routlaw

Congratulations Horace and Diane! We just pieced ours up on Mar 3rd then spent a month on the road. I can't imagine you will not love it.

Hmm curious, unless of course you just happen to be checking when it is in float stage. The charger will go up and down depending upon its stage. Currently mine is at 13.5 V and only 98% charged. Its really overcast and chilly but today its taking the longest ever to completely charge. I doubt the difference in a few months would make that much difference in charge rates. What James and Trojan might be referring to is when a charger is first engaged it goes into bulk mode (I believe), so a restart would more or less accomplish this status apparently. There is another method, albeit far less controlled and scientific. Hook up a set of battery jumper cables from you tow vehicle directly to the + & - terminals of your battery pack, making sure to turn off the charge controller and all loads by flipping the breakers under the bed storage area. Guaranteed to boil the batteries in short order, or alternatively if you have a small generator like our Yamaha hooking up the battery charge circuit with throw something like 17.4 volts at the batteries. You wouldn't want to leave it connected for too long at a time this way, maybe 10 minute intervals or so but that would certainly destratify or clean off the plates. As for weather this is very typical for up here this time of year and will last off and on throughout Apr, May and sometimes into Jun. I have seen it snow every month of the year up here, though not every month every year. Next week we could be in the 50's, 60's and 70's with sunny skies too. In fact the entire month we were gone in Mar was the warmest sunniest ever on record up here. Better here than where we were down south, go figure.

Pete, funny comments, you had me laughing. BTW, sorry we couldn't connect as you were heading east and us west. Man we got into some awful weather leaving the coast. Will detail this more later in another thread, but… In the interest of understanding solar, batteries and the charging of such I would like to make one additional comment and provide some anecdotal info. It occurs to me that perhaps there might be some misunderstanding regarding "equalization" vs normal SOP for battery charging. Correct me if I am wrong but it appears to me equalization is a maintenance scheme of keeping your batteries in top operating condition, sort of like changing the oil in your auto, and has nothing "directly" to do with ones amp storage. While normal charging strategies in day to day, week to week camping is about keeping the charge at 14.8 volts (bulk) in order to completely deep charge in this case the Trojan T 105's. Other batteries will have slightly different specs. Also in order to do a proper equalization one has to manually be taking specific gravity measurements during the time you are charging at 15.6 volts and only when the gravity ceases to rise are you fully equalized. To my way of thinking this is not something one would undertake while camping. Most battery chargers are 3 stage, bulk, absorption, and float, while a few can do a 4th stage that being "equalization". Its been awhile, probably more than a year since reading through all of Handy Bob's endless pages of battery rants but for the moment I don't recall him ever discussing this 4th stage of equalization maintenance. But if you have a charge of 14.8 volts in the bulk stage then the T105's will be filled up completely and thus by default you would have a complete 450 amp hours of charge. The notion the 320 watt panels in conjunction with the Blue Sky charger cannot accomplish this does not seem correct, not only based upon the math but my personal experience having used the system for 38 straight non stop days, often in some taxing conditions. While I don't have a method of measuring the stored amp hours on a full charge as an additional stress test to the system with our existing cold, rainy, snowy weather in MT I decided to leave the Oliver in our driveway unplugged to shore power since our return rather than taking it into storage. Its a waste of energy but it will give me a good idea of what can be expected in the future. Besides we wanted to do a few other things to it anyway, i.e. outfitting with some other accessories, performing a winterization task and a few other things. Yes we are still have freezing temps here. So #70 has been in the driveway for a week now with all but one night freezing some into the 20's and the furnace running at least during the evenings, the lights have been on as needed, pump running off and on. As an example this mornings battery capacity at sunrise was at 94% ± (running furnace through the night) with about half an inch of snow piled on the panels. Currently its at 97% with 14.1 volts showing on the battery meter, its noon. This is a bit slow historically but it is a breezy chilly day with heavy overcast skies. Yesterday, batteries were 96% at sunrise but by 1:00 PM had regained their 100% capacity. This during a wet heavily overcast rainy day. Furnace was on all night and day with some lights running as needed. System stayed 100% with 12.7 volts reading at the battery until at least an hour after dark. Most people do not camp in these conditions, and granted on mild winter days with shorter daylight hours and lower sun angle (especially above the 45th parallel) the system might not be able to regain as fast or as efficiently as the last 38 days have shown. It would be an understatement to say we are impressed thus far. Hopefully anyone contemplating the solar package and whopper batteries will find this info helpful. Rob

