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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/05/2018 in Posts

  1. It is possible you are having the same issue I had with our new Oliver. The detail is in the “Micro-Air” thread. But to summarize: At pickup and shakedown at the local campground my old Honda 2000 would not work with EasyStart installed by factory. It would startup fine and run several minutes and then the generator would shutdown. Returned to the factory the next morning. During the next three hours they checked the EasyStart install (it was correct) and reset the EasyStart. Still didn’t work. Scott Oliver brought his old Honda 2000 to factory but his generator also shutdown. Thought it may have been the old generators. Went home and tested with my other younger, but still old Honda 2000. Still would not work. It worked fine with both Generators paralleled. I continued to test and research and camp in Summer heat with shore power. After watching amp draw and an evaluation by RV repair shop we determined the A/C was pulling too many amps and A/C was replaced under warranty. STILL did not work with generator. But by this time, fortunately, Matteo G. At Micro-Air had identified another potential problem - a bad stator in the generator. At the Oliver Rally in May we were able to confirm both my generators have bad stators causing shutdown after running several minutes. We tested with a new generator as well as Scott Oliver’s generator that was used at the factory during the original testing and everything worked fine. I opted to buy one new Honda 2200i, added the Hutch Mountain propane kit. Hopefully our “Murphy’s Law” abiding is over http://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/micro-air/page/3/#
    2 points
  2. I know this is a maybe a long shot after looking through several pages of threads, but on the theory that you never know until you ask I am asking. Since I am going to be a fulltime RVer with my Oliver (picking it up in early to mid October), I have been focusing my tow vehicle search on vans. I wanted something that would offer a combination of good storage and easy access. I'm narrowed down to the Chevy Express, GMC Savana and the Ford Transit. Does anyone have any experience with any of these? Would love to hear from you even if you didn't use the van to tow an Oliver.
    1 point
  3. I made this because the Owners Manual towing and camping lists are simply lame. This one is set up like an aircraft preflight checklist. Feel free to edit and change as needed, some items may not apply or you may just want to do it differently. Mine is laminated and posted inside the closet door: Click the attachment at the bottom to download the Word file. John Davies Spokane WA OLIVER-TRAILER-CHECKLIST-–.docx
    1 point
  4. I have very positive experiences with the Honda 2000 watt inverter generators. They are the top of the line series. But I share your thoughts about the much lower cost of the Yamaha line. For my Oliver Elite II, I do not have the solar option. I carry the Honda new version, the EU2200I. With the OTT option for the soft start kit on the A/C, the a 2,000 watt generator will run the A/C. I prefer the Honda EU2200I as it easily handles the A/C and has some excess capacity. If you don't mind "actively managing" your loads (Microwave and battery charger being the two main ones) the EU2200 is a perfect match. If cost is an issue, then the competing 2000 watt inverter generators such as the Yamaha is a good choice, but you will have to really manage the other loads if running the A/C. What do I mean by "actively managing" your loads? When you arrive at your camp site, often our batteries are not at full charge, the trailer is hot, and use of the microwave is in order, hot water is needed, and the refrigerator is activated. Before starting the generator, you would want to make sure that your hot water and refrigerator are both running on gas. Then you must make a choice between A/C or other loads (Battery charging or cooking). I open up windows, turn off the A/C and turn on the battery charger and power up the microwave and MaxFan. After some time, the battery charger ramps down. This would allow use of the microwave. When the microwave is not needed, I can then fire off the A/C. With solar panels, the above generally would be modified as your batteries likely will be at charge. If so, you can modify the above "active management" routine, but I still doubt that you could run the A/C and main battery charger at the same time even with the larger EU2200i and solar panels. (I am sure that this thought will be clarified by OTT solar owners.) I know from experience that the Honda 3000i is a fantastic unit as well. But it is very expensive, heavy, and uses more fuel than the smaller Honda's. For several reasons, I would not recommend