jd1923

Good observation and question! OTT installed an ANL fuse in our hull but only between B+ on the batteries and the inverter. They had a separate 8 AWG wire running from the batteries to the breaker in question for everything 12VDC. New batteries installed, the tech could have changed anything, moved the DC source after the OEM ANL fuse (that's what I did with our Victron inverter upgrade). Or maybe they installed a new one to protect new batteries. Did they install a battery compartment cut-off switch that failed or got turned off accidently? Yes, got to, got to test for voltage! First at the batteries. Then before and after the breaker. If an inverter is installed, is there 12VDC on the 4/0 wire at the inverter connection (after ANL fuse). Any 12VDC to the 12V side of the fuse panel at all? Batteries dead, switch turned off, main fuse blown, 60A breaker defective? It's one of these. Get a ground wire in place and this can be a quick find with the voltmeter. First time I've seen this schematic. Thanks for sharing. Too bad they don't show the important 12VDC stuff! They show the DC fuse panel in the attic but not the main 12V panel. They show all the 12V charging ports, USB ports, but none of the important 12VDC runs, to the fridge, the fans, furnace and all the stuff that matters. They don't share wiring diagrams since installations change often. OTT is a small batch custom house. They don’t have the development practices, nor the configuration management systems to automate publishing schematics annually. It’s a whole lot of bookkeeping otherwise and time better spent is in creating their/our beautiful fiberglass! Sure would be nice to have these main appliances diagrammed and what about all those light switches? 🤣

Unfortunately OTT installed this +bus under the bed and the -bus (ground) under the dinette and every Oliver is wired somewhat differently! 🤣 Checkout my picture below. Ignore the bottom half of the picture which is all stuff I installed, but the ground bus at the top of the picture. Notice the coiled up yellow/red-striped wire center of picture. This is a ground wire I added for testing. I leave it there just wound up, but unwound it's long enough to be a test ground for anything inside the cabin. It's a good tool to have ready. I made this recently to test for voltage at the water pump and switches when our water pump went dead (found loose wire on bathroom switch). Believe it not, for a quick test, you could use the foil covered insulation anywhere in the basement. Most of it is grounded, although it could be a weak ground and not show full voltage. Be careful with hot wires near this foil. If all your lights and jacks are not working, this breaker must be dead or there's no current coming into it. In the original installation of our Oliver, the converter was wired after the breaker. Actually, you can see it in the picture I posted above in my prior post. The wire coming in from the right came from the B+ battery terminal. Notice the red 8 AWG wire on the left post. It runs to the front connected to the 12VDC fuse panel and hence the PD converter that was integrated to the panel. Did you open the battery bay and test for voltage right at the batteries? Do you have 6 or 8 AWG wires connected at the batteries? Do these cables have voltage there where they start? Then you want to get a ground near your breaker and test there. I've read several posts re these breakers failing.

If you have 12VDC at both ends of the breaker, the same breaker that has the 3 big yellow 30A fuses for leveler jacks, the jacks (unless all 3 fuses are blown) and the lighting should work. Something is not adding up. Test again to be sure that +12VDC is on the load end of the breaker, or recheck both sides. Picture below is from our older hull before I changed all that. Ours had a 40A fuse vs. 60A but yours should be similar. The source side is on the RIGHT in this picture where power comes from the battery. +12VDC there means batteries are working. Power on the LEFT post means the breaker is closed (working). You should also see power when touching any of the screws or the metal of this positive bus. Where are you connecting your voltmeter to ground? (battery negative) If the breaker is bad, you could bypass it until you replace it, since all the loads are fused individually.

