Galway Girl

It appears that both FRONT brakes are not energizing. Based on other posts, I'm assuming I should rewire to avoid using the lines that run through the front tube. If that doesn't work what's the next step? I saw another post about the wires all being mashed together and soldered under the street side bed before they head out thru hull. Tips? Craig

This you tube shows the trick is getting one screw (that's very hard to see on the back) removed before trying to pop out the valve. See the 2:12 Mark on video...easiest to use a 1/4" socket to remove screw.]\

Welcome and Congrats. Nice bright campsite & rig. Did you get instruction the requirement to burnish in the brakes on your trailer? Since you picked it up at a dealer curious if it was towed there and the brakes were already burnished in. When we picked ours up at the factory, we had to burnish them in as part of our break in drive. Burnishing Brakes: Any time you have a new trailer, or have new brakes on an existing trailer, the electric drum style brakes must be burnished. (Broken in.) One procedure: On a lonely back road... Set the gain on your brake controller to 10 (or High) . Then drive up to 40 mph then using only the trailer brakes slow to 20. Drive a bit an repeat ....about 20 stops. Another way: On a 65mph highway, but in right lane...to drive at 60MPH. With control set on high or 10. Depress the controller for trailer only brakes for 1/2 Mile. Make sure you're not locking up brakes on trailer. After a 1/2 mile, pull over somewhere safe and smell/feel or measure with laser reader for hot brakes >350F on all 4 wheels. You may smell burning smells which are ok as you're trying to heat and seat the brakes. After burnishing (in either method) your brake controller can now be set to ~5 (or half) and should be setup for safe stopping. Here's our blog for future travel and outfitting inspiration: https://4-ever-hitched.com/trips-overview Welcome! Craig & Rose Hull 505 - aka Galway Girl

Haven't heard of that. Here's a page showing how to "service" the rear jack that may help. In it there is mention of 3 allen set screws that hold the power head on the jack . Maybe those have backed off an the head has popped up? CS

I've replaced mine with white (EPDM) rubberized door/window weather stripping. Frost King is one brand that worked we'll and lasted 4 years before replacment. You need to scrape off the old, and clean well with Alcohol before attaching.

A nice campground is off 26 in Ririe ID. It's called Juniper Campground and is on the reservoir with some campsites along the rim with a view of the reservoir. Other sites have full hookups and beautiful lawns in the park. https://www.junipercampground.com Bluff view at Juniper CG. Typical FHU Site in middle of Juniper CG. Another stop on your loop is an Idaho State park called Three Island Crossing SP. https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/parks/three-island-crossing/ It's next door to a winery for wine tasting and a golf course. It also has a very nice interpretive center. We've camped here several times as my wife Great Grandfather was a wagon train scout from Missouri that took folks across here 5 different times. There are a variety of campsites FHU to no Dry Camping in this park and well worth a two day stop. Interpretive Center in distance: Typical Campsite at Thee Island Crossing SP There are so many great places in that loop that you'll have no trouble finding great fishing near or at most of the state and NF campgrounds..>Have a great trip. CS

Got a call from the shop doing our Truma Burner replacement. They said: "the water test failed. the fitting on the circulation pump is cracked and the copper line is bent and cannot be repaired. Regina with Oliver Trailer advised this is not something they are covering. I am reaching out to Truma to see fi this is under warranty and or get parts pricing." So now we have to cancel our trip next week. Not sure how or why the copper line is bent but I did notice that the line going into the top of the water heater was a bit wiggly loose. Maybe it's another issue with bouncing around in the trailer. I may need to see about converting to another brand or putting in a Suburban unit. Craig

