geokeg

Hello and welcome to our online community! Without technical information about your trailer it can be a tough go. Good news, on the web site home page go to the header on the left, labeled “Travel Trailers”. Click on it and at the bottom of the pop up list is Oliver University. If you look there you will find a downloadable pdf of the owners manual. Under the Components label you will find the same type files for your systems and componets. I have all of the files for our trailer loaded onto my iPad. I also have technical information that Jason Essary has put out in bulletin format. There is quite a bit of user experience type of info on the forum and some good folks who step up to help. Safe and Happy Travels! George and Gretchen

That was some great troubleshooting! Thanks for the write up and pictures. I agree with Overland, there is a history of wiring issues that a number of us have had. I hope the factory folks look at this forum and realize that quality of assembly workmanship is something that needs to be managed and maintained. Our trailers are not static devices and can be subjected to vibrations, poor road quality, impacts, etc. that can cause wiring connections to fail. My Fluke multimeter and some electrical first aid items are part of my Oliver support kit. Safe travels.

Can you check the input voltage to the inverter? If input voltage is good then I’d say your inverter has failed. I had an output from the inverter problem and it turned out to be the GFCI internal to the inverter. My inverter was fine but couldn’t get power past the GFCI. I replaced the inverter, bought it through the Xantrex factory outlet. As for your other spare wire, that is troubling to me and I’d say Jason at Oliver should be consulted.

All excellent points John, thanks! Especially the shower drain drying out, we never use it ?‍♂️. That one really makes sense and is most likely my source of the aroma.

Thanks guys, I love this forum! I will get a grey tank deoderizer and give it a try. The situation has been intermittent but I think John has it nailed with his theory. We had 2 trips over Steven’s Pass on I-90, on hot days. About 3,300 feet of elevation change plus density altitude effects. When my ears were popping the grey tank was burping. My grey tank was about 50% full so the p traps had to have water in them. But, I will try Steve’s idea for dumping with valves closed to maybe avoid sucking the p traps dry. I probably should plug both sinks when I drain the grey tank for insurance of that. Thanks again for your inputs! George

An odor that smells like a sewer sometimes occurs during towing and is quite strong when opening up the trailer after towing for a few hours. There seems to be no correlation to grey or black tank contents or level of fullness. Prior to closing up and towing there is no odor. I am thinking air pressure coming back through the vent system somehow. Has anyone else experienced this or have an idea on the cause or fix? After a short period of time venting the cabin there is no detectable odor.

No they did not. They have designated service locations and the individual shops may not have the capability or expertise to do the specific repair required. I elected to go with a new unit with 2 year warranty over the hastle and expense of getting my inverter to a shop and back with uncertain timing and results.

Bill, Thanks for the additional information. I will heed your advice. George

Installed the new inverter today. All operations are normal again with inverter output to microwave and AC outlets. Before unpowering the old inverter I put a test light in the GFCI outlet to test the inverter output. Power looked good until the GFCI tripped. Pretty expensive GFCI failure... I will probably look into replacing the faulty GFCI when I have some spare time and get a little smarter on shorting out the internal capaciter without lighting myself up. The End ??

Yep, thanks for the tip. I will be quite interested in identfying and shorting out the capacitor early in the process. My new inverter arrives tomorrow. After I do the remove, replace, and functional check of the new one I will give an update. George

I talked to tech support at xantrex today. He said GFCI failure as well. He also said it was a time consuming task to try and change the GFCI if the local repair shop would even try it. So, I ordered a new inverter and will have the old one to take a look at internally, carefully of course.

No I have not. I did think about it, but your suggestion really helps to nail it. If the GFI trips with ground disconnected, bad GFI. If it does not trip, internal short to ground inside the inverter. I will do this before calling tech support. Thanks guys for your input! George

I checked the wire nuts and wires in the junction box. All were secure and no evidence of heat damage. It looked very professionally put together. I have been in contact with Jason Essary at Oliver. With the inverter totally isolated from external circuits, with exception of incoming DC, the GFI still opens when turning on the inverter. Green light remains illuminated, 13.9 volts feeding the inverter, no red light and no fault codes. The inverter thinks it is fine, the GFI does not. I will talk to xantrex tech support tomorrow. I am hoping I can just replace the GFI in the inverter.

