Geronimo John

Hello Liana. My 2018 OE2 is the same model year as yours (Hull 342). Your inverter display is saying you have no 120 V power. Which one do you have? So first lets look at the power supply into the trailer. My assumption is that you do not have a multimeter. A. Take a 120 Volt appliance that you know works and plug it into your home or RV park outlet. This is just to ensure you have 120 V power there. B. Hook up your Shore power cord to the verified power source. On the trailer end there is a small LED light. If you have power to the cord end at trailer, then your cord is good. Connect it to the trailer. C. Now open up the street side bed and check the Progressive Industries Surge Protection System for power status. It looks like this. The small box is where it will talk to you. Looking at the small display LED,s here are the Display Codes. You should have power here. Advise if not. Advise if you have a display code. here is the chart. If you have power to the PI smart surge protector, then next step is to go to the breakers under the dining table, aft end. Check the 20 amp breaker. Turn the breaker OFF, and then reset it. Did the breaker imediatedly trip? Is it "Soft"? If you have power into the panel, cycle on the Air Conditioner. did it work? IF yes, you have power at the electrical panel. Hence likely is a bad 20 amp breaker to the GFCI or the GFCI itself is bad. Let us know what you find out before we go to Phase II. Geronimo John

Just a fog clearing question: From the above, all your terminals are tight and assumed to be corrosion free. Remaining square one questions on the battery side are: Are all your battery to inverter cables 4/0 AWG? Are all your 12V terminals copper? For your 1500 watt test, are you plugging it in directly to the inverter to eliminate any possible OTT 120 volt system from the test? GJ

OTT must have changed something as our touch lights don't act that way. They must be pushed on/off manually.

Roger and thanks for the link to my own post. I searched for it, but ..... My note to Jason was to update the other location where the 120 torque is STILL posted. GJ

Actually the process of installing an Ez-Flex is straight forward IF your splines are intact. If the splines are not intact, or if your trailer does not have them.... then you MUST either: Repair the splined flange hole by drilling out and heating to cherry. Then using a special metal cutting punch an hydraulically forcing the punch into the flange to create matching splines. A major PITA. Replace the tang and have a machine shop press in the splines. Easier than Option 1. But cost of welding and shop work is a consideration. Do a home remedy using a polimer machinable repair compound such as made by Metalink. Or use a ballpeen hammer to try to "tighten up" the flange. Spend three years like I did trying to figure out a better way to fix them. In which case you'll using all the bad words you know AND creating some more. The above options all have risks , costs, and time considerations. OR you could spend under $5 for two Hex Nut Capture Washers and have them welded in place. See BackofBeyond post and GJ responses over time if you want the details. This past summer, Our Houston to Alaska and back trip logged over 12,000 miles and the Hex Head Capture Washer fix worked worry free. Full disclosures: Every spring my bearing service now includes cleaning and recoating the two welds with sacrificial zinc spray paint. So Option 5 is not totally maintenance free. But I think I can handle it. GJ

And they are still recommending 120 ft lbs of torque. This really needs to be changed. I have sent a note to Jason about this. I recall it being reduced. GJ

Sorry about that. The link got lost in my edit of the washer picture. I have re-inserted it in my post above. Thanks for the catch! GJ

Likely you have already seen this video. Of interest is that at 14:31, it shows the owner using never seize on the center bolt shank. This was a change that was adopted a few years ago and is not shown in older DYI sources or O&M's. One of the "Good/Bad" elements of the OTT OE2 Dexter Axle setups is the length of our springs. They are not standard for the 3500 pound axles. Here is what mine appear to be: The good is that the tires are closer together and it causes less wear on the tires and makes turnng tight easier. The bad is that the springs are not "common". Here is what my EZ flex Info: EZ-Flex Kit: Oliver uses the K71-653-00 Dexter EZ Flex kit. (8,500 Capacity Version installed) EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO CHECK: If OTT was not using EZ flex devices on the vintage of your trailer, there is a possibility that your "Center Bolt" does not have splines on the nut end. Another possible is that if it did have splines, that they were damaged by tightening the bolt/nut from the bolt side. This will spin out those splines. The splines are absolutely essential for "Fixing" (As in prevention of rotation) of the bolt head. IF this is the case, it is essential that you "FIX" your bolt head. This is a life safety issue that has scared the XXX out of myself twice and two other owners that have been documented. There are a few ways to fix the bolt. Using one of these is one of those solutions. Search the forum for other solutions if you like. I did for the better part of three years, and did not find any alternatives that met my safety and effectiveness concerns. PM if ???. GJ Center Bolt Capture Washer Source: Barnes 4WD (828) 551-7616

I agree that having litho's under the trailer would have advantages. On the other hand, if there was a fire, I would prefer they were accessible from the outside where the fire fighters roam. Even though our Litho's are inherently safe, one still see's Litho's burn on occasion.

