geokeg

Thanks John. Good info. and web resource. We live near Gig Harbor, Wa. and the web sight will be helpful for planning. George Hull # 178

This thread has been a learning experience! My solar controller issue has been resolved after a fair amount of time and effort. The end result was controller replacement and modifying the four spade connectors with a 90 degree bend to resolve clearance issues inside the box which put stress on the controller causing the failure. My thanks to those who offered info. and help and especially to Ryan at Blue Sky and Jason at OTT for helping to coordinate the efforts. George

I got great support/customer service from Ryan for my solar controller anomolie and replacement. Thanks Ryan! George Hull 178

Hi John, Do you have your new Oliver yet? If so, how goes it? George

That looks interesting and good for storage/transport. I have a honda 2000 and the companion 2000 to parallel when needed. I don't have the manual handy but I seem to remember a fair amount of clearance is needed around the generator for cooling. I would suggest looking at the cooling requirement of your generator before putting it into an enclosure for operation. George

Okay, thanks that makes sense. I checked our drawers today for pull force to start movement. Did not use a fish scale but my guess is around 2 pounds of force before the drawer starts to move, a nice firm force was required. George

I understand the short screw issue. I was more interested in where the energy or force is coming from that causes " the body at rest" to no longer remain at rest, or if you might have an unlevel drawer mounting situation that lends to the drawer movement. George

So, maybe I missed it somewhere along this thread but I am wondering what is the driving force to get your drawers to open? My guess is maybe the installation is not level or you have some "snaking" going on with the trailer, or maybe Reed is a little lead footed in the right hand curves with the ML? We are not having drawers opening at all, yet... George

Update on my solar charging situation. I got a call back from Ryan at Blue Sky who took Boz's place for troubleshooting support. Prior to his call I inspected the wiring hook ups to the controller and they looked and felt secure. I then carefully tried to insert the controller into the box clearing any interferance that I could while monitoring charger output. I was able to get the cover on and all 4 screws firmly engaged but not enough to compress the cover onto the components and wiring and the charging operation continued. For now I figured "close enough" and then put a couple of strips of gorilla tape over the cover to the box to prevent movement if the screws back off, (unlikely). I will continue to monitor for normal operation, but did think that I could use 1/4" spacers and longer screws as more of a final home brew solution if I don't see any more anomolies. Ryan thought that I might have a soft solder joint from the prior compression interferance. If I have another anomolie I will probably send him the controller for inspection and repair. I think ultimately that Oliver has an opportunity to make an improvement in its installation drawings relative to wiring routing and clearances of components since this condition has occured for others. More as it develops. George

Bad news in the west. The solar charger only works when the top/control panel is removed from the box. When it is put back into the box it stops working. I have duplicated this several times. All connections seem to be good. I have an e mail into Blue Sky Tech Support to get their input. More when it happens... George

I used to do the iTunes sync thing too but too cumbersome for my short attention span. I also have the large iPad Pro if I want to duplicate something as a back up, and for viewing stuff in more detail. My Macbook Pro gets turned on around tax season, otherwise it is all iPad for me. Well, that and my iPhone 6 plus.

For those who use an iPad a very useful feature that some may not be aware of is how easy it is to use pdf and iBooks. I just went through an interesting learning experience getting my solar charging system back on line. Lots of good help from forum members. To keep all that exchange handy for quick retreival I sent the whole string to pdf like you would a printer and then filed it in my Oliver folder in iBooks. I use a Mini 4 iPad, an amazing little tool! George

Good news to report. It appears that the solar charging system is now working as it should. Here is a summary of what was done to resolve my problem: * charged up batteries to 100% with shore power * disconnected shore power * removed pva input power from the Blue Sky controller using red manual knob * removed battery power to Blue Sky controller with manual circuit breaker near the controller * verified 0 volts on battery side of controller * had 2 volts on pva side of controller, probably leakage through the switch or residual voltage in the controller * left it unpowered for about a minute * repowered battery side and then the pva side * then let it do its power up routine. It took a little time, maybe 2 minutes for things to stabilize and expected readings to return. * note: pv voltage with sun angle about 60 degrees from direct overhead and some clouds was 21.9. I have left the controller cover off and will monitor through out the day tomorrow before I put it back on. So far it is looking good! My thanks to Buzzy for providing technical guidance and encouragement to proceed with troubleshooting. I will provide an update if things change. On Monday we are heading out to Cape Disappointment state park in southwest Washington state for 3 nights, solar power or not, (50 amp power available). George