mounting it on the tongue of your Ollie though. It should reside in your truck bed for several reasons. Just be smart and ensure that it's height will fit under your locking cover. If you do not want to be actively managing loads, then this beast is the one to go with. One more thought on this generator is that it takes two strong guys to lift it into or off your truck bed. So using your truck while not towing Ollie puts the camp in a solar system off grid mode. Which many owners do every trip by "actively manage" their power supply and loads. Even though I have strong bias in favor of the tried and true Honda inverter generators, if I had your OTT solar system and the soft start on the A/C, I would actively manage my loads and get the half price Yamaha and only use it when A/C is needed. Save the $500 and buy a tire pressure monitoring system and a back-up camera from Amazon! Welcome to the Oliver family! JPRussell
    1 point
  5. We own a Yamaha 3000 Watt EF3000iSEB. It has traveled on the tongue of our two Oliver’s for about 100K miles. We rarely use it but, unlike the problems currently being discussed on another thread about the smaller wattage generators not consistently powering their air conditioners, this one has powered anything and everything we’ve ever thrown at it and has done so flawlessly for over ten years. With a fuel capacity of over 3 gallons it will run for days. We generally just top off the tank when we stop for diesel for the truck. If we need extra gasoline we have 20L Scepter military fuel cans. I don’t have a dog in this race, but I’m a great believer in overkill. If you want complete confidence that you’ll always have all the power you need, consider something larger than 2200 watts.
    1 point
  6. We have been using a silver paint on the bulldog coupler since we returned from the factory pickup in 2015. It has worked great, this fall I did repaint the coupler, but the paint has lasted very well. I have tried using florescent colors for outside use on other things and it does fade fairly quickly. The silver shows up in the rear view camera and it makes hookup easy. [attachment file=Bulldog Coupler - 001.jpg] [attachment file=Bulldog Coupler - 002.jpg]
    1 point
  7. Don, thank you. Mine arrives tomorrow. Then I may ship to Oliver for mounting prior to my arrival. Thanks for the reassurance that I got a solid unit.
    1 point
  8. Bill, You hit the nail on the head!. I took the trailer to the RV repair shop suggested by KenB and after testing and probing, the owner said the wire connecting to the BAT terminal on the switch was extremely loose and not connecting all the time, thus causing my electrical problems. I won't be able to test it with a long trip until late spring 2019 but I feel much better about it now. Thank you for all your guidance. Russ
    1 point
  9. Try Mike’s LP and RV in Maplewood, MN. It’s a family run small business. Don’t expect anything corporate about them. Father and son do the repairs. Mother keeps the books. Grand kids running around. It’s nice to see them make it work. I teach high school in the area and two of their boys spent a considerable amount of time in my shop. Great people. Mike’s replaced the refrigerator on my EII when Oliver sold it to me with a unit that was dead on initial delivery. Oliver wanted (and got) a full day for issue diagnosis from me, plus they wanted me to stay at least another two days to get the replacement unit installed. I called Mikes LP from the parking lot in Hohenwald, made an appointment, and hit the road back to Minnesota without a working refrigerator on my brand new travel trailer. I had places to be and was so ticked off at Oliver for delivering a unit with a totally dead refrigerator, killing two days at a hotel in Hohenwald was unacceptable. How could the both factory QC checks and delivery prep miss that the refrigerator was DOA? Mikes is an authorized service center for just about everything in the RV industry. Mine was the second Oliver they’d worked on. And the refrigerator replacement only took one day at Mike’s. HTH, Ken
    1 point
  10. Here's the weigh ticket from my mostly-fully-loaded Ollie. I thought I had a full fresh water tank but it turned out to only be 2/3 full. Grey and black tanks were empty. That's with the whole family and dogs loaded in the car too, so I calculated tongue weight to be 620 lbs. (I have previously weighed the car empty) Since the fresh water tank is right over or a little aft of the axles I'd expect tongue weight to not increase with a full load of fresh water. As far as options we have that would effect weight, we have the 4x AGM batteries, 30 lb propane tanks, solar, two awnings, instant water heater (no 48 lbs of dead weight), and maybe the mattress upgrade adds some weight.
    1 point
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