jd1923

This is a good start but leaving the battery door open/unlocked is not a real good idea. We often have our solar suitcase out when we're gone for the day. Lose the suitcase would be one thing, but LiFePO4 batteries is another! Gary @grweber1, good to hear from you and knowing the old Xantrex is serving you well! Bill @rideandfly, love your compact installation! For something small it's done right and the Renogy waterproof SCs are pretty cool! My take, I'd go with the battery bay install that @Steph and Dud B mentioned and some kind of terminal like @Geronimo John suggested. You could drill a 1/4" hole in the door fiberglass. If you do, use VHB tape vs. drilling the 4 little mounting holes. Check my picture. You could mount the terminal through a vent hole already drilled. I placed a cable gland on the bottom rear vent to get the idea across. Either way, have enough wire length so to open and close the door easily. I'm also not much for built-in Solar Controllers. Much greater selection of panels in higher wattage and you need heavier gauge wire to connect the panels when the SC is built-in. The SC should be as close to batteries as possible and you'll want 30+ ft of cable to the panels, so you can put the solar suitcase on any side of the Oliver. 12 AWG wire is OK for up to a 400W suitcase when the SC is at the batteries. I love this company for battery terminals, etc. They also custom make cables any length with ANY kinds of ends. I've also found products here that are not carried anywhere else. A little costly for custom cables, but great for those who do not have the cable and crimp tools: https://powerwerx.com/custom-dc-power-cables Also in the picture, checkout the rubber disc in the adjacent vent hole. A lot of dirt gets in the bay during travel, not anymore. These vents were only needed for LA batteries. I'll seal the 8 vent holes with rubber discs with clear silicone on top to eliminate dirt or moisture in the bay! Search on Amazon for "rubber discs. These are 1" dia and " 3mm thick. 😎

First complaint of Alcan Springs written on this Forum! When these U-bolts are torqued down there is about 1 1/4" extra length in threads which is needed for assembly so you do not have to have everything lifted perfectly into place. They are just as low as the bottoms of the shock studs. If wet bolts were too short, they could not be mounted. ALL of mine have exactly two threads protruding from the Nyloc nuts when torqued. Best to replace axles and leaf springs at the same time, so not to double your effort. I ordered D52 axles through Alcan as an authorized Dexter dealer. Dexter did not pack the axles properly and they were damaged in shipment. Alcan took the lead and got me a rush replacement order, asked Dexter to secure the axles on a doublewide pallet, got my shipping costs refunded and allowed me to keep the damaged axles for spare parts! We sent at least a dozen emails back and forth. There was not one time where Lew or Tim did not reply within 1-2 hours or by 8AM when I sent an email after hours. Just this morning I retorqued the U-bolts, for the last time, since all nuts on all U-bolts were still at 90 ft-lbs after not too many miles. I've been restoring cars, trucks, and trailers for over 45 years. Alcan Springs are very good custom parts and everything was complete. Lucky again you did not damage the Oliver, or hurt yourself, allowing a jack stand to slip. You did not show pictures of said issues. Good pictures and more on the "Alcan experience" can be found here =>

Not good enough... Always service your vehicles, including oil changes, at the manufacturer's dealerships during the warranty period. Use of aftermarket parts/service items can be claimed to be substandard which can VOID your warranty. Also, it's pretty much a fact that oil filters purchased at Walmart, Fram oil filters for example, and most auto parts purchased on Amazon, are substandard! The oil filter is absolutely your MOST important engine part, period. Actually, your luck is pretty good! First good story I've heard re GEICO!

It depends on your total Ah and usage... I certainly agree with Will on two points (his snarky way makes me 🤣, although if you own BBs it's certainly not funny). First, these are truly OVERPRICED in today's market and he ran a valid test. Second as he stated, I wonder if BB the company has reprogrammed these to produce less output which of course results in less heat produced. Of course units sold years ago would not be programmed as such unless you can/have updated firmware. More on your question... Running a 1100W coffee machine is drawing 90A (1100/12 for 12VDC). Running a blow-dryer or A/C could pull 1800W or 150A . So any 1100W appliance is very close to his 99A test which I would call normal use. If you were running on a single 100 Ah, I'd say you'd be screwed! HOWEVER, not to worry as most of you have two or three 100 Ah BB batteries. Say you have 3 batteries the amperage is split, so the 1100W appliance that pulls 90A will pull 30A from each battery (more "normal circumstances"). This is why most of you have not had heat issues. The fact that the Gold Standard, premium priced battery can only produce half of their spec!!! If you bought BB new recently, I'd strongly suggest asking for your money back. In contrast, the 300 Ah Epoch Essential can draw 100A recommended and 200A maximum (400A peak for 10s). 300 Ah at $1200 list price is $4/Ah rating ($3.40/Ah when on sale 15% off). The BB at the $800 current sale price is more than double the cost at $8/Ah. If the 100 Ah BB could truly produce 100A discharge, 3 BBs would be far superior to one 300 Ah Epoch (only) in its ability to produce discharge output. But If actual numbers are 50% less, then the output capacity is about the same. Most Oliver Owners who upgraded to Epoch have installed two 300 Ah batteries (600 Ah for 85% the cost of 3 100 Ah BBs today, when both are on sale). Two have a discharge capacity of 200A, maximum 400A which means you can run that noisy Dometic P2 A/C (150A+) all day, under spec/no heat issues, or until you get low on SOC! 😎