I fully agree with these comments but from where we live and travel, perhaps from an opposite point of view... Our 3 seasons are Fall-Winter-Spring. Summers we'd rather stay up here at 5400 ft because as soon as we drive an hour in most directions it's going to be hot. But this is also true: Summers here, even at elevation, I've measured our Oliver rooftop temps to 110F (Ruuvi sensor placed under shade of the solar panels). Inside cabin temps without A/C (windows cracked, MaxxFan and bath vent open), will be 20F cooler. We often run the A/C for the month of August while it's parked at home. Now that we have viable RV air conditioning, we're dabbling more into our 4th season, summer. Out west, elevation is a greater factor than being north or south. Summers we go up, like our July trip NW of Flagstaff at 7600 ft. We did use the A/C some afternoons. Winters we head down to The Valley, anywhere in SW AZ into CA is great winter travel, more than 1/4 million campers at Quartzsite! I would love to camp with our friend Steve and family up the the north central Midwest. We'd go for fall colors or during the spring, certainly not for their winters. 20F at dawn, we see that often. -20F all day long is not happenin'! Yep, I've read a few in our 3 years here. I've seen where the outdoor shower plumbing is removed and both battery and basement exterior access panels are fully insulated. I read another where the Oliver was used as a remote working vehicle where it was used as a dry cabin, all water removed, plumbing not used in a sub-zero climate. The double hull insulated, completely sealed underbelly, tanks within the hull, proper A/C and dual 30# LP tanks, if you want it to be 4-season it can be. But we're not camping in Phoenix summers or Minnesota winters.

Hunker down Greg and family and all of our Oliver Friends along the Gulf Shore!

Very strange! The fresh tank expanded enough to bow the floor. It was holding pressure, for some period of time, long enough to after the fact use the kitchen faucet to release pressure. Water coming out of the overflow seems contrary to this occurrence. Overflow (must have) occurred only after enough pressure was built up to balloon the tank. 35 PSI was enough to balloon the tank but not burst the tank or tank plumbing. If the connection was 60 PSI, like our home plumbing, the tank would have expanded more and at some pressure point the tank would burst or blow off a connected fitting. Of course, this is not normal. Good news is since pressure held, the tank and plumbing should still be good, but keep your eye out for leaking. When our tank overflows, it pours out heavy, measured in GPM like the open hose! I'm always rushing to the shut-off asap, so not to waste much water. The overflow is the only way to know for sure you have a full (small) tank of precious fresh water. You could use a gallon counter at the hose. I've never trusted tank monitors, haven't used our SeeLevel display in at least 2 years. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, but personally I cannot see changing our simple fresh tank filling procedure. IMHO, your tank overflow needs repair or replacement vs. change of process for our community. Anything but waiting for tank overflow would be a once or twice weekly PITA. I would try a flexible scope up the overflow tube. Remove any screen in the path (replace with new) and debris. Is there some kind of nest up there? Our old hull has no access panels under the kitchen drawers (as Bill pictured above). Your newer hull likely does. It would be great if you can reach in and disconnect the hose clamp to the overflow! (Someday I'll likely cut a trench under both stacks of drawers to have such access and replace that awful ducting as far up as possible.) I hope you find the reason soon so that you can get back to life as usual! 😎 We'll be reading!

Wow, that's the way to start out with your new Oliver! 🤠

Yes, FORCE it until it moves! First be certain of which is the correct direction to turn. Get the right hold on it with a Channel Lock pliers. You may need two tools, one to hold the valve and another to turn the handle. This is exactly what would be done if you took it somewhere for repair. In my 48 years of car repairs, I find many fail in certain repairs due to their thinking. Sometimes these kind of repairs take more time thinking it through than actually doing it. Did you try turning it seated or laying the opposite direction? Did you try it left-handed? The saying goes, "try and try again" while thinking through alternative means. Next idea, get somebody younger and stronger. I used to be able to do almost anything. Not anymore. These days if I can't do it myself, I call our son Adam the two of us together certainly WILL get 'er done! In our EII hull, OTT put the access panel about 6" OFF from the best position, go figure. I find it turns turns easier reaching through the air vent to the furnace. But you have an Elite I which is much different! Perhaps you need to add an access panel. Drill a 4" or 6" opening with a hole saw and add a marine access panel. I understand we don't like drilling into the Oliver, but keep in mind you'll need to get in there quickly twice a year! https://www.amazon.com/AOWEITOUR-Inspection-Detachable-Suitable-facilities/dp/B0CFXNMJBB/

