jd1923

I've pumped from our 35-gal aux tank in the truck about 30 times. Only once it would not pump. My son was using the Oliver and he's new with RV stuff. He kept trying the water. Normally, when we here a first gurgle from the pump, we stop and refill the tank. Yes, when you loose prime, water will not pump regardless of the valve configuration. To fill water that one time, we had to tow to use a pressurized hose. I filled the FWT, then primed from the boondocking port and finally attached the hose to the City Water inlet to prime all faucets, the HWH and toilet. I wanted everything full! Also, we pump often when the truck is attached or at a distance, so I connect the 10 ft plus 25 ft hoses we carry, from truck bed to boondock port. Length of hose has not mattered in our case. However, OTT installs a basic water pump which we replaced with a REMCO US-made variable speed pump, with a little PSI and GPM bump over th OEM pump. 😎

I don't take the room to carry a ladder. With an old metal milk crate, I can reach up to our awning safety strap. Not going on the roof for anything! And for your dipstick and anything in the engine bay or an open truck bed, ya gotta get on of these! Somebody linked this in another post and I bought one. We always put it on our curbside rear truck wheel which allows Chris to climb up and reach in for cooking equipment. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002Q8TWI/

This is great, there's more than enough light! Notice there's a shadow on the close section of the truck bed. It's from the deck plate hatch. Those with newer hulls would not have this issue since the hatch is now placed below. The light just needs to be an inch taller. The bracket that comes with the light is so short, it only lifts the light 1/4". I have some ideas for this...

Wow, just a $3,000 upcharge for a few hours labor! 🤣 Sorry @Gliddenwoods I can't help much since we would NOT ever again be without our HIGH-PROFILE Furrion Chill Cube! Its height in condenser and evaporator coils is one thing that makes it so efficient. At 3.25" taller than the Dometic P2 our Oliver measures 9' 8 1/2" tall at the top of our new Chill Cube A/C. It should fit under a 10 ft garage door. You should measure for yourself the true heights of your Oliver on top of the A/C and your garage door opening. I do not believe the advertised height of the Oliver E2 is accurate. Furrion has a low-profile unit, but it's not "whisper quiet" nor variable speed: https://furrion.com/blogs/rv/chill-cube-vs-chill-he-vs-chill-he-low-profile I hate to see anybody go with a Dometic A/C product. OTT doesn't exactly have a proven track record in picking winners in this category!

That's an excellent idea with the switch and 12V right there! You could remove the bubble level (for those of us who use LevelMate) and mount a post light top center.

Finished my install on a front light, but won't be able to see how effective it is until it gets dark tonight (more pics after). My hope is that when the TV is attached, I can unhitch when getting to a campground after dark and see what's stored in the truck bed. I got this Docking Light on the same order as the Porch Lights. https://itcshopnow.com/products/exterior-led-flood-boat-docking-light I used 3M 4950 VHB tape to mount it the the top of the doghouse. There is of course a wire harness, so I drilled into the doghouse but not on top, just behind it where there is room and it's out of sight. I used a 13/64" drill bit which is a hair over the diameter of the wire loom. The picture shows the SAE disconnect wrapped up, only so it could be seen in the photo. Got to have a disconnect to fill the LP tanks. I tapped into the power for the emergency brake which is unfused 12VDC (the brake switch still has a direct connection). Added an inline 2A fuse and a switch in front of the doghouse. Added wire loom and tied up everything. Chose this location for an easy reach from either side, somewhere out of the way, and with a straight line for drilling the hole. The light draws 0.3A and provides 290 LM at 5000 K. Can't wait to see it at night! 😎

It actually looks very good in your pictures, so must look perfect from the ground. Job well done and an excellent detailed write-up! 😎 Too bad OTT doesn't make a small flat area for the bathroom fan in their fiberglass molds (inner and outer hulls). It would make for a better fit and make this job easier on all of us!

