Trainman

Sorry to say this is not uncommon for travel trailer, or RV's in general. Ours has done this from time to time over the last 3 years of ownership, I would read all the replies and do what most suggest doing, but totally disconnect it is not an option. trainman

I do realize that ebikes are not for everyone, but there are other alternatives to the bicycle and why not go for a scooter. This guy does several videos on his scooter in Texas State Parks as well as other parks. He is at Ray Roberts S P and we also go there two, or three times per year just for the 5 miles of payed trails. trainman

I come from a motorcycle riding background, 50 plus years and most of it off road riding, so the 20" size ebike works well for me. True for some it could be a little intimating by its ride and quicker handling techniques. I did have to school my wife on this size of ebike, so far she has done very will with my instructions, only crashed twice so far. trainman

We also have the RAD Mimi folding bike's, first I want to say these ebike's are great and there battery range is outstanding. Ours are around three years old and the only thing we have done is add air to the tires, plus a lubing here and there and adjusting cables, etc. as needed. We first folded the bikes and put them in the bed of our Ram to carry them, but after doing this we found it easier to just lift the bikes in the bed of the Ram and not fold them. I made two bike racks from 2x10's with a motorcycle front tire holder mounted to the front where the bike wheel goes into, this really holds the bike secure, but I do also strap the bikes down for a secure tiedown. I thought I had a pic of this, but I don't, so I will have to take one the next time we load the bikes. We did purchase the Oliver rear bumper for a bike rack, but decided the weight and easy of use didn't work well for us. trainman

I've never use our trailer where we got water this way thru the pump, I thought you had to turn a valve under the bed compartment to let this system work correctly. Not sure if this is correct or not, let me know what is the correct way of doing this. trainman

Camping hasn't been the same since we stopped camping with a twin sleeping bag in the tent. trainman

I will say here that travel trailers, RV's in general are always needing some type of repair, I don't care if it's an Oliver, or other RV's. We camp with others that have different brands of RV's and it always something that needs attention, it's just the nature of the beast. I feel the RV's mechanical features in general are not top quality components, not anything close that auto manufactures put into there vehicles. My 2 1/2 old Oliver to date has had to have the MaxFan, Progressive voltage regulator, Hot Water heater electronic controller, plus other small things replaced due to electronic failures. I will say that Oliver took care of the problems and they were not manufactured by Oliver, but it just the poor quality of mechanical features being manufactured today. The Oliver trailer itself has been perfect, great quality, and exceptional design and function, I guess that's what we are paying for. I personally think that anyone buying an RV and not being mechanical minded, be prepared to be visiting an RV service center probably more then you want to. trainman

Nice job John, plus I like LED's in everything I own. trainman

Not being a solar guy I would say if it works for you, go for it. You should be able to track aliens, or tornadoes with that setup when not powering the batteries. trainman

Since we have the bicycle rack bumper from Oliver and it's not being used at this time, I have considered getting a rear cargo carrier and carry our 21 gal. honey wagon back there, but for now it just goes in the pickup bed with no problem. trainman

I will say that we have none of those options that you listed, plus not many more of the other options that Oliver offers. As I have said before we purchase a stripper Elite II in 2019 and got it out the door for $55,500. We only got the two propane out side disconnects, the bike rack/hitch which we don't use, and the confection microwave. As you know the trailer does come with many things standard and for our camping needs it works out great for us. We don't Boondock so many of those options were of no interest to us, plus many of the electronic upgrades we didn't feel were needed. An iPhone with Hot Spot will get just about everything we need, so far being disconnect with the world has never been a problem. I will say that most new buyers today do go for the $80,000 models with all the upgrades, many from when I talk with them have never used many of the options, but I'm sure many do when they work. We now carry our electric bicycles in the bed of the truck, too heavy for the bike rack on the back of the trailer, so it sets in the shop over in the corner collecting dust. Personally get what you think you will use on your new Oliver, we did. trainman

Since our trailer is at home with us and we have both shower power and sewer hookups I would say our trailer is ready to go in a couple hours notice. Do note here it does take longer to get the food and all the camping gear ready. I would say we start about a day before we leave to go camping, that is plenty of time for us, I guess we just have had a lot of practice over the years. I do at least once a month fire up all the trailer systems just to check the out and being a trailer there are things that come up from time to time that need attention. You asked about the refrigerator and we usually turn it on 24 hours before we leave for camping, it probably doesn't need that much time, but it's just what we do and at that time I will also check out the gas appliances for operation, stove, water heater, A/C, furnace, just turn them on for a short time to see that they are operation correctly. I will say that trailers are pretty notorious for something not working correctly and I would rather take care of it at home vs. on the road. We do have camping friends that don't do a good job of checking these things before they leave home and they spend time camping working on there trailers at the campsite, not that much fun. trainman

Take it from someone who had a travel trailer some 45 years ago and are now camping again not much has changed in all that time. Yes all new electronics and appliances that are updated, but when it gets down to it most things are still done pretty much the same way. I personally feel that todays camping ways are pretty much as they were 40 yeas ago, no automatic sewer hookups, still need water hose and electrical connections, and you still get to level the trailer in campsites today. Best thing about camping today is there is in most cases a Walmart close by for those needed things. When I look at list that are posted today for camping there not to much difference from days past, in fact I sometime think they were easier back then. trainman

