John E Davies

Tom, have you considered installing a front receiver? That would make positioning your Ollie in your storage space really simple. If you have a backup camera in the trailer, it would be even better… John Davies Spokane WA

Human excrement from a healthy individual is not a biohazard, regardless of the Internet source quoted. Blood or disease definitely would change that… You must take that advice with a whole lot of skepticism - they are, after all, trying to sell a service, such as cleaning up a feces- and needle-littered homeless camp. I have never boondocked for so long that I couldn’t find a place to dump either pee or the solids. Most places I choose have a pit toilet. You can buy additional pee tanks, or just transfer the pee to a 5 gallon container. You do have to go get food and water, and those sanitation tasks can easily be done then. Your black tank would certainly require a trip into civilization, or else a mobile pump truck. I think you are making a mountain out of a mole hill. The owners that have these toilets generally like them, for many good reasons. For example, what do you do when your black tank is full and all the dump stations are closed for the season? It’s never an issue with a composting toilet, because you can always locate a dumpster and an indoor public toilet. John Davies Spokane WA

Are you aware that that model is probably not approved for use on a trailer? How much weight do you carry? Got pics? Thanks. “Heavy Duty and Super Duty Racks are rated for RV and travel-trailer usage. Two bike maximum with only the 2-in. hitch-bar models.” John Davies Spokane WA

I can’t top SeaDawg’s reply, but I would like to add that I sure wish dump stations had a completely separate grey water hole, so I did not have to walk on top of all the spilled fecal bacteria when I dispose of only my slightly sudsy gray water. On my last trip my 3” stinky hose failed catastrophically - split in two - right at the trailer connection while dumping gray water. Imagine how much more nasty that would have been if it had that poo/ pee soup in it. With several RVs waiting in line. Taking videos….Think about it….😳 John Davies Spokane WA

No surge brakes, those are hydraulic drum or disk brakes, operated by the trailer pushing forward on the tongue mounted actuator. Here is what a surge brake actuator looks like. Notice the fluid reservoir cap. All Ollies are delivered with electric drum brakes operated by an electronic controller inside your truck. John Davies Spokane WA

I guess if you never plan to leave Wisconsin, that is a valid remark😀. When you are actually towing, your panels would have worked perfectly fine, up to maybe 200 amp hours per (cloudless) day, since most highways are wide open to the sky. And most western campgrounds have plenty of sun exposure….. Are you aware that your lithium batteries will not charge from the tow vehicle? How often do you use the generator? How has that worked out? How will you deal with a no-hookup campground that does not allow you to run a gennie? Most allow it, some do not…. Thanks. John Davies Spokane WA

I would like to add that unless the vent holes are sealed as shown in Bill’s pic, this is not a wise location for ANY electronics, other than a water resistant solar controller. When pressure washing the trailer, water will get inside. Sealing the holes pretty much eliminates that. Almost. And none should ever be installed in there if you have lead acid or AGM batteries. The latter theoretically do not vent explosive gases, but if one failed, it certainly could do so. John Davies Spokane WA

What do actual users say about run time? The manufacturer claims 60 hours per 20 pounds at 50% load in the manual, but they say at 25% load on the product page. The onboard DC charger is for lead acid use only. I would never use that feature except to recharge my truck battery in an emergency (just like the DC charger in my Yamaha 2300, which has never been used). The Ollie’s onboard 45 amp converter will charge your batteries way faster. What about service and parts? Can you get consumable stuff like air filters or electronic parts easily? How about ten years from now? I actually like the idea of a 2000+ watt version for home use, do they offer a natural gas conversion kit? John Davies Spokane WA

Here's where mine went, it is out of the way. but relatively easy to see if you lean down. The data cable goes up the gap between the battery compartment and the inside electronics bay. I was thinking about putting it at eye level, but in retrospect it isn't needed, since I always use the app. FYI the center line of the monitor and other stuff in the pictures is 3.5" below the bottom of the removable counter top. The monitor comes with a huge data cable, maybe 50 feet? I bought a short one that was 5 feet and that fit fine, with the shunt located right below the factory 12 volt positive bus. From this thread: ... https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/5301-how-to-lithium-battery-powered-vent-system/ Some members have not even bothered to mount it where it is visible, it is OK to just leave it hidden under the street side bed. However I think having it located in the cabin is useful if you have visitors who may not have the phone app. I hope that helps. John Davies Spokane WA

My daughter has an eleven year old AGM battery in her Subaru, and it still works fine. That doesn’t mean that is anything near normal. She and you have both been very lucky. My Ollie batteries were acting up by the third season, and tango uniform by the middle of the fourth. Two were shorted out, so I tossed those and limped along on the other two until I bought lithiums…. John Davies Spokane WA