I realized I did not take a picture of the installed Rear Porch Light in the daylight so I did that today. I kept the black rubber seal that OTT was removing since they were causing streaks with age. The rubber looks to be good quality, not like the rubber surround on the Furrion 30A receptacles that really streaked badly. If it streaks later I'll simply remove it then, but at this time I didn't want to mess with sealant. If I do add a rear camera, it would be for security purposes while camping vs. having eyes when backing up. I would not mount it rooftop where OTT did, but surface mount something below the OLIVER taillight and above the new Rear Porch Light. We usually have the TV down and the rear window shade closed, so it's not easy to look to the rear. Either way, it will be nice to have light back there when needed. Got my front light done today. Pictures coming soon! 😎

I like what you did Bill, with the rubber and polypropylene spacers. For sure it's filing the angled slot that truly helps the friction and noise in the up down movement. You got yours smooth and straight! Noticing in your pics the step material is coming up in the corners which will soon break off with use. I did a similar job but also sanded down and ceramic coated the aluminum steps and added new 3M Safety Walk 4" Resistant Tape. Our steps still look very good almost 2 years later! 😎

Welcome Brian, looking forward to hearing more re your project(s)! Is it worth it? An extra 100W is a drop in the bucket, although aimed at the sun it is more efficient compared to each 100W on the roof. We added a Victron MPPT 30A SC and the 30-LB Renogy 400W suitcase. I've found almost 2 years later that we rarely use it and should have saved the upgrade $$$. Wish somebody told me this 2 years ago! We move around a bit. I now believe extra solar is for those who want to boondock in one place for a week or longer. And you have to chase the sun all day in moving panels. There is an Oliver owner who sells a machine that rotates the panel, but it's another thing to carry and it only holds one panel. The only guys I see running much solar are the ones that live in their campers, staying the 14-day limit on BLM lands. Since we move around a bit, sometimes just one overnight, most often we stay 3 nights and then "on the road again." In this use case the DC-2-DC charger is a much greater value. We can charge 200 Ah while towing a half day drive. 😎 Our 400W suitcase will not add 200Ah babysitting them all day on the sunniest of days! Here are my two related upgrade links:

I finished the rear light! It looks great and lights up the park! The hard part is removing all the dishes, glasses, spices, etc. and putting them back! I worked a little trick and used some existing wiring. I'll run an extra switch leg, next time Chris wants to rearrange things up there! Thanks, Mossey.

The Oliver Porch Lights are bright for a dark campsite, so we rarely use them. But if you need to light up the area they work great. I've often wondered, why isn't there lighting on the front and rear of the Oliver? I asked a year ago about replacement lights for our OEM Porch Lights and just purchased some recently. OTT should install these lights in all four directions. I would have done one up front too, but running wire would be difficult. I got something else for up front, more on that later. https://itcshopnow.com/products/assurance-exterior-flood-light?variant=50392962007319 I carefully measured the four Porch Lights OTT installed, as the distance from hull belly line, which btw holds a tape measure nicely, up to centerline of the Porch Light at the mounting screws. Turns out they were all installed at different heights +/- 3/4". As a special bonus, this light is 1/4" off from front to the rear mounting screws. My new Rear Porch Light, I promise is the straightest of the bunch! 🤣 It's not easy to choose the best spot to drill into the exterior of your hull, this one especially. I cut away some of the white insulation in the back of the attic. I used a 2-ft piece of metal fish-tape with the ends curled back, running it down the inside of the back exterior hull. Repeatedly, it measured 12" form the bottom of the OLIVER taillight to where the fish-tape hit the top of the rear window frame. It measured 12" so I figured I should go 10" max. Looking from the outside, there is a flat fiberglass frame around the rear window. Above that, the top rear is convex. I had to find the best spot so that the approx. 8" x 1 1/2" light would sit flat in both directions. If not water would get behind it. I drilled a 1/4" hole centered to the window, so the light is just above the flat frame area of the rear window. I soldered and heat shrink extra length of wire to the light. If they only attached 18" of wire! Offset the splices so that they would fit nicely into the drilled hole. It wasn't an easy pull but a few ins and outs and the light pulled flush (would be easier with 2 people, one in one out). I eyeballed the light level to the window frame. I wanted to VHB the light housing vs. drilling two mounting holes but the design of the light would not allow for it. They do not include hardware. Found the stoutest 1" course thread screws that would fit the openings and I drilled 6/94" holes after marking the centers. Wiring? I wanted to add the new rear light to the Side Porch Lights (streetside). However, I could not find the switch leg in the back corner of the attic and I did not want to remove all the stuff out of the kitchen cabinets. But that would be the right way to do it. Cabinets empty, you can easily run wiring up to the main switch panel. Our hull had a rear camera and a separate switch to power it. I removed the camera a year ago, so I'm using this separate switch with existing wiring. I copied something Geoff did, where he used a Sharpie to black out the word "Awning." Mine has a thin cut piece of black tape over the word "Camera" so it just reads "Rear" now! 🤣 I had to wait patiently for dusk and dark tonight! The hull looks great with the new Rear Porch Light to compliment the side lights. And finally, it alone lights up the yard! 😎