This is a good conversation for anyone contemplating solar and thanks for the link. I have pasted the section regarding equalization from the Trojan website below for those who want a quick read. A couple of quick thoughts on this from what I was able to garner from the Trojan website. While it may be true the solar charger that is in the Oliver might not be able to accomplish an equalization charge, surely the converter/charger circuit once plugged into a 110 AC shoreline would be able to. Also worth noting Trojan only recommends or as they state the "experts" recommend an equalization charge anywhere from once per year to once per month. It appears from this there is a ton of leeway on this aspect alone. The long and short of it is at least for now I'm not going to worry about it too much with the existing solar charger installed. And will take gravity readings perhaps a couple of times per year. For me I think my biggest concern will be freezing batteries, but even to that I am a bit skeptical to the amount of damage done. After all car/truck batteries in my neck of the woods will set in below freezing to sub zero temps for days, perhaps weeks with no charge to them at all. I have yet to see premature battery failure for vehicles in the northern hinterlands though it may have happened to others. And it appears their method for an equalization charge is done via a actual battery charger rather than a solar or converter/charger installed in the RV. IOW's it might be cheaper, easier in the long run to invest in a battery charger which would be way easier than taking the things out and heading down to the local auto shop to have it done. FWIW in the conversation Norm over on the FGRV forum stated he had a set of these T105's in motorhome for 14 years and they were still going strong when he sold the MH and this was in NH not exactly in the tropics and probably not with a solar package either. Thanks, and it would be interesting to hear from others on their experience. rob FLOODED BATTERIES ONLY Equalizing is an overcharge performed on flooded lead acid batteries after they have been fully charged. It reverses the buildup of negative chemical effects like stratification, a condition where acid concentration is greater at the bottom of the battery than at the top. Equalizing also helps to remove sulfate crystals that might have built up on the plates. If left unchecked, this condition, called sulfation, will reduce the overall capacity of the battery. Many experts recommend that batteries be equalized periodically, ranging anywhere from once a month to once or twice per year. However, Trojan only recommends equalizing when low or wide ranging specific gravity (+/- .015) are detected after fully charging a battery. Step-By-Step Equalizing Verify the battery(s) are flooded type. Remove all loads from the batteries. Connect battery charger. Set charger for the equalizing voltage (See Table 2 in the Charging section). If your charger doesn’t have an equalization mode, you can unplug the charger and re-plug it back in. This also will conduct the equalization charge. Start charging batteries. Batteries will begin gassing and bubbling vigorously. Take specific gravity readings every hour. Equalization is complete when specific gravity values no longer rise during the gassing stage.

While I know the rest of you folks are doing just the opposite and bringing your Oliver out of hibernation, here in Montana I need to do just the opposite at least for awhile longer. We are still having temps down into the 20's and occasionally it could get worse. So with that in mind I took the afternoon to go through the process. I think it all went well enough but on a few things I am not totally certain and would like to pick the brains of you folks who have gone through this. First, I could only get my fresh water tank emptied to 13% no matter what I did. The trailer is perfectly level, all necessary valves were opened etc etc. Surely this can't be normal. Black and gray tanks are at 0%, no problem there. The city inlet and fresh water tank inlet is where I am not really sure about however. Manual says to use "the pump" to get the anti freeze into these inlets. Since I didn't have a pump handy I chose the gravity method and was able to get some pink juice flowing through the outside shower as described by the manual. But somehow I am not 100% comfortable with this method. Advice appreciated. Thanks rob

During the delivery process did you not get shown the process of adding to the fresh water tank using the inlet behind the rear bumper and the on-board water pump? Steve, good point, but I'm still mystified as to how this works. I just winterized our Ollie and it was easy enough to pump the anti-freeze through the system as you describe, but its not clear to me how one might get water into the tank this way. Effectively I came away from this thinking you could pump water from an external container but not get the water from the container into your fresh water tank. Thanks rob

