Geronimo John

Yes, but... Our data cable that runs from the Dometic to the multi function digital T-stat is very small wire. As such, several of our OEII owners, myself included, have reused that four wire cable to extend the furnace cable over to the old T-stat location. To do so we needed more current carrying capability for a new simple T-stat just for the furnace. So, we tied together two of the wires on each end to double the copper size for higher current flow. Since our Suburban furnace control is OEM run from the furnace to the Dometic A/C communications box, we connected the two "double cables" as a jumper from the now Houghton under belly to a dedicated single use thermostat that just runs the furnace. This works very well for the furnace. The Oliver double fiberglass hull is insulated and I suspect it would be very difficult to find another path to the former Dometic thermostat (Now new T-stat for heat). But if we can, that would be the cat's meow. Because of my preconceived concerns with the level of difficulty to do so would be a PITA. This is the reason that I was looking at possible other options to extend the thermistor cable. In that quest I took stock of the installed drain tube. On the OEII, it appears to run to the area behind the street side tires. My hope is that the path may take it to within reach of our rear attic area. Hence my question above (Saturday). But no responses so far to that question (Last Saturday, above in this thread.) But now, with your efforts in mind, I am thinking if the OEII drain tube could be intercepted in the basement space under the rear bunk. We OEII Houghton owners could use the drain tube to convey an extended thermistor wire over and down to the street side under bed area, and then over and up into the old Dometic thermostat location where we have the new single use T-stat. Once there we could poke it out as you did on your AS. That would then pretty much solve the Houghton's issues for the OEII's as well. OEII OWNERS: Anybody know if it is reasonable to intercept the drain tube inside the street side bed basement area? GJ

You likely have aerator screens on your faucets and shower. Removing and cleaning them, and then flushing with removed may improve your water pressure and flow rates. GJ

LOL. I have done the same thing. When the Owner of Houghton stated that their coils did not retain much moisture, I tested it by running the a/c wide open with the windows open on a humid day. As soon as I had a flow of water going overboard, I knew I had a "Loaded Coil". Then I closed the door and windows and switched the Houghton from cool to heat pump, it clearly demonstrated just how fast one could run out unwanted guests! GJ

What a wonderful effort! Many many thanks. I have some thoughts that may be worth a cup of coffee..... I am suggesting an "Old School" approach to short cycling that likely you have not seen done. In the olden days (IE. before transistors and electronic controls), if I had a T-stat sensing bulb that was in a difficult location (that we could not change), and the cold air was causing short cycling, we would first try shielding the sensor from the air flow. If that did not provide relief from short cycling, then we would add thermal mass to the sensing bulb. Thermal mass would work on a small thermistor as well I suspect. Try putting the thermistor into a small plastic pill container with a hole in the lid for the cable. Leave the lid hole sort of open, maybe even put a hole in the pill container bottom. Then tape it to the wall and note what happens. Then move it around the space. If the short cycling persists add thermal mass to the container with the thermistor and repeat. Something like a few small glass beads. Need more dampening, add more glass beads. The increasing thermal mass of the weighted container will ameliorate the output of the thermistor. That will delay temperature rise and fall as the unit cycles. Thereby delaying both start and stop. Basically extending the run times and off times as well. i am thinking that should the drain line approach be feasible (No answers to my question above about that yet.) then a thermal mass enabled thermistor in the attic with an air port via the smoke detector just may work. On the other hand there maybe a different thermistor that would do the same thing. But first proof of concept would be the first logical step. GJ

I feel the same way. My Ollie OEM Michelin's still have life and are E-rated. Down the road for OLLIE, I'll likely go with the Defender's light truck E-rated of course. For Ollie, my concern is having long life and low potential for rock chucking. But for our F-150 TV, for us the jury is out for at least 3 years as we run the Nitto Recon Grabbers. When their time comes I'll for sure be revisiting the topic. Who knows, it is possible that our lifestyle changes and we need to go back to the Defenders for the TV. just saying.. .. 🤣 GJ

I have a cousin that works the counter at a Discount Tire store. I was curious so asked him how much he makes on commissions. Answer zero. So I googled the question: My experience with them has always been top notch. Sorry they did not meet your expectations. GJ

For sure! I spent a huge amount of time there changing parameters to see how their computer adjusted recommendations. Many tire reviews also were helpful. GJ

First, I have used Michelin Defender and AT's for 90+% of all my tire purchases since 1970. After having problems with them I started researching which of the many tires would work better for us. We accumulate 94% of our miles getting from Texas to the far west to be in the mountains. Where there the roads where we fly our paragliders and hang gliders are all.... wait for it.... in the mountains and where we go I rarely travel roads that is not gravel, mud or worse. Point is, saying from your perspective using an AT for places we find ourselves every summer "is overkill for a tow vehicle period", and we buy our tires because they look pretty... just does not wash with this member's, and likely more than a few other member's reality. GJ