That was our FIRST Problem. If you go back to all the various Truma postings...you'll find the first one we posted was all about that loose fitting. Truma Factory had us return our unit to them and they discovered their production line tools had the wrong torque setting for that coupler...and that it backed off from vibration over time. The SECOND issue is the one that caused the Oliver Recall, non-crimped burner tubes. The symptoms are 'very similar' in that both cause a build up of gas that ignites with a whoosh / thump and then blows out the burner....it keeps trying and occasionally it starts and runs. In the picture below are 4 different photos from different posts we've made. First - What the raw gas ignition looks like for both issues: Still Pix of Burner Flare due to either: Loose Coupler --- or --- Disconnected burner tubes Movie showing ignition when too much gas is in the chamber. IMG_6925.mov A photo of the culprit coupler - Our Coupler Issue - A movie showing the loose coupler could be turned easily with fingers....not tight at all. IMG_7603.MOV Second - Our Burners Rattle Loose Issue Third - The NEW ASSEMBLY that we are having installed today at a repair center. I'm going to check with Oliver and Truma to see if either can send us a new exterior door for the water heater, as ours had partially melted due to flames of these events. Craig - Hull 505 - Galway Girl

That manual is an amazing resource @Ray Kimsey. Thanks for posting. I was starting up my Norcold after winter today and it was throwing an F code. Symptom: On GAS the Norcold would ignite, but the igniter circuit kept clicking and clicking until the unit shut down and threw an F code. I was concerned that it would be one of the harder to find parts like the igniter board etc. I downloaded the manual you posted and followed the F Code troubleshooting flow chart. Upon opening up the burner box, I spotted that my burner area was very clean but the sensor was practically touching the burner, and needed to be adjusted out to 3/16". I did that adjustment by sliding a 3/16 hex key along the burner and squeezed it into the igniter so it was set for 3/16" Re-tried the fridge and it started with no codes and is still running. The gap between the igniter was fine but the sensor was too close. The PIX below are from a service posting showing how the parts are supposed to be aligned....and what a proper flame looks like. https://www.arprv.com/norcold-gas-valve.php

You could certainly use one of those 2 CATV ports. They are quite easily accessible in the basement once you unscrew the covering flexible wall board. You could then drag a cable up into the attic space which also has AC power if needed. Craig *(Hull 505)

Maybe show us a pix of what's already in your control panel by the pantry. If you have physical space there for your Victron Touchscreen that would be a good location. You can run a fish tape from a new hole (next to the pantry) down into the belly of the trailer and across to the location of your new Cerbo GX. You can access that between the wall area through the Access Port inside your pantry. Another option is to put the touch screen to the right or left side of the upper rear attic door. You can gain access down the back side of the trailer (back side of attic) with a fish tape. That's the location we put a new display when we upgraded. Alternate location for any touch panels if the space next to the pantry is already full of panels. Shown below - the space right of he rear Attic Door. The access path for the cable is along the belly area street side to the back wall of the trailer. Next cable runs up the back wall into the attic area. You need to un-bolt the rear interior wall of the attic to gain access to the back of the space shown. (Easy to do.)

Burners are shipped to Oliver, then they are shipped out to various repair shops as scheduled. Our replacement burner has just arrived at a local RV shop and we take ours in next week for the repair. The issue addressed is that in older units from Truma the burner tubes could drop out of frame due to road vibration. If that happens raw gas is injected into the burner area and cause faulty operation .

Ours from Oliver was a double sided socket with 3/4 on one side.

Try reading my upgrade article here... In it I describe all the steps to an upgrade - Also - check my personal message I sent today. Full Article in our Blog Here: https://4-ever-hitched.com/ggs-blog/f/lithium-battery-upgrade?blogcategory=Electrical+Upgrades Slides of the upgrade & Pix in this PDF: 12V Layout.pdf Craig - Hull 505 - (Galway Girl)

Wow that's a long driver from Kalispell to Port Orchard (almost 600 miles) so ideas below for breaking up the drive. You could stop at Beauty Creek Campground - which is bookable on Rec.Gov and about 220 miles / 4 HRs from Kalispell. 7500 Beauty Creek Rd Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814 Another longer drive day option is about 6.5 Hrs (400 mi) from Kalispell to where I-90 crosses the Columbia River. Right at the Columbia River there are a couple state parks including Wanapum State Park and Ginko Petrified forest and other areas for camping. You can reserve at Wa State Parks. (See Map Below) Good luck on your travels. Craig

