jd1923

Yeah, I tried this today and you are correct. I hosed our blinds this week with a fine mist spray setting. I did this 2 years ago and it was about time again. When I reinstalled I found a couple of clips where the mounting screw needed tightening, so check for this first. Then of all the 24 clips, 6 per window, only one would not seat properly (guess we're lucky). I removed it, tried to stretch it wider on my vise and no-go on the spring steel. So this is my solution and it worked great, tight as can be! just one wrap of electrical tape. 😎

Why is there a gap? We don't have one. It get's me when OTT has the right approach and then it changes through the years.

Was reinstalling our blinds today after cleaning them, so working inside the Oliver. Set temp was 76F and I lowered it to 68F and turned on the Turbo setting which activates the evaporator fan at the high setting. Outdoor temp was 94F, 110F on the roof, 104F in the basement under the streetside bed where the Victron MP2 is installed (see temp reading on picture). After I heard the compressor ramped up, I took this screen print. About 620W was the highest number I could see. The picture shows wattage inverter out and the A/C was the only 120VAC appliance on. The Chill Cube is rated at 18K BTU which we know is BS since the compressor rating is about half that. The Chill Cube night not be the best choice for those who plug in regularly and live where you need powerful cooling. The Tosot may a better choice for those who plugin at campgrounds, but we rarely plug in even when parked at home. The Chill cube in Turbo mode is not real quiet, but still less than half the noise of others. It's whisper quiet when sleeping at night when cooling needs are lower.

That is correct. However, solar is more efficient at elevation and we had full mid-summer sun every day of the test. I'd like to measure the amount of Ah produced by solar over a 24-hour period. I believe the IPN Remote on our old Blue Sky SC has a display variable for that can be reset to zero. But without an app interface it's truly painful to kneel down there and go through the menus!

Performance update => I was able to run the Chill Cube 24x7, thermostat set at 74F, for 4 days producing this data. Data was recorded each day later afternoon 5PM +/-. The Chill cube did not quite produce the set temp in the heat of the day but did so the rest of the day. The high of 76F was still quite comfortable in the cabin. Off course our Oliver was unplugged, but in addition to battery power, our 320W rooftop solar was adding power consumed by the A/C. The table shows Ah used daily. Keep in mind this is with the A/C running 24x7 which is rarely our use case! Having 900 Ah it appears I can count on running the A/C 24x7 for 3 days, 4-5 days if it’s off during portions of the days. With 600 Ah you could truly count on two full 24 hour days. The picture below shows cabin and outdoor temps one afternoon during the test at 4:30 PM. The cabin temp is read by a Ruuvi sensor mounted above the kitchen sink. The sensor titled Oliver Trunk is positioned in the rear basement, near the incoming water lines down by the 4" drain plumbing. For "Oliver Roof" I placed a sensor rooftop under the solar panels so that it is in the shade. If I took this picture 1-2 hours earlier in the day the roof temp would certainly be above 110F! I had no idea these results would be so positive and being the avid boondocker, it's great to know we can now count on A/C cooling anytime/anywhere! When you have the old-school A/C, with the basic single-speed ON/OFF compressor (Dometic, Truma, Tosot, Houghton, etc.), you will use approx. 100 Ah per hour in the heat of the day (assuming 1400W while the compressor is ON). The inverter or variable-speed A/C will consume in 24 hours what the standard A/C will consume in just 2 hours, OMG! (BTW, the Dometic P2 will produce worse results since it uses 1800W when ON, or 150 Ah/hour). The technology capability today is amazing. Time to stop waiting on the next great product. We’re not getting any younger! 😎

They're all about the same. Plumbing connections should be the same. Make sure you set pressure on your new accumulator based on its instructions related to the pressure spec of your water pump. There is a Shrader valve on the accumulator where you can check pressure or connected a pump or compressed air.

Say they're about equal, your wattage being a little higher to handle the humidity of Florida.

