technomadia

Hi Pete - I was actually going to be poking you to see how your experience has been with your solar system and cell booster. I've been going back and forth with AM Solar, considering using on their AM100 panels like you did. I may instead opt for a larger panel from another maker, and I am also dreaming up ways to rig two or three panels onto the Oliver roof. I would really like more than 100W of power. Right now, the Heliotrope HPV-22B, BlueSky 2512iX, or MornigStar SunSaver MPTT are my leading candidate charge controllers. Have you had any issues or annoyances having your fan and AC pushed back? I actually think having the fan more directly over the stove would be ideal. I am hoping it may even blow a bit on the bed, great for sleeping... I would love to see a picture looking down onto your roof, if you could manage it. I am trying to get a sense for how I can best maximize my use of the roof space. As for the cell booster... There seem to be a few options out there. How well has yours been working? I think I may go with the same thing you did, but I need to check to see if they support AT&T's 3G frequency (for the upcoming 3G iPhone)... I've loved the photos you have been posting, btw. Cheers! - Chris // http://www.technomadia.com

We were blown away touring Sherry and Paul's Oliver this weekend (thanks seadawg!), and now it looks like we'll be placing an order for our own this week. We plan on plenty of customizations - including solar, an integrated inverter / charger, extended batteries, a cell phone booster, enhanced AV, a 22" screen, and probably lots more. I've created a category on my LiveJournal to chronicle the process: http://radven.livejournal.com/tag/oliver We'll probably also be posting at http://www.technomadia.com too. I invite you all to follow our progress... - Chris & Cherie // http://www.technomadia.com

We had such a great time visiting you guys yesterday. We felt so welcomed, and we loved the chance to go over every square inch of your Oliver. I think we fell in love. And we loved the company! (And the cold beer...) I can't wait until we manage to go camping together. Cheers! - Chris & Cherie // http://www.technomadia.com

As I understand it, that valve seals off the connection between the shower floor drain and the grey water tank. This keeps grey water from sloshing up and out into the floor of the bathroom while underway. It also keeps water from draining from the shower. On the Casita, this is a problem because if you start a shower having forgotten to open the valve (on the outside of the trailer!) - you have to run outside naked and soapy to open it. Hmmm.... That could be fun to watch... *grin* - Chris

Our Liberty has been "there, and back again"... We traded in our V6 gas Liberty for the Diesel last spring... It was actually a rather unplanned for upgrade, but well worth it. If you want to know what it is like to drive a Jeep and a trailer backwards down the freeway in the rain at 60+ mph, read this: http://radven.livejournal.com/97635.html And here is the story of the new Jeep: http://radven.livejournal.com/98035.html Anyway since then we've over the Rockies, all around the west coast, and then back eastward through Yellowstone and South Dakota. The Jeep has handled pretty much everything we've thrown at it, and it has always towed great too. - Chris // http://www.technomadia.com