I don’t know if this is a BF price, but it is the best I have seen anywhere and has free shipping. (Amazon Prime is $72.) https://tweetys.com/tank-check-024-1002-dual-propane-level-sensing-system-with-bluetooth-technology.aspx The base spacer rings are not cool, they are a little cheaper than Amazon, but then they stick you with an extra $10 shipping charge. Buy those here: …. Mopeka 024-5002 LP Check Tank Halo I plan to use the IOS app, I personally think the battery powered monitor is ugly beyond words, but if you like it, you could always hide it in a cabinet. EDIT, Tweetys did not charge sales tax, most unusual, that saved me 9%😬 John Davies Spokane WA

The rubber in the closets and cargo area also lift out. The cushion covers can go in the washing machine, gentle, cold, dry flat. The foam may have to be replaced, but sitting outside over the winter might work for them, prop them up so air can circulate. I have to ask, didn’t you notice the smell before you bought it? Good luck. John Davies Spokane WA

Oliver service is charging $120 per hour labor. Even that seems way too high to me, for a small town shop. They can’t have all that much overhead in terms of payroll and expenses…. Except they have to pay off that new building and the campground. But IMHO a few hours of that would be enough to buy some shade trees😬 John Davies Spokane WA

I disagree, most allow it for limited hours. Seven campgrounds with "Gn" in the table allow them, but there is a 60dB limit, so no noisy box store units. If yours is quiet enough, you should be fine with the Yamaha 1000. Just make sure all your other 120 volt AC breakers are open, just leave the converter operating. I would check to make sure it works before leaving home.... 😉 Always check right before you get there, to make sure your info is current. https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm John Davies Spokane WA

Here is Muncho Lake BC. One easy mod you can do is remove both Exit stickers from the glass, and put a single one above the window opening. That way your eye does not focus on the stickers. I also removed the screen permanently, we never open that window, so that improves the view. John Davies Spokane WA

Battle Born has a big sale, and there is free shipping, as always. The 100 AH one many of us like is $799, down from the regular price of $949. https://battlebornbatteries.com/product-category/lifepo4-batteries/ Keep in mind that for the IRS solar tax credit all purchases for a solar system must be made in the same calendar year. So also buy the cables, terminals, add-ons and maybe even an MPPT controller before the end of the year, for your winter project. And if you already took the credit for a factory solar option, you can’t take it a second time. John Davies Spokane WA

In regards to lithium life span, those numbers are based on full discharge cycles. A set of batteries in a home solar installation, where they are deeply discharged every single day, will work orders of magnitude harder than on RV trips with partial discharges. My Battle Borns have been used for one season, and rarely did they ever drop very far below 50% state of charge. In about 45 days of use, the Victron Connect app shows just 12 cycles. Obviously if you are full timing off grid, you will stress them more, but at the rate I am going they will probably last for the rest of my lifetime….. and be healthy for the next owner. The expected life is 3000 to 5000 cycles. John Davies Spokane WA

Rfer800, I agree about the solar/ battery equation being backwards, but a generator solves that problem for those grey days when the solar panels are just idling…. and you will definitely want to be able to run the air conditioning anyway on blistering hot days. I do not suggest running it often off the batteries though. The factory lithium packages are a work in progress. However, with your technical abilities, installing a Redarc charger would be quite simple, and that will give you 11 amps hour after hour without even touching the tow vehicle wiring. If you were amenable to modifying the truck also, and beefing up the cable size in truck and trailer, you can triple that rate. I don’t really think it should affect your decision, just consider it a challenge. John Davies Spokane WA

A three way fridge running on DC uses about 15 amps pretty much continually. Your old compressor fridge used way less and cycled on and off depending on temperature. You won’t be able to recharge your depleted Ollie batteries while driving with it set to DC, though you might just keep up with the discharge rate. If the sun is bright, your panels will do the job, but what about grey days? I recommend that you learn to accept the idea of traveling with the fridge set to gas, and if you are super concerned about fire danger get a Gas Stop device for each bottle. I had 4 AGMs and solar originally, I think the real battery killer is heavy use of the microwave off the inverter. If you don’t often microwave two TV dinners in a row, then you should not have much trouble. But you can’t expect them to last long powering the fridge all day. FYI: Your lithiums would NOT charge off the truck anyway, without some modifications. Oliver does not even connect that wire to the seven pin harness. You must install a DC to DC charger to get that to work correctly. Does that affect your decision? John Davies Spokane WA

The closet ceiling has an inner and outer shell, with maybe an inch of space between. Here is a pic, the LED light opening is on the left. I ran a pair of wires up through a new hole and spliced them to the factory light wires, then stuffed everything back in the space. The Oliver wires head back across the cabin entry to the switch panel near the microwave. This is for Hull 218. Yours may vary.: From this thread: ... https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/1994-how-to-santa-cruz-locking-shotgun-mount-in-the-closet/ ... That antenna would be perfect for the front of the trailer IMHO, no worries, it is very low down and the cable hole is underneath. Just drill straight through both hull surfaces, rout the cables to your box on the top shelf. It could not be much easier. Your cables would be super short too, that is always a plus. I don't know how big it is, you have to register to download the data sheet. maybe you could do that and add that info here. It appears to be about 6 or 8 inches in diameter. About the same size as the bath vent cover, in fact. Here is the bath vent fan, for scale. The sewer vent comes up inside the closet, just on the other side of that bath wall. A good spot for your antenna would be in front of that white vent cover, in line front to back with the bath vent.. John Davies Spokane WA