My GFI is tripping with nothing connected to the inverter to draw power. The outlet cord is physically disconnected. I have the battery positive and negative wires plus the “phone/com” cable going to the remote control panel connected to the inverter. Nothing else is connected to the inverter to show up as a ground fault and trip the breaker. The inverter is essentially isolated from any source that could be providing a ground fault signal through the inverter power output circuit. I am thinking the GFIC has failed or an internal inverter fault.

What seems weird to me is that the inverter was working fine. The trailer has not moved since the inverter last worked and now it does not. I had a 115/120 power source hooked to the trailer over the winter to operate a space heater. No problems with any of that. Now with shore power disconnected and batteries at 100 % the GFI trips, while disconnected from providing any output. The failure mode baffles me. The inverter seems to have become internally faulted, without any external cause. Maybe internal moisture due to condensation?

My inverter has no output. It turns on, but there is no output due to the GFI breaker opening. If I turn the inverter off, reset the GFI, it pops again about 3 seconds after turning the inverter back on. This even happens with the output cord disconnected from the inverter. This looks like a faulty GFI to me or an internal inverter fault. Has anyone else experienced this failure or have a recommendation of action. There are no fault codes and input voltage to the inverter is 13.9 as read on the inverter display. The inverter thinks it is fine but the GFI does not.

I think if you have a checklist of things that need to get done before departure and follow a flow pattern around the tv and the Ollie, both interior and exterior, you can just do a walk around, looking, thinking, and doing the items. When you are complete with your walk around review your checklist to verify items completed. The key thing for me is the visual and the walk around inspection. You are more apt to see something that needs attention if you are not using your list as a read and do, but also noting general condition of things. The same concept can be used for arrival and set up but those items usually sort themselves out without the same sense of urgency.

Welcome to the forum. How do you plan to transport the mc and what is it? What is your tow vehicle? Bastrop State Park east of Austin is a nice park if you are looking for a recommendation. I ride a dual sport and live in the Puget Sound area of Wa., good riding here, also some nice state parks and others for your Oliver.

We have hull number 178 and it has been in use for over 2 years. Our shower floor has never made any noise or felt anything but solid when being stood or stepped on.

I put a class lll hitch on the front of my Silverado and use a Thule bike rack on it. We like it. You can leave the Oliver at the park, put the bikes on the front of the truck and go to another destination and ride the bikes. The rack can also be used on our Outback when we are not taking the truck/Oliver. Have not had to use it yet but could move the Oliver with the front mounted hitch if it needed to be put in a tight parking spot.

Ours does it under the same condition if water gets in the connector plug. Shake the water out and lights extinguish.

Thank you for that very descriptive and helpful input into what is going on here with this grounding issue.

I have hull number 178. There is no evidence of a chassis ground wire ever being installed on the inverter. Our unit is nearly 2 years old and the inverter has been operated numerous times to operate the microwave, vaccum cleaner, etc. I looked at the inverter installation and operation manual supplied with the delivery documentation. Clearly, step 5 of the basic installation instructions was omitted. I wonder how this was omitted on so many units, in any case, not a good showing by Oliver engineering, manufacturing, and quality control. ( My solar controller also had a wire routing issue, which stressed the controller and made it inoperative, and it had to be sent back to Blue Sky for repair and subsequent wire rerouting to resolve the issue). With all of that said, and clearly an issue, it leaves me with a question. How does a shock hazard manifest itself and what is the failure mode that makes it happen? My inverter is installed under the street side mattress in the equipment bay which is covered by a fiberglass panel. Other than at the mounting points there is nothing in contact with the inverter and I do not understand how I might be exposed to a shock hazard. The inverter is self protected to shut down if a short circuit or excessive load condition occurs. What am I missing here?

I had the same problem seeing the ball with the Oliver front camera, especially in the shade. I have tried several things, colored masking tape, (because I had some), it worked but fades after a while. My latest technique has been to use a thin orange latex glove on the ball and one on the receiver. When the gloves almost touch on the monitor I take them off and finish the hook up. I use the gloves to cover the ball and receiver when not hooked up also. Easy to see and avoid getting grease on things. I keep a box of orange gloves around for general use also. As for avoiding finger injuries when locking down the hitch I only touch the clamping part with the handle of my rubber dead blow hammer. Another handy thing to have around.

Did Reed and Karen Lukens disappear? They were so active on the forum and no input now for several months.