Dave and Kimberly

WELCOME Jason! We look forward to working with you and good luck in your new position!

Its one part of whats called a 3 WAY switch. Just like in your house where you can turn a light on/off from opposite sides of the room... this allows you to turn the water pump on from either the wall above dinette OR from the bathroom.

I'm thinking that my next truck will be an F-250 super duty diesel. I understand all the benefits (pay load, braking, handling and elimination of the WDS) There is a significant cost up ($10K) for the diesel engine alone. Ive read enough folks opinions on the diesel engine and I'm convinced that it is better for towing. My current F-150 just never gets any more than 13mpg... and thats generally a good day! A question to the many of you folks that have made the leap to diesel; what kind of milage are you getting while towing your Ollie?

I'm glad your power came back on Steve! I've seen other posts where our Ollies can also double up as a comfortable back up housing in a pinch!

It's clearly (by the comments already) a matter of preference. We like to always leave home (or one campsite to the next) with full fresh and empty black and gray. For one thing we like having our nice water from home in tank, but we also invariably use our bathroom along the way. Regarding drinking from it... we do, but also carry a Brita water gizmo in the fridge. So even our water is filtered once more from tank for our coffee and drinking water. There have been times when I left one campsite and planned on having water at the next site... so I didn't fill up my fresh. Then our plans changed and I found myself boon-docking without that water in my fresh tank... so now it's just my rule: full fresh, empty black and gray no matter what, I just do it.

HD... I feel your pain. I too loved taking off on my motorcycle and just catching a hotel somewhere along the way... with little or no planning except a "general direction" in mind. That said... I've learned with the Ollie how to be nearly as spontaneous by becoming more and more aware of the Ollie's capabilities... AND I CAN SLEEP IN MY OWN BED EVERY NIGHT. It's also much cheaper than decent hotel rooms at today's prices! It's taken us a couple of years... and now with nearly 270 nights in our Oliver to get used to how to maximize all of it's strengths. As you learn how long your fresh, gray and black tanks last (the way you travel), you start to learn just how "free" you are. If you are just traveling, trying to get somewhere, a Walmart or Cracker Barrel work great because they are nearly everywhere. It's also very nice to have, besides your rolling hotel room... a rolling restaurant with great food and snacks, and a clean bathroom when the moment strikes. Let's not even talk about that quick nap! The Oliver is so self contained and easy to get in and out grocery store parking lots, fast food joints, gas stations, small towns and side streets, etc., that you will come to appreciate the amenities of your Oliver. It's also easy to get in to campsites that many would not be able to. Regarding planning; it takes a certain amount of planning to go see and spend time in those destination "hot spots" that we've always wanted to see. What we have found works best for us is to anchor your trip with reservations in those places that just require it... but allow time in between those hot spot reservations to be spontaneous (that place the locals told you you just can't miss!), time for medical or mechanical emergencies and to just allow time to shop for groceries and do the laundry. Of course I'm saying all of this and assuming that you don't have too many time constraints. If you are still working you can throw out everything I just said! 🙂 If you ever took Stephen Covey's class on "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"... all of this reminds me of the "lesson" of putting in the big rocks in the jar first (the things that really matter) ... and then sprinkle in the little rocks (smaller things that are fun... but maybe not absolutely necessary). Travel is fun, but I don't like it to be so much like work. I'm done with schedules and self inflicted constraints to be somewhere at a certain time. Time to relax, enjoy, be surprised... and stop in at that store in the mountains that serves awesome huckleberry pie and ice-cream.

GJ... the "red light" on the battery blanket switch is all I am going by. And I agree that the true test is to measure any draw going to that blanket independent of the red light. While I have the electrical tester... it's a case of having a tool... but not absolutely certain how to use it to it's potential. 🙂 I have a neighbor that might be able to show me if can get his attention long enough to teach me some basics. FYI: We came home from a short trip... and it's sitting out there, now with the ceiling fan on about 50%.... running 24/7 and the battery is staying at 99 or 100% all the time???? Of course the solar panels are keeping up with the drain.