Thanks again Roger for the heads up on this product! I received ours Amazon Like New a couple weeks ago and got a chance to test it yesterday (Like New is now only $76 and they dropped the new price down to $99). Our Like New model was NIB perfect, only the packaging was scared a bit. Still had labels and shipping tape on the sides of the unit. Mine is more of a "lab test" since humidity is not a thing out here most of the year (RH 29%). I boiled water for 15-20 minutes and got our Oliver interior humidity up to 75%. I do not believe this is equal since in this amount of time moisture would not penetrate clothes and bedding, etc. I home-test products so I can count on them later on the road. I set RH to 30%, the lowest setting with fan on high. It's not the quickest tool as it took 2 1/2 hours to reduce humidity from 75% to 40%. I emptied only a couple ounces of water out of the bin. On low fan it's just a whisper! Roger and @rideandfly have real and positive experiences. In conversation with @mountainoliver, Ken reported he had his running the last month+ on the Gulf Shores, also with positive experience, "very good when it's too cold to run the A/C." I plan to store ours on the closet floor until we need it and would run it under the dinette as Ken has and where there is a convenient power outlet. I tested power consumption. At first it used only 0.2A! but then as I was sitting next to it, I heard the compressor kick in! On the Victron app it used <6A. High/Low fan is negligible. I measure amps based on 12VDC from our batteries (on inverter, rarely plugged in). If you think in terms of amperage on 120VAC, you divide these numbers by 10 for only 0.6A on 120VAC. @John and Debbie experienced the circuit breaker popping which must have been from a dead short in a bad unit! I have found about 1 out of 10 Amazon used to be bad, though I always buy used when available since 9 of 10 times they're new at lower cost. John wrote me, reporting the manufacturer suggested a dedicated circuit which is crazy (me and manufacturer recommendations often do not live in the same world)! Why dedicated for an appliance requiring less than 1 amp on a 15A 120VAC circuit. You could run 20 of these on a single 15A circuit! 🤣 I have what I believe is an accurate hygrometer that I use in my guitar cabinet (you must water your acoustic guitars when living in Arizona)! It appears you can count on the numbers on the KNKA display, very nice! Geoff @Snackchaser wrote, he wanted a unit under $200. I believe this is the unit to get for under $100! 😂 Anybody know what KNKA stands for?

What Steve wrote! Thanks @ScubaRx Given the schedule this year, we should have a handful of Olivers during the timeframe of the Big Tent. The Fiberglass Rally is much later this year and I believe most Olivers will be gone by February. Looking forward to meeting you! JD

Found these cool decorative emblems that have helped with repairs and mods. Any emblem you like could help cover up where needed. Last year I upgraded the OEM inverter. It had a remote switch, requiring OTT to cut a 2 1/2" square hole in the fiberglass below the pantry shelf. Now we have an emblem of the Arizona state flag in that spot. Just recently, I removed our Dometic A/C and thermostat. I decided to relocate the new furnace-only thermostat under the pantry. That way we could set temp while lying in bed, nice! WOW, what a mess under the old thermostat! There was even a broke-off screw in the wall, like the installer tightened it so hard the head broke off! I used a Dremel to file down the steel screw flush. I mounted the new thermostat, drilling one 1/4" hole for the wires, and mounting using 3M VHB 4950. One small hole is all you need! 😎 This time we went with the flag of the great state of Texas! @Mike and Carol should like this! We lived in Texas for 9 years. It's where our son grew up, went to school, played sports and he stayed for college. We also have a Red-White & Blue theme for our Oliver, so the Lone Star state flag is perfect. Sure looks a lot better! These are really decent quality emblems, 3 3/8" diameter an 1/8" thick and reasonable cost. I chose the semi-flexible models. They have the US flag, the Thin Blue Line, Army, Navy, every one of the 50 state flags and many more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GH2TC75/?th=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G8SWZ42/?th=1

Yeah, your humidity and ocean salt must be extreme! Perhaps an anti-seize compound would help.

I think I would have lowered the jack on the wheel, lugs on just a couple threads. Then place a wheel chock on the inside rim, creating a downhill angle. Gravity/weight of the trailer should do it and lowering carefully it should do less harm than many heavy sledge hammer hits! Given your wheel seized so HARD, I’d bet all 4 wheels are in dire need of bearing and perhaps brake service! For sure this wheel had not been removed in some time.