I see now in the pix that your trailer doesn't have solar on the roof. Sorry I forgot to look closely. Yes...you'll be good to go with new batteries that are being charged with 45A when plugged into shore power as a first step. Future: Rewiring for new Xantrex 3000 to run your A/C When you upgrade in the future to a Xantrex 3000 Inverter/Charger that you'll also likely be wanting to have some of the wiring swapped around to enable you to run the Air Conditioner off of the inverter and battery. In older units (Pre 2021) the Xantrex 2000W Inverter only unit, the AC inverter outputs are routed only to the Outlets of the trailer plus the Microwave outlet. The older units inverter is not wired to a breaker to feed the Air Conditioner circuit. In the day of AGM's it wasn't really a viable option to run AC off the inverter. Those wiring swaps will happen on installation of your new Inverter/Charger, and most changes happen on the back side of the PD4000 breaker box under the dinette. You'll also be needing to find a location for the new Xantrex 3000 display panel once the new Inv/Charger is in place. For future reference, here's a picture of the area under the street side bed where our Old Xantrex inverter was and the new Inverter/Charger was placed. It's the exact location of our hulls original Xantrex 2000 Inverter. We had to remove the old inverter and install a new carrier board for the new - larger size inverter. I could have gone with an Xantrex 3000 but did my design as a drop in replacement as opposed to a full upgrade for running the A/C off battery. Battery Box: You may or may not need to take out the battery tray. It depends on the height/size of the new batteries. In our upgrade we put in 2 - 315AH Lithionics and they fit in the tray with some spacers to take up extra space. Other folks that have upgraded to the larger form factor >400AH batteries have needed to remove the tray because the new batteries wouldn't fit the tray. Final Cable Cleanup: At the time that you do the upgrade of the Xantrex, you may want to consider cleaning up all the various wires that come into the battery box. This is what our 4 AGM cabling looked like at the factory. After cleaning up and adding buss bars you'll only have big battery connection cables left in the box. THIS is completely optional and not necessary but clearing out clutter makes troubleshooting on the road much easier. To clean up the mess of cables you would have all the grounds run to a single buss bar (under the street side bed) and then just one ground cable to the battery box. Likewise for the + 12V cables (red) that run out to the battery box. Good luck on your journey to Lithium. CS

Hopefully you were able to check which PD Charger section you currently have and order the direct replacement. Oliver factory either put in a 45 or 60 amp charger. (Example: Our 2019 has a 60amp version - 4060CSV) Answer: YES - you can charge as large a battery bank (Pair) as you wish and it will simply take longer as it's only putting out 45A or 60A depending upon model. Example: Charge a pair of 300AH batteries (600AH total) from 50% to full charge) - you are essentially charging 300AH. With 4045CSV best case would take 300AH divided by charge rate of 45A/Hr = 6.6 hr. With the 4060CSV 60A model it would be 300/60= 5hrs. If you had a new inverter/charger and set it up for 120Amp charging it would take 300/120 = 2.5 Hrs. Solar Controller and charging expectations: For your specific trailer do you have ROOF Mounted Solar Panels, or just external on the ground panels? Roof Mounted Solar: If you have roof mounted solar on the roof then you should also have a ZAMP display and control panel on the wall of the trailer. The roof mounted solar panels provide either 360W or 380W depending upon unit Those panels on the roof connect directly to the ZAMP Charger/Control panel on the wall of the trailer and from there down to a buss bar in the basement street side...and thus to the batteries. On the ground panels: The Exterior ZAMP connector is connected to a buss bar which then connects with wires to the batteries. The solar controller is normally "with the ground panels". If you have only one 180Watt panel you'll take a very long time to charge. The ROOF mounted panels typically put out about 12 AMPS so to fully charge 300 AH that could take 300/12 = 25 hours with direct sun. A 180Watt ground panel typically will output about 6 amps in full sun and that would take 300/6 = 50 hours to charge. What we've found with our setup with >630AH total lithium, 380Watts Solar on the Roof: We we use about 100AH/day using all appliances, tv etc. but NOT using the AC off the battery. That means without any hookups we can off grid for about 6 days...before we are running low. Hope that helps. CS