I did my career at Honda of America, Mfg in Ohio. We of course tracked every units build and history with the V.I.N.. I thought Oliver was doing the same with the Elite and Elite II builds, using either the "hull number" or some other identifier... but I realized when they sent out the mass-mailings on the Bulldog hitch recall that they weren't doing anything at all like that. THEY upgraded my hitch from the 2" / 7000 lb Bulldog to the 2 5/16" / 12,500 lb version. Even though they had done this... they sent me a recall notice. If their build records were complete... this would have been unnecessary. Evidently, at some point in their production run... there was some 5,000 lb Bulldog hitches that had gotten inadvertently installed. Maybe even just one?? But because they couldn't ascertain the production window where they KNEW there were good parts... they had to go back and check all or nearly all of them, because the risk was just too great. I suspect that this has shined a light on why they might want to be doing something like this going forward.

Ron... how exactly do you turn the "inverter" off ? You mention two locations, one of which is the wall mount. Thats the only place I've ever turned it on/off. Where is the second place? Is it the breaker (under dinette)? I have only recently tested that location as well. SO off on the remote and off at the breaker panel under the dinette. Our 2022 Ollie has the 3000 watt inverter but I'm guessing all things considered both are the same. I should mention that everything works perfectly fine when we are using the camper and this is only a problem when home and NOT USING the camper.

GJ... Last week I pulled all of the fuses... and and turned off every breaker and of course made sure that nothing was running, no sound, no fans, no lights, etc.. Everything "appears" off. The Lithionics app is the only data I have, and it's not showing any "current consumption"... and yet that same app (Sunday to Wednesday) has shows SOC has went from 80% to 77%. Clearly, electricity is being siphoned off somehow? We will use the camper this next week... but once we are home... I'm almost to the point of turning off the inverter and batteries to see if this stops the drain. Of course then the only way to get a status update would be to turn the batteries back on.

So... other than the Red light, how did you know the battery blanket was "on". My switch toggles from on to off and through out it has been in the off mode.

So the concern I have, that while it sounds simple to just turn off batteries... it seems in a direct contradiction to what Oliver and Lithionics says? (see John Dorrer post above) I vaguely remember something about the inverter being on with the batteries turned off... and then turning on the batteries (one by one) and there was some sort of possibility of a surge doing damage? Maybe someone can speak more informed about this? STATUS update: Friday at 12pm...after charging batteries were at 100%. At the moment, three days later batteries are at 98%. A more reasonable loss level. Everything is off, all the 12 volt fuses are pulled and all the breakers are turned off (under the dinette table). I'm going to replace those fuses/turn on breakers.... and continue my search for "what is consuming electric" when everything appears to be OFF?

Apologize to those trying to help... I'm reading and trying as many of the suggestions as possible, but the nature of it takes time to ascertain what the results are. Geronimo John- I'm not familiar with another fuse panel in the attic? Do you mean the rear storage space (above rear window) where the EMS, TV antennae on/off area? Our Ollie is a 2022 if that matters. I've resisted turning off the batteries. I don't think the failure is with them and I've also shied away from disconnecting power to the CO2 and/or fuse panel (now all red lights) because I don't think those little lights would be a significant draw. In addition, I've went out to the trailer at night to see if there are any lights on anywhere; outside basement storage area, inside, outside, trailer running lights, etc. Nothing. My 7-pin connector is housed safely out of rain in holder made for it. My Xantrex inverter is turned off at the control panel. And it's quiet as a church mouse. No fan, no humming, nothing. Exactly how do you "trip it's circuit protection"? To be honest... I'm concerned about turning off some of these things because it would take me down another electrical rabbit hole when I try to power them up. (worried about sequence of turning inverter and batteries back on and damaging something???)

