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Hokieman

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Everything posted by Hokieman

  1. Mike D, 2021, Hull 797 Dometic 11k BTU I have run my unit many times in mid 90’s temps, high humidity, under mostly direct sunlight. It cools very well. I think the cooling capacity is adequate at 11k. The unit does cycle frequently, but we run the fan on Low, not Auto, so it is satisfactory. If I replaced it, I would consider a smaller capacity unit.
  2. Ghostrider…..I’ve owned an LE1 and now have an LE2. I’m 6’1 barefoot. I had to sleep a bit diagonal on the LE1 bed, but it was OK. My wife thought it was too tight. I had headroom in the trailer everywhere except the bath, my head would hit the vent fan, but really no problem. On the LE2, I fit the twin bed with little room to spare. That being said, the hassle factor seems way too high to modify your garage. Have you looked at a Lil Snoozy? They seem well built, 6’3” headroom, 96-97” exterior height, the AC is on rear, not the roof. https://snoozy2.com/. A quick search shows a few on the used market.
  3. See this link for a discussion on how a few of us modified coupler to 2 5/16”. OTT changes their policies over time, so may be best to check with your sales rep.
  4. I made an error.....The black wire on the right side of the battery box wall does not go the the converter/charger. I think it is the negative wire that goes to the Zamp Controller, and then on up to the solar panels. Apologies for the confusion. I could do better if I had a wiring diagram instead of going by memory!
  5. Good suggestion, I’ll turn in a ticket and make a recommendation. My shock bushings are relatively new, so not cracked yet, but just a matter of time. For those replacing their shocks, you can re-use 2 dished washers from each of the old shocks and install between the bushings and the flat bracket surface. In the meantime, I’m going to install some heavy 3/8” fender washers.
  6. I found a pic of my negative buss. I also saved a pic I found on the forum of someone else’s trailer positive buss bar, I cannot remember who. This is not the setup I have. What I see in that pic, which is kinda fuzzy, is (from far to near): 1. Auto reset breaker from Zamp panels to battery 2. Auto reset breaker with 7 pin charge wire and breakaway switch 3. OptiFuse 60A breaker 4. Positive buss with Jack wires, etc. That’s just a guess on my part, others may be of more help here.
  7. My 2021 #797 came with 2 Brightway Group Marine/RV batteries as standard. I ordered the Zamp 340W solar panels with Zamp 30A PWM controller as an option, which included the battery disconnect switch in the upper street side cabinet. No inverter, Progressive Dynamics PD9260C converter/charger. My trailer is parked about 500 miles away right now, so can’t get you all the pics you need of the buss bars etc. I have several pics on hand I took before replacing them with 2 BattleBorn 100’s. The 1/0 parallel jumpers were too short for me to use, so I ordered 12” 1/0 jumper wires from Battleborn. Wires from battery going inside to positive and negative busses are 4/0. Right Side Battery Box: Upper red + wire goes to 60A OptiFuse breaker Lower red/black + wire goes to solar panels Black wire - goes to converter/charger Left Side Battery Box Yellow - wire goes to negative buss Ive no idea how the 2022 models are configured. From what I can tell in this forum, there are many variations based on age and electrical equipment, especially inverters. For example, the PD9260C converter does not have a lithium setting, but a $25 plug in pendent converts it. There is no positive buss on mine, all + wires are bolted into the OptiFuse breaker. Frankly, that section is a mess I intend to modify soon, I was waiting for my warranty period to expire. It all works great however. If you PM me your email, I can send higher resolution pics you can zoom in on.
  8. Thank YOU for confirming with Zamp! I wasn’t 100% sure I was reading those specs correctly. That’s good info for anyone looking to do a simple swap out of their older conventional batteries for lithium.
  9. This may have been correct for older Zamp solar controllers in our trailers, but if I am not mistaken the current Zamp ZS30A PWM controller charges to 14.4V in Absorption mode, 13.6v in Float. That’s the way I interpret the specs (link below), someone please let me know if I have misunderstood these important details. Converting from PWM to an MPPT is a worthwhile modification, and it’s on my future mods list. In my case, the Zamp PWM is working fine for us with 2 Battleborn 100A LiFePO4. I don’t want to change it out now because of the cutout hole in the wall panel. I’m hoping Zamp will offer an MPPT in a year or so that will be a panel mount and can fill that hole in the wall. By the way, Battleborn recommends charging their batteries up to 14.4V periodically for optimum performance, so they seem to be similar to Lithionics in their protocol. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/wp-content/uploads/oliver-university/Component_Manuals/Solar/Zamp_Charge_Controller_Manual-revised.pdf
  10. We’re using the 2 5/16” ball to tow our 2021 LE2 with 2020 Ford F250. Like Fritz said, it’s probably overkill but I thought it worth the extra cost. We are not using WDH, tows very easy. I called Service well before production date and set it up. They installed it during manufacturing, not after the fact. Upon delivery, I had to pay an additional Service fee, can’t recall how much, but reasonable.
  11. I went back and researched previous posts. I think I’m going to use JD’s method and add 90 degree els with my almost new hoses to get a nice single bend like that one shown on the right tank.
  12. After I turned in my service ticket on 797, Jason got back to me with a next day response, referred it to Engineering. They attributed the problem to an installation error. He said he had been checking other trailers in for service, had not found any loose. The only other similar problem he knew about was from Ralph, Hull 625. Just a reminder I also had 2 loose doghouse bolts, details in a previous post.
