ScubaRx

The other day I decided to see if my brakes needed adjusting and to test the emergency break-away switch on our trailer. I didn't have any reason to think it would not operate properly, but I figured knowing it would work would be better than finding out the hard way that it didn't. The trailer was not connected to the tow vehicle. It was plugged in to external power. I lowered the jacks on both sides until each tire could spin freely and pulled the switch pin. I then tried each tire and, to my surprise, they both still spun freely. No clicking, humming, no sound at all. My first thought was that, for some reason, it needed to be unplugged from the external power. No change. Next, I figured the switch or the wiring of said switch was somehow bad. I replaced the switch pin and checked the wires coming out of the switch. One wire showed 12 volts (this one apparently coming from the batteries) the other one was "dead" until the switch pin was pulled and then it too showed 12 volts. That proved that the switch itself was functional. I then found the blue wire inside the trailer that exits to the outside to attach to the brake drum on the street side. This wire tested hot when the switch pin was pulled, so I knew the wiring was good to that point. I then checked it outside the trailer at the drum and that tested hot also. Meanwhile, the wheels still spun. So, what am I overlooking? Am I incorrect in my expectations? Could it be that the brakes only need adjusting? To the best of my knowledge the brakes have always worked properly thru the tow vehicle. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks...

Them sure are purdy purple flyers. When are you two planning to arrive at the Jugfest? Tali and I will get there on the 29th.

Tali says we got those particular suction hooks at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Are you coming to the Jugfest? I may have a extra or I can get some before we come if anyone would like to try it for yourself.

Hey Aubrey, Tali and I look forward to meeting you at the Jugfest. We sure would appreciate one of those fancy plugs you make. I've lusted after one of those ever since Larry told me about his. See you in April,

Hey Larry, I do like the idea of being able to stay longer and spend less money. It's my understanding that the fees at Kirby have increased to $18.00 per night. Well, that's $126.00 for a weeks worth of camping. Not insurmountable, but still a good bit of money that could be spent toward something else. My opinion is that this whole thing is about friends getting together and having a good time, eating some good food and creating some memories to last the rest of our lives. The obvious downside is the lack of electricity and water, but most of you guys have spent some time "off the grid." This would give some of us that haven't done as much a to try it with friends nearby to bail us out if we find we're not doing it right. I think this is a good option. But, that being said, it's just that--an option. If everyone had rather camp near the juice, then the will of the Jugfesters should rule. You may count Tali and myself in either way. As an aside, we have a couple sets of friends that would like to come, but being somewhat financially challenged, there is some reluctance. This might be an added enticement for them to come along.

We spend a decent amount of time in California as well.. so there are more like 4.25 Olivers in CA Well, if visiting CA counts toward boosting the Oliver population there, include us in the tally. We were there this past October.

Despite being titled "Casita leaving..." Whose Oliver is this?

Tell me again when and where it is. Thanks

My 7-on 7-off schedule will allow me to be there from 04/28-05/05. Hope this works out, I'll be working the two seven day stretches on either side of that week. There are a couple of people from here that want to come during that time also.

Glad you're home safe and sound, Larry and Betty. Merry Christmas to everyone. Hope to see you soon.

Larry, I did a quick search and found this info, hope it helps. Reseting N code on Norcold Refrigerators Turn system ON. When “n” code appears: Press and hold the MODE and TEMP SET buttons together. Release them when a 1 appears. The 1 should change to an 8. Press the mode key until a 6 appears. Stop and an E r should begin to flash. Press the TEMP SET button until C L appears. Press the TEMP SET button until the E r returns. Turn system OFF. Turn system back ON. You guys stay safe and warm, looking forward to our visit after Christmas. Check and make sure your drain line is not frozen up... also check this out Steve

Hi Pam and Allen, Merry Christmas... I found that the valve handle in the shower area that cuts off the drain got harder and harder to pull out/push in. I simply took my handy-dandy can of Water Displacement liquid - Formula # 40 ** and squirted some around where the shaft enters the casing and let it sit for a while. I moved the handle in and out a couple of times and squirted it again. After repeating this procedure a few times the thing slides pretty well now. I need to do this to the ones outside but it's one of those round tuits that I haven't gotten to yet. Hope this helps... ** (WD-40)