As full-time technomads, it is very important for us to be able to squeeze as much battery capacity into our trailer as possible. I built a custom battery setup for our current Tab Clamshell that incorporates two 6V Trojan T-145 batteries, for a total capacity of 260 amp hours. Robert tells me that the Oliver's battery tray is 14.25" x 14.25", and he guesses that 11" would be the maximum height you could fit. I've been researching batteries and options to best fill this space. Here are my notes so far. Comments, thoughts, and suggestions are appreciated: ====== Batteries: To get the most capacity for boondocking, maximizing the number of amp hours is key. It is also important to have a high quality battery that can withstand being discharged below 50% capacity repeatedly without damage. Most batteries, particularly "cheaper" ones, are damaged by deep discharge. True deep cycle batteries are better able to handle this. AGM or Flooded Lead: AGM batteries do not need (much) ventilation, and they also do not need to have their water levels occasionally checked. The downside of AGM batteries is that they cost more, require a quality "smart" charger that will not dry them out prematurely, and they tend to have less capacity than an equivalently sized flooded lead battery. The Oliver's battery compartment slide out drawers should makes battery maintenance easy - so quality lead acid batteries are probably not nearly the hassle they would be on a Casita. One question though - how well ventilated is the battery compartment? From Trojan: "Generally, gel and AGM batteries have about 20% less capacity, cost about two times more, and have a shorter cycle life than comparable flooded lead acid batteries. However, Gel and AGM batteries do not need watering, are safer (no acid spilling out), can be placed in a variety of positions, have a slower self-discharge characteristic, and are more efficient in charging and discharging than flooded batteries." Efficiency difference: Flooded is 89% vs AGM is 99%. Self discharge per month 13% for flooded vs 3% for AGM.... This means that an AGM battery will require less solar power to charge, and they will hold their charge longer in storage. Another important trait of AGM batteries is that you can charge them MUCH faster off of a generator, thus needing less run time. But to do this you will need a powerful and very smart charger, the Oliver default 45A is probably not enough to really take advantage of this. 2x 6V or 2x 12V: Six volt "Golf Cart" batteries are common, cheap, and tend to be excellent deep cycle performers. Two 6v batteries wired together in series can often give you more capacity cheaper than two 12v batteries in parallel. The Trojan brand batteries are particularly well regarded. I used two 6V T-145's in my Tab, for a total capacity of 260AH. They are 11 5/8" tall though, potentially too tall for the Oliver. 12V batteries do have an advantage of better redundancy though. If one of your 6V batteries dies, your whole system is useless. But you can still run on a single 12V battery. Trojan Flooded Lead Acid Battery Options: (all 6 volts) T-145 -- 260 Amp Hours - 10 3/8" x 7 1/8" x 11 1/2" x 72lbs -- Too tall for an Oliver? T-125 -- 240 Amp Hours - 10 3/8" x 7 1/8" x 10 11/16" x 66lbs -- Will two of these fit OK? The width may be a tight fit... T-105 -- 225 Amp Hours - 10 3/8" x 7 1/8" x 10 11/16" x 62lbs -- The same physical size as the T-125, but cheaper and less capacity. This battery is very common and easy to find. T-1275 -- 300 Amp Hours - 12 7/8" x 7 1/8" x 10 17/25" x 82lbs -- Two of these 12V batteries will give 300 Amp Hours of power. Based on the Oliver dimensions, two of these should fit, right?? This would be the maximum possible capacity in an Oliver. Trojan 12V AGM: 31-AGM --110x2 Amp Hours - 13 /16" x 6 7/8" x 8 11/16" x 71lbs Concord / Lifeline AGM Battery Options: Concord makes the LifeLine batteries, so they have much in common. These are the best known and most highly regarded AGM batteries available. Concord B-2240 -- 220 Amp Hours (6V) - 10.5" x 7" x 11" x 68 lbs -- 6V / aprox $295/each Lifeline GPL-27 -- 100x2 Amp Hours - 12.01" x 6.6" x 9.25" x 65lbs ($256) Lifeline GPL-31 -- 105x2 Amp Hours - 12.9" x 6.75" x 9.27" x 69lbs ($259) Lifeline GPL-4C -- 220 Amp Hours (6V) - 10.27" x 7.12" x 10.24" x 66lbs ($239) Fullriver AGM: FR31 110x2 Amp Hours / 13" x 6.8" x 9.7" x 78lbs -- Cheaper AGM alternative, new to the US, popular and highly regarded in Europe. Charge efficiency 97%... ===== Concluding Thoughts: It looks like if capacity is your ultimate goal, two Trojan T-1275's will take up all the space in your battery box, and will give you 300 amp hours of glorious power to play with. Trojan T-125 or the cheap and common T-105's are also good options. Going AGM though does have some nice advantages. Two Lifeline GPL-31 batteries will give you 210 amp hours, and two 6V Lifeline GPL-4C's will cost a bit less, and give you 220 amp hours. Fullriver's FR31 is also a good choice, and will give 220 amp hours potentially a bit cheaper than Lifelines. I need to research the quality and price differences a bit further. Thoughts? Comments? Any other ideas? - Chris // http://www.technomadia.com

