Jump to content

ob1

Members
  • Posts

    11
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by ob1

  1. Thanks Eric, Pete and Andrew for your suggestions. There was a little sliver of info in each that helped. Cutting to the chase for summary, it appears to be a combination of the particular extension cord and the GFI breaker in my garage. For those wanting a little more detail: I tried the heat in the cabin, nothing happened. After trying a different extension cord, and still no luck, I finally took Ollie to the local RV shop and surprise, they found everything working just fine. When I brought it back home, I tried the original extension cord causing the problem and the GFI popped. When I tried the same cord in another separate circuit, it popped that circuit breaker as well. Then I pulled the Ollie power cord out all the way and used a slightly larger gauge and shorter extension cord to reach the original GFI circuit, it popped again, but when I plugged it into the second separate circuit, it held. So it's most likely the GFI circuit breaker that is being very sensitive to the extension cords. The original garage GFI is working just fine with a long extension cord to a large lighted Christmas wreath hanging on the outside of my house (I had unplugged it for all these tests). If you're wondering why I didn't try this at first...I've been plugging a single extension cord in the subject GFI since we picked up Ollie in Jan 09 and it has always worked, no problem, plus the circuit was working with the lighted wreath, so I didn't think it would be that. The extension cord I've used the past two years is a slightly larger gauge and that might have made a difference (it's the one lighting the wreath), but the one in this story was a slightly smaller gauge and possibly slightly longer? The final one that worked was much shorter and larger gauge than the problem one. Pete - I've also had a problem with external curbside GFI circuit. It burned out last year and my shore power didn't work. Once replaced, worked fine. Unfortunately, they don't reset without power, so I didn't know if it was that again or not? Now I've got an extra one to save a trip to the hardware store in Timbuktu. Regarding your comment on the batteries, once plugged in for 24 hours, the batteries were 13.4. The 11.5 reading was after sitting for over two months with no shore power and the power cut-off switch enacted. This forum has been very helpful for me, although some owners must be professional engineers who could make their own parts if needed? I'm mechanically challenged and try to keep it as simple as possible. I think we're good to go now. Thanks again for all your suggestions, I really appreciate it! Terry O'Brien
  2. We last used the trailer in Sept and when I winterized it, I turned off the electric circuit shut-off switch to conserve the batteries. When I went in today to start getting ready for our trip to FL in a couple of weeks, I turned the shut-off switch on, the furnace blower came on as the switch wasn't completely off and the batteries read 11.5 on the gauge. When I plugged in the extension cord to start charging the batteries, the garage gfi breaker faulted. I tried several times with the same result. I went back to the trailer, turned all circuits breakers off, tried a different extension cord, all with the same results. I don't believe it is the garage circuit breaker as it still works with a different light plugged in the gfi socket. The 30 amp fuse at the top of the panel under the small table looks good. I do remember about a month ago, trying to turn on Direct TV and there was a problem and it didn't work and that I thought I could check out later. Is it possible that the Direct TV control box or the satellite antennae would not go through the main power box and cause some sort of fault? As mentioned above, all the breakers are turned to off. I don't know where else to look or what I may have done? Any suggestions? Thanks!
  3. Thanks DC & Chuck for your recommendations and favorites. We'll put out an "APB" when we get near FL.
  4. Cathie and I are thinking of taking our Oliver (and new addition "Latte") for a 6-8 week adventure to the warmer US South in Jan-Feb. Our vacation experiences in FL or TX have been primarily related to visiting family and we are not familiar with camping in either Fl or TX. Our Oliver experiences have been road trips (2-3 weeks) with a max stay of 3 days in any one location, so this will be a complete new experience. We are not enthusiastic about commercial RV parks and prefer State and National parks, plus, with our new little complication to our lives, we need pet friendly places. We would probably not stay in any one place more than a week - 10 days. It would appear that it would be worth the additional hassle of taking bikes and a canoe, especially in FL? A preliminary review indicates that So FL parks have few vacancies when close to the water and we were wondering if the East coast and West coast have any significant weather differences at the same Latitude? Any recommendations, suggestions or comments for places that have a reasonable probability of being quite a bit warmer than Boulder? Thanks much for your help! Terry & Cathie O'Brien (and Latte)
  5. See DC Keifer post at the beginning of this thread: I was one of those with BCT 10 Ply tires that had no problems...up until a couple of weeks ago. I left our home in Boulder CO around 5:15 PM (five hours late), 70lbs psi in each tire, temp 93 degrees, heading to MN to catch-up with my wife at a family gathering. Due to the late start, I was still driving on I80 at 1:15AM, trying to get to a camping spot I had reserved near Lincoln NE, about 50 miles away at the time. I had been driving about 8 hours between 65-72mph with a couple of gas stops, air temp at the time 85-86 degrees. I heard a tremendous loud noise (I had the AC on along with the radio) and the car veered into the left lane. I have never experienced such an event. My first thought was the trailer hitch broke and Ollie was dragging on the highway, or maybe the axle or transmission completely disintegrated?. I pulled over to the shoulder and got out of the car, nothing on the driving side, but I heard a jack motor running. On the curb side, I was shocked to see the tire, what was left of it, was barely on the wheel, there were rubber marks on the side of Ollie, the water heater cover was gone and the jack was descending on it's own. I gave a little thought to trying to change the tire, but I would have had to remove two bikes behind the tailgate, unload the back of the vehicle and hope I had the proper tool or jack to make it happen, with trucks whizzing by 3-5 feet from the trailer's highway side. At that