Just found the statement to momentarily remove all power; battery and pv, to reboot microprocessor, in the Troubleshooting table. So, red Manual knob to OFF to shut off pv input and trip the inline breaker on red (positive) lead coming out of controller and going to battery. Will try this tomorrow and put the meter on it to verify dead power to controller. Then after a minute or so I will close the battery breaker to restore power to output side of controller then go to ON with red knob to re power the pv input to controller. Does anyone who has done the reboot disagree with this sequence or offer a correction? Thanks, George

Hi Buzzy. Thanks for that input and how we might expand our collective knowledge base as we work Blue Sky/Solar Charging issues. All conditions noted below are with shore power disconnected. First set of meter readings to check pv output. With Blue Sky cover removed had 13.2 v for batteries and 21.3 for pv output going into controller with overcast daylight. The charger indications are status light on steady for about a minute during which time the input = 0 and output charge = 0. The status light then cycles off and input goes to input = .1a and chg out=0. This cycle repeats in about 1 minute intervals. So, it appears the solar panels are connected and delivering power to the controller but for some reason the controller is not getting it to the batteries. You mentioned "rebooting" the controller. I have not seen that in the documentation but I would sure like to try it. I have downloaded the Blue Sky tech data if the info. is there, could you please provide the reference or the steps in the procedure? (or should I get that from Boz at Blue Sky?) Thanks, George

Darn, sounds like we definitely have a manufacturing or supplier parts problem here in Ollie Land. Please let us know what resolves your issue. We need to get these things working and charged up before the big eclipse on Aug. 21... George

Thanks again Buzzy. Your knowledge and helpfulness are a wonderful asset to the Oliver owners community. George

Thanks folks for your excellent and helpful responses. I have looked at the Blue Sky site and downloaded their manuals and wow what a resource the site is! I have some studying to do, and I do have a fine Fluke Multimeter to put into action later. Buzzy, I do have the AGM Batteries. I have also e mailed Jason at OTT and informed him of my situation. We are really enjoying our trailer but darn it, this should not be happening. OTT needs to know about it so they can work the manufacturing and delivery process improvement that needs to happen. As much as we paid for our units; this should not be an issue that has affected as many as it has! Frustrated rant over... thanks again. Will get back as things develop. George

The charger works well when plugged in to shore power and maintains 100% charge. When disconnected there is no positive charge taking place. With all users off and circuit breakers normally powered by the batteries there is a .5 amp draw on the system. In 4 days the charge is down to 75% and battery voltage is 12.8. The trailer is parked in full sun, no shade and getting lots of sun exposure. I plugged in shore power and voltage went to 13.6 and 9.0 amps positive charge rate. My solar control knob is on. The switch and display near it are in EMS Bypass. I tried Normal Operation position with no change in indications and went back to EMS Bypass. Am I missing something in set up configuration, (I am not sure it has ever worked becuse it has been hooked up to shore power most of the time). Could I have the "shunt not connected" issue others have had and how would I confirm and resolve it if I do?

Thanks Stan. Pretty neat solution and easy to use/maintain once set up. As we clear space on our property for the Oliver a cover similar to that will probably be put up. George

What has been used to prevent tree pollen from fouling the roof and other items up there like solar panels, ant., etc? I would like to have a simple solution for install and removal that works. My untried idea is a couple of sections of visqueen with gromets or tarp clamps and thin nylon cord to tie to the frame or other convenient location. Any other ideas out there? I live in the PNW and Springtime tree pollen is a real bother. Thanks, George

Another refer question. I can not find in the provided literature about when one should operate the refer fan. When does it need to be on or off? Thanks, George

Hello All, We are taking delivery of a new Elite II in a couple of weeks. Driving from Gig Harbor, Wa. to Hohenwald and return to Gig Harbor with the new unit. I am hoping for any suggestions on what to do or not to do during the delivery/acceptance process, as well as what we should take with us to make the whole process go smoothly. Our TV is a 2013 Silverado with the factory towing package. It has a Leer 180 canopy. Right now I am planning on taking a Honda 2000 generator for convenience and electrical system and componet check out. Also taking 2x6 treated wood pads for the jacks and a good set of two heavy duty rubber wheel chocks. A few other standard items from our "Outdoor Support Vehicle" camping trips like small rake, small spade, broom and rubber door mat. A couple of camping chairs, LED lanterns/headlamps, 2 propane inside safe heaters, and two small eletric space heaters. Our trailer will have the solar panel, agm batteries, and on demand hot water set up. We will have a Yeti 45 cooler for use as needed. If anyone has suggestions for do, don't, or also take this, it would be apprectiated. We are getting pretty excited with our planning and look forward to upgrading our camping life style and opening up more options for multi season outings. Thanks, George and Gretchen