Greetings All - We are getting ever closer to placing an order for an Oliver, but I would really love to have a chance to actually touch one first. We are located in Melbourne, FL right now. Anyone on this forum with an Oliver at all close? Are you willing to let us come by and take a look? We're contemplating a road trip to the factory in Tennessee, but it would be nice to save the time and gas of a trip if we could find one closer... Cheers, - Chris // http://www.technomadia.com

Here's an interesting question for all the former Casita owners... Is there anything about the Casita that you find you miss, or that you like better than your Oliver? Other than the cheaper price, of course... - Chris // http://www.technomadia.com

I'm not too fond of the Tada design, but the classic Tab is absolutely brilliant in many ways. I've made a solar-powered Tab Clamshell my home for much of the past two years - I'm happy to answer any questions or share my experiences. Cheers! - Chris // http://www.technomadia.com

One thing I love about the Tab is that when you pull the integrated shades, exterior light is completely blacked out. Not only is this useful for sleeping in during the day, more importantly - we can be "stealth camped" on a downtown city street or in a dark parking lot, and no one walking by can tell anyone is inside even if the lights are on. The mini-blinds of the Casita and most other RV's are totally useless for this purpose. They barely even give you any privacy, much less block all the light. It looks like the Oliver's system is closer to the Tab's. How effective will the day night/shades be for stealth camping? Do they let any interior glow shine through to the outside? Also - do the shades cover the window on the door as well? Advice from current Oliver owners much appreciated! - Chris // http://www.technomadia.com

Greeting Oliver Folk -- My partner Cherie and live, work, and travel most of the year in a 16' Tab Clamshell that I've upgraded with solar and much much more. We've become moderately famous on the net for our adventures living with so much technology off-the-grid in such a small space. You can read about us here: http://www.technomadia.com Last summer we stopped in to see the Casita factory, and were extremely impressed. Ever since, we've been contemplating an upgrade to a slightly larger and heavier trailer that would give us a bit more indoor plumbing, and (perhaps more importantly) the ability to keep the bed set up separate from the table. The clamshell Tab is an absolutely brilliant design, but it is a tiny bit tight for two people... One of the biggest things holding me back has been dreading starting from scratch needing to do all the upgrade work to make a Casita fit our needs. But a few weeks ago I started researching Oliver, and I just got the brochure I requested. Wow. The design is brilliant, and the willingness of the factory to do custom work is unrivaled. I think I am starting to imagine an Oliver in our future... After a long phone conversation with Robert yesterday, I am pretty well sold. One of the most important thing for us is having ample electrical capacity. We are both tech geeks, and we work online with our laptops 8+ hours a day. Right now, this is what I have crammed into the Tab: · Solar Panel System, which consists of a Siemens 110w solar panel, with a Blue Sky Energy Solar Boost 2512iX peak power point solar charger and IPN Pro Remote control panel / battery monitoring capacity gauge. · Upgraded electrical system, including 260 amp hours of battery capacity, via two Trojan T-145 6 volt batteries. · XantrexPro 1000w inverter for our AC power. When on shore power, the auto bypass switch disables the inverter and switches all the outlets to pass shore power instead. I've actually wished for more solar capacity - I'd love to find a way to fit two solar panels on the roof of an Oliver. We also have an on-board WiFi network, and much more, of course. Anyway - I have a lot of ideas, and a lot to contribute to this forum. I will be starting several new topic threads to discuss some of the ideas and issues I've been thinking about. Greetings everyone! - Chris // http://www.technomadia.com

The ultimate tow vehicle for you would be a diesel Jeep Liberty. They only made this model for a few years, but I was able to buy a 2006 model last spring, and I love it. Towing my Tab, I get 18-20MPG. I used to have the gasoline V6 Liberty, and I would only get 12-13MPG towing. - Chris // http://www.technomadia.com