ADKCamper

Ugh! In the beginning... the lead-acid battery *was* the voltage regulator. Now that modern battery technology has become somewhat independent of the traditionally accepted range of the nominal 12VDC we are used to, perhaps its time to suggest a design improvement... to include a "whole house" DC voltage regulator (or maybe just a voltage limiter) which feeds a master 12V "loads busbar", and connect all of the charging sources on the "battery side" of the new DC voltage regulator (i.e. to a "charging busbar"). Not sure where to find an affordable/efficient one with a capacity for maybe 100A (?) that doesn't generate too much heat and can be mounted in the already limited mechanical spaces available.

Positive and negative busbars are essentially complete, except for some cable ties here and there. There are now 6 fewer cables connected to the batteries with just the (2) 4/0 cables, Zamp battery temperature sensor and Victron battery midpoint sensor remaining. Much cleaner looking. I still haven't finished connecting the Victron battery monitor (shunt is installed though). I'm waiting on parts for mounting the positive busbar's ANL fuse and master battery disconnect switch.

It is indeed difficult to beat the price of salvaged scrap material :) Sherry and Bhncb are correct that HDPE/Starboard does not accept adhesive well. Mine is mounted with mechanical fasteners on top of the battery compartment where there is limited clearance. Cost for 12" x 18" x 1/2" thick from TAP was $22.95 + shipping... significantly cheaper than West Marine but still not cheap LOL. The busbars and Victron shunt will fit there. The battery disconnect switch and additional ANL fuse holder/cover (both of which are too tall) will have to be mounted elsewhere. Still a work in progress!

I am just starting a similar project on our Elite I, using many of the same components referenced above. There's not a lot of room left in the mechanical compartments to move stuff around / add new components! Victron BMV-712 battery monitor, negative busbar, positive busbar, master DC disconnect switch, and a 2nd ANL type fuse (150A) for the non-invertor DC loads (Xantrex specs a 250A fuse for their ProWatt SW 2000 watt invertor). My primary motivation is to reduce the number of cables in the battery compartment... there's not a lot of clearance and its a real bear to align the 4 or so cables on each battery post when removing batteries for winter storage or re-installing them in the spring. I am using marine King Starboard HDPE (high densite polyethylene) for additional component mounting space, available from multiple sources. It *seems* denser/stiffer than regular PVC lumber. I ordered mine from TAP Plastics: https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/king_starboard/526 When completed, I should only have (2) 4/0 battery cables, the small Zamp Solar temperature sensor cable and a small battery midpoint sensor for the Victron battery monitor (I have the two 6V Lifeline AGM batteries connected in series).

I have also lost a few of those black plastic retainer clips for the refrigerator vent covers somewhere "on the road"... I was able to replace them with a more reliable fastener - a cage nut, machine screw flat metal washer and flat rubber washer. I happened to have in-stock some M6 cage nuts designed to fit into a 1/4"x1/4" square punch-out in the side rails of a 19" computer server rack. They fit perfectly into the square hole in the refrigerator vent trim ring (inserted from the inside) designed to capture the black plastic retainer clip. Since my cage nuts are metric, I had to use metric machine screws. You can just as easily use inch-sized cage nuts and machine screws. The upper and lower vent covers require slightly different washer sizes and machine screw lengths as detailed below. Upper Vent: M6-1.0x20mm machine screw, 6mm or 1/4" x 3/4" diameter steel flat washer, similar size round rubber flat washer. Lower Vent: M6-1.0x25mm machine screw, 6mm or 1/4" x 5/8" diameter steel flat washer, similar size square rubber washer. Flat washers and machine screws are stainless steel. Rubber washers are cut down to fit from a larger rubber washer. If you want you can select machine screws with security heads (security torx, security hex, etc...). CAUTION: Do not tighten machine screws too much - they will crack the bracket with the square opening in the trim ring that holds the cage nut in place (don't ask me how I know this LOL). Snug but not real tight. The rubber washers are there for this purpose. Periodically check machine screws to make sure they haven't self-loosened. Tom

"Nice job" to all of the above contributors. VERY useful. I did notice one very minor omission... the overflow tube on the fresh water tank is not shown. Not a big deal, but I recommend that it be included for the sake of completeness if nothing else 🙂

Hah - That's pretty funny! We spent 8 days on the Blue Ridge Parkway, staying at four different campgrounds, for 2 nights each. We moved the trailer every other day to a different campground further down the parkway. On the alternating days we ranged 50-75 miles up or down the parkway with just our tow vehicle, revisiting some of the more interesting sounding overlooks that were not visible when we went by them the first time, or hopping off the parkway for attractions that required more time to absorb than we were willing to commit to on days when we were relocating the trailer to the next campground. Maybe not the most efficient approach, but definitely more relaxing than breaking camp every day...

