John E Davies

I have always used black, it makes it easy to see how even the coverage is. I have used it on 7 pin connections where the wires attach, and also on a solar power cord I made that goes in my side port. I also wired up a junction block for the lights on a utility trailer, and coated all the cable ends and terminal screws afterwards, since it was fully exposed to moisture. A couple of heavy coats is usually plenty. It is long lasting and tough, usually you have to physically scrape it off. Here is an excellent example, I don’t know if it is the same exact product. Natures Head replacement vent fan now comes from them with all the connections and solder joints protected. The connectors are actually covered with heat shrink tubing first, then covered with the coating, that is pretty thorough workmanship, I guess they were having problems….. John Davies Spokane WA

Thanks for posting the pics, that badly repaired ground stud would certainly throw a bunch of circuits out of whack! The black tar stuff is perfectly fine too, it is generically called “liquid electrical tape”, and it is used for putting a flexible waterproof coating on any connection that you want to stay corrosion free indefinitely. The down sides are it’s quite messy, and it can cover up a lot of sins like your crappy welded repair. STAR BRITE Liquid Electrical Tape - 4 FL Oz Can With Applicator Brush Cap - Protective, Airtight, Waterproof, Flexible, Dielectric Coating - Indoor & Outdoor Use It is very similar to pruning spray or liquid used on trees. If I did this repair to “Mouse” I would probably NOT recoat it, but the stuff is most excellent inside a 7 pin trailer connector, for example. I am not sure why the person applied it inside your trailer, it is not a wet or corrosive area. John Davies Spokane WA

Check this old thread. Let me know if there are any issues with downloading or the files themselves. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/2774-how-to-davies-rv-travel-log-service-inventory-spreadsheet-excel-numbers/ John Davies Spokane WA

I was expecting a picture of a lake😬 It looks like a very pleasant place to stay and explore. Got bikes? https://www.romanticasheville.com/bent_creek_lake_powhatan.htm I bet there are a lot of folks taking advantage of the beach and water access…. how hot is it? John Davies Spokane WA

While it probably is a failed motor, it could also be a hardened mud dauber nest in there. Regardless, I don’t think you should attempt a field repair. If it were out of warranty and mine, I would take out the fan assembly for a look-see. Good luck, and please post a followup. If they list the parts on the repair invoice, ask for their prices too. That would be informative. At some point soon these older Trumas are going to be non warranty. If you have not registered it, do so, because it doubles the standard warranty. John Davies Spokane WA

What about the campground water supply? How do you feel about contaminating that? John Davies Spokane WA

You aren’t going to get away from DEF unless you do an illegal “delete”. Which would get your Ollie black and oily😬 https://donotdpfdelete.green/what-year-trucks-require-def/ John Davies Spokane WA

Great picture, see the tube coming down under the pressure switch? That means it is NOT a sail switch. It is a differential pressure switch, with a sensitive diaphragm. It would be possible to carefully functionally test it with a vacuum tester, like a Mity Vac, but that would be risky without detailed specs from a repair manual. It actually looks similar to the $10 one on my home humidifier😳 Make sure the hose is secure at each end and not pinched. If it is open to the air at the far end, it could have a bug in it. Good luck. John Davies Spokane WA

Not really an Ollie pic, this is for Trainman. We stopped at the most excellent and wonderful Nevada Northern Railway in Ely. It’s a vast complex of buildings, depot/ museum/ gift shop, sheds, service buildings, machine shops, foundry, warehouses, and incredible old locos and equipment that were part of the vast Kennecott open pit mine, which stopped operations in the 1970s. That is the same company that operated the Kennecott Copper Mine in SE Alaska. And once you pay your entry fee, you can wander around at your leisure. If a building isn’t padlocked you can enter! Ely Nevada, Nevada Northern Railway, Kennecott Mine locomotive 81 coming in to hook up for the first train ride of the day, Ely Nevada, Nevada Northern Railway, Kennecott Mine locomotive 81 backing to hook up for the first train ride of the day John Davies Spokane WA

Found this, is it similar to yours? If so that switch is super easy to remove, two wires, two screws.If you don’t want to remove it, get a small piece of electrical wire and “jumper” those grey and white wires. If the heater lights, the switch is faulty. Do NOT leave the jumper wires in there and run the heater more than a few seconds! Short test only. How far down this warranty rabbit hole are you willing to go, and what is your electrical skill level? John Davies Spokane WA

