jd1923

Thanks and can do! 😂 I have an older, longer detailed post... but the first post in this thread shows the highlights!

There is nothing wrong with keeping your Xantrex. In fact, I sold mine to another Oliver owner who is very happy with it since his hull had no inverter previously. You can run everything 120VAC with your setup as-is except for A/C on batteries. The other thing about a campsite installation is you need to have batteries disconnected, streetside bed and dinette seating out for many hours. I had batteries disconnected, beds and cushions moved into our house for 1-2 weeks!

First, I would say it would be easy to get help from friends at the rally for replacing batteries. A full inverter mod, the custom work of mounting the very LARGE Victron Multiplus II, stripping our all Xantrex parts (ATS and junction box) and related wiring changes may be a lot to accomplish at a campsite! I ran in and out of my garage/workshop 100 times while doing mine for tools and 4-5 trips to Depot or Lowes for hardware over a two-week period of time. If you study the mod threads, plan really well in purchasing parts, get very ready, have a lot of patience (new friends too), maybe, good luck! 🤣 You want the 12V inverter and do not need the UL-certified model (required by code for home installations only). I went with Inverter Supply for these parts for free shipping and no sales tax (see picture). You NEED the VE.bus to configure the Victron for charger/battery spec settings. There are two models (I purchased the USB-C model and there is also USB, depends on the laptop you would use to setup). You need an Ethernet cable also to connect the VE.bus to the Victron MP2. There are YouTube videos showing the configuration steps. You also posted pictures showing the Progressive Industries ATS (Automatic Transfer Switch) and the display which shows the readout of shore power stats. The ATS switches between the two shore power sources (side outlet and front outlet usually for generator in front basket). This will not change but the power coming out of the ATS, connecting to the 120VAC breaker panel has to be replaced with new 10-3 AWG cables to go to the inverter and back to the breaker panel (buy 15 ft to be safe, I used about 12 ft, it runs from streetside bed basement where our new inverter was installed up to the breaker panel under the rear dinette). The Victron MP2 has dual terminal bolts on both + and - sides. I ran the 4/0 battery cables, from batteries directly to the Victron MP2, removed from the 2KW Xantrex (I had the same older model) and all secondary 6 AWG cables that OTT had on the batteries, I also bolted to the Victron bus vs. out to the batteries. If you get this all done at the rally, that will be a great story! Take pictures and post...

No specific experience with the VIP3500 but both models should be standard for replacement on ANY trailer. The upgrade it likely a good idea. It would be great if the VIP 3500 was stronger and faster! I would check the manuals for both and compare measurements. It should be 3 bolts and one wire to replace! 😂

Love a front-end loader! Miss the Kubota tractor I had to sell when we left VA! I would not buy ANY brand on Amazon. Check out these: https://www.amazon.com/Litime-LiFePO4-Battery-Lithium-Phosphate/dp/B0BYH8J176/ Check out this post, same issue as you have. Check out @Ronbrink's post, 5th post on this thread. He and @topgun2 have had these batteries installed for some time without issues. This is the cheapest solution and the "Spring Deal" price today is AMAZING! Ron shows a picture of his clean installation in this link:

Option 3: I mentioned before re a local solar company that works with Xantrex or better would be Victron. I spent about $3400 (parts, no labor) for the Victron 3KVA Multiplus II and two 300AH Epoch Essentials with new wiring, buses, etc. I spent MANY HOURS getting this all installed (and so has craig on all of his mods). Batteries are easy, new larger inverter is a custom install building a shelf, an overhaul of battery and 120VAC wiring, and more. Gary @Teaney Hull 292 you live in Tampa. There must be 100 custom solar installers and marine shops that work with Victron. Any local option would be better than OTT and OTT is very likely already book before, during and after the national rally.

Oliver Travel Trailers (OTT) has installed a lot of odd designs in electrical, plumbing and other mechanical systems. For example, why should we remove the curbside bed to drain the Fresh Water Tank (FWT) or change the valves when adding fresh water while boondocking or winterizing with RV with antifreeze, if you must?! Blow a fuse on one of your stabilizer jacks, yep pull the streetside bed. My wife Chris spends time making nice beds with clean sheets and she's says - What?!!! Why are there 4/0 cables in the battery bay connected to the inverter and then they have to add separate 6 AWG wires for the interior 12VDC system and a similar set of wires for the solar charger. It's certainly unnecessary. Almost EVERY Oliver owner that replaces house batteries makes one simple fix, like what @Derek B has done, good work! We purchased comfortable yet heavy 10" mattresses and I'm not lifting one, if at all possible, while camping to add water to the Fresh Water Tank (we refill the FWT tank often when boondocking) and if we blow a fuse or have to reset the breaker for the solar charger, I'm NOT lifting the Streetside bed for these reasons either! It does take a lot of work to do all this for yourself. I enjoy the work!🤣

Is it a coincidence that @johnwen and I are the only two installations that grounded to frame vs. another 20 ft cable to reach the battery B- terminal? 🤣 I got 30A when set to 30 and 40A at idle when set to 50. We'll see later how much of 50A I get when we pull out again and get to highway speeds.

