Geronimo John

Although the Litho's are pretty much "Maintenance Free", having the battery tray sure is handy. Especially if you mount a master switch, shunt, load terminal blocks and tie down straps in the battery bay as many of us have done. Hope it works out well for you. GJ

You are correct as Mossemi appears to be using them as an anchor point! And it would apply. For the Bathroom cubby it would be a waste of fender washers as they are not high load or vibration applications.

GI NOTE: For the Bathroom Cubby install, the below does not apply to this install. For the anchor point install it would apply. For applications where you can somehow get to the back side here are two considerations: For high load applications, or ones that will be subject to strong vibrations, insert the Petal nut, then place a fender washer on the uncrushed nut. Then crush it. Doing so will greatly reduce fiberglass cracking and strength of the attachment. If you will be needing to unbolt the attachment, add a dab of adhesive to the crush zones of the Petal nut. Once crushed and cured, the bolt can be removed and you'll not lose the Petal Nut in the back space. GI Edit: The pedal nut will not fall out so edited the use of adhesive. Obvious brain fart!

Amazon has scores of surge protectors to choose from. And as apparent from the above posts, each owner has their concerns in mind for their use. So, for a pedestal power pole used as a supplemental protection, my concern is spikes and RF noise. Not sustained voltages beyond standard as MountainOliver sadly experienced. For the purpose of voltage noise and spikes, having a plug-in type with lots of joules capacity is the goal. Keeping it light, simple and inexpensive is the idea from my minimalist perspective. If those are your goals, then this one seems to fit bill and costs a LOT less than most others at the 8,000+ joules rating:

All: I do really like the tech specs on that unit. Especially the Victron quality and the "power assist" feature. I am sort of concerned about having all my power eggs in one basket though. But with a Victron, I could get over this concern I suspect. The one road block that I have not solved is where to put the VM3000 without taking out of service existing storage space. Places such as part of the wardrobe closet at entrance or storage between the twin beds is too valuable to sacrifice. Likewise under the dinette table would for sure get me sleeping with the bears. Are there other suitable locations our "older" 2017 and 2018 Ollies that it would fit? How much heat does it generate that we also would need to accomodate? GJ

Art: Some may ponder too long on this one. Suggest add an "en" on Tight and a value. GJ

First check the connections. If they are firm, then dusting likely will not make any difference other than it will be cleaner.

Per your reference, I checked Splendiday.com and order out a set of them. Their design uses four "Petals" vs. most others that have just three. I like that. I've used rivet (Blind Flush Nuts as my GrandPa called them) nuts for many decades and they can be a PITA for fiberglass just as you stated. Also for plastic IMHO. Thanks for the suggestion. GJ

I've looked into the PlusNuts and agree they will be a better choice for our Ollie Fiberglass needs. Were you using steel or aluminum ones? What size? source? Thanks for the idea and for posting. GJ

I was thinking of using a round plastic bottle as a starting point. Just looking for a heavy duty one of the right size. Nice job on yours! GJ

Assuming there are no leaks, an air bubble can cause the pump to run. Opening and closing the sink faucet can allow the air to escape. If opening/closing the faucet does not work, then check the strainer by the pump. OFTEN as in very often, poly shreds from OEM install will plug this strainer. Plugged or partially plugged strainer can cause low water pressure or in severe instances no water flow. Worth a check. GJ

Flushing the tank will not improve a sensor mounted on the outside of the tank. But checking the connections and maybe cleaning off dust from the sensor may. GJ

Good reading info! One item to make sure is that all other loads, such as water heater, A/C, microwave are OFF. This will allow you to adjust the charge setting to a level consistent with a max RUNNING (Not surge) amps of your generator. It would do that if your grounding plug (Technically a grounded neutral plug) is defective. If there are other RV's in the area, ask to momently borrow their Grounded neutral plug for a quick test. Geronimo John PS: The fancy one displayed above is nothing but a regular 120V plug with a jumper wire inside it from the ground wire terminal to the neutral terminal. Most of us buy a $5 plug and make our own.

Steve: I have not observed any of the inverter or converters not being able to produce their rated outputs. But rather I am referring to their efficiency of their process. Specifically the the ratio of output divided by input. My PD 4045 and 4060 Converters and the Renogy 3000 watt inverter were all very low. If I recall it was on the order of 50%. When I asked Dragonfly Industries (Battleborn guys), their comment was that some systems for sure are not as efficient in their process as others. For RV Camp Grounds it's not much of a concern. But for Boondockers it should be a consideration when replacing these power conversion elements. Other considerations of course are: Will it fit, what's it cost, how difficult will be the installation process be, what is the reliability of the various units, etc. This summer I'll retest mine and post real numbers to start a thread for comparison purposes. GJ

LOL, I was thinking of someone covering their safety chains. Since we see too often see other trailers with their chains sparking on the pavement. But then we can't fix stupid.

