SeaDawg

Not in your wheelhouse today, maybe, but you've shown you're pretty fearless to learning a few new skills, @csevel. If you decide you want to ditch the microwave, I'm sure you can do it. And, we'll help. Got rid of ours a few years ago.

Imelda, I have owned 3 air fryers. Love them. Like a mini convection oven. I can see why you carry a small one. I use mine all the time, at home, so I don't have to fire up a big oven for small items: Zucchini boats, etc. Roasting asparagus or squash. Rosemary baby potatoes, etc. Chops and chicken . Muffins, quiche, etc. Cookies. Biscuits. Most (maybe not all) things I bake, I can manage in an air fryer

Diesel here is some places 5.79 a gallon, vs 4.19 for regular. Something to think about .

15th season, mostly without hookups.. 1. We have the generator connection at the front. To the best of our memory, we've never used it. (We talked about this a week ago with a friend. ) I think that's an option best suited for those who carry a generator in the basket. 2. We don't have ultraleather in our trailer. We do have it in our boat, in the main salon, and love it. Cleanable, breathable,, comfy. (5 or 6 years). Probably a waste for sleeping cushions, imo. All our boat (and trailer) sleeping cushions are fabric. We have a very small dog, with tiny nails. My fabric cushions in my trailer are in 15th season. I'll probably replace them in a few years. They've served us well. 3. We don't have a basket. We do have a quick connect on the bumper, that has been useful over the years, depending on whether we carry a grill, or not. Buying that depends on your propane extras. Many items can easily be managed with an extra 1 lb or 5 lb tank. You have to decide, based on your camping style. 4 no to the shower track, imo. Makes the small marine bath smaller, to no great gain. Showering helps clean the bath, which I'd have to do anyway, later. 5. Bike rack. We don't usually carry bikes, so search the many posts here on bike racks. If we do some relatively local camping, we'll occasionally take bikes in the truckbed, for the weekend, so seriously not an expert, here. What I told my friend last week: Other than solar, most addons can be added after sale, if you're handy. Even solar isn't that tough, for some.

@MAG, I'd like to thank you, for helping others in the future to avoid perils that you avoided, by design or chance. Changing out batteries with solar panels is not the same as swapping out car batteries. As you well know now. Thank you so much for helping others. Your honest questions and feedback will undoubtedly help others in days to come. Please keep us all posted on your progress. We're all rooting for you.

Steve can likely tell you if you have a "switch" inline, and if so, where it might be located. I don't know. Some trailers have one, some don't. The important thing right now is that the 30 amp breaker you showed in the photo is set to "off", so that circuit is not sending power to the loose wires from the solar that are no longer connected to a battery. Either way it was wired,(right or middle) the breaker would have shut off solar generated power, before or after the controller. Before is what the apparently nonexistent or hidden switch does in your diagram, I think. As Steve said, understand that the line up to the 30 amp breaker is still potentially energized any time your solar panels are exposed to the sun, and generating power. That's why topgun and I suggested you cover the panels completely. I suspect Steve concurred. If you don't have an inline switch, I'd just leave those panels covered til you and your tech install the new batteries you ordered. And, leave your trailer unplugged from 110. No power in/no power out can do no harm. (Is your trailer stored inside, or outside? Will you have to secure the moving blankets or tarps?) The really important thing is, you were likely very careful, and probably also very lucky. If you disconnected the batteries in daylight to remove them, and the breaker was on, you were working with a hot positive. 12v dc, but still a hot line. You didn't see sparks, didn't get shocked, and didn't burn up your trailer, probably didn't damage the controller, so life is actually pretty good right now. And, I'm really glad you spoke with Steve. As I said, he knows far better than any of the rest of us how your trailer is actually wired. It's slightly different from mine. He's totally the early elite II expert. I don't know what advice he gave you about all the loose wires in the battery compartment right now, but you'll want to always be sure none of the wires touch, til you get your new batteries installed. I'm sure he gave you good recommendations.

Happy mother's day!

Thanks for the link, @trekhard. very pretty selection, and prices seem very reasonable for by the foot lengths.

In Europe, truma has (or had) a very cool system that attached to the trailer. We have purchased two different systems for our Elite. Neither has been perfect. Most seem to be designed for boat trailers, and lighter weight, honestly.

Costco, unlike sams/walmart, has never given me an issue on returns. I hope this holds true for you.