I believe I will purchase the $50 plan for local trips, a week or less. Understand we have an unlimited T-Mobile Business data plan 4-5G cell with Pepwave router and Parsec Husky antenna that works well by itself on most days, not at the bottom of a canyon! 🤣 We watch news channels and YouTube videos. We're not the download the 2-hr 4K high-rez movie types. Twice a year we go on trips 3-4 weeks. This May-June we're going for 5-6 weeks. Then the unlimited plan makes the best sense for sure. Ordered our Mini from The Depot yesterday and it will be here tomorrow. Ordered the cabling I need coming by Friday. I will go with the company @Patriot suggested - TYA, the Striker Mount with polycarbonate shield, magnet mounts, carry handle and the front rock/bug deflector, since mainly we will have our mounted top of tow vehicle. I have my shopping cart full. They sent me a reminder but I'm waiting a few days in hope they send me a promo code. This cart adds up to a bit of $$$! They say Starlink works up to 100 MPH on the road (cool, but we'll keep it under 70). It's going to be fun!

They are lighter but larger AH LiFePO4 batteries are still heavy enough. One reason why I purchased the 300AH Epoch at 57 lbs each vs the 460AH at 84 lbs! Do you have a neighbor, a young man in the neighborhood? I grab my son for two minutes when he gets home from work for many lifting jobs, that just a few years I never gave a second thought doing it myself.

You may get some takers! I would, but I have a conflict and cannot make the Rally. 🙁 And btw, you don't have to reconfigure both chargers on day 1 of your new battery installation. You will want to to optimize charging to the manufacture's spec, but charging on LA or AGM specs will not hurt LiFePO4 batteries in the short-term.

Back in 2020 Battleborn was a favored alternative. They have good product quality and many loyal followers. Over the last few years, they market their quality position hard but have not reduced prices relative to other manufacturers. Want an inexpensive solution, what Ron showed above is great (nice installation also)! The 460AH of LiTime batteries should cost about $900 about the list price of only one 100AH Battleborn. If I remember correctly, Bill @topgun2 did a similar install more recently. A 300AH Epoch Essential battery lists for $999 (sorry last week it pwas 15% OFF). On sale, you'd need to spend $2,250 in Battleborn batteries (and a lot more space) to get the same 300AH. https://battlebornbatteries.com/shop/applications/towable-rv/

Is this an exaggeration, or did you literally use 50GB by day 2? I would think on 50 GB you could stream YouTube or whatever 3 hours a day for 5-6 days. Perhaps your wife's business use is extensive (e.g. Zoom meetings). I found this related article: https://www.starlink.com/support/article/b3de8ce8-3123-38ab-6061-4f477106a7b4

Thanks Zodd. It appears you can pause but each activation costs at least $50 for one month service. This makes more sense than what I had written which would be too good a deal! I found this on Starlink.com: https://www.starlink.com/support/article/37bb3b47-9525-7224-5f0a-6d016ce26975

Gary, I have not heard of anybody buying this brand on this forum. Epoch and LiTime are go-to brands. LiTime is also on Amazon. Found these listed on Amazon and these are LiFePO4 batteries. Besides battery replacement, you may need batteries cables or new ends/lugs. You would also need to reprogram your solar charger and perhaps replace the main charger connected to shore power, given age of hull could be an inexpensive Progressive Dynamics charger. If instead your Xantrex is an inverter/charger then program that instead. it is a bit of Work. OTT would charge a lot for this. Given your FL location you likely have many solar companies in the neighborhood who could do this work. Easy would be to replace with same size and quantity AGM batteries, nothing else required, but we are all moving to liFePO4 batteries!

Pete, I believe it must be outside. The technology does not use radio waves that follow the curvature of the earth, etc.. Instead, think of microwaves that are directional, "line-of-sight." This is why trees are an issue, like the upper shells of the Oliver would be.

The "windy season" is starting soon! 🤣 Yes, it can be windy out west anytime and often, but you can count on it Q2 of the year (Apr-Jun). The wind makes things dry out and by June there are usually fires somewhere. Late July through early Sept is monsoon season, some break in the winds, patchy rains and you hope a monsoon or two hits your property to water the trees! We moved out here from VA leaving end of June 2005 (20th anniversary)! We thought New Mexico was the worst as far as being WINDY. We had all our family belongings packed tight in a 26' "race car trailer" purchased just for the move, pulled by a brand-new Ram 2500 HD. The trailer had an awning. The NM winds in the open valleys, known for their dust storms, blew the awning wide open. It was like we had a sail attached to the trailer, pushing us down the highway! I had to tie it up to finish the trip, then rewound it when we got here in Arizona. Thanks @Patriot for first starting this thread, bringing the Mini with the $50 plan to our attention. I had remembered that you purchased a carry case. I did not realize it had an aluminum frame, made in the USA, add-on features like magnet mounts, etc. I need to look at this seriously vs. the Trio product I mentioned. Has anybody purchased the "Polycarbonate Shield" (both companies offer one)? Instead of storing the mini in a case, I want ours magnet-mounted to the roof of our tow vehicle when driving (then you don't need room somewhere else to store it and you could hook up to Wi-Fi when needed while driving). The shield may help with the pine sap too. Thanks again. JD

Certainly do these things. You may also find lifting the front helps at the dump station! When you blow out the drain (30-50 PSI is good), ALSO blow out the overflow which is under the fridge (only do this when the drain is open). A restricted overflow will impede draining, even if the drain is wide open! Learned this in high school chemistry class. 🤣 And you could use that compressed air to blow out the lines and forget about using antifreeze at all. If OTT in a video actually said to leave the fresh tank half full over winter!?! Please ignore that odd comment! Your manual drain valve has a 3/8” opening in a 1/2” PEX plumbing system. I replaced this valve with an electric motorized valve with a 12mm opening (near 1/2”). My tank now drains twice as fast! I often open the drain while on the road driving home, but don’t do this in prissy locations and those with an abundance of police officers! 🤣

How did I miss this one? Don't watch the one either about lubin' the stabilizer jacks! 🤣

Yes John, you and Susan, and your wonderful, infamous Jolli Olli, please come see us on your 2025 western trip! We have power and water hook-ups for those who are off-grid challenged 🤣, and a dump station just down the steet! It would make our day, no, it would make my year to see Y’all in Prescott Arizona! God bless

Where you live Derek, you need something good and cold to travel during summer and some of the shoulder seasons! We’ll make it through our June trip and next plan is north rim of the Canyon Sept-Oct, no A/C required.

I want to thank my friend @Derek B again for making us aware of this new A/C technology. I'm also hoping for more action on this thread, others here finding additional inverter A/C product offerings! Maybe I should custom install a mini-split in the Oliver! 🤣 I really wanted the sound level of the Turbro Greenland to be better. Both video reviews mentioned noise while Turbro writes, "as low as 45 dB" (likely at lowest fan and compressor settings). Though I love how the inverter compressor is always-on variable-speed and manages power so efficiently. I contacted Kevin at SDG last week to ask a few questions. The Atmos with SoftStart, LTL shipping is required this year at $150 (UPS was damaging units, go figure) and they do charge for out-of-state sales tax! I was not expecting all this which comes to near $2,000 total. I have decided to wait on the Atmos (even though @rideadeuce just posted a rave review) and any A/C purchase, at least for now, in hopes that a new inverter model will become available. The Greenland is a first production model and should get better soon. I wanted it for a summer trip though we leave late May and will be home by the 4th of July, heading to Minnesota and coming back through the Dakotas and Wyoming. We'll hope for the Jet Stream flying low early summer of this year!

I believe I will be next. I've read the $100 sale may end for awhile after Mar 31st. I found out that Home Depot is a reseller for Starlink and I have a 10% coupon also ending 3/31. These Mini's should get cheap at some point, but net $450 may be the best price for 2025, at least until Black Friday sales late in the year. I'm thinking the Trio Mini Speedmount with magnet mounts for doing a fixed installation on the roof of our tow vehicle, integrated to the Pepwave router. And for the case where we need to get out from under trees, etc. I will get a battery setup and not use a power cord. This way, we would use the Starlink vs. the Pepwave Wi-Fi. I found several $20 kits that use the 20V DeWalt tool batteries. We always bring 3-4 DeWalt batteries with us, for a flashlight, an impact tool, a vacuum and leaf blower, and we have an extra charger permanently in the attic. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DM1T6VX2/?th=1

Last test for now... What if when boondocking, far from hook-ups and other campers, you're needing A/C on a HOT afternoon, and your batteries getting low? You could start and connect the tow vehicle to the DC-DC charger. Diesels can idle forever using little fuel. The truck alternator via the Orion charger could supplement inverted power to the A/C for some period of time. The approx. +40A noted before at idle should offset the AH used by the A/C system. These readings (pic1) show this to be true, +39A were being supplemented by the charger at this point in time - nice! Also notice, the Time Remaining stat increased from 2 1/2 hours to 4 hours given the lower AH usage. I will eventually install an A/C that uses much less power than the Dometic PII. That's all folks.

I needed to verify numbers showing for the Orion Charger are relative to what the Victron Smart Shunt was reading at the batteries. The screenprints (Orion vs. Shunt) were as follows (pic1). Why does the Smart Shunt showing 10A more? Because the Blue Sky solar (pic2) was adding +12A and the remainder -2.3A is used for inverter standby overhead, exterior Courtesy Lights (always on) and some parasitic. These numbers add up nicely!