God bless you Ron, and your beautiful wife Phyllis! (awesome last picture!) My wife Chris, her Mom had Alzheimer’s for her last many years, so to a point we understand. Being the primary caregiver is very tough though and you’re doing it proudly! Great work on your mods, btw! The Oliver is a superb special care vehicle! We stayed in it for several days recently to be closer to the hospital when I had surgery. Everything is within arm’s reach and having a good clean bathroom is important. I was more comfortable than being home. We wish you some good times together in your baby Ollie! Our friends had a big picnic last Saturday. Chris wasn’t feeling well that morning, so I joked “Should we bring the Oliver?” Prayers for both of you, from our special Oliver Community! 🤗

I believe I know what @Sweis is asking but it's confusing since this is a thread regarding fiberglass cracks. (Bill, move to barker thread?) Barker makes the weld of the steel plate to the steel jack casing (center of pic). It does not appear to be as strong as the standard jacks like our front jack, but they engineered and welded it, so it should hold 3000#. I use them all the time to lift the wheels for all maintenance needs. The older hulls had aluminum mounts. This two-piece mount was a poor design and I replaced ours after it failed with a one-piece steel bracket, like OTT uses today. I have not read of the Barker weld failing.

It's likely climate. Those into "old cars" know that you want to buy something from the SW since they are mostly rust free. But if you need good plastic or rubber parts, you won't find them on the same car. You're in Oregon and we're in Arizona and that's the difference. I've changed the O-ring in every connector within one year of use. I purchased the dozen extra, so no big deal. When out I'll go to our local HW store for these O-rings so not to incur shipping costs for another Eley order. I also found that Eley is not good about answering emails (or web form inquiries) but their products are very good. I use the Tee most often to relieve pressure in the hose line to disconnect. Or to rinse my hands and splash water in my face which is near impossible in the Oliver bathroom sink! Or as you wrote "for another need" it is convenient.

I purchased Eley per Patriot's recommendation about 18 months ago. They work great but the internal rubber O-rings stretch and go bad quickly (buy extras). I spent $270 with Eley (plus another $50 on the splitter, extensions and caps). We bring Camco 25' and 10' hoses ($60). The 10' hose is usually all we need at a campsite, both hoses together allows us to pump water from TV to TT when hitched. We must use rigid hoses vs. all those shrinkable kinds, since a rigid hose is required to suction water through the boondocking port. This is everything we need for camping, and yeah that's a lot of money, wow $380 total. I did not put Eley connections on the black tank rinse hose where we use a different hose. I also like these 6" extensions. They are likely the only part that is not good brass. You can find a stainless version. We don't worry since we don't drink from our tanks and lead in water affects children, not seniors. https://www.amazon.com/LIULO-TOOL-Hose-Protector-Extension/dp/B0FS1DM918/ The 6" extensions keep me from craning my neck under the hull and the fourth one connected to the splitter connects to the home or campground hose bib. You need a splitter to release pressure in the hose otherwise the Eley fittings will not easily disconnect. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSFP66NW/ I've gotten tired of the hose seals provided with most parts and these are more solid (rubber not silicone). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PG4BHHG/ These parts being so expensive, I could not see buying extras to cap off the Fresh, City and Boondocking ports. I just use 1" furniture leg caps. I had found white ones and they were discontinued. Now I use these simple black ones. They stay on nicely and if you loose one the 20-pack is cheap. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KVSWXD2/

We got lucky in that we had just sold a Class C, when I had said to Chris, "We need to find a travel trailer we like, something easy to tow and good on the backroads of Arizona!" Next day I opened prescott.craigslist.org and there she was, Hull #113. Where in Colorado? We travel through often, so perhaps we could meet up to buy that basket someday! Or come by Quartzsite the last week of Jan where about 10 of us Oliver owners get together. I've also got for sale 4 brand new Nev-R Lube hubs (complete with bearings and drums) and two sets of left-right brake assemblies (see pic), for those who like to travel with spare parts ready! Lastly, there's another current thread on the features of a 2027 or future Oliver! Take a look at Dean and Mary's signature under "After Market." Now that's a PLATINUM +++ Package! Why has OTT not considered/offered an integrated Victron package? We can look at the mods section to see that some 10+ owners have removed a working Xantrex inverter to replace it with a Victron Multiplus.

