Mike and Carol

Agree with John on this. Knowing my limitations causes much research, questioning and learning. Some of what I’ve done amazes me on the one hand and is very satisfying on the other. I’m a bit apprehensive about my upcoming battery and charger project resulting in more digging and learning. The input on this forum is quite a resource and the experiences and lessons learned from fellow owners is invaluable. Add to that some private tutoring from knowledgeable owners and impossible sounding projects become possible. Mike

Glad to hear about the number and the history! Congratulations! Mike

I used a plastic razor blade and my fingernail. Mike

Great video - thanks for posting! Anita gave us our first tour almost 6 years ago. We keep doing tours whenever we’re there because you still pick up knowledge on each one. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re looking at but after many camping days things become more clear. Anyway, I like seeing all those shiny new Olivers, yours will be there soon! Mike

I’ll add these instructions to my Oliver manual. Also useful for my upcoming project! Mike

This is very helpful! Thanks, John. Mike

John, thanks. When I was working with the BB rep he asked if I’d checked my unit to see if it could handle lithium and I told him it was five years old he said not to check, it won’t. He said about 3 years and newer is when lithium was added. I think those of us with older trailers will be doing more updating in the future. Look forward to your How To! Mike

After some research and discussion I ordered two Battle Born 100 AH lithium batteries to replace my 4 old AGMs. I also ordered a new PD charger that supports lithium. I have the parameters to change on my Blue Sky solar controller. Learning as I go and appreciate all the comments, guidance and advice. I do want to clean up my cabling and also secure the two Battle Borns so there will be no risk of rubbing. The Battle Born folks were very helpful and said I could add a third within the first year or two without any issue. I’l also go from about 250 lbs of batteries to about 60 lbs. Quite a difference. Mike

Hey Sak, welcome! A lot of us looked at Airstreams and went with Oliver. You won’t be sorry. Mike

I’ll text you....

Thanks, Mike. I will check out both. My trailer was built in late 2015/early 2016. The wiring everywhere was not done as well as they are currently doing. I’ll inspect both areas you circled. The solar controller is the same as several other owners with Blue Sky that have already made the switch to Lithium, so I know that is possible. Mike

I’ll let you know!

I’ve only towed from my storage to home and back, about 10 miles each way with a couple miles on I-10. The first two tanks without towing I got about 21mpg. Towing looked to be in the teens, dropped my average mpg by 3 or 4. That’s not a good indication of what mpg will be. I’ll find out in January when we head west to AZ. My Laramie is a 4X4, standard suspension and 20” wheels (come with the midnight package). It does have the towing technology group, still figuring that out, there are 5 cameras giving all sorts of views. I don’t think the air suspension would be useful towing an Oliver. Like I said, when I hitched the back of the truck dropped 2” max. Probably a little less. Mike

I’ve been a Ram 2500 owner for almost 3 weeks so consider that my experience is very limited! I don’t have the air suspension. I bought a nice Curt hitch with a 2” drop thinking that with the drop from the tongue weight I’d be level. I’m not, I barely had a 2” drop in the suspension when I lowered the trailer (loaded, full fresh tank) but nothing in the bed. I do have a bakflip tonneau cover. I ordered another hitch, adjustable, because I need at least a 3” drop, maybe 4”. It should arrive Wednesday. Squat was about half what I thought it was. I’m a little too high in the front. My past two Ram 1500s had the 220a alternator as does this 2500. Never had an issue with the 1500s with about 60K miles of towing. I think the 220 is plenty. Not sure it is evident in the pictures but in person the front is high.

We don’t. It’s a personal space like our home with our personal belongings. I’m not aware of anyone that rents out their Oliver but there might be! Mike

I took a close look at the other three batteries and the front one on the same side shows signs of wear with just a very small amount of corrosion behind the top of the strap hook. I think I need to just replace all four. It’s about time anyway. Here’s my setup: 4 Trojan T105 AGMs, 320W Solar, Xantrex 2K inverter, Blue Sky Solar Controller, at least 7 cables. Pictures:

Payload is what prompted me to go with a 2500. Decided to go with diesel instead of the big gas V8 just for a more relaxing towing experience. Mike

Question for all the electrically smart folks out there. Would anyone be interested in doing a “How To” for swapping out batteries in an Oliver? What not to do, what to do... disconnect solar controller?, turn anything else off?, which cables to disconnect first?, what to look for as far as cable serviceability?, rookie mistakes? I can try to patch my leaking battery or just go ahead a replace all four with either replacement AGMs or bite the bullet and go lithium. Exploring options and prices now. Seems like something I could do myself, just don’t want to get electrocuted or blow up the trailer... because ELECTRICITY...😳!! Mike

My plan was to replace batteries and tires this spring. I wanted to get one more trip in Jan/Feb on them first. If I need to do it now, so be it. Better safe than sorry. We keep learning stuff.

Battery tray is fine, so far. I was doing some cleaning and maintenance because we are heading west (AZ, maybe UT) right after Christmas. At this point I’m not going to get all four replaced so we’ll go camp and address this between the Jan/Feb trip and the non-rally in the spring. This looks to be a mounting issue Oliver needs to address. I will send the pics to Jason tonight.

I was doing some cleaning and maintenance today and pulled the battery tray out and found that the hook that secures the hold down strap to the tray had rubbed one battery enough that, it appeared to me, there may be a small hole in the side of the battery. The hook has corrosion that the other three don’t. I thought about slipping a thin piece of something (aluminum?) between the battery and the hook. These batteries are 5 years old and seem to charge fine. Thoughts? This shows both straps/hooks. The one in back has an issue. Here’s a close shot of the strap and hook with corrosion.

I can’t contort my arm enough to do anything through the access panel. I also have to lift the mattress and open the top access to do anything.

When I had inverter problems a while back I called Xantrex and received excellent assistance. While waiting for Monday I would start checking connections just to make sure nothing is loose. Let us know what the resolution is! Mike

Well, that’s not an easy question.... We’ve also been to many, mountains, canyons, beach, tough to say. If we could go back to one (and we tried) it would be at a private campground outside of Sylva, NC. It was a site owned by a former Oliver owner, Cobra1169. He ended up selling the campsite before we could return. It was just outside of Smokey Mountains National Park, the site backed up to a babbling creek, was very private and had a covered sitting area right on the creek. It’s a favorite because the week we were there we had great weather and had a very relaxing stay.

Very nice!