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Thank you! That is where I read the advice….. gosh, the advice that we got in our manual 9 years ago is completely different from the advice in The how-to video Oliver posted for sanitizing; it’s hard to know which to follow.and neither mentions sanitizing all three water intakes. my husband says, well we haven’t been sick, so maybe we just keep doing what we’ve done all these years…..

Somewhere I read advice that we should sanitize all 3 water fill locations, seems like a good idea, but I wonder what the best way to go about that would be? The official advice does not seem to cover that. Any thoughts?

Question for you @ScubaRx: Is this the appropriate wiring configuration for installing these batteries? Thank you for your help.

Yes, the batteries we bought are the one SeaDawg shows, the T105 AGM. Maybe we will regret it, I don’t know. We’re being careful: Last year we sent our Blue Sky controller to the manufacturer, it checked out perfect. A technician at Progressive Dynamics told us to check the converter output before installing batteries; we did, it’s perfect at 13.6 V. The solar panels are covered, for when we install the batteries. Blue Sky gave us the new inputs for this battery for the solar controller, so we are ready to do that once the batteries are installed, which we plan to do when we get back from a family reunion. If we are certain about how to configure the battery cables. Thanks for your help.

Hi John, I am so sorry for the miscommunication. I have great respect for your expertise, and that of the other wonderful folks on this forum who have been so helpful to us. The batteries we recently bought are AGMs….. Trojan T105 AGMs. We used these batteries for 7 years with good luck, before our problems started. They were the original equipment when we bought our Ollie.

Thanks for the thoughts SeaDawg…. Last year in a number of posts, folks helped us as we tried to understand why our previous batteries failed (melted, cooked). We have not been able to determine with certainty what the problem was……So, we plan to see how we do with 2 batteries (they are AGMs) for now, rather than risk ruining even more batteries. It’s been expensive and frustrating to get to where we are.

We are changing from 4 AGM 6 volt batteries to 2 Trojan T105 6 volt batteries. We would rather have technical help with this, but the trailer repair shops are running 45 days behind on battery issues. So a question about how to connect the new batteries…… would this be appropriate: For the cables that come from inside the Ollie to the battery tray….Copy the wiring pattern from the 4 battery configuration: for the positive on one battery connect the solar 2 color cable, and the red cable from the converter. For the negative on the other battery connect the temperature sensor, and the yellow ground cable). Then, on the posts not used for these, add a cross-cable from negative to positive between the two batteries. Thanks so much for your help.

Email to PDI:

Yes! Photos don’t do the reality justice. The 2 batteries ARE fused together. Am glad it wasn’t all four!

Okay! The batteries are removed! Two of those lunkers were fused together, a 140 pound mass that was worth something, just months ago! Thanks everyone for the advice. You're the best!

I don't understand this......Our plan is to put a Calmark Cover over the Ollie, to protect it from dust and bird poop. It might be possible for the solar panels to still make power, possibly. But are we talking about where the wires from the panels enter the Blue Sky Controller? Or in the battery compartment? And what is a plastic battery? I appreciate the help, and the education!

Unfortunately it is not a typo, but it was unintended to have the lithium switch on. Long story, but the tech that installed the converter did not notice the unit came set to lithium, so that's what it has been at since. We thought this might have been responsible for the batteries overheating, but that's not what we observe in testing. Thanks for your advice to remove the batteries for storage......thanks to both you and Bill. Once we get those deformed AGMS out, I doubt they will ever fit back in again, and am not sure if we can isolate the problem without batteries. Oh well. Grateful for you help, Mary

An update on our deformed overheated battery issue: The RV Tech who installed the converter a year ago & the batteries this spring worked with us last Thursday. Our primary question: What caused the problem? Is our electrical system safe to install new batteries without damaging them? We still do not have answers. He determined that the batteries, although bloated (and 1 has had a slight leak), are still intact enough to do testing of the system, and perhaps for other limited uses. We have spent the last 3 days observing what happens when we operate the electrical system 1) on shore power only, 2) on shore power plus solar 3) On shore power plus solar with the LITHIUM switch on. Can we recreate the problem? After 3 days of testing, we observed no problems, and have not recreated the overheating. A technician with Progressive Dynamics sent some documents, among them, on General Operation of this LI ready converter was this description: "....the OUTPUT MODE SWITCH sets the converter output to either a constant 14.6 VDC with the Charge Wizard disabled (switch in "LI" position) or a nominal 13.6 VDC with full Charge Wizard function (switch in 'LA' position). We have not observed any battery overheating from having the converter set to LI for more than 12 hours, including while the batteries were recharged from 70% to full. At one point it seemed possible that the Lithium switch was the source of the problem, but it doesn't look like it. Maybe it's the batteries, but we haven't seen others posting about problems with Brightway AGMS. We are frustrated, and out of time. And wishing we knew more about electricity. Normally when we leave for the winter, we put the Ollie in a barn plugged into shore power. Winter temps to zero and below are possible. Now our question is whether to leave these deformed Brightway AGM batteries in the battery tray for the winter, without shore power (because of not knowing what might happen), with the thought of trying in the spring to figure things out before installing new batteries. Or, do we pull the batteries now and dispose of them, so as not to risk damaging the battery tray? Does this make it harder to do more troubleshooting? Thank you for your advice.