If your current PD4000 Charging board does not have the AGM/Lithium Jumper setting, the PD4000 Series Lithium converter upgrade board is available via E-Trailer. Please check which original converter board you have....60Amp or 45 Amp. (ours was 60Amp) To upgrade your trailer if you have a 45Amp board, stick with the 45AMP LI plug in...if you have 60Amp board, then use 60amp LI version. (Safety for wires is important.) This upgrade only takes about 30 minutes to complete. Here's the overview link to the Progressive dynamics site that shows the lithium replacement part number. https://www.progressivedyn.com/lithium-converter-replacement-units/ Snip from that page: E-Trailer has both boards available. 45 Amp Version https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Progressive-Dynamics/PD4045CSV.html?feed=npn&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_vMtnZsg_-Is9SAt6Ew5v33GB0V&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpem7gN-qjAMVpiytBh3oeBfeEAQYASABEgLqC_D_BwE 60 Amp Version https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Progressive-Dynamics/PD4060CSV.html?feed=npn&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_vMtnZsg_-Is9SAt6Ew5v33GB0V&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIi-LJ9N-qjAMVY83CBB3qGQb2EAQYASABEgK0DvD_BwE One big difference between the bigger victron or xantrex charger/inverters is that they charge the batteries at >120Amp output...so faster charging. But you spend a lot more for functions you already have in your trailer. Often the simple path is often the best....with a simple plug in board upgrade and new LI batteries you'll be served for many years. Craig

The reason they are installed is that Oliver's main frame is Aluminum, but the axles are mounted with a reinforced steel frame. Where those two metals meet there could be corrosion unless some other "sacrificial" item is added touching both steel and aluminum. Due to electrolysis, the zincs dissolve away and will look ratty and crumbled so you see it when it's time to replace them. That can take a very long time on the Oliver hull unless you are driving in wet/salty conditions. (Like maybe 10 years or more.) They are available at most boating supply stores or online as "round sacrificial zinc". $3 each. The factory service center also has them in stock and can mail you them if needed. The round ones shown are often used on outboard motors which are in salt water and fresh water...thus available at marine suppliers. Take a look at the 1:35 mark in this video on the chassis construction to see the actual installed anode. Hope that helps. CS

If you look in the wheel wells you see them where the steel reinforced frame touches the aluminum frame. They are about the diameter of a quarter.

Gary, To help you get a range let's think of it like this: Option 1: Factory Upgrade: $10K + If you upgrade at the factory you can get an accurate quote by contacting service via email. My guess is around $10K to add 3 Lithionics batteries and a new 3000 Xantrex Inv/Charger. One reason for the high price is uprading to a new 3000 Xantrex Inverter Charger would also likely have them change around some wiring in your trailer to enable it to run your AC off of your new batteries. The other thing you discussed was a fridge replacement with a compressor fridge. Those are a very time consuming upgrade and costly. A real quote for time and cost can be had via email to Oliver Service. Option 2: Self Upgrade with help from friends: $1-2K About the lowest cost would be to drop in (1) Epoch Essentials 300AH Heated with Bluetooth battery for $999 (SKU: 12300A-H) and charge it with the existing charging circuits. You would likely be able to reuse all the big battery cables you have now. If you dropped in 2 (about $2K including cables) then you would have 600AH capacity about 3x what you have now...and that would enable you to switch to a new fridge. Hope that helps. Craig