Dave I'm certainly not an expert at any of this and initially had concerns similar to yours regarding charge voltage. The folks at Oliver set my system up for a 15.2 Volts equalization probably like yours. However after spending the last 30 days on the road with our Oliver and this in some less than desirable weather, often in the low to mid teens at night, and many more hovering around freezing or 40's-50's where we needed to run the furnace at night to some degree we never even once came close to scraping the bottom of the barrel of our charge and amps available. We used lights liberally though, as well as other devices available to us. The long and short of it is, regardless of what Handy Bob says, both my wife and I feel we could stay off the grid indefinitely in our Ollie with the 320 W solar package and 4 Trojan batteries. We would run out of water, fill up holding tanks, or run out of propane long before we ran out of electricity. We only plugged into shore power about 3 nights total during our entire trip although it was available to us we just did not use it unless there was some special reason to use a device that needed 110 AC. During the coldest weather when the furnace ran quite often, the lowest our charge went to was 84%, but usually 87%. Otherwise it only dropped to 96-97% each night and back up to 100% by mid morning on sunny days, slightly longer on cloudy overcast days. Now all that said, I have no idea if your electrical needs will be more excessive than ours, but would the .3 volts difference really make that much of an impact should you need the extra charge? If not, the long and short of it is I wouldn't worry about it. Hopefully you will find this helpful. rob

Bellingrath was great indeed though it appeared to be a bit behind schedule due to the late season start, taking on a rather bare and brown look vs green and full foliage. Perhaps another 2-3 weeks for prime time. Azaleas were certainly blooming but perhaps not at their peak quiet yet either, Camellias were on their way out but still looking very good. Thanks for the well wishes, great visit. rob Rob, The weather here on the Gulf Coast has finally improved to our normal clear warm days so you should enjoy your trip to Bellingrath Gardens. Thr Azaleas should be in full bloom. We also love Fairhope AL. So artsy and village like. It was good to visit while you were at Fort Pickens. Let's keep talking up an Oliver gathering someday. Have a safe journey as you wend your way back to Montana. David Kemp

Pete, thanks for the note and will send contact info as well shortly. Would love to meet up with you if it can happen. We will be heading west either tomorrow or the next day. Wife has a sister in Weatherford and I have a buddy in Ft Worth we would like to visit. But we don't have a hard and fast schedule. For some reason I was only allowed to post 3 photos, is this normal? rob

We are two weeks today on the road with Casa Ollie as Trudi likes to refer to it. Until the last few days the weather had been about as bad as anyone could hope for on an initial shakedown cruise but Hull # 70 came through for us without a hitch. We have been warm when we needed in low to mid teens, cool now that it is quite warm on the gulf coast, and it tows beautifully much better than I would have ever guessed. Yes one does notice the weight but its ability to stay with the TV and not sway or bounce is exceptional. In fact I will go so far as to say I find it more pleasurable than our T@b which the Oliver replaced. I must say however one of the nicest features is the optional solar power and 4 wet cell Trojan batteries we added. It has been worth every single red cent we paid for it. While we are currently plugged in at Meaher St Park throughout the last couple of weeks it has not been needed nor have we used one single watt of shore energy, even in the coldest, rainiest, and heavily overcast conditions. Generally at night the batteries will deplete to around 97% and thats running lots of lights, pumps etc but during the heavy overcast rainy and cold conditions the batteries would drop to around 84-87% overnight but be fully charged by around mid day. With the sunny weather its taking only a couple of hours max. Suffice it to say this aspect alone has totally blown us away and addressed ever single concern we had for our type of camping. As you might guess we have had many visitors inquiring about the Oliver from seasoned on the road full timers with large 5th Wheels, to folks with Casitas, and a variety of other rigs. In fact as Dave and Carol were visiting us during our stay out at the Gulf Islands National Seashore yet another very nice lady came by to inquire about our camper. We all broke into immediate laughter. Fairhope and Daphne, AL are two of our favorite towns anywhere so we decided to move over to Meaher St Park for a few days which is BTW a very nice campground, seemingly well maintained and very spacious. Not nearly as crowded as Gulf Islands. It does have one drawback which I would be remiss if not mentioning however, that being it is within sight and earshot distance of I-10 as it crosses Mobile Bay to Mobile from the east short. If you are a light sleeper this may be a problem with the drone of overnight traffic. And if you've never visited Fairhope its highly recommended. We're off to Bellingrath Gardens today but thought I should post at least a few photos of our Oliver and the area. Its very dirty from days of driving and towing in torrential downpours however. Thanks for looking. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks again Dave and Carol for making the effort to come out and visit. It was great getting acquainted with you guys. At some point we hope to post a full report on our maiden voyage but for now will keep it short and state the Oliver has exceeded all expectations.