Well, the idea was my husband Dave has a login & I have a login. Every so often we end up using each other’s. Yes, we are a couple and own Hull #55. Sorry for the confusion; will do better.

An update: We had a very helpful discussion with Steve Landrum while my brother, an electrically savvy engineer, was with us. They were able to conclude that the power converter under the dinette was performing appropriately. The next day Ryan confirmed that the settings used to program the Blue Sky were appropriate, so that is not the source of the problem either. Following that, Progress stalled because we are camping on the Olympic Peninsula, and have not had enough sun to do the test of the Blue Sky Controller that Ryan suggests. It will likely be next week before we are able to do that. Also, I had thought I had a photo of the battery wiring after the new batteries were installed, but it turns out I do not have photos, and cannot confirm that they were installed correctly. I believe they were installed correctly, but I have no way to check. As soon as there is more information, will post another update. Thanks everyone for your help with this. We are grateful that it is possible to continue our trip. Mary

Thank you the suggestion. I’ve sent a message off to Ryan at Blue Sky, asking if he can confirm the programming. Meanwhile we are beginning to wonder if the Inverter/controller might be a candidate for the source of the problem. Last October, the technician we consulted when our previous batteries were failing identified that as the problem, and we called Oliver for a replacement and had it installed. This last month or so, we’ve noticed that the fan on the replaced unit has been running a lot, and that seemed odd; we never figured out what that might be from. Maybe the overheating has been underway for a while? Still working on the problem!

Thank you for the additional thoughts. Invisible Glass; will get some.

Well, my friends, unfortunately, there is a sad update to the story of our solar/battery problems. Yesterday, while camping we discovered the source of a smell we had noticed for a day or so. It was the new Brightway AGM batteries steaming and bulging and hot, hot, hot. (We are at a large festival, and near port-a-potty’s and food trucks). We have our current situation stabilized, thanks to my engineer brother who is camping nearby and a neighboring camper who knows some about solar systems. We are on shore power, and the batteries are disconnected, except for the cables carrying current to the batteries and carrying current to the loads; so we are able to use both the 120 volt and 12 volt system after some modifications, while we figure out what to do next. We are at a Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend WA, and there are lots of businesses here that install marine solar systems; however, we are a long way from home. I don’t understand what failed. Did the Blue Sky system allow the batteries to overcharge? Did I mis-program it? (I am a stickler for detail, and I believe I followed the instructions correctly, but maybe the 4 Brightway Batteries I bought somehow had different specs than the ones the instructions were created for? Anyway, it seems like it’s important to understand what made the system fail, so that we don’t make the same expensive mistake again. I am thinking to get in touch with Ryan at Blue Sky to see what advice he would have. Even though dealing with the problem would be easier from home, I worry that the skills necessary to deal with this may not be available there. My husband just reports that the batteries are cooled down now; the 2 in front are distorted, the 2 behind appear normal. I would assume that they are toast due to the temperatures experienced. There does not appear to be damage to the trailer’s battery compartment. Thinking about what might be next, as fire and toxic liquids on the ground have been averted. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Well, thanks everyone for your great advice! The adhesive melted in the WD40 while I went for a walk, and I gently wiped the mess away when I got back. Neat to learn such an easy solution. You are the best! Mary

Somehow while keeping the Ollie under a cover we got duct tape adhesive on a solar panel, and I'm wondering how to safely remove the adhesive. Would using GooBeGone be a reasonable choice? Thanks for the help!

Our 2014 Ollie has a water connection in the back bumper for intake of antifreeze or water. In Jason's description of Sanitizing the Fresh Water System he calls it the rear winterization/boondock port. Am grateful for the support the folks on this Forum provide! My thanks to you and Mike!

The directions from Oliver on sanitizing the fresh water system describe drawing a bleach solution in through the back bumper connection, and then connecting a fresh water hose to the fresh connection port to finish filling the tank. At the moment we have a Calmark cover on our Ollie, and the edges of the back bumper have protection secured in place to protect the cover from rips. To follow the above directions I would need to undo the cover, remove the protective corner pieces, and then proceed. What if instead, I pour the bleach down the fresh water hose, and connect it to the Fresh Water Connection and fill the tank with water, and do not use the back bumper at all in the sanitizing process? Maybe the pipe between the back bumper and fresh water tank needs bleach too, and it would not get any? Thanks for your help!

Great you got this figured out! We had a similar puzzle with a CO alarm a couple of years back……It took us a while to solve it…..the problem turned out to be a hand pump of alcohol based hand cleaner that we sat on the table at night to clean hands after using the bathroom. Shortly after using the hand cleaner, the alarm would go off! We moved the hand cleaner to the bath room, and the alarm has been well-behaved since.

Well, the 4 new Bright Way AGM batteries are installed, and the MPPT controller reprogrammed. Ryan at Blue Sky Energy clarified the questions that remained from Wanda’s helpful documentation. I wish I were better suited for this work. But great help from ScubaRx, SeaDawg, and Topgun2 made it possible to be successful. Thanks so much everyone.