Here's wiring diagram for your solar boost. If you don't have the manual, you can download it and the manual for the ipn pro remote, so that you can read along when you talk with Steve and Ryan. See the red (+) fused (circuit breaker) line coming from the panels to the controller, along with the black (-)? I believe those are the wires coming from your panels, in wire loom. In the middle, the red/+ and black/- go to the batteries. The skinny black wire on the left in your photo is likely your temperature sensor running to the battery, and the little flat grey cable under it that looks like a phone cord runs to your ipn pro remote where you reprogram the unit, and see your readouts inside the Oliver. (It's a communication cable, basically) If you turned that switch/circuit breaker off before you removed the batteries, I suspect you'll be fine. Even if you didn't, and you didn't see any sparks, and you kept the red and black wire ends separated, and not touching any other wires or metal, you're probably still fine. I'm not nearly as versed as others in your trailer, and its specific wiring, but at least maybe you can relax a little til you talk with someone who is. Hope is not lost.

I see the red /positive wire running to the controller from the 30 amp breaker/switch, so yes, I'd think so. I'd leave your panels covered,and 110 disconnected, till you can discuss with Scubarx/Steve. He's your best resource on here.

Scubarx never stops improving his trailer, and he's got the skills and tools to do it. So, today his will look very different from 2014, but I'm sure he remembers how those first ones were equipped. He worked very closely with Oliver on his #50, the first out after the hiatus.

Nicely done, Imelda!

We talked about this awhile ago, when calmark was making the change. As I said then, I don't have any personal experience with weathermax, but decades of use of sunbrella in boat and sail covers. If you scroll down, you'll find a link to an old practical sailor test of the two fabrics in one of my posts. Rereading reminded me of two things that i don't think we discussed: Weathermax is much lighter and easier to handle, and more abrasion resistant. For a huge cover, advantage tilts to weathermax. Sunbrella fabrics can be cleaned with a mild bleach and soap and water solution, but weathermax can't. (Understand that even mild bleach can weaken stitching, though, and I don'tknow what thread calmark uses.) So, for cleanability, the win probably tilts to sunbrella. If you Google weathermax vs sunbrella, you'll find a dozen conversations on boating forums, mostly evenly split.

Great advice, @topgun2. MAG, do cover the panels until you figure it out. And leave your trailer unplugged. Do you know if you have a breaker to disconnect the panels? In our 2008, it is near the pd charger, down low, and it's not a big red button, it's black and yellow. But, Oliver has made many changes and improvements over the years. @ScubaRx has an Elite II of similar vintage to yours, so he could probably tell you better where to look, and if Oliver installed a switch in those days, or not. I'd pm him with your question, so he gets an alert. He has a thorough understanding of blue sky system, and early Elite II, and is really good at explaining things in a way everyone can understand. If indeed you shorted out the controller, you and your tech will find Ryan Gurin at Blue Sky is extremely helpful. I'm sure he can get you back in business economically and swiftly . Here's his number and email. 760-208-2149 Ryan@blueskyenergyinc.com I've found an email with my phone number is a good way to start, as he's on pacific time. I know you feel overwhelmed right now, but you have lots of help here, and at Blue Sky. Soon, you'll understand how everything works together with all its electron magic. My sister in law delights in saying, "we can eat that elephant, one bite at a time." Best of luck.

I think the bearing assembly is $150 plus, but i'd want to keep a spare. We carry very few spare bits, but we do carry a spare bearing kit. Last time we had to replace one (at home, urban area) , it took awhile to find it. Imo, better to have it, sealed, and never use it, than be stunk in podunk , without, for days . Good shops are everywhere. Parts, these days, not so easy, and never were in some areas that we enjoy . ..

No litter of kittens available as a prize, but we have reached 70,000 posts today. Thank you to all of our valued members who keep the fun and info flowing. I'm camping, 15th season in our Ollie elite, 2008. Hope you all are too, or planning next adventures. WNC spring has been spectacular this year.

I've read 5 years or 100k miles. I agree, pretty good.

I agree. It's a mind-numbing task. We often take ours to our mechanic for that reason. He works on both our trucks and the trailer, so we hook it up, get a truck serviced, and get the trailer done. When he retires, we'll either have to go back to doing it ourselves, or find a new guy.

October is one of our favorite months in Florida. Hurricane risk is lower, usually cooler and drier. And, you can more easily find campsites in shoulder season...before the Canadians and northerners come down. Sites really start filling up after Thanksgiving through April.

We leave our tpms monitor in the tray forward of the console. It kept falling off the velcro.

That's an interesting thought @Trainman, as we're much more likely to see discussions here on increasing available amp hours. Since you always camp with hookups, I don't know why you couldn't manage with one 12v battery. (I wouldn't run the fridge on dc while traveling, though, and maybe lift the jacks while you're still plugged on to the campsite.) One of my best friends owns a Casita, and camps with us without power, with one battery. She just has to plug in to the generator every 2 or 3 days, or use her portable solar panel to charge up on sunny days.

I found this in Dexter faq: So, the only upgrade is a change-up of axle and quite possibly a lot of other expensive components. @ScubaRx pegged it

I heard Oliver was changing up to Never- lube axles in 2022. Is that so?