Thats a good idea... I understand that drift can throw the battery SOC off... in fact, thats why I let the batteries go down farther than normal in the first place so that I could "reset" the SOC. To answer your voltage question: Currently the batteries are registering, from the Lithionics app 84% SOC and 13.28 volts. Key points: to clarify with some who asked; I do not have a composting toilet. (I understand that they have a fan that can be operating) I believe there is a switch w/red light indicating on... in the battery compartment (2022 model) that turns the battery blanket on/off. It has been off. (so I guess not so hard to turn off the heating blanket under batteries 🙂 ) There is a button on the top of each battery that turns that specific battery on/off/reset. Those are on. I've turned the solar panels off... just to eliminate that variable. Turned off all the AC side breakers OFF. On the 12 volt circuit panel I pulled each one of the fuses. (of course now there are several red lights indicating no circuit) Also the batteries were (just last week) brought up to 100% and then I closed the camper back up. I am charging them back up to 100% now, I've taken out all the 12 volt fuses from circuit panel and all breakers are off on the AC breaker panel. PS- wasn't sure how to do the "quote" thing so... we'll see how this looks when I hit submit.

I’m going to try each suggestion… one at a time over the next few days to see if I can isolate anything. Starting with Rinbrink idea. & “now trip the surface mounted switch for the Xantrex and DC located under the street side bed. Problem solved, at least for now; zero draw on the batteries!” then of course there is TOPGUNS old school idea of simply disconnecting a main ground wire. GJ- know it’s “doable” to take the batteries out and investigate the “heater blanket”… but I’m putting off that because, well mainly I’m lazy and it sounds like a lot of work… but it’s on my list too. I should say I am familiar with using the Lithionics app… and despite the obvious contradiction…. It says there is zero draw.??? SOMETHING is drawing down my batteries. I started out thinking that the answer would be easy to find. Just know that I appreciate the thoughtful suggestions and I’m looking into them. If I discover anything useful… I will for sure post what it is😀

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. I didn't respond immediately because I wanted to double check my facts once again. I realized that when I had turned off the Xantrex inverter and stepped away it simply dropped down to the "battery only" mode. So, corrected the inverter switch problem and then I flipped each breaker switch off... and in order to get a more accurate reading also turned off the solar panel switch. I once again looked as carefully as possible for anything that could be on. The TV antenna red light is off. When I walked out of the Oliver the only thing on was the little green light on the CO2 detector under dinette table... which I'm sure is 12volt. GJ- I didn't know what a BlueSeas 350-amp shut-off switch was till I looked it up. Appears to be the same thing Oliver installed for turning the solar panels on/off. I'm not certain where or how to install one of those, but it might be an option? I have the Lithionics App on my phone (three 130ah batteries OEM installed by Oliver). Because sometimes there is some difference between one battery and the next... each one of these readings is from the same battery. From the Lithionics app; Yesterday at 10:40am it read 90%, this morning at 7:58am it read 86%... and just now at 3:38pm its reading 85%. I know this isn't right... but there isn't anything running. No fan, light, refrigerator. The Truma water heater is off (on the wall) and I just went out to turn it off at the outside switch as well. I've always noticed more "parasitic loss" than I felt was appropriate but because we were using the camper so regularly it didn't seem problematic (255 days in 18 months of ownership). Now some family issues are keeping us from traveling this summer. In the two years we've owned it I also never turned off the lithium batteries until a few days ago. It became necessary when one of my batteries went below the 10% BMS cut-off point. It wouldn't allow the batteries to recharge (I do it by simply plugging the Oliver into a 20amp plug for a few hours) A simple on and off reset it and it resumed normal charging. I even suspected that the "battery heater blanket" that Oliver installs could be malfunctioning... even though it's obviously not below freezing... but the battery BMS is showing 78 degrees... which is about ambient air temp here in Ohio... so I don't think that's the problem either. Two things are left to me at this point. 1) Pull each one of the 12 volt fuses from the panel under dinette and 2) simply turn all three of the batteries off... but in order to check SOC... they would need to be turned back on. Either of these solutions I find un satisfying because it doesn't identify the root cause.