My brother has Ntto Grappler's on his F-150 (Nitto Ridge Grapplers) and his F-350 (Nitto Recon Grapplers). His recommendations were for me to get the Recon's for our F-150 Crew cab FX4 for towing Ollie and off roading each summer. I did and could not be happier with about 8,000 miles on them. My impression is that the Nitto line up is along these lines: Terra Grappler Almost all highway with a bit off road. Recon Grappler Still mostly highway, but insisting on manners and good off road capability Ridge Grappler is an off road tire that can tolerate on road to a point. His and my experience s that the Ridge tires do get rougher and louder as they age, but if you are full time off road that's the tire for your. About 75% of our miles are towing Ollie on and off road. The rest is fast highway and full off road without Ollie As I indicated above, the Nitto I keep a 100% fuel log on pretty much the same track out west each summer. I also found that the Recon Grapplers E-rated tires reduced our fuel economy 1.2 MPG over our previous MPG. Will have to put another few seasons on them to see how they last and age, but so far they are so much safer, durable and perform much better off road than my Michelin Defender's. Yet on road they handle and perform almost as well. All the above are great Pro's. The Cons are: reduced fuel economy, shorter life, and higher purchase cost. But the improvement is on order with that of a Houghton vs. Dometic Penguin.... Huge. GJ

GSMBear: Thanks for the clarification. Wishful thinking on my part I suspect. I very much like the idea of keeping the factor thermistor in place as a back-up. Please as time permits document the process and your relocation process. With your work on this aspect, and the relay hack it will certainly improve the performance of the Houghton well beyond that of even the more recent "quite" A/C now showing up on the market. I thank you for posting the DYI detailed how to for the "Wiring Modification for Interior Fan" for our A3400's. Very helpful! https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=28481&key=173b638cb772218f2b3b281fea586f0c OEII Owners: With my Ollie 3,878 miles east of Honolulu, I am wondering if any one knows if the Dometic drain line passes with in reach of the street side of our attic as I postulated this past summer? If it does, this tube could be used to route the sensing end of the new thermistor to a location away from the air flow.

The tip for using dishwasher pod(s) in the black/gray tanks has been around for some time. When I want a really clean black or gray tank, I'll add a pod to the grey tank, and two pods to the black tank. Using "Calgon" brand is not required. I buy the cheapest I can find for this use. As you suggested, a few miles down the road for it to slosh around and break down the solids greatly reduces the time flushing the tanks. This is especially useful at the end of the season. As somewhat of a minimalist on what I carry, strive to minimize using extra hoses, valves, flow meters. As such, your approach has merit IMHO. Especially for those without a black tank flush water flow valve, you approach makes a lot of good sense. That said, I would suggest a few cautions for learning the sound change: A. The sound of a flooded black tank nozzle may vary with the pressure/flow of the water source feeding it. So experiment with the hose bibb valve to recognize this. B. When learning the sound, get a helper inside with a flashlight to observe the black tank water level. Have them open a window or use you cell phones to facilitate communication. Then have them shut off the ball valve flowing water to the flush valve, and stand on the flush valve foot peddle. Their job is to advise you of the progress of filling the black tank. C. Before starting, make sure that all items on the bathroom floors (I.E. the lower one with the floor drain, and the higher one where the toilet tank sits) are removed from the area. One of my worst mistakes was having my dirty cloths hamper on the lower floor and flooding the area from gray tank goo. 😞 Cleaning a soiled bathroom floor is easy vs. dealing with 25 pounds of really really bad smelling wet cloths. While boondocking 40 miles from any laundry or water sources. GJ

Massive rewrite with GSMBear's eureka. But the extra wire shown below would be an ideal splice point. Then may be run the line via the abandoned drain line to a remote location as suggested. A does not connect to B. GJ

This past Summer while visiting at Max Burner's lovely home, Art asked what I thought my tongue weight was. I guessed 600+ pounds. He whipped out his tongue gauge. I was pleasantly surprised that our Ollie's tongue weight was just 540 pounds. Really good info to know. Excellent tool to bring to any Ollie gathering! GJ

Your initial reason for closing the black tank drain valve is a good one. Your down fall was relying on the electronic gauges. My process is to stand on the toilet tank flush valve and to observe the water level in the black tank while flushing. The advantage of my 2018 OE2 is that it has a manual water shut off valve just a few feet from the toilet (Under the front dinette seat). This allows me to slow down the fill rate as the level in the black tank approaches full. Then when nearly full, I turn off the water flow at our valve. Sadly, OTT decided to not install said shut off valve on newer models. GJ