  13. Thank you for suggestions, I’ll use them.
  14. Same situation with my 2021 model. I was greasing the chassis this week and took one of the nuts off. Only the top of the shock has this problem, the lower end is fine. No serious cracks in the rubber yet. Perhaps some heavy duty fender washers between the rubber and the brackets would improve the rubber life.
  15. Slight misunderstanding on my post. The threaded portion of the bolt is inside the vanity.
  16. I changed my mind on this. Initially I intended to make it easy for a future owner to convert it back to a flush toilet. But I didnt like it so I eliminated the tee and put in a straight coupler instead.
  17. I cut the blue PEX tube several inches after the tee into the water supply line to the sink. Then I put a brass 1/2” PEX plug and crimped it with a copper ring. I snipped off the toilet supply valve, and pushed the line thru the hole in the fiberglass, and a 4’ section of blue PEX line slid right out. Yes, I will cap off that outside connection to avoid user error. I didn’t have a cap on hand, need to go to store. By the way, the two white PEX lines you see in the photos are the flush lines, the same ones you already disconnected from the flush inlet and the other one on the black tank. They lead to a brass backflow preventer underneath the countertop. I pulled those out too, came right out easily. You can also see the black tank vent line, it’s a 1.5” abs pipe that connects to the vent line going to the roof, right next to the composting toilet vent hose.
  18. No problem, there’s plenty of room under the doghouse cover for one on each tank. I’ll take pics of my gauges on tanks first chance I get. This video gives a better explanation of how it works. https://youtu.be/_g38JponlN4
  19. The instructions advise to “push down” on the gauge 4 or 5 times to prime the gas system, ie build up pressure and allow gas to flow. The gauge is mounted on a small piston pump.
  20. While scooting around underneath my Oliver on my creeper greasing the chassis, I did a quick inspection of everything I could see. I noticed one of the the two 3/8” stainless steel bolts that secure the propane tank enclosure to the hull was loose, had backed out about 1/2”. Both of the bolt heads could be turned by hand, but could not be tightened externally, there are nuts on the other end that were spinning. I turned in a service ticket and asked for DIY instructions. Jason got back to me right away with 2 local RV repair centers that would fix it under warranty. He also gave me step-by -step DIY instructions, which were easy to follow. I prefer to do it myself, it was an easy task. It involved removing the bath vanity to get to the nuts on the ends of the bolts. The SS nuts had flat & lock washers, but obviously had not been tightened during production. I replaced the 3/8” SS nuts with SS nylon lock nuts, and all is well. While I was in there, I removed the toilet water supply line and valve, and capped off the tee it was connected to. I have the NH composting toilet. I also removed the black tank flush lines and back flow preventer, will save for a future owner that might want a flush toilet. I opened up the black tank drain and found it had quite a bit of RV antifreeze inside. Apparently the factory had added it to the black tank during the winterizing process. This was obviously not needed, but perhaps they do them all the same, regardless. So if you are underneath your trailer, you might give those bolts a quick check.
  21. Agreed, I bought two of those before I took delivery of my Elite 2, based on a video I watched onTechnoRV.com. They seem to work fine. You just have to remember to give the active tank a few pumps after you turn the valve on. https://www.technorv.com/gasstop
  22. I’m in agreement with Fritz, I am relatively new to this and have been using our 3-way Norcold fridge in 12V mode when in transit…..sometimes….depends on the situation. We have hull 797, with standard 340W Zamp solar package. I replaced the new, standard lead-acid deep cycle batteries with 2 x 100AH BattleBorn lithium. It has the Zamp controller, no Inverter. The TV charge wire is disconnected inside Oliver, per Oliver protocol for lithium packages. As an example of my experimenting to date, our last trip we drove a few hundred miles per day for last 2 days, and dry camped each night in a different location. No generator. I ran the fridge on 12V both days for about 6 hours each sunny day when driving, including gas and rest stops, then switched to propane when parked for the night. Ran the Maxxair fan at low or medium full-time, except when driving. Used all the 12v lights whenever needed, used awning LED and courtesy lights at night, and water pump for dishwashing and showers. When I arrived home, my Victron BMV monitor showed SOC at 80%. So in those sunny conditions, I think I can run like this daily for many days with no concerns, but not always. If I expect overcast skies, and perhaps no AC plug in to re-charge for several days, I’ll run on propane. I understand most Trailers/RV owners run propane most of the time, which is simple, trouble-free, and most efficient. I do it too sometimes, but I have safety concerns in the event of an accident. That rear propane quick connect is just behind the rear bumper, and I have nearly been rear-ended several times in stop & go interstate traffic, which is one of the most common type of crashes. I understand the stats show that propane related fires are rare, but insurance & liability concerns have me a bit paranoid. I studied the fine print on my insurance policy, can’t find a reference to this issue. If someone has some legal or common sense insight on these liability issues, please let me know. As I mentioned, I’m relatively new to this and appreciate the wisdom from this forum.
  23. In the Oliver Winterizing video Jason shows how you can reach thru that port and switch the Suburban water heater valve into bypass. As far as I can tell, that’s all it can be used for, too small for me to reach any other valves.
  24. Thanks very much for bring up this issue Ralph. It prompted me to check my support and sure enough, both bolts were in place, but nuts were loose, I could easily undo them by hand. I turned in a service ticket, and also included a link to this thread. I’m going to replace the nuts with nylon locknuts. Ive got just under 5000 miles on my 2021 trailer.
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