GraniteStaters

David and I left NH Feb 16 intending to camp in the south-eastern and gulf states working our way over to Mississippi and then coming back on the Natchez Trace Parkway, attend the rally in Alabama, then slowly camp our way back to NH, arriving home in mid-June. Then the rally was postponed and campgrounds began closing. Several days ago we decided that ending our trip and heading home was the wiser thing to do. We reached NH yesterday afternoon, sad to have our first real trip cut so short but we had great fun and learned a lot about our Ollie (happy we had brought the manuals with us!). It is time to stay home to help protect as many people as possible. Hope you all are well and planning your next trip.

I love your graphics. Banana Banners did ours as well, thanks to Bob Hunt. They need to give him a commission every time he sends an Oliver owner to them! We picked up in September and just left NH in mid February. The Trace and the rally are in our plans so hope to see you. Paula

I stay signed in all the time and get new notifications with no problem. Paula

I bought the FT Knox and it works well and was less expensive. Either is a deterrent. David

I am also planning to play before the event too. It is a very nice course. David

Thanks, Bill

Thanks for the feedback, John

I don’t know? I hooked my truck up to the RV this AM when we had 4 inches of sticky snow on the panels and the Zamp confirmed we were charging at 13.5 volts. I cleared the panels and checked again before shutting off the Ram and we were seeing 14.x volts so I assume the solar was helping. The Ollie has been off grid for several days this week and we used about 20ah yesterday while we were in and out of it. The batteries are about 75 percent charged per the Zamp.

Paula and I have a 2019 Ram 1500 Hemi 5.7 with e-Torque generator option. I was going through some stuff and came across the brochure that reminded me that the generator and 48 volt Lithium battery has a 12kw capacity. We have the solar option on our LEII so we are thinking that most times we wouldn't need a separate generator/inverter very often and because payload is important in our truck, I am thinking we could just park the Ram close enough to plug in the trailer harness and recharge the Swallow's batteries if we should have a less optimal solar campsite or a period of bad weather. If I had to, I could rig an extension to the trailer harness too and that would allow some flexibility with the TV parking. The engine is just as quiet as our inverter. Can anyone see any holes in my idea? David

Andrew, we have the optional antenna, but I think checking to insure the cable connected is a good first step. I knew something was up with our radio reception, but until I got to an area where I was confident about the signal for a good FM station that still worked poorly. I didn't start checking the tuner itself. You probably should to that if you haven't traced the cable connection to the antenna already.

We initially had a problem with our radio on our new 2019 LEII. I used a inspection camera and confirmed that the antenna was never connected. I was able to inspect the back of the Jensen to find the right connector and our radio problem was resolved.

I made a bonded ground plug for my Honda. I was using the standard 20 amp plug to connect to a 30 amp outlet adapter on the Ollie. This worked fine, but I decided to purchase a Champion dual fuel generator to use when we need power. It has a TT-30 plug in addition to a 20 amp duplex outlet. I started it and plugged into the Oliver using the 30 amp option and it never powered up. I suspected that it was the same issue I had on the Honda but I had no error code on the Progressive surge protector remote all it said was “OFF” on the remote screen. I did my due diligence and followed troubleshooting steps suggested on this forum. I verified that I had power on the TT-30. I had 120 volts. I checked to see if the LED was lit on the Flurion power cable at the Oliver. I checked the Progressive remote monitor and it showed “OFF” on the display. I then plugged in the bonding plug on one of the 20 amp outlets and heard the transfer switch activate. I could have made this permanent bond of the neutral to ground under the front bezel, but I prefer to do it this way so as to not make any hidden changes. The Champion seems to be well made, but is twice the weight. It is 3400 watt surge or 3160 watt run. LP gives you a bit less than that. I believe it is 2790 watts.

I was able to build one of these quite easily. I had the end of a 12/2 cable that had a 3 pronged plug that worked perfectly. There was a discussion at the rally about doing this by someone who sat at the same table and it revolved around whether this is a good idea or not. The contention was that by doing this workaround it was somehow defeating a protection. The theory was if it was okay to do this, wouldn't Honda offer one. I didn't do the research when we came back from the rally, but did test that all worked well with my Honda i2000u inverter/generator.

Thanks, John for the feedback. I see your point about the outside connections not being able to be blown out with compressed air from the inside fittings.

We have a NH toilet, so I have been thinking about using the water fitting in there to be able to purge the water supply with compressed air. I believe there is a valve below the right dinette seat that I would also need to open too. This would be helpful when traveling in winter conditions between camping sites. I do understand that I would need to still bypass and drain the Truma or install the Truma heater to prevent damage.