taylor.coyote

TopGun, You have been very kind, I would be happy to have stay at our place.. We like fly fishing, motorcycles, hiking and kitty cats around here.

Stranded, i noticed that the packages of brass bolts are 1/4 20 treads and you had listed 10/24 earlier in the communication. what bolt size did you use for the brackets?

Stranded, Grateful for your help. You have a standing invitation to camp at our place on the way Alaska or if you get by this part of state. We live on 8 acres surrounded by big Redwoods. Plenty of room to camp with some 15amp power. Not so good for solar panels here. We like the desert and spent a good portion of 7 weeks in southeast ca and parts of Nv over the holidays. We are headed back to southeast ca and maybe other areas in about 30 days with the hope of some great super blooms. My wife is an artist and paints Plein Air and I'm a wildlife photographer, aspersing to be a better landscape shooter. Doing a few locations for super blooms could be fun but not sure about the crowds. We like to be remote away from all the action. Alaska is on our list. I have read about how bad the roads are for flying rocks and the ways to protect the fiberglass... This has slowed down get to Alaska but that's a different project.

As I said before, IMPRESSIVE!! You really got outside the box on this one. I'm starting from scratch. No plates or holes in my roof. I will need to find a way to locate where the thicker fiberglass step-downs are located so I can avoid drilling to where they will be an issue. I will ask "top gun" to help me locate where I drill. His hull is #117 and mine is #124. This would be a good bet. Additionally, I think your recommendation of making the plates smaller. the foot roof bracket is something like are 2"x1". I think the plates could be something like 2.25" x 1.5" would be good. I understand the need to countersink the top of the plate. In the video, it was hard to see. Did you grind/taper the end of the hollow brass screw? also, what was the length of the final set of bolts used for the brackets? with your coaching, I feel this is a very a reasonable project. the last thing before I jump off this cliff: A couple of people mentioned flexible panels. You also made mention of these as an option. I did a small amount of research on these. Seems it would be hard to get enough output because they cannot be mounted to "fly" beyond the roof contours that limit the Oliver to smaller surface panels. I would like to get an output at least equal to the factory's 340-watt system and maybe more if I choose different panels. I'm curious as to your thoughts on me going forward with traditional panels. Thank you so much for giving your time and sharing. A lot of people have done cool stuff the trailers but I think you should get the "outside the box creativity award". Watching the video, I caught you live in California. I live in the far north on the coast, north of Eureka and Arcata. We travel the whole state reasonably often. Where in California is your home?

I wish everyone good luck if they go down this road. I lived in my trailer for 3 months as my full time home in the bay area to receive medical treatments two years go. I met with my tax accountant on this very issue. He strongly advised me not to claim my solar equipment. This act will no likely pass the straight face test in an audit. The good news: you will likely get away with the claim because the odds of getting audited are low.

Andrew, thank you.. I think I'm on a good path to getting my panels on the roof. "Stranded" (above in this conversation) has come up with a very cool bracket solution. I'm committed to AMG batteries for the foreseeable future. I have a Zamp controller now but open to look at new more efficient controllers w/ better battery management tools. a new controller would need handle AMG batteries now and lithium down the road. Because my roof is a clean slate, I will be able to mount my panel brackets within reason, anywhere on the roof. I'm open to panels other than the 170 watt zamp. I could leave the 170 watt panel I have on my truck with an umbilical cord to supplement what ever I put on the trailer. I look forward to talking when you get home. best

Can someone tell me where to source the standard bracket that Oliver bolts to the roof for the solar panels? In my case, I'm starting with a naked roof and not tied to the production bracket. Does anyone have any suggestions for a bracket that may be a better alternative bracket?

Stranded, I have spent a good share of time thinking about your process of getting tapped mounting plates inside the roof panels. Questions: Do you see an advantage of attaching the I bolts for the possibility of dragging the plate back to the max fan vs just drilling another hole at the edge of the plate? Do you feel it wound be reasonable to apply some slow curing adhesive to the top of the plates so they will bond to the roof? The idea would be to make future work on the solar bracket easier and not require the imbedded knowledge of having to engage one hole at a time to prevent the plate from dropping loose into the roof hollow .. How long is the brass bolt? Was drilling the brass bolt a simple task for the machine shop? Do you think using thicker material for the plate and countersinking a bit make it easier to thread to bolt into the plate? I'm thinking using surveyor's cord would be small dimensioned and strong for pulling the plates into place. Do you have a recommendation? Does the rod for the magnet to "catch" and pull the string from the bracket hole back to the max fan need to be flexible? what did you use for this rod?

another Wow... love the creative solution. at this point I'm hoping to get the stock 340w panels on brackets w/back-up plates per Stranded's coaching. This will be a big win. I'm hoping these panels will do the job to service 4 AMG / around 400ah batteries. If we desire more panel surface after the stock panels are in place, I feel fortunate to have awnings /brackets on both sides of my trailer. Picking up on your installation ideas would make for a clean / solid solution for additional panels .. Very Nicely done.