Yes, mods and upgrades are a personal choice. We chose to have every possible convenience. We can disconnect, but we wouldn't travel without the capability to connect anytime/anywhere! 😎 A reading of -60A on the Victron Connect App is the highest number I've ever observed set in Turbo mode. That's only 786W figuring 13.1V. Med-High setting will draw 48A (576W), low 14A (168W) and when ambient temps drop at night, the fan runs extra slow using as low as -2A. It's CRAZY. If these numbers are close enough, we can say the Chill Cube uses half the power of the Houghton 48v at high settings and even better when the cooling need is low. Keep in mind we are at 5440 FT elevation with RH = 20% so my numbers are likely better than when at sea level with humidity. And where the Houghton and every other single-speed compressor A/C will cycle full power more often.

Chris, I like the idea, but why is this true?

So, you're not glamping, but we sure are! 🤣 I would say an OEM Oliver, one purchased without any lithium package, little to no owner mods/upgrades, yes that shiny fiberglass is only skin deep. Leaky windows, the Dometic P2 A/C and with other OTT installation issues, it is hard to be comfortable. Glamping means comfort! Yeah, the G is for Glamour, but nobody is glamorous parked in a campground or anywhere else without all the creature comforts you desire! When you seriously upgrade the Oliver, at some point you're no longer roughing it! To start with, throw out the little $89 TV that OTT installed and replace it with a Samsung 32" 4K TV monitor, on a better mount and add a soundbar. Then correct the awful furnace ducting, vent the closet, bath and basement, and do something about those leaky windows! And it will take a while to move all those misplaced switches, water valves and breakers out from under the beds! And speaking of beds, all the OEM cushions and mattresses are way too basic to be glamping. The next item going to the junkyard is the common RV microwave (I use a Craig's Free Stuff ad and a driveway full of stuff is gone in hours)! A small Emeril Air Fryer fits there perfectly. We have 6 ways to cook indoors and outside, including the dual-burner Napoleon grill/griddle, cooking on the fire ring, a mini pressure cooker and an induction cooktop. Not hotdogs and smores, but glamorous meals for sure. It's not glamping when you get stuck somewhere making life uncomfortable. Or you can't use the bathroom or run the A/C while on the road or taking a break. Got to have freshwater tanks full, the one onboard and 35 gallons extra in the TV for if/when needed. With two 30# LP tanks full, 900 Ah LiFePO4, 720W solar, a 50A DC-DC charger topped off with the Victron MP2 3KVA inverter/charger, we can be VERY comfortable for a week or more and even throw some loss sole a 10 AWG extension cord to power their trailer overnight. And of course, remove the old-school rooftop cameras and nobody uses Wi-Fi repeaters anymore, or campground cable or Wi-Fi, OMG! Got to add a cellular router and antenna and the Starlink Mini is a must. Can't be glamping if you're not online 24x7! Then you could be riding on the lame Oliver OEM suspension or upgrade it with new D52 axles, Alcan Springs, Bulldog shocks and speaking of Bulldog upgrade the hitch coupler too. I can't believe OTT went with the 4-leaf Alcan Springs on this odd X23! Just so they could derate it to a 7k suspension? The tires are so out-of-place on the white egg! My forecast, OTT stops making the X23 after 2 years of meager sales. There are several REAL off-road trailers in the marketplace, and if that's what you want, it's not an Oliver. Some old guy said, after having a knee replacement, "I should have done this years ago!" Just like those of you who have that freight-train-engine sounding Dometic P2 still sitting rooftop! Even if you claim, "We hardly use it." You're fooling yourself and either way, once is enough! Our Chill Cube keeps the cabin cool on battery for 3 full days with daily highs of 94F outside! And at nighttime when outside temps drop, you can hardly hear it running while it's sipping 2Ah. Why did I wait 2 years? This is only the half of it and then there's the TV! I won't bore you with the technical details but the 45L CFX5 fridge in the truck bed never runs out of cold drinking water in our desert. With room for new groceries, it's much easier than adding to the fridge inside. Pantry full and closet floor lined with adult beverages and soft drinks, craft cubes in the freezer - yes, we're glamping! I was 3 nights camping in The Valley for a major sinus surgery. Everything I needed to recoup was at arm's length, only a few paces to the bathroom, truly all the comforts of home. Spending nights in a hotel was not an option, not near the comfort. Love our Oliver!😎 Our first RV was a 39' Fleetwood Discovery diesel pusher with 3 slides. Thought the way to go, was to go BIG! It had the big screen TV, but otherwise, it was awful. The Class-A is only comfortable on US Interstates and large paved lots in RV Parks and must have 50A service. If you get stuck, you have to run the generator because unless you spend another $50K in solar and lithium, all you power you have unplugged is enough to reheat up a cup of coffee in the microwave! Don't try big city streets or much in dirt roads. Only ex-truck drivers are comfortable in a Class-A. BTW, generators and glamping do not mix. 🤣 So, when you're done with all these electrical and mechanical system upgrades, you gotta make it look as good outside as it runs inside. We know it, but it's the only way people will know we're glamping too! 😎