Blue Ridge Parkway, Rockfish Gap VA to Cherokee NC, April 2019 Great drive with lots of scenic views and very little traffic this time of year. Almost all of the on-parkway visitor centers and campgrounds were still closed, but we had no problem finding campgrounds just off-parkway. Visibility is greatly reduced when the fog and/or rain rolls in, but still interesting. Blue Ridge Parkway northern terminus, Rockfish Gap VA (MP 0.0) Blue Ridge Parkway Great Valley Overlook (MP 99.6) Blue Ridge Parkway Curtis Valley Overlook (MP 348.8)

The stainless steel set screws that hold together the 1" SS railing between the side dinette and rear dinette (only in an Elite-I) apparently loosen up during travel. I've found several loose setscrews under the seat cushions or on the floor that have backed themselves completely out. Others I've noticed while they were loose but before falling out. One fell out and disappeared completely, never to be found. I could see no obvious evidence that any type of threadlocker had been used on these setscrews originally. For my first repair attempt, I'm putting them back in with Loc-Tite "Blue" Threadlocker 243. If that doesn't hold them, I'll move up to a stronger/more permanent threadlocker. Still a work in progress... FYI I found replacement SS setscrews at Defender (same setscrews as used in SS boat railings) - Whitecap P/N 6249C, 316 Stainless Steel, 1/4-28 threads, cone point, pkg of 10.

One or two of our solar panel mounting knobs were loose last November when we put our Ollie away for the winter... just 3 nights camping from factory pickup. Checked them all and put it away with sufficiently tight nobs for the winter. We've maybe put a couple of thousand miles on it so far this season, and there were 2 knobs loose again. Not sure if it was the same 2 knobs as before or not. All knobs had a lock washer installed, but they were compressed between the metal bracket and the plastic knob so not sure if they were able to fully achieve the intended effect. I added a stainless flat washer to each knob, and implemented John Davies' locking solution described above (thanks, John!). Easy, cheap and effective. On a side note pertaining to tilting the solar panels to facilitate water runoff, that does not appear to be possible on our 2018 Elite I as the box holding the connectors is located right underneath the panel and is so tall that there is insufficient clearance to drop down either side of the panel a notch in the bracket. However, when the trailer is level (as determined by the bubble on the tongue jack/stabilizer) there is a slight forward tilt to the solar panels due to a slight slope in the top ridge of the roofline. When level and at rest, water flows forward and off of the panel's top surface.

I can confirm the above. We do not have a black tank flush valve either (Elite I hull#409 completed in late November 2018). That's good, because if we did it would be impossible to get to. I can see most of the tubing from where it enters the hull to where it enters the black tank with a flashlight and a mirror-on-a-stick, but most of it is buried under or behind the furnace and there is insufficient clearance to get a hand/arm into or around that space to operate such a valve if it did exist. The 2019 Owner's Manual (dated 1/8/2019) has removed the prior reference to this valve. See the "Oliver University" link under "Travel Trailers" above to download the latest owner's manual (now a single, merged Elite I and Elite II manual). Tom

We have a 2018 Legacy Elite (I) with the Dometic refrigerator. The upper and lower ventilated access panels seem to be made by Norcold. *So far* I only have experience with installing screens on the lower access panel. I have ordered a screen that *I think* should fit the upper access panel but it has not arrived yet so that fit is not yet confirmed. Lower access panel: Norcold P/N 621156BW (white), Screen: Camco P/N RS600. I had to trim about 3/16" off both ends of each screen, and about 2 rows of wire off the "long, inner/unfinished" edge of the screen for it to fit nicely into the vents in the access panel. Per a similar discussion elsewhere on the forum, I used (4) small cable ties per screen, rather than just (2) as described in the instructions. Upper access panel: Norcold P/N 620505PW (polar white), Screen: Valterra P/N A10-1314VP (Correct fit still to be confirmed. this is a flat, rectangular screen that fits inside the ventilated access panel (rather than the long skinny screens that fit into the actual vents like with the lower access panel). Its supposed to be a no-tool drop-in installation. I found it at eTrailer.

If only I could remember everything in a single post LOL... When using the Honda EU2200i and similar generators that do not already bond the neutral to the ground connection, you need to have a plan for where you are going to plug in the neutral/ground bonding plug. With the Honda non-companion version, you can plug the bonding plug into one 15A receptacle, and the adapter or extension cord into the other 15A receptacle. With the Honda companion version, you would either need a 15A "Y-adapter" to be able to plug in both the bonding plug and the adapter or extension cord into the (single) 15A receptacle, or make a similar neutral/ground bonding plug that fits into the 30A L5-30R receptacle. Tom

One more thought... Some folks prefer to use a lighter weight extension cord between the single Honda EU2000i/EU2200i and the Ollie, and then use an adapter at the shorepower connector on the trailer end, rather than wrestling with the heavier 30A AWG 10/3 standard shorepower cord. Since the single generator only produces 15A continuous (2200 Watts or about 18.3A peak), a standard 25ft 12/3 outdoor rated extension cord (which is rated for 20A) works well. Tom