Richard's experience and data runs pretty much in line with mine. He has 520 Ahs and running the Dometic P2 for 2 hours uses 50% or 260 Ah which comes to 130 Ah per hour. I measured a constant -150A draw in the heat of the summer. Richard is doing this in the fall which is much less hot out, so the compressor is cycling some using 15% less power (150A/130A = 1.15). So yes, you can run A/C, but with any standard (on-off) compressor A/C, it would be for a very short period of time. Another item to notice is the soft-start requirement. Variable speed A/C does not need Soft-Start since they start soft by design, can run easily on the 2KW inverter or generator too. Any A/C can run on a 3KW inverter, but to truly have air-conditioning, the system has to be able to cool the cabin for the period of time for your comfort. Several times, we just want to cool the cabin for a few hours in the afternoon, after being out for the day, coming home to a hot cabin at 3 PM. I turn it on "Turbo" for about 20 minutes, then to Cool-Auto Fan. The fan drops down in speed and gets quiet. After 7 PM it cools down outside and we open the windows later. I have found with the Chill Cube variable-speed A/C we can do daily and our SOC drops by only 10% (90 Ah). And the next sunny day our solar can recharge that 10% loss, or the next time we're towing the Dc-DC charger will restore SOC%. With the 3KW inverter, we can also run anything else electric (e.g. the Air Fryer) while running the A/C. So @Ken_Judy you need to upgrade from AGM to Lithium. Wanting A/C is more about upgrading your A/C vs. your inverter. To reach your goal of having A/C when unplugged, to do it right you want all the Ah possible, the variable speed A/C and the 3KW inverter.

So I had 52" left-over of drip rail stock, so what's a guy to do? Thinking some of you will hate this, but who knows! 🤣 I didn't want "Window Gutters" like in the several posts of old. Our windows have not leaked (knocking on hardwood, dead-center of forehead) and we live in a dry area. It is a shame though that while it's raining we can't even crack the Oliver windows open 2" without getting the bedding or dinette seat wet. I'm thinking this might be the answer to the need, Oliver "window drip-rail eyebrows!" 😎 So I cut the 52" of stock in 3 equal pieces. I decided to mount on the window frames, not on the fiberglass, out of the way of caulking and ceramic polishing. I prepped the same way; very lightly sanded, acetone rub, alcohol clean. This time with the tight radius 90-degree turn, it was a day in the mid 70s but leaving the pieces laying in the strong sun for an hour made them fully pliable. I started at the bottom, measured 5" from the top edge of the window, then worked them up and over, to make all 3 identical. Hardly noticeable from a distance. I believe this will keep a light rain from coming inside. I'll let you know next time it rains!