Yep, that's about it! They're just for looks. Besides A/C efficiency... Ah = Ah! 🤣 He already converted the 100 Ah 48v battery to be equivalent to 400 Ah on a 12V system. 600+ Ah on 12V is 200+ Ah better. One problem that can occur in a 48V RV system, is when the 48/12 DC-DC converter fails, you cannot use your trailer jacks, any cabin lighting, the CO detector, USB chargers, the fail-safe for the trailer brakes and every other 12VDC device (unless they also integrate a 12V battery).

Wow, two new members just today - Welcome!

And you are a forgiving person. For me the first call is pressure, and I certainly wouldn't bother with the second, let alone a 3rd or 4th call! Earlier this year, I purchased a Fairview LP regulator. It failed in two weeks camping. I asked around and found out Fairview is not considered the better make. I could have done a warranty claim for the $50 I spent, but not worth my effort. Why, because I would get the lesser product replaced after all the time and hassle. So I purchased a Marshall Excelsior regulator, spent new money for the more reliable product. Happy I spent $60 on a new manual lock. I could have spent triple for keyless with all the issues cited in this and other threads. I expect the manual door lock to be out-of-sight, out-of-mind, for another 10 years. 😎

Calls to Customer Service or Tech Support, filing warranty claims, submitting Service Tickets… Are Quite the Opposite from the song line in The Sound of Music, “these are some of my favorite things!” 🤣 So, when the new one fails, are you going to go through this again?

Thank you very much, Martin & Linda! New Oliver and new Forum Members for a month now - Congratulations! 😂 A lot like us 3 years ago. Our 2016 was 7 years old at the time as your 2019 is today. Keep working your required maintenance, fix or mod your top-of-list items and very soon enjoy some travel and good camping! 😎 We keep improving our Oliver way-of-life with several major modifications and all the many little things, while getting away 180 overnights so far! This cosmetic restoration and our new Chill Cube A/C were our last big projects. Please add a simple forum signature when you get a chance. Search here and ask questions re your "heater" (furnace or HWH?). You may be on the right track thinking "sail switch" but of course first make sure you're getting LP and 12VDC. Welcome, thanks again and best wishes, JD

Nice! Once the jig is set your bolt holes should be positioned perfectly!

Yep, they can use your safety cables, or any cheap truck mounted WINCH can pick up the relatively light tongue weight of the Oliver. At least with tongue down there would be no damage to the jack if towed away. Whether you have the cheap hitch locks I have or all the fancy hardware shown in pictures above, the fallacy is thinking the thief would need to mount the hitch ball to steal your trailer. When stealing a trailer, they are certainly not going to hitch up the way you do! 🤣 They will chain it up in seconds and drive away. When we travel, we only leave our Oliver for a few hours on a day trip, never overnight. At home, the Oliver is safe on our lot with neighbors watching. We have an Apple Tag with speaker disabled to locate her if needed. And the best preventive is there cannot be a black market for stolen Oliver parts! Winnebago parts maybe, OTT not so much! On this last point, we should all stop worrying. However, in your case GJ, leaving your Oliver stored out of sight for months while you're thousands of miles away, I would lock the frame or wheels to the foundation of the building or at least lock a pair of tandem wheels together. I used to store a cargo trailer on our lot here when we lived full time in Texas. Since it sat here 6 months at a time, I would run a HD chain locking tandem wheels to each other and then to the trunk of a tree! This trailer wasn't going anywhere and btw a cargo trailer likely has greater black-market value than a specialty trailer like the Oliver.

