Cort

Thanks - it was in the 40's at night. The question about the regulator is that it showed that the tank was empty when it wasn't. Right now the regulator shows that full tank is only partially full and it looks about as full as the partially full tank even though that tank is a lot lighter. Thanks for the Mopeka idea. I put the information (year of trailer, type) in my profile...Is there another place it should be?

A couple of days ago I heard a ringing sound coming from the tanks at night when the heater would kick in. I switched to the other tank and the sound disappeared but the night after that the heat failed. I checked out the regulator and it showed all red - both tanks empty. I thought there might have been a strange smell in the trailer. We drove quite a ways to get the tanks filled. I filled up one but noticed the other one was quite a bit heavier than the empty tank and did not refill it. I turned on the furnace for a brief period (we were on the road) but this time it really stunk and we didn't sleep in the trailer. We tried turning on the furnace the next day and we both could smell something. Oliver advised us to get the trailer tested at an RV shop and we will on Monday. In the meantime, I got a little gas detector, washed the smell out, turned on the furnace and everything was normal!? Was it just low propane levels combined with the gauges perhaps left open? Should the system have worked with one completely empty tank and one tank that was probably a third to a quarter full? Are there better regulators out there? Is something else going on?

I checked them with a volt meter and found 3 at 13 something and one that was dead.

It is isn't it! Thanks 🙂

Thanks to everyone for their help and I apologize for the misleading terminal covers! I took the new and really dead battery to Batteries Plus for testing. Their testing showed it was low enough that they assumed it was a broken battery. They were able to get it to hold a charge but said the numbers were jumping around a lot which they thought was strange. I was able to return the battery at Camper World and then went to West Valley RV and bought 4 Interstate batteries for about $150 less than I would have paid for the Camper World batteries. Since then everything has been fine. 🙂 What a strange thing that putting that one battery in caused such bizarrely high readings - at least when hooked up. (When I took the batteries off the circuit the new one read dead and the others read 4 something. ) We're camping a couple of hours west of Phoenix now - thanks again for all your help 🙂

Thanks! The questions made me look at battery placement more carefully and helped me get them in correctly. The batteries - Interstate - are in and charging. So far so good! 🙂

Hmm Oliver says the configuration is correct. The wires will only fit that way. If you look at the two batteries at the bottom the posts are on top (to the center) and the cells are on the bottom (to the left). The next row over the batteries are facing the other way. It's like the two rows of batteries have their backs to each other. ?

I attached an image of our battery configuration if anyone knows how to read it 🙂

Thanks so much J! So generous of you :). I don't know if we'll make it up there. Hopefully we are ok tomorrow but I will keep your wonderful offer in mind 🙂 Good to be part of the Club!

I sent Oliver a picture of the battery configuration to make sure it was wired properly. I would be shocked if it wasn't - we moved only the wires to the dead battery and one wire to a live battery (to get the battery out) but time will tell.

Thanks - we learned that they did sell us a wet cell (Electric World) - the guy just neglected to tell me that. That was curious because when I gave him a wet cell battery and he gave me what looked like a dry cell battery (no water cells on top - they were hidden), I specifically asked him if it was OK to combine wet cells with AGM's - and he said yes and that was it. When we took it back today we learned it was a wet cell after all.

Interesting - the new battery tested poorly but was accepting some charge - and we'll see if it able to charge fully. (Battery plus thinks it was probably a bad battery - we'll know by tomorrow. It's an Electric World from Camping World. Today the new battery was almost completely shot while the old batteries were down to 4.10 (by voltmeter) so it may have been dragging them down. That's our hope anyway. Since, we are burning dollars staying at a hotel we elected to buy a set of new Interstate batteries and go from there.