I received an email from @rich.dev yesterday and he sent me a link to this video. Thank you Rich! Chris and I enjoyed it after dinner last night. It shows Arizona's Christmas City from an RVer's point of view. The couple are kinda goofy, but it's fun. 😄 BTW, when you come to visit there are infinite camping locations (you don't have to stay as far away as Congress AZ as they did)! Unless there is a special event in town (which is often, e.g. the annual mountain bike race during April: https://mbaa.net/racing/prescott-punisher/) you can camp at designated sites on Copper Basin and Thumb Butte roads which surround the town, climb up to over 7K ft, and just 10 minutes back to the Prescott town square. The close perimeter around Prescott is designated camping only (still a lot of campsites and campgrounds), though as soon as you get 10+ miles out of town there is boondocking everywhere in the Prescott NF! Get the Motor Vehicle Use Map: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/prescott/maps-guides The second video is from Living in Arizona Now, one of my favorite YouTube channels for AZ travel. Hope to see y'all in the New Year! 😂 Merry Christmas to all!

Thank you @tallmandan and @CRM and other forum members for the 👍! @rideadeuce was my inspiration. Mike installed 920 Ah Epoch back in April 2024. He purchased two of the Epoch 460 Ah Elite Series that come with Victron Comms, upgraded internal components and special cases. I didn't need the extras and preferred the lower price point of the Epoch Essentials Series. They call them Essentials, but they include the app, built-in heaters, internal protection, temp sensors and alarms. Even their Essentials Series batteries are industry leading! Two Epoch 460 Ah Elite Series batteries just barely fit in the bay (see Mike's post linked below). Two Epoch 460 Ah Essential Series will NOT fit! The two side-by-side would be an inch too wide (the Elite Series batteries are much taller). Too bad, or I would have gone that way to begin with. I didn't see that Mike secured his batteries into the bay. Likely they are so big/heavy, sitting on rubber, and since they fit wall-to-wall they would not budge! I felt the 3 smaller batteries should be strapped into place and I was also able to add a locking mechanism which minimizes theft worries. At 900+ Ah these are surely forever installs! 😎

Once I got to this point, I started thinking a thief could possibly undo the battery cables, loosen the straps and even with cable lock in place, slide out the outer battery, then steal them all. Oh No! So, I had a 12x12x1/4" sheet of aluminum left over from another job and it became the perfect solution. Now besides a taking a crowbar to the battery door, a thief would have to cut the 3/8" hardened steel cable. Now these expensive batteries ain't goin' nowhere! I'll cinch down the straps and cable lock again, after putting on some miles... Ya gotta love the new look of our Epoch app! 900 Ah - Priceless! 😎

I found this great supplier of Made-in-USA cam-buckle straps and tie-downs: https://www.amazon.com/stores/PowerTyeMFG/page/66AA148A-1600-4E0D-A1AA-AEA3A1050247?lp_asin=B017BYSJ7I/ I purchased this cable lock to secure the batteries: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006407M/?th=1 I turned the eyelet bolt on an angle so that the cable lock and strap would fit nicely. I placed foam around and between every side of the batteries. I put 2" of foam between the 2 inside batteries to give the eyelet space, keep it from rubbing. I have an 8-ft cam-buckle strapped tightly around all 3 batteries and these cam-lock straps cinch nicely! A 4-ft strap and the cable lock go through the eyelet to pull the outer battery inwards. I also had to make two more 4/0 battery cables. I planned the layout so the main ground is convenient right-front. And now without the battery tray, I can reach all the way in, over the batteries. I tightened all 6 battery terminal bolts after all 3 batteries were tied down, so these can be easily checked and tightened when needed.

Epoch batteries were on sale again for Black Friday and I'd been thinking about adding another one. Our 600 Ah system has been great, all we needed for the last year+ (MP2 Inverter always ON with many AC appliances running). Since we're adding an efficient A/C this will allow us to run air long enough on those hot afternoons! We're tired of having to be in a campground on hot days! I was back and forth on spending the money, so I asked Chris and, in a heartbeat, she said "Do it!" I've finally let go of the RV owner's syndrome known as SOC-Worry! I'm now just fine when it gets under 50%, but it worries Chris some. Hopefully, NOT anymore! Two Epoch 300 Essentials fit nicely in the OEM battery tray. I knew adding #3 meant a custom installation. First to-do was to remove the battery tray. Would you believe that alone weighs 30 LBS! Then cleaned up the bay and filled the mounting holes. I had scrap rubber from the TSC stall mats I used to line my truck bed (the wheel-well cutouts) and after trimming them a couple inches shorter they fit perfectly! I kept looking at that big bolt in the center of the bay, and wondering why OTT would have done that!? Our friend @mountainoliver gave me a heads up on that and I got under the streetside bed and found the support beam the other end of the bolt (pic2). I started thinking I could somehow secure 3 batteries using that bolt. After sleeping on it, I thought of replacing the bolt with a 1/2" eyelet bolt and use it to strap and lock the batteries down!

Mossey, you have both BB and Lithionic batteries? 8mm is pretty much standard, same on Epoch.