Leaderboard

As posted on the Scamp facebook page, but I see no reason why this would not work just as well when towing an Ollie. Available one day only (today, April 1). This bluetooth connectivity capability answers so many issues faced by the typical Oliver owner like tongue weight, having to use Andersen hitch with 1/2 ton pickups, tow chains, and the 2” vs. 2 5/16” ball dilemma. If anyone was successful in getting ahold of one of these during the tight window of availability today, please post your experience with this seemingly too good to be true answer to all issues related to having to physically connect our trailers to our tow vehicles.

My headphones keeping dropping the Bluetooth connection. This could be worse. I think I'd install Token Ring safety chains, just in case.

Welcome to Club Oliver. You paid for your ticket, now ride. Celebrate with us when we see our Oliver brothers and sisters. Tell us when you see your first Oliver out and about in the wild. Most importantly, enjoy.

As far as I can tell, I’ve made the first automatic leveling system for the Oliver’s Barker stabilizing jacks! Maybe even the first 3-jack leveling system on a travel trailer! It’s simple to operate, safe, and works great! I built the leveling system as a novelty for my own entertainment, so I’m only posting it as a interest item not a recommended project. In reality, manually leveling with the electric jacks is already easy, particularly with a LevelMate, so automatic leveling isn’t really needed. There are even warnings that the jacks are stabilizers, not to be used for leveling. However, I believe the warnings are more about liability than capability, as long as the jacks are used within reasonable limits. I'd been thinking about an auto-leveling project for a long time, but was deterred by the thought of modifying the jacks with fiddly proximity sensors or revolution counters as used in conventional leveling systems. I didn't want to alter the jacks for a DIY project that might not even work. But then it dawned on me. The only time I really needed to know the position of the jacks, is when retracting them to their parked position. I wasn’t interested in returning the tongue jack to the truck hitch hight like some systems offer. So this led to a revelation that automatic leveling could be done with nothing more than current sensors mounted in a control box rather than on the jacks themselves. This was only possible because of the Barker jack’s mechanical clutch. When the jack reaches the end of its travel, the clutch activates with a distinct clack-clack sound. It was likely that clutch engagement would produce a unique current signature that could be used to detect when the jack is fully retracted. A plan was developing, but I needed actual amperage values for proof of concept. Fortunately I had a data logging ammeter, and the chart below illustrates the results for one of rear jacks starting from its fully retracted parked position. The jack was extended through free air until it touched ground and began picking up load, maxing out when the wheel lifted off the ground. Then it was retracted to the parked position until the clutch actuated: I didn’t include the tongue jack chart because it's far less dynamic — it's always under load, and the clutch doesn't normally actuate during leveling. The clutch only comes into play after trailer is hooked up to the TV and the tongue is manually retracted. The amperage results confirmed that current sensors could work, and beyond detecting the parked position, they could also be used to distinguish the different leveling phases: rear jack extension until firm ground contact for stabilizing, and then transition to "roll" leveling if needed. Completion of the rear jack phase could then trigger the tongue jack phase to handle "pitch" leveling. The amperage chart became the basis for the circuit and software design. No proximity sensors. No revolution counting. No permanent modifications — just two wires to each jack, a component box, and a control board. Sounds easy, but this was only just the start of a long process to perfect the system. I hope someone finds this interesting! Cheers! Geoff

It's possible that you have an air-lock situation. Please see my procedure here: no pump pressure . It's worth a try.

I asked my Uncle AI (Claude) about methods and solutions. So I do not bore you, here's the final paragraph from Claude.ai. The biggest bang-for-buck combo is Brave + uBlock Origin + DuckDuckGo — takes about 10 minutes to set up and eliminates the vast majority of tracking and ads most people encounter.

We use Brave for our browser and DuckDuckGo for our search engine.

We used AC heat trace and just turn on the inverter..we have the premium solar package. Used about 3 percent SOC to run 45 feet of tracing overnite at 20 degrees outside temps. We split the tracing into four runs for max flexibility. Using AC was less expensive and less amps.

Sometimes you get a wild hair and make impulsive travel changes. We were at Lost Dutchman one January and decided to visit our son/family in Durango. Once we got past Payson the temps started dropping. By the time we hit Farmington, NM we were in the 20’s. The week we were there overnight lows were teens and highs near 30. No trailer issues. Another January we were at Dead Horse Ranch and checked temperatures at Zion, highs in the low 60s. The campground there was empty and we stayed a week in an empty Zion National Park. On the drive back to AZ we had temps in the 20s, ran the furnace and got back to AZ with no issues. Travel flexibility! Mike

Back to the subject re the articulating hitch. Don't think we need one, even though I likely tow up and down more steep, angled and rutted dirt roads than many of you would dare! I feel safe with our upgraded 2 5/16" ball and Bulldog receiver. For those of you who want to learn more about hitches, check this out. Love this guy Tom Morton! He's the one who reviewed and installed both Turbro and Chill Cube A/C units in their RV. Quite a studied and capable young engineer. I searched for keyword 'hitch' on their website and got 6 hitch related articles. At bottom is one re the articulating hitch. 😎 https://www.mortonsonthemove.com/?s=hitch

Works well for us!

Wow. This forum is worth its weight in fiberglass.

Snackchaser was spot on. I got up this morning and found the emergency breakaway switch had gotten pulled out during setup. I put it back in and voila, back to 0 draw. Thanks you all so much for the responses. I was really stressing out about this issue.

Finally getting to much needed upgrades on hull 994.

We had two newer BB 100AH batteries in Ollie, but recently installed two 105 AH Epoch batteries in parallel. I like the physically smaller/lighter Epoch batteries for our application compared to BB along with Epoch's customer support and Epoch's app to monitor Epoch Bluetooth Smart battery condition. Really like the built in Epoch carry handles on the 105AH batteries making it easy to install & remove these 22lb batteries. We don't have factory solar or an inverter like many folks here. We have a Progressive Dynamics 45 amp charger and also charge with up to two Renogy 100W Portable Suitcase Solar Panels and Renogy Solar controller when away from shore power. Looking forward to seeing how fast the Epoch batteries will charge with 100W Portable Suitcase Solar Panels during the 2026 camping season.

Finished adding a shower valve. This should be a lot more functional than the stock setup.

Greetings to the Oliver I saw parked at the Ridley’s parking lot in Pinedale! I think you are from Louisiana — but there’s no mistaking your Oliver! “Our Escape Pod”!