Seems like the forum was down for a few days. But yes likewise great getting to meet you guys as well. Been busy the last few days catching up with family but about ready to hit the road again. We did escape just in the nick of time, drove through a downpour on the way over to Cleveland. Good route though, thanks.

Seems like the forum was down for a few days. But yes likewise great getting to meet you guys as well. Been busy the last few days catching up with family but about ready to hit the road again. We did escape just in the nick of time, drove through a downpour on the way over to Cleveland. Good route though, thanks.

Thanks Pete Just took deliver on Tues, camped at Fall Hollow for the evening then headed over to visit sister in Cleveland, TN for a few days. The camper has exceeded all expectations. Will follow up with some photos once the weather clears up. We did a few things slightly different with the upholstery we understand has become a bit of a hit. Thanks again

Sherry you can get bed liner material applied in white. Saw an Escape trailer like this once and it didn't look too bad. The 3M product by be just as effective though and apparently removable.

Seriously, the trailer sways when jacked up by these jacks? I had definitely planned to bring along some 2x6's but your observations sounds a bit spooky.

Stan its been many years since visiting and camping there but I found the Buffalo National scenic River to be ideal. Think I got that title right. Its part of the national park system. Beautiful river and some nice camp areas too as well as further north into the MO portion of the Ozarks. Can't be more specific, its been awhile and was tent camping at the time, but do remember RV's in the area also. But from what I remember its definitely worth looking into. Hope this helps.

Weird weather. Up here in the northern hinterlands we have had more than a month of 40-50+ degree weather often hitting the low 60's. Light dusting of snow last night, and a bit chillier today but otherwise all snow is gone from the yard due to the major meltdown. Highly unusual this time of year to see bare ground in these parts. Yes keep warm, safe travels.

Welcome Ed and Marsha You have chosen well. Your sentiments and observations echo exactly what we felt while looking over the last few years too. After looking at the Oliver everything else just seemed so so. Definitely worth doing the plant tour, its quite the eye opener compared to what other manufacturers are doing. Happy Trails.

I would suspect any auto glass repair shop might be able to do this as well. Can't be that much different than replacing windshields. Just a thought.

Kayle Speaking of the Colorado, I just saw one of these new ones at a local dealer the other day. Sort of futuristic looking with some fairly radical visual design. To answer your question though my '13 F150 is the 3.5L EB. The 2.7 was not introduced until this years model. Regarding diesel here is my take on it and man I hope I don't offend anyone by this but effectively when you do the math diesel just doesn't work to your advantage. Understand I am not the only one who has come up with this either. Locally diesel fuel is more than 70¢ per gallon more (a 37% increase), and as I understand it Ram's 3.0L diesel will cost you an additional $4 grand out the door. You can buy a whole lot of regular fuel for $4 grand. And if you live in a cold climate like we do one really has to stay on top of the fuel you put in your tank otherwise it will gel on you in heartbeat then will need to be towed to a warm garage to liquify the fuel again. I know this from owning a diesel Rabbit many years ago. To my way of thinking where diesel is important is towing very large rigs, i.e. large 5th wheels or if you need heavy towing capacity for 50-100,000 miles per year. For us at this level it seems difficult to realize the advantage of diesel. IOW's I would encourage you to stick with normal fueled TV's for now. The longer wheel base will provide a bit more stability and at least in theory all else being equal also provides a smoother ride. Just the laws of physics. I love your last sentence, because I am just that person. My first truck was a Mazda small cab, small box pick up, then came the Ford Range extended cab, then an 01 Taco DC, then an 04 Tundra DC and now my F150 EB with 6.5" long bed. And the F150 is by far the best of them all, the newer one better still. Understand too we have a 2011 Subaru OB Limited, really nice auto. Never gets used for anything but going to Costco and the supermarket. We thought it would be our lower budget travel car, but the reality is we will pick the big truck every time for a road trip even if not towing. Even my wife who loves the thing thinks we should sell it given its limited use. Recalling my reaction upon getting back into this OB after test driving the first F150, honestly it felt as though I was in a small jalopy by comparison. Hope this helps. Diesel Trucks: The Cult of the Truck strikes again. *Sigh* I promise to go and check some out, because clearly I need to open my mind to that. I care a lot about economy and comfort and the electronics, and would like to avoid a massive vehicle for daily driving, so that leaves with a very short list: there is going to be a new Chevy Colorado. not positive there are any to see quite yet, may not be until later this year. The Ford 150 EcoBoost 2.7L can tow 7600 lbs. Routlaw, is yours the 2.7 or the 3.5? If I am willing to go full size, there is the RAM 1500 eco diesel and the Nissan Titan turbo diesel. Diesel SUVs: I could look at the Mercedes GL (7500) and M class (7200) vehicles, as well as the Lexas LX (8500), the Invitiy QX56 (8500), the Audio Q7 (6600), and the BMW X5 (6000), the Porshe Cayenne V8 (7716). I have to look up tongue ratings on these if I want to consider them, because sometimes SUVs have lower percentages for that. But first I'll have to consult my wallet and visit some trucks, because these are all VERY expensive. Wheelbase: Longer wheelbase equals better towing. I'm not sure how long is preferable. You are all great teachers, trying to be good student, but right now I'm feeling disappointed at the cars that will work for me. I do understand that other small trailers are much lighter than an Oliver and that there are many good things that come with that weight, but I had REALLY hoped to be able to trade the CRV for something I could get excited about. Maybe someday I'll be the person on this forum telling someone else in my present predicament how I got dragged kicking and screaming to a truck and now I LOVE it. I hope so. kayle Oliver Elite buyer, late 2015