I'm not really sure that is a good thing. GJ

All really cool ideas! Love them all. Having such helpers when in the shop is wonderful for sure. But for on the road, or in the absence of a shop as in my case, weight is the enemy. As such, I must take a minimalist approach. And I am in the camp of using tools I already have. That said, at my vintage, I am well beyond tossing around our great E-Rated tires. But I always can find a helper capable of raising or lowering a rear jack from the trailer tongue. (NOTE: My 6,000 pound anchor rule is in play.) Taking Tires Off: Breaker Bar the lugs on one side of the trailer. Place safety jack stands under the frame ahead of and behind the two tires. Have helper raise that side jack until the first tire is not holding weight and adjust safety jack stand as needed. 20V Dewalt impact off the nuts. Repeat for second tire that side. Adjust jack stands and lower trailer onto them to take the weight. At this point the OEM rear jack becomes the safety jack stand for the two loaded one. Putting Tires On: Place tires near their axles. Raise rear jack and adjust safety jacks to allow lowering of the frame. Put tire onto the spindle and install lug nuts. Slightly tighten. Repeat with second tire. Have helper raise the trailer, remove Jack stands, lower wheel to allow for full tightening of lug nuts to 80 ft-pounds, lower axles to take full load and re-torque to 100 Ft-Pounds. done. Bottom line why are we even trying to lift the tire up onto the spindle when we can lower the spindle down to the tire using the electric jacks? Sort of an old biblical story in that one..... GJ

I hope this new owner mistake is not a costly one for you. This is a good example of the my concern with the increasing complexity of our trailers over the years. The Suburban hot water heater has a shut off valve and an anode at the bottom of the tank. To winterize just turn the valve off and remove the anode when the water is not hot. Done. Can't say the same for the Truma system. As you now painfully know. As an ole brown shoe Mechanical Engineer, I prefer not to have combo systems due to complexity. Granted the integrated Inverter/Converters are super nice, cool and somewhat space efficient. They are also by far more energy efficient than the 2018 version we have. That said, they are also single point failure systems of great complexity. Should we lose one of the features (Inversion/Conversion/Solar/120 Shore Power/Battery Power/Solar Power, with independent systems we can survive just fine. But with a single point failure, you CAN HAVE no refrigeration, lighting, heat or AC. Then when there is a failure, trouble shooting the computer systems in the field can be a real PITA too. So there is something to be said for simplicity of systems. In the mean time, it is wise for all of us to occasionally revisit the Oliver University Videos. All of them. GJ

LOL! Come on guys it's obviously the base mount for an "entertainment pole"! 🙂 GJ

Posted TV: 2019 F-150 SuperCrew Lariat, 3.5L EcoBoost, Max Tow, FX-4, Rear Locker TV DYI’s: 2 5/16" Anderson System, Nitto Recon’s, Firestone Rear Air Bags, Bilstein 5100’s, Mud Flaps & Weather Tech all. OLLIE: 2018 OE2 Hull 342, Twin bed. OLLIE DYI’s: BB LiFePO4's, Victron 712 Smart, 350 Amp Master Switch, Houghton 3400, Victron Orion DC - DC, 3000-Watt Renogy Inverter, P.D. 60-amp Converter, Frig Dual Exhaust Fans, Kitchen Drawer Straps and Timken Bearings,

Ditto on the 25 cent plastic piece in the Dometic Toilets that is not sold as a repair part. Causing us to buy new toilets for over $300. Dometic brand seems to have distanced themselves from the customers that they need. Suspect that the only ones they care about are the OEM guys and not us.

If mounting heavier (I.E. Inverters, converters, DC-DC Charging) equipment to vertical surfaces several owners have found that just epoxy, JB Weld or other such products over time fail. For this reason, I use and suggest also adding SS Fender washers and small bolts thru the vertical Ollie surface, the mounting board and the mounting holes of the electrical gear. For our 3,000 watt Renogy Inverter, I used stainless steel four sets of 3/16" bolts, fender washers and nylock nuts. For my grins I also used JB Weld between the vertical hull surface and the cutting board mounts. No worries on our 15,000 mile Alaska trip and over many Rocky Mountain fire roads., Geronimo

I have highlighted two words above for clarification. Both of the above statements could be misconstrued by a new owner. YES you can operate an electrical circuit "just" below the circuit breaker rating, and do so for some period of time. But a soon as we use the word continuous, we evoke the NEC requirement that the circuit be de-rated. There are several interpretations out there, but most would agree with the NEC that a 20 amp circuit shall not be continuously loaded to 15 or 16 amps MAX. Likewise for the 30 amp single phase 120V circuit you must not continuously load it to over about 24 or so amps. Yes there is some wiggle room in the interpretations, but all of them are well below the full circuit breaker rating for continuous use. Doing so over time can will to bad words or worse. Please keep this in mind when loading your circuits to their their breaker rating. GJ

First, nice sized generator. Not too big, not too small, just right to keep refer's, freezers and of course the Man Cave beer cooler running! I had to blow up your picture to actually see the size. Can see it now! 🙂 You mentioned that it runs on local LNG. Do the Champion's have a similar sized dual fuel (LNG local provided or on-site propane? Nice install too! GJ

Two great check lists. My only comment is that I rated this Forum very high in my list. Think about the potential for such a forum as a measuring tool of customer satisfaction and the type of people that buy their products. In this rating world, OTT is so far ahead of every body else in the Universe. GJ