Dave and Kimberly

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!

I know many of you are at an RV camp with others... but where ever you find yourself, have a fun, safe day. Here in Ohio we have family all around us and we will share the time with them. If you have a great pic or story from your experience share it here so we can all enjoy it with you!

Certainly this is of concern to all of us that had purchased an upscale travel trailer to know that in the event of some service issue we couldn't perform ourselves, we would always have the Hohenwald factory service to back us up! I'm not going to be at the rally this year and I expect that this will be a good opportunity to talk, face to face, about this decision and for not only Oliver to be able to explain their rationale... but also the loyal customers to explain how they feel. I'm sure whole thing will come up at the rally. I hope someone will report back here and share what they learn.

My rear window was sealed by the same guy that did JD1923! In retrospect... it's possible that something along the lines of the "chemical incompatibility" mentioned by a few of you took place. The instructions Oliver Service gave me was to use this "black rope like" caulk around the inner flange of the bathroom window during the installation. Then they sent a tube of silicone sealant to finish off on the outside (I should have taken note of what it was, but I'll assume it was the ASI-335). It turned yellow as it dried. There was no mention about waiting for one to cure before using the other... and the "white" sealant never actually touched the black caulk they sent... but there could have been some off gassing that created some coloring of the outside sealant. Wow... that ASI-335 and the ASI 0240 cleaner is expensive!

I didn't see an answer to the question of what is the sealant to use on our Olivers? I just inspected the various sealant places on the roof of our Ollie while washing and waxing after we got home. It doesn't look like it needs it yet but I want to be prepared. I have noted and recorded the above recommendations for both the cleaner and sealant. Which brings me to my next point. When we picked up our Oliver in May of 2022... we noticed a poor bead of seal around the rear window and asked them to touch it up. They did, but what they used (there in the pre-delivery bay) dried very yellow and to this day, stands out like a sore thumb on our pristine white Oliver. It is completely different than what was used when building the Oliver. Then a couple of months later we had a service ticket for the bathroom window to be replaced and I agreed to let them send me the parts and materials to replace it. I did so... but evidently got the same "yellow" sealant! When time and UV rays do their damage.... I want to be sure to have a replacement sealant that is "bright white"! For those that have done this, what was your experience?

The explanation I've gotten is that any "crud" (lets call it) ... on the inside walls of the black tank can inhibit the sensor (your picture shows it) ability to read the content level inside the tank. We use ours toilet freely as needed. Occasionally while we have full hook-ups... I'll use a dedicated black tank hose and give the black tank a good flushing. This helps break off any crud and flush it away before it becomes a permanent part of our black tank. In addition, occasionally when I know we are going to be towing for several hours, I will first drain the tank... and then partially refill the black tank with fresh water and some Dawn dish washing detergent. As we are driving along this solution sloshs back and forth and cleans the inside of the black tank. If the tank hasn't been properly maintained it is possible that it could take a while to really get it clean again. All this said those sensors are not the most accurate things in the world... but they should be much closer than yours appears to be. Ours (for example) will read about 85% when it's really full.

So after listening to all of his (guy in the video) points... and considering the "how" its done by thieves; it seems to me that the moment you take it out of that faraday pouch the signal can be picked up. If you are at the grocery store and they pick up your key fob RF signal as soon as you take it out and use it... then they already have you even if you then hide it back in the faraday pouch. Lock your truck up in the driveway at home and if they can do this from up to 300 feet away... then isn't this like closing the barn door AFTER the horse has already left? If this is really such a problem it seems that the manufacturers have some responsibility to resolve this? Insurance companies won't want to keep paying for some thing that as it turns out... wasn't really "locked" after all. Seems to me that the convenience of an always on key fob is the culprit.

posted... looking forward to the results

I'm glad to hear that the quality of the blower and string trimmer implements are good! While I might get away with using an electric trimmer and blower... I have way too much grass to give up my 60" gasoline mower. The future is certainly coming where more and more of the items we use will be electric instead of fossil fuels.

Yes... I'm with you Snakeriveridaho! I think Patriot has cost me $350 bucks too! It was good timing though. I've been planning on getting a small (less powerful) corded electric blower just to keep the back of the truck, campsite, and top of awnings cleaned off but now I realize how nice it would be to have that EGO 765 power available to dry truck and Ollie off after cleaning. We too, roll better, with a clean and shiny rig. An FYI: I also checked that the EGO string trimmer is a pretty highly rated. My Stihl blower and trimmer are starting to get tired, so I like the idea that all the EGO implements use the same 56 volt battery (which are UL approved) and therefore would be interchangeable.

Basically nothing- especially if you get an honest 20 amp outlet. I am able to run my AC and microwave on my 20 amp plug out of my garage. At the very least you will be able to run one or the other... meaning maybe you couldn't do too many heavy users at the same time. (example, electric toaster, microwave and AC)

I agree completely GJ! My specialty is making furniture and I've found over the years quality tools are nearly always the best way to go. Typically they are expensive for a reason. Quality materials... quality tools and some quality skill sets! The young man in the video is a bit long winded... but one can tell he knows what he's talking about. I can do some simple wiring, but while I recognize good work when I see it, I am a bit intimidated by doing some of the projects I hear others taking on. I'm sure I could do it once I set my mind to the task... but I'm not there yet. I hope someday to install a dc to dc system so that I can utilize charging benefit while driving from point A to B. I seem to remember JD doing something like that and if I remember correctly it had the main component installed on the Oliver... and not in the truck, which makes a lot of sense to me. The advantage being that the capability stays with the Oliver and not the tow vehicle that is likely to get traded out at points in the future.

I've been thinking about this and my gut feeling is that you shouldn't... because where do you go from here... eventually the others slowly die off... each time replacing it with a new one. I'd agree with Bill.... just change them all out at once. That said...I'm wondering... if the others are still "good", why could't you continue operating on those remaining batteries until they die as well. I'm thinking 12 volts is 12 volts and the number of batteries simply creates "capacity". So just continue on with the remaining batteries until the your capacity becomes unacceptable for your needs. (I have lithium... but I suspect the same logic would apply) Then when its time... upgrade, replace... whatever, and start over.

That's a nice and neat solution to the problem. Fortunately I was forewarned (thru this forum) about the correct OTT tire pressure (50 is what I fixed on). I did notice that the metal straps seemed a bit sub-par in securing the furnace and water heater. I like your solution better. (another someday project)