@katanapilot Curious, in the 2 pix, the top one has only the end tubes crimped, in the bottom all tubes are crimped. Is the bottom unit from the item you bought one bay? Or did you simply crimp the tubes yourself? Our replacement shipped to the repair facility a couple days back. (On Friday Mar 21,2025) Craig

Imelda: For unit 642 (maybe a 2020 or 2021 model year) first step is determined if your Xantrex is an INVERTER only function or if it's a combo inverter charger. If your system has a 2000w xantrex inverter/charger then the battery swap is simple. If not, then you'll currently be using an progressive dynamics charger which is located in the black breaker box (under the dinette seat). The pix below is the breaker box with the cover removed. The 12v Charger is in the upper left with the white wire connected to the charging board. Some folks with the Progressive Dynamics charger see a jumper switch on the charger unit (upper left in overview) for charging lithium. In the pix below I've zoomed in on the charging board jumpers. The issue with that LI setting is it's not the "best" way to charge lithiums as it's simply a constant 14.6V voltage...not a ramped profile. The WIZ setting of the jumper is a PROFILE for AGM or LEAD Acid. The LI Setting is just 14.6V (no ramp/no profile). Some battery manufacturers (including Lithionics) won't warrant their battery in presence of the constant 14.6V no profile setting. Whichever lithium battery manufacturer you select, LI Time, Epoch, etc....be sure to check what they need as a charging profile. If a constant 14.6V works for them, then you might be able to a drop in maintaining your existing Inverter and existing charging system. I know that battle born did warranty their batteries with the Progressive Dynamics chargers. Also, there are new "Lithium compatible" plug in boards for the progressive dynamics load center that offer a lithium profile wizard. So just upgrading the charging board in your Progressive Dynamics energy center is a possibility. Upgrading requires unscrewing that charging board, disconnecting the white wire and sliding in and securing the new charger for LI. In our case (2019 model hull 505) we swapped out the Xantrex 2000W Inverter (only) for a newer Xantrex 2000 inverter charger before installing new Lithiums. My full upgrade article is here. This may be too much of an effort for what you want to accomplish but hopefully my explanations help. Craig https://4-ever-hitched.com/ggs-blog/f/lithium-battery-upgrade?blogcategory=Electrical+Upgrades

I assume in 2018 model, your xantrex is the INVERTER only function, and for 12V charging you're using the internal progressive dynamics charger (under the dinette seat). Some folks with the Progressive Dynamics charger see a jumper switch for charging lithium. The issue with that setting is it's not the "best" way to charge lithiums as it's simply a constant 14.6V voltage...not a ramped profile. The WIZ setting is a PROFILE for AGM or LEAD Acid. The LI Setting is just 14.6V (no ramp/no profile). Some battery manufacturers (including Lithionics) won't warrant their battery in presence of the constant 14.6V no profile setting. Whichever battery manufacturer you select, LI Time, Epoch, etc....be sure to check what they need as a charging profile. If a constant 14.6V works for them, then you might be able to a drop in maintaining your existing Inverter and existing charging system. I know that battle born did warranty their batteries with the Progressive Dynamics chargers. Also, there are new "Lithium compatible" plug in boards for progressive dynamics that now offer a lithium profile wizard. So just upgrading the charging board in your Progressive Dynamics energy center is a possibility. In our case (2019 model) we swapped out the Xantrex 2000W Inverter (only) for a newer Xantrex 2000 inverter charger before installing new Lithiums. My full upgrade article is here. This may be too much of an effort for what you want to accomplish. https://4-ever-hitched.com/ggs-blog/f/lithium-battery-upgrade?blogcategory=Electrical+Upgrades

Had that happen once...the cause was the exterior faucets were on (but the nozzle off) causing internal mixing of hot/cold water. The time I had winterized I forgot to turn off both the hot and cold taps. I didn't know they were on because the nozzle was clicked off. Once I made sure both hot and cold taps we're OFF, the unit heated right up. Craig