These Vatrer batteries should be a good choice, great $/Ah cost! I was hoping to see somebody go this direction. You should know only one (1) of these will fit in the battery bay, so no room for future expansion with one 460. You could install 2-3 of their 300 Ah batteries instead, for more money of course. Either way, none of the Vatrer choices fit in the MORryde battery tray except for one 300. Running A/C? Ron is correct in that adding the 20A ATS, RV A/C can be run on a 2KW inverter. He has his working well, I tried it and then upgraded to the Victron 3K inverter. There are other considerations. I'm thinking since you currently have AGM batteries, maybe you have the Dometic Penguin II A/C?! If so, this beast of old pulls 150A when running, which means that for every hour you run it you're using 150 Ah of your LiFePO4 batteries. On a 460 AH battery running the old P2 will reduce SOC by 30% every hour, just 3 hours to a dead battery. First you want more Ahs if you truly want to run A/C via the inverter! Many Oliver owners have installed better A/C units; the Truma, Dometic Freshjet, Houghton and Tosot. They are about 40% more efficient, so instead of 3 hours, 460 Ah should last 5 hours. These A/C models all have single-speed ON-OFF compressors, that run ON most of the day when hot out. If you install an inverter-compressor A/C like Turbro, Pioneer, etc. or the variable-speed Chill Cube these numbers improve greatly. We have 900 Ah and the Furrion Chill Cube A/C. I had no idea the numbers would be so good. I ran several tests and on average we used 200 Ah to run this A/C for 24 hours, on a sunny day in AZ with a high of 93F. The 320W rooftop solar was also adding power which likely added another 120 Ah/day +/-. But I ran our Chill Cube A/C all day on battery for what the Dometic P2 would have consumed in 90 minutes! I ran tests for two weeks at home and since have used the new A/C about 8 days on 2 camping trips. To run A/C regularly on inverted power you need enough Ahs, say 600 min, 900 Ah better! You need an efficient A/C unit, otherwise the idea is not viable. For occasional use, upgrade per Ron's suggestion. Want to do this regularly, upgrade your inverter to a 3KW model. I had no idea it could work this way when I started. Yeah, it's a can of worms where one upgrade may lead to the next.

I can see OTT not wanting to facilitate private sales of used Olivers. It's not a good business model. On a personal basis, we're never buying or selling another Oliver, so who cares? I would think this is true for most of us. The Oliver is a life trailer that most of us buy once and keep in the family. What would be helpful is a classified section for unused Oliver parts. I've sold my Calmark cover, sold my bike rack, sold my original 2KW Xantrex, all just from slight mentions in my mod posts. But it took 2 years to do so and an Oliver Parts sales section would be great (not a vendor space, just for owners). I'm not using our Andersen 2 5/16" WDH or brand new Nev-R Lube hubs. See, I did it again. I want a solid aluminum front basket that somebody here took off to add a locked/covered case. If you've owned an Oliver for more than a couple of years, we all have stuff sitting on the shelf.

Could be a coincidence. But there was once an old hull with an Air Fryer upgrade. 🤣

Email sent. Mike wrote on Where's Ollie something like, this one is "good enough to frame!"

This is exactly what we have. Was OTT installing these back when our hulls were made? I assumed it was OEM but maybe previous owner upgraded. I realize many newer ones look like what Bill showed above. The shut-off on ours was tight but works well after a CLR soak. In shower head mode, pressure not so great but good enough.