Just looked at our faucet which overall looks similar except we do not have an Allen screw on top. I would remove the handle again to see if with some kind of tool it can be moved. You can’t make it worse! It’s likely not serviceable, so if it remains to be stuck it will have to be replaced. I was back there a couple years ago because the water lines on our faucet were loose and leaking. It will not be a fun job to R&R since there is so little room and you’ll need a mirror to see behind the sink. Hope you can get it to work somehow.

It is a little wimpy, but I use the outdoor shower often when boondocking. Chris showers in the wet bath, but when the weather is good enough, I prefer being outside, not getting the bathroom wet and not adding to the gray water! All I needed was a holder. I had the one pictured but now I use a suction cup version on the window. I like the standby function built into the shower head. I dislike the fact that the trunk, the rear basement door, has to be open to extend to hose and operate the faucets! So I lay a wash cloth and bottle of body wash on it. I don't use it for much else except for cleaning shoes on occasion. I have good hose attachments for when we have campsite water. If you get too crazy, your FWT will empty quickly! I'm interested in seeing what you come up with as your work matures! 😎

I assumed when Lamar wrote this in his original post that there was a separate breaker for the induction cooktop. There truly should be, but not according to the manual that @Steve and MA found. In our hull, OTT wired the microwave to the breaker marked “Outlets.” They wired two separate hots to the breaker (outlets GFCI and microwave on separate 12/2 Romex runs). Maybe they did something similar here. I corrected our situation by connecting the microwave to a free breaker when I disabled the OEM converter for the Victron inverter/charger. The fix I suggested above just got more complicated! I would still rewire the main panel so that induction cooking is possible off-grid! @Lamar last logged in 9 hours ago. Hard to say, but the first thing he should do when connected to shore power is to run the cooktop and trip each breaker to know where in the world OTT wired their True Induction cooktop!

We do not know yet... - What inverter/battery setup is installed in this LEI? - Will it still work on Shore Power? (if so, then not a CGFI issue) - Error codes? If so, then the usual Xantrex settings issue, but @Lamar made no mention of a failed startup, just no power. - Is the induction cooktop wired to the inverter circuit? To be or not to be!

Your first picture is very dark, so it's hard to see how it broke and what's left there. If you have can physically connect this Sharkbite female adapter, have enough PEX on both sides that would be great. You need the PEX on both sides to be cut square with minimum 3/4" length to attach Sharkbite fittings. If there is not enough PEX on the water heater side, the broken PEX must be removed (get Sharkbite PEX removal tool to push in the collar) and a new short piece of new PEX must be added. This kind of failure is odd and at the same time your kitchen faucet is stuck!