Stranded, Wow, you are tenacious working through uncharted waters. Impressive to say the least. I see four new plates in the image. I'm assuming you replaced all four plates/brackets. The front plates are in the range of 60" from the max fan opening. If so, your accomplishment is more impressive. With your coaching, it still appears to be a significant test for ones patients. Prior to your communication I was imaging how to make some crazy brackets anchored between my awning's brackets or using adhesive. I look forward to your video.

My trailer was delivered without solar at a time aluminum mounting plates were not part of the standard production; thus, I don't have mounting plates in my roof line. I currently have my solar panels on the top of my truck but wish to have panels on the trailer. I have spoken with Jason E, Steve/Scuba and my local RV shop about various adhesives and tapes as a means of attaching brackets to the fiberglass. Additionally, I have read everything I can find about unique panel mountings throughout the forum. Although adhesives may be viable, I would like to explore the possibility of making a custom bracket(s) tying into the middle awning brackets as part of my solar panel mounting solution (I have awnings on both sides of my trailer). I would feel a lot more comfortable having at least part of the panel brackets bolted to something solid. Does anyone have any experience using the middle awning brackets as a mounting point? or have some creative ideas using other solid mounting points?

After all the suggestions to fix the heater... ended up having one loose wire. John Davies had it correct . "check the voltage.. do some basic electrical troubleshooting"

Amazing how much smarter we are in hindsight .... this said, if they would have told us the stock lights basically don't work, I would have likely gone for the upgrade.

Congratulations, you have purchases a fine trailer. During my purchase process, it was all about the quality of the trailer. Four years later, i can say the group of people in the forum willingness to help was unexpected, amazing, clever and creative. Fellow owners that I have never met have gone well out of their way to help me on several occasions. Once when I was broken down without heat a fellow Oliver owner offered to come to my location to help. Welcome aboard. Your fellow Oliver owners are pretty much nuts about the trailers and add a great deal of value to your ownership and overall experience. I wish you best of luck going forward and to thank all of the forum participants my gratitude and thanks.

Hobo, thank you for the links.. I have hardly blinked when it comes to spending money on the Oliver/truck but I'm having a tough time needing take apart the front end and spend $1k+ to upgrade lights because the stock lights are just absolute garbage. I could strap a couple of flashlights to my hood and have better lights. We love the truck but this one grinds me.

I love the nice and tidy look. It's nice to know about the option. For me, functionally I don't feel enough is gained to invested the time. I have several other project such as mud flaps and waxing the beast yet to get done. Maybe it's something to do next time I rotate the tires or grease the suspension.

We have business properties and personal properties. Our Oliver is personal property will never be rented. If you need to rent your trailer, likely you can't afford it.

valley of fire 45 minutes north of las vegas is an amazing place. also red rocks is worth taking a day to tour (no a place to camp at red rocks)

GJ.. thanks for the youtube. I've at the sourcing a bulb stage and had not considered that access to the bulbs would be such a headache. You gave me the link to the f150. Below is the link to the 2019 f250. It's unbelievable, you have to take apart the whole front-end of the truck. I now know i have project to install the bulbs once i come up with suitable bulbs.

I'm looking for significantly better lighting without major wiring modification or a major cost. The stock lights in our Nissan Rogue produce twice the light of the F250. Does anyone know this truck and have suggestions of some bulbs that actually produce light? Back in the 80's I was able to purchase 100 watt European high beam bulbs for my BMW. These were amazing lights but not legal. Driving with these bulbs required being very alert to managing high beams for on coming traffic. Your thoughts will be appreciated.

We spend a good deal of time off the grid and have been investigating various SOS soultions. Please find link to information about SOS if you are an Android users. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/01/qualcomm-says-it-built-a-better-satellite-messaging-system-than-apple/

please confirm I'm understanding the above stream. the trailer will manage shore power of 15-20amp connection to service the batteries and run a couple of small appliances ( small dehumidifier and 750 watt oil heater set at low level in my case). the trailer has a trickle charge type circuit that will shut off when the batteries are fully charged and the batters will not become over charged. Is this correct?

Last update... raced to get home and !#!!, not power. Just got PG&E update. It will BE 10 DAYS BEFORE WE GET POWER at our home... the good new is we heat 100% with a wood stove. the bad new is not running or hot water without running a generator. It's what we both love and dislike about living remote.

all really great stuff. thanks to everyone. we got a break in the weather mid-morning and decided to pack up and head for home. the wind was our biggest concern. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge was reasonable. This made us feel a lot better about our decision to travel. Lots of small slides, standing water and raging rivers but we have just arrived at home.... and lots of down trees and the power is out here. One more night in the trailer will more comfortable than our home... glad to be home after 7 weeks. thanks all