4a is part of the water pressure/ temperature relief valve, you lift it up to vent water, and to clean any debris from the seal if it is seeping. This is just like the one in your residential water heater. Question, do any roving (mobile) RV techs have the ability to troubleshoot these units? John Davies Spokane WA

I don’t have a Truma, but the diagrams are pretty self explanatory. How far back in the exhaust can you see? Do you have access to a small telescoping inspection mirror or better yet, a boroscope? That would let you see up that elbow as far as the fan wheel. Is there a screen in the exhaust opening? If not you could have a bug nest. Does the fan start to turn or is it dead? Can you physically touch the EPS? If so, can you remove the connector or the switch itself ? You could do a resistance check of its terminals. The fan is controlled by FOUR switches, all have to work or the heater won’t light! If even one of the temp switches fails, the fan won’t start to turn (no power available). The EPS senses the correct airflow, then closes. So if it is bad, the fan will start to turn, then stop (power is interrupted). The furnace has a sail switch with a similar function, and you can physically move the vane to test it. I don’t know if the Truma one is built the same way. Knowing the Germans, probably not. I don’t think you can do much in the field without risking the warranty, and I don’t think Truma sells repair parts yet in this country. The switch is quite expensive. Did that help at all, or just muddy the waters? Good luck. John Davies Spokane WA

I cannot comment directly, but I recently met a Colorado guy in remote NW Nevada at a hot springs, he had a recent Winnebago Revel 4x4 camper, He was all over our LE2, he said that he wanted to get an Elite to pull behind the Revel. He seemed very knowledgeable about RVs in general. So I don’t think it would be a problem as long as you are aware of tongue weight limitations and don’t fill the TV with ammo and anvils…..😬 What are the payload specs for your particular Sprinter? Which roof? Have you considered borrowing or renting a 5000 pound trailer to tow for a weekend? Even a U-haul loaded with two yards of beauty bark would work as a test mule. I think it would answer all your questions in the space of a few miles, especially if you live near any serious grades. And welcome to the forum. John Davies Spokane WA

Buy a better quality double check valve to isolate the sewage from the fresh, your garden hose check valve is nothing but a vacuum break and they are less than reliable, There should be a check valve inside the Ollie, but you can never be too safe when dealing with E. coli. The inside one could jam open. I have some reservations about the overall design, but if you are always very careful, you may be OK. Or may not be😳 https://www.waterregsuk.co.uk/news/newsletter/categories/installer_news/non-return_valves/ Try reposting your pics, I don’t see anything but urls, I can open them in a new window but that is awkward at best. Save the images onto your device or computer, and then attach them to the post. That uploads them to the forum server. Like this…. John Davies Spokane WA

Open up the male 7 pin housing first thing !!! Most likely the problem is in there. First eliminate the obvious, them worry about any more obscure causes. John Davies Spokane WA

Your AGMs should read about 12.5 volts “resting” (no load) depending on their state of charge, the solar panel bumps that up to about 14.5. You need to look inside your 7 pin connector, to make sure it isn’t nasty inside from corrosion, which is very common. John Daves Spokane WA

Were there any warning signs like no electrical connection to the gennie, or a nasty burnt plastic smell? That is a scary pic. Does Oliver Service know about this issue? Thanks. John Davies Spokane WA

A big word of caution about International roaming…. We camped at a county RV park in Washington, near Port Angeles, almost directly across from Victoria BC, our phones connected to a BC cell tower without our noticing, and we got hit with an enormous US$400 data charge, it took several hours in person at the Verizon store to straighten it out. This was several years ago, I am not sure how the current plans work, but be VERY careful about using cell or hotspot data when you are in the USA, but so very close to Canada. John Davies Spokane WA

Use the supplied alligator clips to hook your suitcase solar panel directly to the batteries. Or to your truck battery…. That will tell you immediately whether or not it is working correctly. FYI Oliver’s seven pin harness wire color codes are different, but the actual pin functions are industry standard. If you don’t have a meter as FrankC suggests, get one, since you will have other uses for it in the future. It would be very easy to connect the meter leads to the charge and ground pins, hook up your panel to the trailer batteries, and watch for the voltage rise. I suspect you have a wiring problem in the trailer, as long as your Renogy panel is working. You might want to look at this, it shows the (very awkward) location where your front wire harness splices into the trailer wiring. … https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5271-how-to-junction-box-for-the-7-wire-trailer-harness-under-the-front-dinette-seat/ John Davies Spokane WA