We are on a trip. This was actually my partner's first exposure to the Ollie. She arrived for Toronto, we stayed in a hotel for a couple of days, the dog got sick - we stayed some more and then on the day of our departure I went out to the Ollie to find the batteries dead. Nobody has any explanation for the high voltage readings. Oliver said the batteries would be bulging at that charge and lo and behold when we removed them they read 4.10V and our new "AGM" battery - which turned out to be a wet cell battery after all (it just looked like a dry cell and the guy at Camping World neglected to tell me it was a dry cell after I asked him if it was OK to mix them) was almost dead. Back to Camping World we went where they suggested that we try to recharge the new battery. We took it to Battery Plus - they said the battery was very low - was probably no good - and are seeing if it will charge properly. We didn't really feel we got good advice at Camping World so we talked to East Valley RV in Phoenix area - liked the guy we talked to - and bought 4 wet cell Interstate batteries there. We will try them tomorrow and see what happens 🙂

Good question. Thanks. The batteries are wired correctly - I took pictures before and after and they match up. I checked the volt meter on the car battery and it read 12.89 so I assume its reading correctly. Camping World says not to mix AGM and Wet cell batteries in part because the controller is set to one or the other - and it now has both. They recommend that I replace all the batteries with AGM.

Things have taken a turn for the worse. After consulting with Oliver I bought a new battery from Camping world - same power output etc - but an AGM - I was told by Camping World that it was ok to substitute an AGM for a wet cell. The power came on but this morning all 4 batteries are dead - and all now read the exact same voltage (241.0 V. I put a ticket in with Oliver and am consulting with a Camping World nearby.

Now that is in my ballpark. My controller with the lithium option should work. I don't know how important this is from Galway Girl as I would not be using Lithionics In my specific hull 505 I have a Progressive Dynamics 4000 load center. This houses the AC Breakers, DC Fuses and a converter section for battery charging. In my PD4000 there is a PD 4065 Converter section (65A) with Lithium Jumper for Battery Charging. In normal operation that charger is set to WIZ (or Lead Acid) position and it follows a profile that's perfect for lead acid batteries and AGM's. If I move the switch (or jumper) to the LI position, it now has a constant output at 14.6V which is OK for Lithium but not optimum for the Lithionics batteries. Lithionics prefers that I use another charger with a programmable LI profile. My Plan: I'm upgrading my current PD converter charger and separate Prosine 2000W inverter to an integrate Xantrex XC2000 Pro Charger/Inverter. Note: I don't plan on running my AC off the batteries so the 2000W inverter is plenty for my needs. In the Platinum Package Oliver installs the XC3000.

Great thread! Thanks! John also sent me some great stuff - lots to chew over.

Yes- we needed power now - so I went to Camping World and bought one battery - and everything is online but we will either upgrade to lithium or replace the other batteries shortly. I always planned to upgrade to lithium - I have lithium in the van and it works great. I asked Oliver the cost to upgrade to lithium - I just wanted to see what they would say - and they quoted $11,000 for 3 130 AH batteries (!) so it must be much more than a plug-and-play type thing. I'm not sure about lithium now and am trying to figure out what's required.

I added the image....The batteries - which say they are deep cycle marine batteries - appear to be in parallel but there are these extra cables that I don't understand. With the power gone the heat is not working - darn...

Thanks Chris, We have 4 wet-cell batteries. I'm not sure about the wiring - it looks kind of convoluted to me. I'll take a picture. We do want to go to lithium at some point. We have the Zampp controller which does have a lithium setting but are not sure about any other changes that are needed.

Thanks - Even if it's better to replace them all I'm thinking I'll probably just replace the one and then replace them all at some point - they are four years old - and I read the lifespan is 3-5 years - and then maybe switch to lithium.

I have one dead wet cell battery and 3 fine ones. 2019 trailer - original battery set. Can I just put a new one in there or do they have to be of similar age?

Thanks GJ _ I was totally surprised to se the XAMP panel, I think it is, has a lithium option 🙂

Nice idea, John. Those power stations are impressive and getting better and better.

Definitely interested Max! Will PM you 🙂