I have my Ollie at home, so I can plug it in occasionally just to recharge the 390AH Lithium batteries. It's not a real big deal but I can't figure out what I'm missing. What is drawing down these batteries at such a rate? I've went in the Oliver and turned completely off anything I can find, Lights, Furrion Entertainment system, nothing in any of the outlets, both fans are off, refrigerator is turned off. I am stumped! My question to the family of Ollie owners.... Is this "normal? I have a Calmark cover... and I've left the Solar panel switch on because (believe it or not)... I still get a slight gain from the covered panels.

I agree with Bill... it's not a real big deal. They are both going to the drain system and can't impact your fresh water in any way. That said we are kind of fussy about keeping both the gray and black as clean as possible. I would recommend that whenever you find your self in a campground with full service at the site- as a regular part of preventative maintenance, to occasionally give your black tank a good hard flushing (with the black tank flush port and a dedicated hose) and fill your gray tank up a time or two and flush it also. Then once clean and before departing to the next destination... put about 5 gallons of water back in the black tank... and maybe 10 gallons of water in your gray and add a generous dose of Dawn dishwater soap in both. The sloshing and sudsing inside of both tanks, as you drive; stopping, starting and turning, should give the inside of both tanks a good cleaning. Then drain and maybe give both of them another good rinsing to get out any "scaling" that came off. This of course, is only possible when going from one campsite with dumpstations... to another. I like to do this every couple of weeks when using.

Chris... I'm like you and inclined to try and do my own service. My advice would be to wait until you get to the rally and talk with one of Oliver service techs to learn how they would do it. Not long after we brought our Oliver home, they sent me a replacement bathroom window and walked me thru the process (taking out old, replacing with new). Someone there could be a big help with the details.

Thank you Rodney and the entire Oliver Family! While we understand the need to grow the business…. This has to be the best solution for everyone! A “Win- Win” for sure!!!

This subject has been an "interesting read". I started when it was only about 10 pages long... reading all of the opinions and results from the beginning. I want to say thanks to all of you for your hard work and leading the pack on this rather significant upgrade. I'll be watching to learn how you feel after some road testing, but I suspect its going to feel much better. It's definitely on my list of things I want to do before too long. We've got better than 20K on the trailer now and despite "most of the time" on reasonable roads I've hit some hard bumps and such and definitely would like the peace of mind from an upgraded suspension system. I just greased the 16 zerks and noticed the tell-tail marks of the U-bolts hitting the frame on a few occasions. PS- We travel well under the Max of 7k lbs.... until we stop at Costco on the way home where I'm certain we've always exceeded it because the pantry at home was empty.

John Dorrer: The same thing happened to me once on my relatively flat driveway. It scared the bee-jeebies out of me for a moment. In my scenario there was a slight decline to the right of the Oliver. Afterwards I investigated and believe that the problem was the way I placed the chocks. I placed the chocks behind each of the Olivers back wheels. Then as the tongue came up and off of my truck there was nothing to keep the Ollie wheels from coming forward. The tongue came up and then moved about 10" suddenly to the right (towards the Ollie's right). I believe that my Oliver "pivoted" on the right rear chock and because there wasn't anything on the left side to keep it from going forward.... it did. Since then, I have put my 4 chocks front and back on each side. It keeps both sides of the Oliver planted in place. I also think that because I was on my concrete driveway...and maybe the hard plastic chocks didn't "grip" on my concrete well ... it was a scenario that allowed the Oliver to move even quicker than it might have on a gravel camp-site.

Anyone else out there a Joe Bonamassa fan? Here is one of our favorites... especially when we are on the road with our Oliver.

Steve Morris- Those are great pictures that you got! You can clearly see the solar flares on the sun! Great pic!

Well... here is what I learned. My pictures didn't look nearly as good as what I was observing thru my own eyes from our back yard. I guess you need more fancy gear than my new iPhone. I was kind of disappointed. And then I turned around and saw my wife, my daughter and many of my beautiful grand children, I realized something! The best pictures were all behind me as they were looking up and completely awestruck with the eclipse totality happening... and then our landscape lighting came on! 🙂 The whole experience was really something! I won't forget it for a long time. I hope everybody's day was just as great as mine was!