Taylor and Dave are exactly right. So how do we get away with a 2500 diesel with only 8800 GVWR? We don't have a cap. I don't want to drive a truck with a cap again (after 18 year with previous truck). Then since we don't have a cap we don't need a slide. Cap and slide could be 500 LBS, more on a long bed. We ALWAYS carry a FULL 35-gal fresh water tank in the bed (300 LBS). My truck toolbox, who knows what it weighs now full, but it has extra hubs for both truck and trailer and other parts, tools to do most roadside repairs (no maintenance stuff, I do that at home). I can change a hub, even press a new axle bearing with tools always in the TV. Check with our friend Steve who has the tools on board to do anything Oliver, almost anywhere! Best wishes @ScubaRx! I like this statement and I'm an engineer who has actually taught statistics. I forget where Dave lives, but Taylor lives in that quiet part of CA near OR and I believe it rains a LOT and has that salt ocean air! He must have a cap. I love the fact that we don't need one. Yeah, sometimes I worry about theft, but try to keep my head up above those kind of thoughts since we left the west-side of Chicago 32 years ago! I LOVE an open truck bed, makes me feel like a kid again with a first truck, just pile up the chairs, break camp in minutes, reach in and grab anything, it's easy! But if you travel in rain a lot an open bed would be a PITA! When we see rain is coming all we do is put our two camp chairs in the truck (if we're in the Oliver), or in the Oliver when towing. The toolboxes are waterproof, the fridge is covered, and the rest of the stuff will get wet whether in the bed or at the campsite. The extra weight of the Cummins is likely equal to the cap and slide in a long-bed truck. And 2WD over 4WD saves 100s of LBS! Except for body height, 4WD would be a plus! But what a pain to repair! I did the starter motor in a 4WD 4Runner but first had to remove the front driveshaft to do so. We're certainly not light packers but I still have over 500 LBS available capacity when fully loaded (in both the TV and TT). No kayaks for us, but that little Weber grill is not enough, we have the dual-burner Napoleon, much heavier. We have lots of cooking equipment, pressure cookers and more, can cook over our fire ring with multiple attachments. Then there's a truck bed Dometic CFX5 45L fridge full of water and meats, etc. A diesel truck is more expensive, but our older 2WD Dodge Cummins was actually 20% of what the same truck, 4WD brand new would have cost. Diesel fuel prices today are worse than ever, diesel now being over $6 and $2 more than regular gas per gallon! I still MUST have the exhaust brake, just drive one down a hill and you'll know. Greg from CA, this is just a bunch of my ramblin's, things think about, consider or dismiss. Like Taylor wrote, "Calculate." Start a spreadsheet and keep working it. You have loads of time, think long on what you want, so don't rush the order! 😎

I don't see any margin in fact they're below spec (see table). This table only goes to 600" which is 50 ft and roundtrip for DC-DC wiring from the battery bay in the Oliver to the starter battery in a full-size truck is closer to 80 ft. The tables are ultra conservative being concerned for voltage drop which is less of a concern in RV charging. But STILL! Note row 3 where 20A on 12 AWG wire is only good for a 120" or a 10 ft run. I went with 4 AWG wire for the 50A Orion on a cost basis, while some were warning go with 2 AWG. It is what it is and the 7-blade wiring is only 12 AWG. You'll fit right in here! 🤣 Got my hydraulic crimpers and cable cutter when I first got into this 2 years ago! (Used once on eBay, they only used a couple huge dies). You'll have a new hull and can order your options. So, you won't have the 20 +/- mods I've done, but perhaps a few regardless.

I fully agree until you want to run an efficient variable-speed A/C on inverter/batteries. Not required most of the time in the PNW but most often in the SW. With DC-DC charging, we can run the Chill Cube A/C while towing and SOC% will be the same as when we started our drive!

Charging on the "7-pin connector" has come up now twice in two days! (see "Rich Solar" post). Not sure why OTT would think to install a 20A DC-DC charger on the 12 AWG black (aux) wire of the 7-blade coupler. For years, they had been disconnecting that wire on lithium installations. I'm pretty sure 20A is too much current for 12 AWG wire over the roundtrip distance, truck alternator back to the trailer house batteries! Yes, you are correct! 10A can run on 12 AWG, I believe for 20A charging 10 AWG is required (so the OTT DC-DC charger installation is truly unsafe)! Your delivery is next year. If it was me, I'd ask them to skip this "DC-DC charger" installation. Or have them do the trailer side of a proper DC-DC installation with dedicated wiring. IMHO, the black/aux wire should be disconnected in all travel trailer installations, given the trailer has house batteries. Most DC-DC installations run dedicated 4 AWG wire (or heavier) for a 50A charger. We have been averaging +40A on the road. And yes, I upgraded our truck alternator to handle the extra amperage. @Chuck and Beth, who already has the new DC-DC charger installed by OTT, has set theirs down to 10A to be safe. For us +10A charging is nowhere near enough. Say you have OTT's best Lithionics 640 Ah batteries installed. A 10A charge will give you +1.5% SOC for every hour towing. So 40A provides +6% SOC per hour. Wish we had the new 70A Orion but boy-oh-boy copper wire is about as expensive as diesel fuel is these days. 🤣