Geronimo John

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

Mike: Good catch. For sure Dielectric Grease. GJ

First my assumption is that we are using the former Dometic thermostat wires to control the gas heater and have done so using a new thermostat at the location of the old Domet stat. That said: Your assessment matches what I observed. That path is not worth the effort. HOWEVER: I believe that the thermistor wires end up at the control board. My suggestion is to disconnect or intercept them at the control board and then connect a new one (with a much longer lead) in its place and locate the new thermistor in a place that better represents the cabin temperature. GJ

Using a DeWalt Impact Driver would be my tool of choice. GJ

GSM Bear: The thermister wires pass from the control board and then down into the Return Air path "tube" (inside the 14 X 14 roof penetration). For a non-ducted system it can be seen from the cabin with removal of the inside air distribution panel. I suspect that splicing in a long section of wire (As presented by John Davies above) at the roof penetration level in the 14 x 14 penetration would leasily give you a path between your two hulls for mounting of the sensor inside the cabin. GJ

John D. Thank you for the above response. Great to know that there is a path forward. GJ

GSM: I edited my post above for clalrity. You were correct as I used the wrong word. Cutting and splicing Thermister Wires: It has been a really long time since I was playing with thermisters, so my foggy memory may need your update. My recollection is that the thermister changes resistance based upon temperature. The mother board of the unit is set up to interpert resistance and map it to a temperature setting and unit response. If we cut the wires to the thermister and extend them, that would change the overall resistance of the thermister and original wire resistance as seen by the mother board. Would that cause other issues? GJ

Instructions have the info. Basically the transfer switch comes with a super duty plug and that line plugs into the inverter. You disconnet the 20 amp wire at the breaker that serves the ac and replace it with a longer wire that goes back from the rear dinette seat to the back of the rear bunk. This line goes to the switch input labeled for the utility company supply. The other switch connection is used to reconnect the ac power supply. I mounted my second switch aft of the OEM one under the street side bunk. This required me to replace the super duty switch cord that was too short. Some owners elect to mount the switch on the wheel well to avoid this. Personally I like bolting the add on equipment through the fiber glass to a cutting board JB welded and bolted in place. I use small SS fender washers and bolts and it does not detract from the appearance under the bed overhang. GJ

We use the cube style boxes from kleenex expressions tissues for our grocery bags. They get stored in the upper cabinets at the back curved section of the roof line. I start the summer with three full ones and add used ones every shopping visit. GJ

I respect your opinion on this. If the fire is in the Battery Box, inside is logical. So long as every occupant of the trailer knows where it is. On the other hand some believe that if there is a fire situtation, get all occupants out NOW and away from the trailer. Then once the family and pets are safe, kill the power source at the batteries or some other outside accessible location. Looking for a master switch hidden under the beds or in a closet somewhere is not time efficient. However fire fighters will go to the battery box and either cut the 4/0 cable or use the red master switch. That likely will be their first action once finding the buring trailer. Regardless, your comment begs having clearly visable signage that "Emergency Battery Switch Here" would be advisable for all locations where the switch is located. Personally I show my guests our 350 amp rated Blue Seas master switch as part of our trailer tour. GJ

Looked at the dexter stock number and it has a "LF" in it. For our LE2 are eachof the 8 springs exactly alike or does the LF indicate a left front spring and that we need to order our a LR, RF and RR? Just want to know for my cheat sheet. GJ

I too have experienced the same issue, and tried the toothpick/glue and larger screws as well. My approach that worked is to use small screws and washers with nylock nuts. Fixed the screw issue. Will now try the strap process for keeping them closed. Good inputs, Thanks. GJ

A simple test of the brakes is to test them at a very slow speed on gravel with a trusted driver and a second observer. While traveling at a slow walk speed, you could pull the emergency brake cable with you and a friend watching the impact on the left and right tire sets. All four tires should lock up instantly. If one or more do not, then you know where your problem resides. If all four of them lock up, then do an amp draw test. It should read about 3 amps per wheel. If not near this you have another hint. Finally, using an amp meter, have a friend apply the tv brakes and slide the brake controller boost lever slowly up and down the range. If no change then you have another hint. GJ

Sugggest getting three solid concrete blocks and burying them in the floor of the barn so that about an inch extends above the dirt. Place them where you want the jacks to be when stored. This gives you the "perfect" target year after year and keeps mud from rusting out your jack plates. Also, I suggest covering your OTT with a less expensive cover. Mostly to help defend against mud dobbers and hornet nests. Finally install a screen over your heater exhaust. GJ

There is a post on our site from another owner that installed one with pictures. Likely was John D., but I may be foggy on that. GJ

Yes. Basicallly my goal is to be able to use our 300 AH of Battleborns and our 3,000 watt inverter to power up the Houghton A/C. Consensuss approach is to install a second power transfer switch next to the OEM. This does require changing out the 20 amp wire that feeds from the existing breaker to the second power transfer switch. Took about 6 hours to complete the job. GJ