Had the same problem. Seems that tree branch ate my Furrion rear camera antenna. Worth a glance. GJ

For long haul days and a pre-cool Dometic 3-way, what is the average amp draw you are seeing? Or what is the average amp hours are you seeing in your SOC system at the end of a long day? GJ

GJ NOTE: This response is written for newer owners or those not well familiar with our OTT water systems. For the OTT Pros, it is overkill. The Freshwater Port (On the street side) is designed to flow water directly into the OTT 32-gallon water tank. My experience is that it can flow via gravity or a shore provided pressure system/pump. To flow via gravity, you need a several feet of pressure head. I.E. the tank on your TV needs to be a higher than the top of the OTT water storage tank. The higher the pressure head the faster water will flow. On occasion I have put a 25-gallon soft flexible tank on top of my bed cover to gravity flow water to the OTT freshwater tank. A friend puts that same tank on top of his ancient Chevy. NOTE: Not all bedcovers or cab roofs will take such loadings without damage. His is made from 1950 real steel, and my bed cover is rated for 500 pounds. If you can't get the head elevation on your rig, then a pump will be needed if you are sucking water from a non-pressurized source. I tried putting the flexible tank in the bed of my F-150, but it did not flow much water. I suspect that the pressure head was insufficient to overcome a check valve in the Freshwater Port line. It is possible to draw water out of the tank using you OTT pump and fill at the same time via gravity or under citywater pressure. The Citywater Port that is located adjacent to the Fresh Water Port. This port bypasses the OTT water storage tank and when connected to shore pressurized source will send water directly to the OTT faucets. Do not use your OTT pump as the pressure is provided from outside the trailer (Your pump or the City System). There are significant risks in using the Citywater port. I.E. the city or well may be pumping out water at a pressure that our plastic pipe will not handle. Personally, I own a pressure reducing valve and still very very rarely use this port. Freshwater and Citywater Ports Caution: Under very high shore water pressure or if you oversize your supplemental pump, there is a potential for over pressurization of the freshwater system. Be sure to check the flow rate/pressure at the fill point after it has been filtered by your blue filter. Also, as the freshwater tank fills, it is wise to also slow down the fill rate as you approach the capacity of the freshwater tank. No point in over pressurizing the systems and risk of damage as a result. The Boondocking Port is my primary go to when boondocking. I purchased a stiffer 6-foot garden hose that is cut near the middle to provide two hoses. The side with the female end stays in the TV. The side with the male hose bibb connection stays in Ollie. The one in Ollie is longer than the one in the TV. This allows me to elevate the 5-gallon water jugs to the tailgate of my TV for faster water transfer. WHY? To provide greater pressure head to the OTT pump when onboarding. To boondock onboard water you have to flip the valves and use your OTT pump. No, you cannot draw water from the faucets while using this Port. PS: Recommend you cut the 6' hose at a 45-degree angle. Helps prevent it from sucking down onto the sides of the water jugs. I hope that the above is useful. Geronimo John

The inline fuses I know about protect from over amperage, not over voltage. By simple math, to a point, that can be interperted as a power control method, as Power = V * A. But the failure it protects is amperage. Also, the typical inline fuses often have a 250 max voltage limit. Not a level we want to see anywhere in our OTT's. GJ

H I have purchased that board as well. I also like the extra thickness. Key points are using a strong mounting board and well securing it..... especially for the very heavy 3000 watt inverter. GJ

A potential source is that one or more of your ducts have come apart. This happens often in flex duct applications. GJ

Many of us DYIers use wallmart poly cutting boards and cut them to the desired size. Cheap and easily found. I recommend buying their thicker ones. Also I JB Weld it in place with thru wall SS bolts with fender washers. GJ

Simple Path Idea: Can we intercept the thermistor wire from the underside. Extend the wire as JD has suggested. Then route the wire through the OTT drain line back to the attic. Cut the drain line and pull the wire and thermistor to the street side cabinet surface. Drill a small hole to poke the thermistor end into the cabin just above the Smoke Detector. There it would not be much of a visual issue. Your thoughts? GJ I second JD's suggestion this T-stat works exceptionally well to fire up the OE2 furnace. GJ

Hope you have a great trip. Some pearls that were found on our forum that we gathered and mostly followed: Get mud flaps for the front and rear tires, and another set at the rear of your TV. Protect the front flanks of your trailer as presented in several posts. Beware of wet puddles in the roads, They can be over a foot deep. Do not go north much past Fairbanks with your Ollie. Doing so can be extremely exprnsive in harm to your rig. GJ

Several have had the flush shaft break. Several posts on that topic. For a 25 cent part we get to replace our entire toilet. Not an impressive Dometic decision not to stock basic repair parts for ALL their toilets. GJ

Now that is a sweet solution! GJ