Of course, but the goal is to turn the fan OFF leaving the vent door OPEN. This doesn't work well. The noise starts with the first action and often ours doesn't respond quickly enough to start re-opening. Rubbing alcohol is one of the lightest solvents. I rub it on the gelcoat or ANY other surface to prep for 3M VHB tape. The fan is crystal clear after several applications. Yeah, basically to clean it thoroughly you must remove disassemble all parts. Yes, very strange and reason I contacted the manufacturer first. On our unit, the FAN OFF control closes the vent door too.

Here it is, switch mod and cleaning instructions WITH pictures! 🤣

The goal was to add a simple toggle switch to the fan motor so that when the fan is ON, the fan motor can be turned OFF while leaving the vent door OPEN! I contacted MaxxAir CS to see if there is a better way to do this, but they really had difficulty understanding my use case and after asking 3 times in 3 emails, as they cc:d 3 more staff persons, I gave up to "Do It My Way!" (as usual) 🤣 Often during evenings, we have the fan on low to exhaust heat from the Oliver ceiling. Later when going to bed, I want to turn OFF the fan but leave the fan door open as a vent. The fan open/close mechanism is very NOISY! Often Chris had drifted off to sleep, and I hardly wanted to CLOSE/OPEN the vent door twice to double this annoying sound! I used to place a pillow over the opening to cut down on the noise. First thing I noticed was how dirty the fan parts were which was not as noticeable when camping day-to-day. Certainly, much more worked was involved in a detailed cleaning than the 20 minutes it would take to split a wire and crimp in a toggle switch. We mainly cook breakfast indoors, always with the fan exhausting. The screen and other parts had a layer of bacon grease and whatever else. I had to scrub the screen with Dawn for quite a while to get it completely clean. In fact, so much scrubbing removed the shine (coating) on the screen. (I found an open box replacement on eBay for $20). Please keep in mind this fan is 10 years old! The fan blades too! They were so dirty after sponging with Dawn, I had to wipe each blade several times with rubbing alcohol on paper towels to finally achieve clean/clear plastic! At this point, I figured I would disassemble and clean it completely. Adam is my "Second Story Man" so he grabbed the ladder and I handed him the Phillips. The complete exterior unit is held on with only 4 screws. With everything removeable out, I stood on a milk crate under the opening and cleaned it inside and out. To start there are 4 swivel clips to hold the screen (I'm going to start cleaning the screen every 1-2 weeks). Under the edge of the screen are 4 screws holding the lower plastic assembly in place which contains the electronics and wiring. Every screw on the MaxxFan is a Phillips so all you need is one screwdriver and wire tools if you're wanting the toggle switch. MaxxFan uses terminals to connect power to the fan motor and opening mechanism, but OTT did not add a terminal for power to the unit, so I cut the black and white wires and used butt connectors upon reassembly (adding a terminal disconnect would be nice). I'll show a picture of the internal wiring later, as I forgot to take one, but I have to open it again next week when I get a new swivel pin for the screen. One of 4 had a broken tab which would occur as somebody tried to pry off the pin vs. turning it. The outdoor assembly comes apart into pieces by removing 5 + 3 + 6 more screws (see pics). When I reassembled this section, after cleaning all, I put a matchhead sized dab of clear silicone grease on the white wheel-shaped bushings on the ends of the lift levers. What is really amazing is it's now so CLEAN that it allows twice as much light to enter the cabin. We might now need a cover for sleeping, LOL! It's hard to photograph it all clean and installed due to lighting contrast (last picture). Love the simple switch! The video should get the point across. We can now turn off the fan at night without making more than the click sound on the toggle! 😎 Fan Power Off Button.MOV