Darryl, We have the EU2200i Companion model. A couple of my thoughts on this for your consideration: The companion model has a 30A receptacle, but without a 2nd paired generator you can still only get 15A continuous (2200 watts peak) out of the 30A receptacle. The 30A receptacle on the companion model is a 3-prong twist lock (L5-30R), whereas the standard shorepower cord terminates with the RV-specific 3-prong straight-bladed plug, aka TT-30P. While electrically compatible (125V/30A max, hot/neutral/ground connection), the two connectors are not physically compatible. You will need a separate adapter to plug the standard Ollie shorepower cord into either the Honda companion model 30A receptacle or the 15A receptacle. The 30A receptacle is not protected by the small 20A push-button breaker on the front of the generator. In an overload situation, the inverter will shutdown and trigger the "overload" LED. You may have to shutdown and restart the generator to get the inverter to reset (vs pushing the 20A breaker button back in if you were using the 15A receptacle when the overload occurred). So bottom line it doesn't really matter, pending your opinions on (1) which adapter you would prefer to use, (2) the 20A breaker vs the inverter overload mechanism, and (3) whether you think you might in the future have occasion to either borrow or purchase a 2nd generator, and which configuration that 2nd generator is likely to be... Tom

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome! We've been following the forum vicariously for almost a year prior to pick-up and, like everyone else has mentioned, find it extremely informative, wide-ranging, and even amusing at times :) Echoing several comments above - we live in serious snow country (averaging a little over 10ft / year, with even higher snowfall not too far from us), and have lots of experience driving in the snow. While we have no problem being adventurous in a suitable vehicle, I draw the line at towing a trailer in significant snow or (even worse) ice. Watch the weather... be safe. Stay another night or two if you have to. "A bad day camping beats a good day at the office any time"

Darryl and Kim, No need for anxiety LOL. Pickup was easy... just a lot of information to absorb in a short time. We skimmed through the online owners manual (under "Travel Trailers -> Oliver University" above) ahead of time so we had some context. We came with our own list of questions, and took notes as needed. Blake gave us a thorough hands-on walk-thru of the trailer's systems and we could ask as many questions as we needed to. We spent approx. 4 hours on the walk-thru in the garage bay at the sales office (as shown in the photo) so it was warm and dry with convenient restroom facilities. There's a thread here somewhere about what to bring for pick-up. The trailer was pretty much ready to go as far as the basic necessities go. It came with 25ft of fresh water hose, water pressure reducer, 25ft shorepower cable, 15amp adapter, sewer hose kit with 2x 10ft of hose and related fittings, compact lug wrench, manual crank for the stabilizers and tongue jack (in case there is no power left in the batteries), full propane tanks and a winterized water system. We elected to leave it winterized, but we did bring a couple of gallons of RV anti-freeze, a hand pump for the anti-freeze, and a 3ft section of hose to suck in anti-freeze with the pump in case we changed our mind. Obviously we needed our 2" hitch, 7-pin hookup and brake controller. We also brought & used some leveling pads for the stabilizers. The site was pretty level so we didn't need to level the trailer side-to-side. The has a somewhat higher coupler than the pop-up that we had been towing, so we came prepared with our hitch adapter configured (for our truck hitch height) with a 1" rise rather than our normal 2" drop. We came out pretty close to level! And yes, we did camp overnight after pick-up. In fact, we planned on staying 2 nights in case we had factory service issues that needed to be resolved before we left, as we were not able to arrive at the sales office until about noon. As it turned out we did have one minor issue that they couldn't easily resolve in the sales office garage bay, so they scheduled us for an 8am service appointment the next morning (as it was almost quitting time for the factory crew when it was discovered). We camped overnight the 1st night in the sales office parking lot so that we would be close to the factory the next morning (power, but no water... and 19 degrees! Not the most scenic site LOL but it made meeting our service appt the following morning much easier) . We've camped in tents below zero, and came prepared with a duffel of winter clothes in the truck "just in case", but the furnace performed well and we enjoyed 65 degrees all night long with normal bedding. Our issue was resolved the next day by Jason, Rich and the service staff at the factory. The 2nd night we stayed at 1000 Trails Campground (about 20 min away and just off the Natchez Trace) for our complimentary campsite. This is a large campground that is somewhat wooded with lots of elevation changes. Quite a few year-round permanently installed RVs with open sites scattered around. The campground staff recommended several loops with open sites and told us to just pick one, so we found one that was easy to get in and out of for our first time maneuvering the trailer into a spot. It had power, water and sewer although we just used the power. It was warmer that 2nd night at 34 degrees. We could also have stayed at Fall Hollow Campground, which is closer to the sales office and much smaller, but we found 1000 Trails more interesting. Nice sunset too :)

Hi! We are Tom & Holly from Central NY, and we just picked up our Legacy Elite (I) about a week and a half ago. So far we've enjoyed just 3 nights in our Ollie before we put it to bed for the cold & snowy Northeast winter! We've both been hiking, canoeing and camping since forever under tarps, in tents and in a pop-up trailer. This is our first foray into a hard-sided camper with creature comforts so that's something of a new experience. Most of our camping has been in the Adirondack Mtns of northern NY and several other places in southern Ontario, Canada. We are expecting to revisit some old favorites and also to begin ranging further afield once spring arrives.

Hmmm... might be worth a try! We camped in 19 degrees (F) one night last week and definitely had some condensation under the vinyl cushions and associated bedding.