, a mixture of boondocking and various stages of campgrounds. We typically camp not just a few days boondocking which is easy for any trailer but we’ll boondock for maybe two weeks at a time. This past year we were in our camper for a total of six months. Four months in the west and two months in the south east. During that time we spent a week here and there boondocking and sometimes in campgrounds with no hook ups. Anyway, it had become more difficult to boondock in the last couple of years. We have a compressor fridge that of course runs 24/7 and then other typical loads. I didn’t know it but we had one third of our battery capacity gone! I’m glad I changed these out for the Epoch batteries! My takeaway and suggestion for others (not just Battle Born owners) is to periodically fully test your lithium batteries. There are load testers sold on Amazon specifically designed to test them and they are a little more elegant than the inverter/light bulb arrangement that I used. The Epoch Essentials 300ah batteries have Bluetooth and can be electronically controlled. The output or charge input can be turned off and on through the app so in a multi battery setup each battery can be isolated. I have not experimented with this feature yet but could potentially make it easier to test one battery at a time in place without having to remove them. Anyway, fellow Battle Born owners test your batteries!

Because it is easier and cheaper to deny and shift blame, and hope that a class action doesn't take place. This is the way the world has gone, no integrity. I would bet the CEO is selling any shares if they even have them. Sorry for the rant.

Just more bla bla bla…when I read garbage generic responses like this I want to 🤮, the CEO’s coffee maker probably pulled this letter from their 10yo archives! Why not own up to the fact their batteries have an issue, or at least come back with a something /video some explanation that makes sense to people that have more than 2 brain cells why Will Prowse, and btw Lithionics who called them out for same issues year ago, are taking too much kool aid!

Well crud... and I got lucky. I just checked my camper for the battery box separation and support issue. The box seems fine, and the single bolt that I do see, upon a quick inspection at night, revealed there is no nut on the bolt. So I will do a detailed inspection in the daytime and find a nut for that bolt. Thanks for posting this information! Great job guys!!!