I have a new Rotopax fuel tank and mounting that I purchased for my motorcycle off road riding to carry extra fuel, common for dual sport motorcycle riders to carry extra fuel. Now since I don't ride anymore I just need it to find something that I need fuel for when camping. I will say these are very good fuel container and very sturdy for all uses, many carry then on there ATV's and UTV's. trainman

I think I will take the advice and not keep the shore power plugged in all the time, that is I may just plug it in once a month for a day or so and let the batteries catch up if need be. We try to camp once a month or so, so this should not be a problem with the battery and hope we can get a better life out of this battery. trainman

replaced the battery yesterday with a AGM battery, so far, so good. I only went with one battery as for our use we seldom use battery power and only when I adjust the tongue jack if even them. We keep the trailer plugged into 120v power when at home, so it's hard to tell when a 12v power drain is being used from the battery, but it goes with the system, so we got one. trainman

Just wondering if I have to do any thing to the Progressive Controller when I switch from the stock deep cycle batteries to AMG batteries. I think I read somewhere, or on this forum that there is nothing to do, but if you go with Lithium batteries there is a switch that needs to be switched. My 2019 Elite II came with the Progressive Dynamics Charge Controller Model PD4000. Any info on this would be appreciated, thanks, trainman

As some of you said upon removing the batteries they were totally dry in the cells. I did fill them with distilled water, but so far they have not taken a charge and are totally dead. This was probably my fault as I did not check them as I was thinking they were like automobile batteries in todays vehicle and were a sealed battery and you couldn't add fluid to them, I was wrong on that. So I will be buying new batteries this week. Thanks to all who gave input on this matter, trainman

Another question, why do I need two batteries when we really don't ever use the battery power. We don't Boondock and like I said before, only battery use might be using the tongue jack, or water pump when traveling on the road. We traveled with our Casita with only one battery and never had a battery problem over the years we owned it, so I see one good battery as all we probably need, plus you are plugged into the vehicle power plug which takes care of what little power you would need, but I do want the battery system in operation, it could disrupt the system in general without a battery in the system. This is not because of two battery expense, it just make good sense to me when we really didn't get much use of the two battery system. I know the hotel option as always there for a nights stay if things become unbearable. trainman

Thanks for the info, I will remove or unhook the batteries today and charge each on separately on my charger. This is just to see if they even charge and which one is dead, but I will replace both batteries even if one still checks good. The batteries are the stock batteries that Oliver puts in the trailer when new, I did not pay for any upgrades for batteries. I will say here that we don't use battery power very much, probably only when on the road for fresh water for bathroom use, or when hooking up the trailer and power for the tongue jack. Thanks for the post, I will start with the batteries and go from there, any other ideas will be welcomed, thanks. trainman

Leaving to go camping four days ago I was hooking up the trailer to the tow vehicle and discovered the tongue jack was not working and I first thought it was the jack itself, well it didn't take long to see it was the batteries were dead as well as all other 12v functions on the trailer. When I plugged the power 30amp cord back in to the trailer all works as it should and even worked on the 12v trailer cord just fine. I did check the batteries with a meter and they did read 4.6 volts at the battery, but with the power cord plugged in they did read 12.6. I'm now thinking that my charge controller is not charging the batteries, plus I did not hear the charge unit click on and off as I think it's supposed to do to keep the batteries charged, note my trailer is plugged in all the time when not in use. My trailer has the standard batteries that Oliver puts in them, but I don't think both batteries would die at the same time, plus just from past experience I don't think the charger is turning on and charging, I guess my question is, where should I start looking first, second, third, etc. Any ideas on this would be appreciated where to start looking. trainman

Not sure about raising the trays, but I'm sure it's like anything else, I would look at it and make a decision with my mechanical mine and do it. I would say that there was a post on someone who put in an excess door on the side of the tank cover and built a storage area behind the bottles. He got the door in the bathroom above the toilet from Oliver and it worked out very well from the pics I saw posted. Question, why do you want to raise the bottles, is it for storage, or some other reason? trainman

I received a weather proof USB port that I order from Amazon, it look good, but I was unhappy with the quality of the weather proof cap and design of the unit in general. I returned it to Amazon and will look for something more to my liking, I would like it to be like the Cable weatherproof ones that come on the trailer from the factory. Plus I want it in white color as to match the other ones, I may just get another factory cable one and change it over to a USB one. trainman

Put it in the cab of your vehicle, may get a good whiff of it every once in a wile, but just roll down the windows and all should be all right. We carry ours in the pickup bed on the truck, but a rear carrier on the trailer would also be a good place to carry it. It's one of those things that we take sometimes and sometimes we don't, it just depends where we are camping and what facilities they offer. trainman

Those who really want an Oliver usually will go out and find them, they will not be on every street corner as many other manufactures of travel trailer are. Oliver's are not for everyone, price is probably the number one reason for many, build wait times, and a dealer network are just a few reasons for Oliver's not attracting new customers. Oliver is a very different type of trailer and most campers just want a roof over there head for less money, that's understandable. trainman