That 4S variant is pretty much a winter capable car tire. You could have run them on the Ollie but you would basically have to run them at the full sidewall pressure, and then there is the risk of sidewall cuts because there aren't as many cords there or in the tread. I think they would be great if they were offered in a Load E variation. Was that $50 for return shipping? That seems quite reasonable to me in these hard times. Tire shopping can be exhausting emotionally, it is always prudent to really study and understand the specifications. Good catch. It would have been bad if you did not notice until after they were installed! Or never noticed and put 50 or 60 psi in them. John Davies Spokane WA

This is possible, the wiring on Olivers is very good compared to the SOB trailers in terms of protected harnesses and looms, but to the best of my knowledge they still do not secure the loose wires properly at the terminal ends, the connections. This results in wires falling off the water pump, for example. So while we are not literally “walking on wires” there could be failure points. My trailer Hull 216 had completely unprotected main battery cables, the soft rubber insulation was wearing away from chafing the steel battery tray. It was a serious fire hazard. Having to string a new wire to bypass an unknown fault is not something a tech or owner wants to do, but it could be necessary if detailed methodical troubleshooting and physical inspection doesn’t find the cause…😳 John Davies Spokane WA

Where do you live? You need to add this info to a signature so it appears in all your posts. Maybe an Oliver owner close to you would be able to help. At this stage in your ordeal you need to bypass Jason entirely and make a personal phone call to an Oliver management person. The lack of diagrams has been a serious issue for literally YEARS and we keep hearing new and inventive reasons why, IMHO it is completely unacceptable, because it results in the emotionally devastating crap like what is happening to you now. If Oliver used industry standard color coding on the wires, it would not be a big deal, but they do not! This is crazy, they changed four of the five colors to the rear lights: I personally would never own an RV or a boat if I could not myself deal with stuff like this, I have the technical background to do it effectively. I really feel for “normal” people who have to rely on the outdated and crippled RV service model. Please keep this thread going. Good luck. John Davies Spokane WA

That is helpful, but that Technical Service Bulletin was for a missing inverter chassis ground cable, the "third wire", which did not in any way affect the inverter's normal operation, or any of the other circuits,, it was a serious shock hazard in case the inverter shorted out internally to its housing. But that big ground post on the trailer frame is ultimately where the main ground wires should attach. BTW this is a prime example of why we should have wiring diagrams for our trailers! It is CRAZY to expect an RV tech or an owner to blunder around with no accurate references. If Katjo does bring in a residential electrician, the very first thing he is going to say is, where are the diagrams? When he sees there are none, he is going to melt down. John Davies Spokane WA

All sellers should consider having a full inspection performed before listing the trailer, and have that report available for a buyer to study. The crazy long wait times are very bad, there is nothing you can do about that as a buyer, I guess, but a seller has no excuse! John Davies Spokane WA

I am sorry for your trauma, and finding a reason for a flaky electrical system can be very hard. With so many 12 volt circuits being involved in the problem it seems to me that the cause is between the batteries and the distribution panel. Maybe inside the panel itself. Can you duplicate the failures by moving wires? A detailed inspection of every wire may be in order, perhaps there is a failed crimp or a loose terminal. I know for SURE that the 12 volt fuse holders are very prone to getting loose, the little brass “ears” that grab the blades of the fuses can be bent back by careless fuse installation, then the connection goes away entirely or becomes sporadic. This has happened to my fridge and the Natures Head toilet, both quit unexpectedly. Both are on separate circuits, both had loose fuse contacts. Get a small pair of precision needle nose pliers, insulate the tips with tape or heat shrink tubing, and check every single fuse holder, Remove the fuse, tighten the two pairs of ears slightly by squeezing them together, and reinstall the fuse straight in using the pliers, do NOT just jam it in with your fingers. That bends the ears! I borrowed this pic from dhaig, I hope he doesn’t mind. It clearly shows those ears.. Do some detailed poking around, eventually you should figure this out. Good luck. And for all buyers, always insist on a pre-purchase inspection if you are not able to do it yourself. If a trailer’s systems don’t work as advertised, or the trailer has signs of neglect, run away. John Davies Spokane WA