point, approximately 2AM I dialed 911 and ultimately got the highway patrol to locate me and call a tow truck to change the tire. An hour later, I was on my way to a rest stop only 8 miles ahead. I got a few hours of sleep and was looking for a tire store at 7:30AM and fortunately, found one in York, NE, only 5 miles further ahead. The daylight didn't make Ollie look any better. I was astounded by the condition of the tire which had the tread completely separated and gone. I've only seen that on truck tires. The tire store was very helpful, but they didn't have any "E" load rated tires and commented they have rarely sold them for any purpose. I ended up getting two new "D" tires and two used rims as the injured chrome one was bent, etc. and we could not locate another as far away as Lincoln NE and it was Friday. I was on my way in 1 1/2 hours. When I got back home, I made an insurance claim and when everything is all said and done, the total claim is going to be $3,500+ (minus my $500 deductible). There were three fractures (down to the actual fiber) in the fiberglass, all below the water heater enclosure area, the water heater is being replaced, jack fixed, along with paint, a new rim, tire, plus covering the two tires and used rims I purchased in route. My observations: 1) I read the Tire Thread comments previously and thought I was one of the lucky ones with no problems with the BCT's. At max, we may have had 20,000 miles on the tires. The insurance adjuster measured 8/32's on the good tire and thought it looked to be in good condition. 2) The explosion scared me alert like nothing I've experienced on the highway before. 3) If I had been in traffic or had a truck next to me, I would have sideswiped whatever was next to me in the left lane before I brought the vehicle back into the right lane and to the shoulder and possibly suffered substantial damage to Ollie or or 4Runner or worse, personal injury. 4) I'm not normally skittish about such items, and would normally continue to drive my "no problem" tires if I still had them. However, in this case, I would strongly recommend anyone who still has the BCT 10 Ply tires to get rid of them. A few hundred dollars for different tires is not worth the risk of damage or injury. If someone could assist me in posting a couple of images, I will post them. After seeing Ollie and the blow-out tire, you will be convinced. Call me if you have any additional questions. 303-530-3199 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 303-530-3199 end_of_the_skype_highlighting Terry O'Brien
  6. Technomadia - Our 4Runner also had the factory installed tow package and since our Oliver worked fine with our old Explorer, I thought it might be the new electric brakes we had installed. They were not the problem. I thought it might be the alternator since the battery would discharge when driving and the refrigerator didn't keep cool. The alternator checked out fine. I thought the trailer connection was screwed up somehow? The output from the vehicle trailer connection checked out fine. It was not the vehicle. Sorry I didn't get the location on the short/loose connection. I wasn't present when they fixed it. It was inside the trailer. I had the four seat covers off so they could try and find the problem. It was somewhere between the line under the front single seat to the back distribution point for the various lights, etc. Once the short/loose connection was solved, everything worked fine, turn signals, brake lights, battery charging, refrigerator keeping cool, etc. No problems since. We do not need any adapter to plug the Oliver 7pin into the Toyota factory connection to make it work correctly. I would guess the 4Runner factory installed trailer connection is the same as the Tundra? Good Luck! OB1
  7. Technomadia - We upgraded from an 2002 Explorer V6 to a 2006 4Runner V8. Had no trouble with the Explorer. The 4Runner worked for a week and then experienced the very same issues you described. Rt turn signal, rt brake, Oliver light out, battery charger, refrigerator, etc. There were two problems, the first I found on the adapter receptacle end, one of the little flat metal sides was squeezed to the opposite side compared to all the other ones. I think that was a result of my not putting the adapter plug in squarely and carefully as the Toyota connection is tucked under the bumper a bit. Make sure it is pushed all the way in too. That only worked part of the time. I had the truck tested and the alternator and trailer plug worked just fine, but still had the problem intermittently. The other problem was that there were loose wires in the trailer. I didn't find them, but the local RV store found them somewhere, tracking the wiring under the trailer seats. they fixed the problem quickly and we have had no problems since or during a 4500 mile trip in August. Hope that helps! PS - hope your Tundra gets better mileage than our 4Runner,...it's comfortable, but a gas hog!
  8. Any Oliver owners know if it is crazy to go to FL in Jan - Feb without reservations? Preference would be state, regional, other parks as compared to the big private RV places. What about AZ or So Texas? Any recommendations? Thanks OB1 & OB2
  9. We have an Explorer V6 with I think, 210 HP, 5000 towing capacity. It works fine on the flats (lower elevation), but is a bit underpowered when going up long mountain grades. Get behind a truck on a steep incline above 7500 feet and it really has to work hard to build up speed to pass (two lanes each way). We'll probably upgrade to a small V8 in the spring. Your tow vehicle will be adequate at lower elevations, but you'll probably regret it at higher elevations. (We live in CO).
  10. Hello Forum members - Terry and Cathie O'Brien, Boulder, Colorado checking in. We just did a rapid transformation from new wannabes (three weeks) to actual newbies, (two days). We had been lurking about the Oliver board after looking at the Casita board and seeing the name Oliver mentioned a couple of times. After checking out the Oliver on line and getting additional information, we thought we would see if we could make it work in the spring of '09 sometime. On this very forum we saw a mention of a few demo models that were priced very attractively. A phone call to Jim Oliver on Dec 31st (he was in Lake Havazu, AZ) transpired into a quick trip to Alburquerque, NM to meet Jim with Oliver Elite #36 on Jan 2nd. Needless to say, we are thrilled about the possibilities going forward. We just got home two hours ago and are reviewing the manuals to see what we need need to know. We are looking forward to meeting you fellow Oliver owners in the future and seeking your advice and experience. Thanks! Terry and Cathie O'Brien (OB1) and (OB2)
×
×
  • Create New...