Steph and Dud B

Update: I think we've identified the problem. The short cycling returned the night after OTT inspected the unit. Immediately after a cycle shutdown I went to the thermostat and shut it down so I could see the current temperature it was reporting. As I watched, it rose 3 degrees in about 2 minutes. An IR thermometer verified the final reading was the actual temperature of the thermostat. Working hypothesis: the thermostat was ingesting cold air directly from the overhead A/C unit, causing an early shutdown. When the cold airflow stopped, the thermostat called for A/C again and the process repeated. Experimental solution: the thermostat has vent openings top and bottom. I placed a folded handkerchief over the top vents to shield them from the cold airflow. Viola! Normal A/C operation for the first time! I was concerned maybe the thermostat needs the top vents to release internally created heat, but that doesn't seem to be the case (because that would cause increasing calls for A/C, which didn't happen). The weather has cooled, so I can't field test anymore. Going to try something more elegant than a folded handkerchief next time. Maybe a piece of felt. I think our mystery is solved, but it raises other questions. Why couldn't Jason recreate it at Service? Why aren't more people reporting this issue?

Our 2022 with the MaxxAir bathroom vent pops open on the highway. An empty plastic water bottle through the handle "fixed" it for now... 🙄

@Time2Go!, did you ever get a resolution to the short cycling? We're at the mothership now after our new LE2 was doing the same thing yesterday/last night. With the fan on continuous Low the compressor would run for 2 minutes, stop, then repeat after a 3-5 minute pause. Shore power was good, temps in the mid-80s/mid-70s. Dropped the thermostat setting to 68 with no change in the behavior. Thought maybe it froze up, so switched to High fan only - no A/C - but saw no drainage from the drain tubes, so don't think it was iced. Right now, OTT can't duplicate the issue in their shop. A mystery...

This just happened to us. The flashing LCD display screen got my attention, then I saw 12U and a blinking red Power LED. It was right at dawn with 0Ah for the day and charging at .1A. I suspect it was just waking up and, like a grumpy spouse, decided to wake me up, too.

I do like the water meter idea as a backstop to the SeeLevel gauge when flushing.

What a nice tribute to your Ollie.

Following @Rivernerd's thoughts, do the problems continue if you disconnect shore power and run only off the batteries with the inverter turned off? If so, I agree with John that the problem is most likely between the batteries and the distribution panel. If the problems only manifest when you're plugged into shore power, the converter/inverter is a likely suspect.

Beautiful!

Well, can't say I'm super impressed with our Diamondback truck cover. The first downpour we had I looked in my truck bed and saw two very fast drips coming in. Later I took a hose to the cover and found that water leaked in at all four corners where the two lids attach to the center panel. With flooding water from the hose they weren't drips, they were streams. Online searching told me this wasn't an isolated problem, either. In the end, it comes down to poor engineering and sloppy manufacturing. The design relies on various pieces of weatherstripping coming together at an angle when the lids are closed. On ours, the weatherstripping was cut too short at the factory. The water coming off the cover would sit on top of the truck bed rails and drain in through the gaps. 😤 From what I read online, replacing the weatherstripping - and attaching it at the exact right points - is a bear of a project. After a few days of messing around with some extra bits of weatherstripping I've got it down to only a drip under flooding water from the hose now. I think that's the best I'll ever get. Pretty disappointing for such an expensive piece of gear. On the positive side, the cover meets its other tasks well: locked security for the bed and cargo carrying capacity on top, so I guess it's OK. Diamondback SE score: Water resistance: 7 Security: 9 Cargo carrying: 10

The lack of a 2" receiver adequate for one of the RV-rated bike racks irritates me as well. (There are no RV-rated 1¹/⁴" racks.) Our Ollie receiver is therefore relegated to a small cargo carrier and our bikes are going on top of the truck.

Congratulations!

I did something similar for dump days. 45-gallon Sterilite totes from Walmart fit perfectly inside. These totes have wheels on one end and I use my collapsible awning hook to pull them to the tailgate for unloading the trash at the transfer station.

What's the wheelbase on the Gladiator? Shorter wheelbases are less stable tow vehicles, regardless of the tow rating.

Last I heard Oliver was installing Cooper Light Truck tires. Perfectly fine tires. Most other trailers come with ST (Special Trailer) tires, often of dubious quality. Google "RV China Bombs" and you'll see lots of horror stories. With our 3 previous rigs, the first thing I did was put quality tires on them. I won't be changing out the Oliver's Coopers.

Most theoretical values hit a wall in real-world applications because they rarely get installed optimally. Even so, R16 does seem a bit far-fetched. The real question: is the Oliver insulation any better than a standard RV with aluminum studs and fiberglass/styrofoam/luan sandwich walls and roof? I'll know pretty soon. Had a few of those "stickie" trailers. This summer will be an Ollie. I know that our last fifth wheel radiated a lot of heat through the slideout walls, which I think were thinner than the "main" walls, and the cabinets/compartments in those slides were always cooler or hotter than the cabin interior. Comparisons with the Ollie will be interesting.

Yes, we have a 2000W Honda that we'll probably carry to supplement the solar. I like the idea of portable solar panels, but we already own the Honda.

So, very rough estimate, the AC used approx. 10% SOC per hour and your solar replaced that 10% the next day. In theory then, someone in similar weather could probably run the AC for 1/2 hour each night to cool the cabin off before bed and recoup that power (and some other power used) the next day. Looking forward to trying this when we get our Ollie!

Diamondback installed, with the Front Runner racks and Yakima bike racks. Just about ready for our delivery date now.

I don't see an issue with piggybacking a surge suppressor - not a second EMS - inline. The external unit simply passes normal power and would absorb the first hit of a surge, potentially saving the onboard EMS surge protector circuitry. How could it cause an issue?

Hi, if you picked up a '21 or '22 model, how many sections of 10' sewer hose did Oliver give you at delivery?

Yeah, we discussed it a bit. Steph did want the convection initially, since there's no oven. However, we almost never used the ovens in our previous trailers. The loss of a couple inches of precious counter space and the price tag finally pushed us away from the convection.

Yes, we did. After much discussion.

Note that it does take up a bit more counter space than the microwave. That was a factor in our decision.

Considering Rock Tamers ourselves, but I've read reviews that say they don't work on an aluminum hitch drawbar because the mounting bolts just dig into the aluminum. Any experiences with that?

400 watts AC is only 3.3 amps so you'd have to make sure the trailer's not drawing more than that - either through the trailer's converter or by whatever AC->DC rig you cobble up to go into the solar port (truck outputting 120v AC, trailer accepting only DC volts). I think the lowest bulk charge setting on the Xantrex is 5 amps. That would blow the circuit breaker in the truck.