The rate can vary wildly, depending on your own data (driving record, claims, towing experience) and where and how the trailer is stored. My Progressive RV policy is $465 per year, stored in a secure indoor location at my home. Sometimes they will try to bundle roadside assistance, you can decline that if you have that already. John Davies Spokane WA

How big is the antenna, do you have a schematic you can share? I am dubious about installing a tall fixed antenna in front due to vulnerability from tree branches, or bird strikes, would a magnetic mount work? Also, I seem to recall that you need dual antennas for best results with Cradlepoint, how far apart do they need to be? The redneck method to mount the antenna is to put it near the sewer vent, run the cables down through the vent pipe and back out into the closet. The pipe is fully exposed there. An alternate and much more professional way would be to drill a hole in the roof to the right (street side) of the sewer pipe and run the cables that way, putting the antenna on top of the hole to seal and hide it. Or if the cables from the antenna are in the open, use a marine through deck (pass through) grommet. Mount the box in the closet on the top shelf. Getting power to the unit will be a little tricky, but if you were willing to lose the functionality of the inside closet light, you could bypass that switch, since it is on its own separate circuit, disconnect the light positive and negative wires, and use that pair to power your black box. Or use the two light wires as a fish to pull an extra pair through the ceiling above the outside entry….. No need to run stuff all the way back. I actually think that the top of the closet is a much better location for small electronics. But you should add some vents, it gets toasty in there unless you leave the door cracked open, and even then, the heat is trapped at the top in the dead end space there. Installing air vents is not hard, I think Oliver should vent all of their cabinets. It would be SO much simpler if they made the holes during production. There is a whole lot of dead air that capture heat in the summer. I haven’t done this, but if I decide to install a better outside cellular antenna, it will be in the very back on a 20 foot extendable mast coming up from the rear frame. Have you considered that approach? John Davies Spokane WA

Jim, Amazon Prime has Rock Tamers for $390, but they are available a lot cheaper, shop around. Here is one I found. https://www.unbeatablesale.com/product.jhtm?sku=myrd82286 And no, they are not part of the Andersen package. Oliver service can mount the flaps for you and trim the height as needed. Keep the extra strips of rubber, those can be added at the top to help seal off the gap there. The flaps should be rotated at an angle, not straight up and down, for best effect (so the rocks are deflected downwards, not back at your truck). They are quite heavy (37 pounds) and when combined with the Andersen (55 pounds) that adds a lot of weight behind your light duty truck. That all takes away from your available truck payload. If you want a much much lighter solution, look for one of the “broom” style gravel guards. Your Expedition Max should be a great TV, there are several others here with that truck, I think. Since your truck has third row seats, you could pull them out, that should get rid of perhaps 75 to 100 pounds of dead weight. John Davies Spokane WA

There has to be a good story behind that, can you tell us? Are you trying to reseat the bead? Is that the “hair spray and a match” trick? John Davies Spokane WA

Adjustable hitches are cool and extremely handy IF you tow a lot of different trailers, but they may rattle, and they do hang down very far, and that can lead to certain situations where it smashes hard into the ground. If it happens to be onto a paved road, it will rattle your teeth and spine and make you swear. You can hacksaw off the bottom few inches, but that is irreversable 😀. I did that to my Andersen one. The Weigh Safe is very neat, especially if you tow different big trailers, but in reality, once you weigh your Ollie’s tongue you probably will never have to do it again, so a portable scale like the Sherline LM1000 works great. I have used mine twice in five years, normally it stays safely stored in its box in my garage. I bought it when I sold my Ram 3500 and bought the LC200, I had no need of it before then. So if the only “heavy” trailer you tow is the Ollie, the Weigh Safe is overkill. Plus an 18.5k (max 2200 pounds TW) hitch gauge will be inherently less accurate than a 1000 pound one. (Gauges are most accurate right in the middle of the scale.) I suggest that you buy a simple one piece drop mount steel unit like FrankC posted, plus a “slopper stopper” anti-rattle device of some type (especially if you also add mudflaps, they rock around like crazy otherwise) and in the future you could choose to invest in one that is ten times as expensive….Plus a cheap unit is much less likely to get stolen. If you want actual numbers, load and stock your trailer, fill the fresh tank and get Oliver to weigh it for you with their portable scale before you leave Hohenwald. However, if you tell us your options and what stuff you plan to carry (generator, ebikes, cast iron pots) we can probably guess your TW within about 100 pounds. Finally, I suspect that most Ollie owners have no clue what their tongue weight is, and for those with HD trucks it is pretty much irrelevant unless you own an oddball one like a Power Wagon. So don’t sweat it too much. These LE2 trailers are not all sensitive to tongue weight variations. John Davies Spokane WA