pickleballone

Opps! It’s updated now….2014, Elite 2, #55. Yes…..the on-line manual says the unit is shipped in the Lead Acid mode, but somehow this one was not. Guess the Tech should check?

Well, here is another update on our continuing battery destruction adventure! A quick summary: Last October we found 2 15 A circuits had been tripped in our Ollie (Hull #55), and none of the lights worked. A technician found that our PD converter under the dinette had failed, and 2 of our 4 8-year-old Trojan AGMS were deformed. We ordered a new PD converter from OTT, the tech installed it, and we discarded 2 of the batteries. We put the Ollie away for the winter with 2 batteries, plugged into shore power. When we retrieved the Ollie in the Spring, we found the remaining 2 batteries were unable to operate the jacks. Thinking the batteries were old, and just needed to be replaced, we bought 4 Brightway AGMs, and had them installed. The Ollie sat for 3-4 months while we recovered from knee surgery. A couple of days into our first trip, while camping on shore power, we discovered that the new Brightways were steaming, deformed, and too hot to touch! What was the problem? We checked the programming of the Blue Sky Controller: Ryan at Blue Sky confirmed the values used were correct, and we verified that the values were entered correctly. We removed the Blue Sky Controller and sent it to Ryan for testing; it tested perfectly. We’re the batteries wired correctly? I don’t have pics to prove the wiring, but the tech who installed them was experienced and inspired confidence. Steve Landrum pointed out that the tech had no cables left over, and didn’t need any more, so it was probably correctly wired. Were the batteries bad? Maybe, we can’t prove it. Then, when thinking about trying lithium batteries next time, I checked the PD Converter under the dinette to see if it was Lithium Ready. That’s when I discovered that yes, it was lithium ready, and it WAS SET TO LITHIUM. Everyone we’ve talked to says that this could be responsible for the demise of the last 2 of the Trojan AGMs and the 4 Brightways, all the batteries installed while this new controller has been in place. We don’t know how the new PD Controller came to be set on Lithium; we believe it arrived that way. There was no manual with it, so we were unaware of the Lithium/Lead Acid switch. There is still a question in my mind about why the first 2 eight year old Trojan AGMs died. Did they deform and fail because of the problems coming from the original PD controller? Do we assume that that problem is solved, since that controller was replaced? We are worried that if we put new batteries in, and we are wrong about the cause of the problems, we may lose the new batteries too. Do we go with 2 AGM batteries and see if they survive? And if they do, maybe upgrade later? Would appreciate advice! We think we will be lucky to be able to use the Ollie for another 5 years or so. We aren’t tech savvy folks, so simple is good. Winters are cold here, and we are used to plugging the Ollie into shore power while we are gone. The light weight of Lithium sounds good, but they are expensive. Ah, what to do now. I am looking forward to going on to another chapter, hopefully one with more camping in it! Thanks for your time, Mary and Dave

Hi Pete, What products do you use on your Ollie to keep it looking so good? Do you keep it indoors during the winter? Dave

Hi Bob and Charlotte, Congratulations on your new addition, as well!! It sounds like we'll both be back in Tennessee at the same time. We look forward to seeing you, touring the plant and meeting the folks that constructed our Ollies (as Pete would say). My sister lived in Napa for 5 years in the 80's and we visited her on numerous occasions. Loved the hiking in the area and it's mild climate. World class vineyards and an easy drive to San Francisco, too. Our little Toyota 4runner was wonderful to pull our 12' Aliner trailer around the country, but we just upgraded the towing rig to a Tundra truck. I hope it gives us as much trouble free service as the 4runner did. Well, best move my feet instead of just my fingers... Talk Soon, Dave

Hello to all of you that also love to sample these incredible landscapes that we have!! My name is Dave Gibson and my wife is Mary. We live in Walla Walla, WA. We were tent campers for 30 yrs, moved up to an Aliner Expedition 8 yrs ago and just ordered an O 22 to be picked up in Hohenwald in May. We love to hike, mt bike, kayak and play pickleball. We are both recently retired and spend as much time on the road as possible each year. We have been seriously looking at trailers (with a bathroom!!) for the past year. We attended 6 major RV shows, stopped and looked in most trailer parks that we passed, visited showrooms in Spokane, Portland, Seattle and Boise. Everything that we saw was flimsy, lacked character and was built without an eye for detail or longevity. In January of this year we went to the SoCal desert to visit some friends. They said that if we had never experienced the town of Quartzite, AZ in Jan & Feb that we were missing out on an annual gathering that could be likened to the Oklahoma Land Rush. Here again, we saw 100's of poorly constructed rolling homes. As we were pulling out of town, something round and gleaming white caught my eye. There side by side were 2 Oliver 22's. Larry and Betty Harmon gave us a tour of the units and told us the history of the company. We have sailed in the San Juan Islands (near Seattle) many times and the Oliver 22 instantly reminded us of a well built boat!! We fell in love with the product and the company....so we plunked down some cash and we are looking forward to spending lots of time in our new rolling shelter! Any set up tips or hardware suggestions would be much appreciated. Dave Gibson