Ps, Pete makes another excellent comment. The beauty of being able to haul lots of cargo (from a truck bed) while being kept out of the weather is priceless. We often take our road bikes as well as kayaks along for the trips, then there's ice coolers etc.

Take anything I add to the conversation with a grain of salt not having yet towed our Oliver Elite II which isn't quite finished yet. But personally I am of the persuasion you can never (or almost never) have enough tow vehicle for a litany of different reasons even with the smaller Oliver. I agree with what everyone has contributed but would also like to add one comment regarding garyjona's post. Not only does the the towing capacity get cut in half without a WDH but also the the tongue weight of the hitch is cut in half. Several months ago I started a conversation about this very issue on this forum based upon someone giving me a lecture about how safe or not it is to push the envelop of weight without the WDH. No idea what year this became an automotive standard, but can tell you our 04 Tundra DC did not have this stamp on the hitch, but our 2013 Ford 150 EB does have this stamp. Still we are going without the WDH simply because we will be under the "half" limit and all feedback seems to state the Olivers track incredibly well without the WDH. To that let me also reiterate what Pete has just stated above about new trucks. If you have never taken one for a spin you're in for a real shock due to the quality of ride and handling all of these newer trucks possess. Just yesterday for fun and giggles I had the opportunity to drive the 2015 F150 eco boost and was amazed at how it felt more like a European sport sedan than a truck. Throw in all of the features and capabilities of blind eyesight, cameras etc and you have a vehicle that is nothing short of amazing especially for towing duties. Longer wheel base for better stability, oh well I could go on and on but you get the idea. The long and short of it is getting used to the larger trucks is much easier than you imagine. Hope this helps.

Thanks for that kind offer Sherry and we will do that. Likewise it would be great to meet some of the Oliver clan. Will let you know one way or the other. Also have a buddy who lives in Orlando and would like to visit him at some point. rob

That has to be a great feeling. Do you have any travel plans for when you pick her up. Let the planning begin. Best of wishes on your new build and healthy travels. Thanks and it is indeed, we are looking so forward to this. Our pu date (assuming no bad weather from MT to TN and it could be that time of year), should fall just about on our 30th Anniversary date. So we are planning to take a month off, visit some family and friends in TN, AL, GA, & TX. Then our trip will take us down to the gulf coast for several days maybe longer. We are avid cyclist and this area is a great place to ride this time of year. From there we will head to the DFW-Weatherford area for a short visit then hopefully to Big Bend NP then onto the NM. We love visiting Santa Fe so will probably spend a few days there and then into some red rock country for hiking, camping before returning to the deep freeze here in the northern hinterlands, LOL. Actually the weather has been fairly mild for this time of year the last couple of weeks. We have also discussed going clear down to the FL Keys. Dry Tortuga has been on our bucket list for many years but its just so far away we might be biting off more than we can chew by including this long trip through FL. But man it would be so fun. And FL gets very crowded this time of year, so…