I highly recommend this campground (unless there's thunderstorms). Quiet and beautiful in the Sheyenne National Grassland, just one hour S-SW of Fargo. It's also very inexpensive accepting the National Senior Pass too! We spent a night there last summer. Wanted to stay longer but we got a little muddy on the way in and feared storms coming in the next afternoon. But it's dry most of the time with nicely graded dirt roads the last few miles. We met some girls who brought their horses out for the weekend! Just gorgeous! Dakota Prairie Grasslands | Hankinson Hills Campground | Forest Service

Impulse All-In-One Roller Shades for RVs - MCD Innovations

Thanks, Rob! Your local upholstery shop should be able to produce something equivalent when using quality materials and attention to detail. Our shop used high-density upholstery foam and Sunbrella fabric. This brand is designed for outdoor furniture and comes in dozens of colors!

Bill has provided a lot of good advice here! Agreed, the worst thing you can do is the campground slow drain-as-using routine. Always drain tanks as near full as possible. And it's better to dump after towing, for a cleaning action to break down the solids. Thinking in this way, we often dump when we arrive at a campsite vs. as we're leaving (no long lines at the dump station either). Our Black Tank mostly empties in about 20 seconds and the Grey in a minute or two max. We always camp with the nose up about 3/4" on the LevelMatePRO to help out the water pump. We always dump tanks with the nose up 2-3" and the curbside leveler up 1-2". If you fail to raise the curbside, you can think the grey is empty and it's still partially full (see Bill's picture above). IMHO SeeLevel readings are next to useless. They say these are more accurate than other brands, but they all show bad readings. We've learned from experience how many days the fresh tank will last (depending on showers taken), and when the Black and Grey waste tanks will fill (for battery SOC get a shunt with Bluetooth). Think about your usage and learn. I stopped looking at our SeeLevel display long ago. We put some TP in our Oliver toilet which does not cause an issue when draining tanks properly. Of course, you don't want TP nor solids sitting on the bottom of an empty tank, so always add at least 1 gallon of fresh water prior to toilet use and have the bowl half-full when using. We used to add cleaners but stopped doing that except for an occasional cleaning as-needed. If ours were ever to drain slowly at the dump station, after dumping I would refill both waste tanks about 3/4 full, add some low-suds laundry detergent in both tanks. Then tow onto our next destination to use the road for cleaning action, dump on arrival at the next campsite. To fill the black or grey 3/4 full, I use a gallon counter on the hose. The black tank has a hose connection, and I put the hose right down the kitchen sink drain to fill the grey. After cleaning, refill both tanks and drain again until the water looks clear. If you do not have one already, your drain hose should have a clear section or elbow where you can see the liquids while draining. In storage have a couple gallons of water in all 3 tanks (don't worry, nothing bad will happen if a tank 10% full freezes).

We do not have the king setup, but we did replace EVERY cushion in our Oliver! Also hated a king topper we had at home years ago. We'd sink into the foam making us sleep HOT! We now use Brooklyn Bedding at home and the Oliver. They manufacture in the Phoenix West Valley and have every RV mattress size imaginable. They roll up and box their mattresses and ship everywhere. If you're ever down here, they have several store locations across The Valley. RV Mattresses by Brooklyn Bedding They have new models this year, with hybrid (foam/coil) models in RV sizes. We purchased two 30x75" foam beds 2 1/2 years ago for our twin bed setup. We went with 12" mattresses based on the fact that the taller the mattress the softer the feel (you can see that in their charts). The 12" mattresses are heavy, but Chris is able to lift them/stand them sideways to work the sheets. I'd prefer a shorter/lighter mattress for the Oliver, but they might be too firm. Time to take care of our older bodies! We had to replace the dinette cushions too. The original cushions were 4" and we made ours 5" tall. We had these custom upholstered at a local shop with higher quality foam for $500 OTD. Boy, the OEM ones were ugly, and my bony butt doesn't hit the hard fiberglass right through the cushions anymore! 😎