Lamar, the GFCI under the dinette should power ALL your AC outlets in line. Plug something into the outdoor outlet (or the one above the kitchen sink) and trip the GCFI under the dinette. The other AC outlets should then ALL be OFF. @topgun2 Bill suggested this in his comment. However this is NOT your main issue re your induction cooktop. If the induction cooktop is on a GFCI circuit it should be wired to an independent GCFI (not that outlet under the dinette). And if your induction cooktop works on Shore Power, then GFCI is not your issue either. I see you have a Legacy I. What inverter and battery setup do you have? I hate to think that what @Steve and MA wrote is correct in that OTT did not wire your induction cooktop to your inverter circuit. If you have the Xantrex 3000, all 120VAC circuits should be wired to it, but not so with a lesser 2K inverter. Wow, if this is the case, OTT should have installed an LP cooktop instead! You wrote that your microwave works on inverter. Given all this is true, you need to get this corrected for the long-term. (OTT wired several things in very strange ways in our hull, so I have rewired everything!) Not the right time while boondocking, but I have a short-term on-the-road fix for you! 😎 First be OFF shore power and turn your inverter OFF. This ensures there is no 120VAC in your hull, so you can safely rewire the AC power panel. You can do a quick fix in your breaker box! Do the following at you own risk (I would do it)! Remove the breaker box cover and remove the breaker labeled for your inverter. Loosen the front screw and pull the black wire free (the hot). Do the same for the microwave breaker. Replace the hot for the induction cooktop into the breaker for your microwave. Now you have induction cooking on inverter but your microwave will not be powered. You could wire both hots to the microwave breaker, if you want to use both on inverter. However if you do so, it would not be wired "to code" and you'll only want to use only ONE appliance at a time. However, if you turned both ON at the same time, the breaker would merely trip, no big deal. If it was me and I found it to be TRUE that OTT did NOT wire the induction cooktop to the inverter circuit 😒, I would get this done in 10 minutes just in time for breakfast! 🤣

We always called it the "kitchen junk drawer." Had one in every home we've owned, now including the Oliver! No remotes in ours, but most of the other stuff on her list, yes! 🤣 We have a spice rack above the cooktop in the overhead cabinet. Ours too would not fit in the junk drawer. I wanted all the many remotes, nicely held in the nightstand drawer. This picture is old and btw we traded in the Rummikub game for a Carbles board which doesn't fit in the nightstand! With our new A/C installation, I mounted the two most important remotes (fan and A/C) on the wall. We have two (2) TV remotes (since I always misplace one) so that one is always bedside on my custom shelf! I did screw into the interior of the nightstand drawer (should have used tape), but only 3M 4950 VHB tape on the fiberglass. Holds these shelves tight! More ideas Dan! 😎

I was thinking by the front edge of these windows will collect bugs. Let us know next time you have a windshield full of bugs! 🤣

Didn't know there is a 2026 ONLY variant. I was referring to our old sliders. The frame on the sliders sits on the hull, yet the glass is recessed and protected. The 2027 windows in the video look like the glass sits on top of their frame outside of the hull.

Geoff, maybe you can help me... Our older hull already has the Entry and Side Porch Lights on separate switches. What I'm working on is adding a 5th light, facing rear of the Oliver. I want the rear light to be on the same switch as the Side Porch Lights (streetside). So, when I close that switch all 3 lights, left and rear, will power ON. Without thinking this through, I was hoping to splice into the red wire you found above the speaker. However, this RED wire appears to be a power run for all cabin lighting. With a clamp amp meter, Side Porch Lights ON only I get close to +0.9A. When I turn on the Main Cabin Lights that same RED wire gets another +0.6A and each pair of lights, Kitchen and Rear Lights above the beds adds another +0.3A. Power is running through the RED wire no matter which cabin light is powered ON. Perhaps it worked for you to cut it off there, since it was the end run and you ran new wires from a new switch for the left side. I'm trying to piggyback, adding a 3rd light to the Side Porch Lights switch and was hoping to grab the switch leg back there above the speaker vs. running new wire all the way to the entrance switch panel. Then I tested for amperage at the switch and it reads only when the switch is ON. I need to find the switch wire at the rear if possible! I tested every other wire I could find above the speaker and could not find the negative switch leg, meaning no other wire showed 0.9A with the switch turned ON. Loved the idea of only removing the speaker, but perhaps a waste of time for my needs. It would be so convenient to wire at the rear, with a very short run not feeding wire all the way back through the curbside upper cabinets! Any ideas? And BTW, thank you again @Patriot for the link to the OEM lights! They were out of stock for a while and there back now On Sale! I purchased one for the Oliver rear and I got a couple extra for when one goes out I can renew both Entry side lights. These are correct and are quite pretty, brand new out of the box! https://itcshopnow.com/products/assurance-exterior-flood-light?variant=50392962007319