I thought that IS an essentials of life!!!!!!!! Got you! 🙂

Use of blocks: Picture a 2 X 6, preferably treated and washed. Now take a chop saw and cut them into 2" X 6" X ?". The "?" is the iD of your milk crate less a bit to allow easy removal from the box. Mine are 2 X 6 X 11". Now stack them to nearly the top of your milk crate. That is the limit of my pre-planning on blocks. IE I can raise up my jacks on blocks one milk crate high. 🙂 When at my destination with soft ground, I use two blocks side by side laid flat on the ground. Then I stack other blocks so that they are 90 degrees from the ones on the soft ground. This is done to spread the load and not have Ollie burrying my blocks into the soft ground. That is not necessary on hard ground or paved areas. There I just stack up the blocks. Slip Plane: This concept ir rooted in the coefficient of friction between to surfaces. Here is a web site that goes into some detail: http://www.slipalert.com/friction/ But to keep it simple: When we jack up our Ollie, the jack plate (the part on the ground) and the ground create a pair of surfaces that are pushed together. They create resistance (IE friction between them) that will resist their sliding apart if you try to drive off. This resistance (force to slide) can be measured and a "Coefficient of Friction" can be calculated. The two of them form what is called a "Slip Plane". Two surfaces moving relative to each other is resisted by friction. So if they have a high CoF (Lke dragging a locked rubber tire on concrete) then they don't want to slip. Now pretend that you raise your Ollie on soft ground. You can expect to see the jack plates being pushed into the ground. If you were to drive off, you surely would damage your jacks. Now if you always without fail raise your jacks EVERY EVERY TIME before moving your trailer, you are golden. But about 80% of us have proven to ourselves that we are not in that elite group of perfect people. As a result, a lot of jacks have been damaged. Sadly avoidably. So, if you place several sort of smooth timber surfaces together above ground, and if you move your trailer, they will 99.5% of the time slip relative to each other. Their doing so is a result of their CoF being much less than that of a jack stuck in the mud. Hence always having two blocks of wood or similar material in use under each jack. Ok you may think that I now only need six blocks. Why fill the milk crate with them? Or, why not have two milk crates of them? First, I only have room for one milk crate in my basket. A second reason is that there is a limit to how high we should even consider jacking up on a sloped surface. One is the limit for my risk assessments. And this is rooted in the concept of levers. If you stack up blocks to raise the trailer a fixed number of inches, you reduce the extension of your jacks by the number of inches of blocks you use. By raising up the height of the jack foot, it reduces the distance from the foot to the jack mounting bolts. Doing so reduces the lever arm, and makes it much more likely that the boards will slip before the jack hurts itself. For day to day routine use on firm ground, If I have used three of my blocks under each jack. Why three? Because it creates two slip planes. and if the first block is really stuck (maybe the ground is a littls soft), then I have another one to slip if my trailer gets moved. By slipping, it will save my jacks and as the jack foot moves off the blocks, it will fall a few inches and whispers to the entire camp ground it is not happy. Without going into the discussion of sliding vs. static friction... I utter a word or two .... and go pick up my blocks and raise my jack. Often looking around to see if anybody heard my OOPs. One word of caution is that you never want to jack up your trailer to the point that your blocks and jacks are no longer, or could become no longer, perfectly vertical. Doing so is a recipe for disaster. Another reason not to have more than one milk crate of blocks. 🙂 Hope this helps. GJ

Back to the question asked. Since my Charger is a fixed voltage, and from responses that the Renogy solar suit case and the Orion 12/12 DC to DC are smart, can they all play together?

I really like those machine screws WITH polished SS fender washers under their heads. I would have concern that they would damage the fiberglass over time with out the fender washer. GJ

I recommend adding a 1" fender washer to the bolt before inserting it back through the fiberglass bunk wall. I used 1/4 - 20 bolts (4 Sets). The fender washers on the outside are to spread the load against the fiberglass wall. The white plastic OEM mounting plate stiffens the wall and spreads the load as well. Especially since I used a LOT of JB Weld between them! Sadly for my 3000 watt Renogy inverter there are only four locations to mount, so each is critical. The bolts and fender washers are the easy (by comparison) to get in the holes. But the washer, lock washer, and Nylock nuts on the back side are a real PITA to get to. It takes patience and focus. But if my size 4XL hands got it done, you can too.

I recall that there is a path that the A/C condensate uses.

For sure! Leave at least one of our safety chains connected until AFTER you have chocked and leveled Ollie. When preparing for departure, back up to Ollie and first connect one of the safety chains. As I have stated before: "Nothing like having a 6,000 pound anchor!" GJ

YES!

I carry a milk crate full of 2 X 6 blocks. I use three under all my jacks to act as a shear-plane. Should for some reason the trailer moves, I'll hear a clunk and recall that I failed to use my check list. In your hill park picture, I see you are doing your best to keep Ollie in place. You even have a block to act as your shear-plane if it moves. Bravo! The two suggestions would be to: A. Use a line and tie off your brake emergency cable to a tree. If the trailer moves at least your Ollie brakes will activate. B. Bring more 2 X 6 blocks and shorten up the lever arm of the jacks as much as possible. GJ says: "Jack up Ollie as you need, but keep the jack extensions as short as your pre-planning will allow"

JD: Yep for sure on that one. Thanks for filling in the rationale. All: I'll likely mount our solar suitcase charge controller out of the weather in the Ollie battery compartment. My Keep it Simple is to just roll out the panels and plug them into a solar port on the door of the compartment..... IF it does not put out significant heat when charging at capacity. Anybody have the larger 200 watt Renogy solar suit case with the 20 amp charge controller think it puts out more heat than should go into the OE2 batter compartment? Thanks GJ

Having such a wand greatly improves the process. If you have an old 1/2" garden hose that should be in the trash pile, you can make one really easy from it and some scrap metal tubing and a hose clamp (El Cheapo GJ style). Or just buy a nice one with a valve on it. Either way good purchase suggestion

JD: Those look like hte100 watt solar suit cases. Assuming your batteries are at say 70% SOC = 13.2 volts X 6.7 amps = 88 Watts input to the controller. That's really good! Question: Curious why you did not mount the charge controller inside your trailer? Maybe with your Battleborns? Then use a solar port through the battery box door? GJ

Our 2018 4060 manual has a selector switch for LI and Flooded. The LI sets it at a constant 14.6 volts per below. When I started the planning for my system over a year ago, I called Battleborn about needing (or not) to change this unit out. They indicated that this model does not have the Charge Wizard for the Lithium switched mode. As such my charging instructions are to charge to the SOC 95% charge and kill the breaker to the Converter for day to day needs. For equalization every few weeks, charge to SOC of 90%, and then at continue to charge at 60 amps rate for an additional 90 minutes for my Battleborns. So basically my charger is pumping out 14.6 volts all the time the breaker is on. This is why I was wondering how the other chargers... that ARE smarter... would be impacted. I guess this would have been good info to have provided as from your response apparently some models of this are Lithium Charge Wizzard enabled.????? GJ

It was just a few years ago that a couple of sage wise Oliver owners dipped their toes into the Lithium world. Since then, following their foot steps, now many of us have DYIed the conversion to Lithium. Fortunately many of us RoF's (Retired Ole Farts) are now sporting the "Lithium Grin" and have survived the conversion process mostly intact. Those of us in the Boomer Generation that grew up with slide rules as our favorite calculating device, often were able to figure out the conversion process. Having mechanical and electrical power wiring skills made it possible. But, like myself, we lack the fundamental understanding of how the underlying technologies play or don't play together well. I hope that this thread can be used to help owners better understand how THEIR systems can, or should not "Play Well Together". So I ask forgiveness of the super tech savvy younger owners as what may happen is a series of "How will my system Play Together" questions. Likely mine, and a bunch more down the line, will remind you of the dumb questions we see their customers asking at the bottom of Amazon.com products..... This starter post is for Hull 342, our "Ollie". We purchased our 2018 OE2 with Lead Acid batteries and have a Honda EU2200 inverter generator.. This past summer, we successfully made these upgrades: PD 4045 to PD 4060 2000W Inverter to Renogy 3000 watt Three 100 AH Battleborns Victron 12/12-30 DC to DC charger (#4 AWG Cabling) Victron 712 Smart Renogy 200 Watt Solar Suit Case. I use the DC to DC charger when on the highway only. I use solar when camping. Significantly less frequently we use Shore/Gen power to charge. Questions: A. When on Shore Power OR running our Honda, is it advisable to use the Progressive Dynamics 4060 converter and solar suit cases at the same time? B. The Battleborns collectively can charge at up to 300 amps. Our total max possible charge capability is 102 amps (PD 4060 = 60 amps, DC to DC 30 Amps and Solar Suit Case effectively 12 Amps). There have been a time or two when we were in a jamb for time and I really wanted to maximize charging our batteries: Is it advisable to fire off all of the systems simultaneously? If not, which should I safely only use? Thanks, GJ

I'm thinking that Mike has a good first step to consider before making a thread chaser. My suggestion would be to take a pair of vice grips and grab the anode securely. Then using the leverage of the vice grip you will be better to insert and turn the new anode squarely to the water heater threads. If that does not work, then consider John D's cleaver idea. GJ

I totally understand your perspective. IF I were to be a salesman, and I wanted to poise my rig at an event, I would wave my magic wand to presto have the most macho looking tires on the market under both. But before I took The Beast and Ollie on a trip, I would wave my magic wand and go back to purpose designed tires for each of my rolling stock. 🙂 As an engineer I look at purpose and function. Traction tires, especially those that work well on our 4X4 TV's off road, have different priorities of purpose than our trailer tires. So, in my minds eye, they likely would not be identical twins. But that's just my perspective.