Where does the ground wire in the harness coming from the front plug terminate inside the trailer? I too, had problems on our last trip getting (what I felt like was) a good charge from the tow vehicle. Thinking it might be a poor ground connection I tried to trace the wires one evening while we were stopped but never figured out where the ground went to once it entered the trailer. I took all the ground wires off the only obvious grounding point inside the trailer (right beside the converter) but I still got continuity between the ground wire in the plug and the frame so it obviously is grounded somewhere else. Any ideas? Steve

A waste of Time? I don't think so. Other than pounding that copper rod 8 feet into the ground, I doubt if you spent too much time on this project. If you never need it, it's not much effort spent and if you do...Well, there you go. It's probably not something we need to do if we're not going to be stationary for an extended period of time but in your case, I'd say it was time well spent. Steve

Tali and I are planning a trip beginning Sept. 24 thru Oct. 14. We have not finalized our plan yet, but we will be leaving Tupelo and heading in a general North and West direction. Probably hitting Yellowstone and then more Southerly, perhaps going on out to Yosemite. Would love to meet up with some of you guys along the way. Steve

Welcome to the Oliver forums, Lois H.!

Gail, Apparently I don't know my right from my left. My switches are on the left also. Our dogs are: Storm - Male Doberman Pinscher Maggie - Female Miniature Pinscher Lucy - Female Daschund They are all black and tan and love to travel with us. When you get all five of us in the trailer at one time it is a little tight. Here's some pics that are posted on another site: http://www.flickr.com/groups/oliver-tra ... ool/page2/ Steve

Mike and Gail, When you say breakers, are you referring to the 120VAC breakers or the 12VDC switches to the upper left as you enter the trailer? The 120VAC breakers would not prevent a battery drain. Somewhere there is something drawing 12 volts (as you've already figured out.) Try to think of all the items that would use 12 volts: Lights, pump, jacks, fans, stereo, television, inverter and make sure they are not running. Lights are probably the biggest draw (closet light off?) There are several moniters (smoke, propane gas, CO) that will draw some power, but I would hope not enough to actually run the batterys down in a matter of weeks. We keep our Oliver plugged up all the time, so we've not had this problem. Not much help, maybe others will weigh in and be smarter.... Steve

Fourth of July weekend at Tishomingo state park with all the dogs and a relative with his Airstream...

Welcome to the forums, and congrats on the upcoming Oliver delivery. Yours would be the 22 footer I saw under construction at the factory when I was there a few weeks ago. It looked good.... Steve

Steve, That's a great idea. I think I'll just copy it. I've got a roll of aluminum flashing stuck somewhere in the attic that will work just dandy for that. Now here's another problem we have in that same area. The microwave does not have enough air-flow around it and it gets really hot if you use it for any length of time. I want to put a 120V shaded pole (squirrel cage) fan behind it and vent it down and out the upper refrigerator baffle. I just need to find one that will fit. Any thoughts, suggestions??? Steve

I talked to Mountainborn yesterday morning and he told me about the snowfall. He said the temp there was in the 30's with largh beautiful flakes drifting down and covering everything. I told him the temp in Tupelo was about 93 and sunny. Wish I could have been there with them. Be safe Larry and Betty and have fun. Steve and Tali

Cherie, I'm with you about the upper bathroom cabinet in the 22 footer. That, I thought, was one of the nicer additions. I'm a little envious about your cabinet doors. I'm sure it's a hassel when they inadvertantly come out, but I've tried everything short of breaking them to GET them out. This is usually when I'm working on some mod and need complete access to the cabinet. I built a charging station and rack to hold electronics inside the back cabinet that spans the entire width. I had to design it so that it could be disassembled into several pieces outside the trailer then fed in thru the half opened cabinet doors and reassembled inside and mounted permanantly. I felt like Rube Goldburg. Hope your axle/wheel/tire swap when smoothly. We're going up to the factory next week for the same thing. Steve and Tali

Cabinet Doors: The sliding cabinet doors are the one area of the trailer that doesn't feel up to the quality standards of the rest. Ours do occasionally jam or fall off the tracks. The new cabinet design in the 22' Oliver model is a VAST improvement, and it would be great to make these sort of cabinet doors standard on the 17'. I do not like the fold up/down cabinet doors on the 22 footer I saw at the factory. I've not had any issues with the sliding ones that came with ours, in fact, I can't get the doors out of their tracks. Sometimes I wish I could. This would make working in these areas easier. I solved the "opening while moving" problems with some rare earth magnets. Water Pump: There are too many water-related switches! There should be only one pump switch inside, and (maybe) one outside. The switch under the sink isn't really necessary when the master switch is just a few feet away. I like the set-up just the way it is. I like being able to turn the pump on/off at multiple locations, in fact, I wish there was yet another switch in the bathroom. Hot Water Switch Location: The hot water switch should be located adjacent to the water pump switch, not hidden away under the bed. Ours occasionally gets knocked on in the current location, and it can too easily go unnoticed when it does. Ours never gets knocked on accidently since it is behind the fold down table on our twin bed option. I do wish it were in a more accessable place though. SeeLevel with Switches: The otherwise identical SeeLevel 709-PH tank monitor incorporates both a water pump and a hot water switch. Combining these functions into the tank monitor would make for a much cleaner and clearer setup than the current separate switches. Propane Gauge: It would be nice if the Oliver offered propane tanks that can display their status on the SeeLevel display. I have found a 30lb tank that should be compatible. (I just posted in the propane thread with details...) As I understand it (from other posts) there is an addition that will accomplish this. Other that my fetish for the most bells and whistles, I don't see as I need it. Grey Water: There should be a way to leave the grey water drain open while leaving the battery bay closed. This would be nice for when semi-permanently hooked up to a sewer system. I have found that this might be useful, althought I agree with mountainborn, I usually would not want to continously dump my grey water. Battery Chamber Size: We rarely use the outside shower, but we would often appreciate having space for four batteries. Offering an option to forgo the shower for an extended battery compartment would be nice. We use our outside wash station several times a day. I wouldn't trade this for 10 more batterys. Battery Chamber Lock: It would be nice if there was a way to lock the battery chamber, and perhaps even the tongue propane storage area. (This may potentially not be allowed by law??) Good idea, I've seen some owners that actually had factory installed locking cams. Bumper Storage Chamber Height: The back bumper storage area does not have enough clearance to store a typical sewer adaptor, meaning that it can not be stored along with the hose. One inch more clearance would make a huge difference here. OK Excessive Thermostats: Three thermostats on the wall next to the sink is overkill. It looks as if it is possible to wire the furnace and AC to a single thermostat - that would make for a cleaner design. (The third thermostat is for the remote control for the FanTastic Roof Fan.) We only have two and we like them, if they could be combined into one, that would be OK too. Interior / Exterior Master Switches: It would be nice to have separate cut-off switches near the door for interior and exterior lights. Often when leaving the trailer you will want to leave the outside lights on, but shut off all the inside lights. Not a bad idea. I converted all my external light switches to 3-ways so I could turn them on/off from inside the trailer. Dusk-till-Dawn Lighting: I would love to be able to set the outside ground lights to be dusk-till-dawn... (And I have an idea of how to do this using some features in the solar charge controller!) Clear Door Slider: Using clear plastic for the screen door slider lets in a lot more light when using the screen door... We bought a clear plastic slider at Camping World - it is a great simple upgrade that should be standard... Door Window Curtain: There really needs to be a standard way to block the door window for privacy, particularly since all the other windows offer such great privacy with the blackout blinds. We have used some of our extra seat fabric to make a velcro attached curtain... Perhaps this should be standard for all Oliver's? Spring-Loaded Tow Hooks: When we picked up our Oliver, it came with locking D-rings to attach the tow chains. We immediately replaced these with heavy-duty spring-loaded hooks, which making hitching up MUCH easier. These sort of hooks should be standard. A Better Manual: Like every other RV I have ever seen, the Oliver documentation leaves a lot to be desired. I would love there to be a clear and simple owner's manual with maintenance guidelines very clearly stated. Advanced documentation like plumbing diagrams and electrical system schematics should also be available. This would probably be nice, I too am not sure how often I would use it. I usually attack a problem by simply looking at it, figuring out how to fix it, then going after it. My experience with owner's manuals it they are usually written be some goon that doesn't speak English then translated making little sense. That would be a good project for someone to take on. I believe there are other members of the forum that have expressed a similar interest. What I would like to see is a complete wiring and plumbing diagram.

You guys are having way too much fun. But it looks hot there. I'd be longing for cooler temps in the high mountains. Deserts are for lizards and crawly things. The VLA does look pretty interesting though, I'd have made that side trip too. Take care.... Steve and Tali