WOLFBOX MF100 or MF200, or MF200 with dual batteries. I have an Amazon business account, so the MF100 is $75.49 with the business discount, $95 for the MF200. The dual battery MF200 comes in at a whopping $123.49 https://www.amazon.com/WOLFBOX-MF200-2PK-Compressed-Duster-Hurricane-Force/dp/B0GH6L9CP3/

Thanks Dan for linking this video! I don't look much at the new models and this is a nice presentation, just 7 minutes long! Also no sour beans here, from someone who spent 2 years restoring a 2016 model! We will not be a new Oliver customer, just continue to upgrade and fully enjoy ours. They are really going with a Dometic A/C?!? 🤣 In all these years, still at the bottom of this learning curve. Looks like all the Truma issues will be behind OTT going forward. I'd have to use the awning more than 5 times in 2 years with all that solar up there! I wonder how practical this will be? Must be a heavy awning! We need all LP appliances to work effectively in altitudes up to 10K ft, a must for Colorado travel and elsewhere in the Rockies. 20A on a built-in DC-DC charger, but using the 12 AWG trailer wiring? OMG, you're not going to get 20A and if you do be worried about the wiring! I'll keep our Victron Orion 50A charger, that averages +40 Ah every hour towing. One very knowledge Forum member argued that the 4 AWG wire I used may be too light! You might get +10A on average with this configuration. This leads to OTT sticking with the Xantrex and Lithionics brands. This is not new! Almost everybody on this forum that has added or replaced an inverter has gone to the Victron Multiplus, most with the MP2. I do remember reading one post where a Xantrex was used to replace a FAILED Xantrex. Given the failure, I would have changed brands, but I believe it was chosen to simplify the installation with like kind. There are 100s of posts here citing Xantrex issues. And with all the new LiFePO4 batteries in the marketplace, a new quality brand at a better price point could be chosen. You'll get used to knowing your tank levels. More accurate, yeah sure, we've heard that one before! 🤣 That's what they said about our external tank monitors. We have learned very well how many days it takes us to fill our black and gray tanks. We're not ready for composting, the pee and poop handling, but it is the black tank that makes us return to the dump station! Gray water can be dumped on BLM and FS lands, so we can last a while leaving with 70 gallons fresh. I can guess exactly when we need fresh water, just before the water pump starts gurgling! Then we refill, from our auxiliary tank in the pickup bed. I have seriously not looked at that tank level display in two years, just don't need to. Windows? There are many here that truly dislike the current windows. Some leak when it rains and some have lost their seal between the panes. Our windows are in like new condition, no defects to date, knocking on wood. I enjoy the one-hand operation, especially when lying in bed. Awning windows, something else to worry about in high winds and rain? And if left open at all, even one inch when away, a thief could easily rip the window off and enter the cabin interior. I also do not like how they stick out on the exterior, where our windows are recessed into the hull, flush so taking no wind. We usually close our windows when towing, but if you forget these, there will be damage. I do really like the trimline blinds as the old-style sticks out almost 3" into the cabin interior. One gets in my way when I'm in bed. Our blinds need another hosing down this summer, Like I did when we first purchased our Oliver used My favorite part is the new kitchen counter setup. The new sink and cooktop looks great! However for boondocking, I'm not sure the compressor fridge and induction cooktop are preferable, appliances that cannot operate on AC/DC and LP. But with 900 Ah, oh what the heck! Chris loves cooking with induction, so we have a single-burner cooktop we plugin indoors or out (search for keyword 'induction'). For 2027, did they fix the cramped bathroom countertop/sink? Someday, I'll fix both, like Mike did for their kitchen:

Certainly not right. I would fully extend and retract your awning a couple times to see if you can get it to kick into place (hearing your "clunk"). If it stays out, I would tie it up on that end or both ends prior to traveling at highway speeds. Our Fiamma manual awning does not fully engage on the rear when closed. We travel with this strap in place. There is also a recent thread on this: