jd1923

Chris, I wrote about this in my install thread. You can keep the tray if you remove it first and machine cut the steel back wall off the tray and reinstall. The inside battery would hang an inch off but I believe Steve told me they added a longer base sheet inside the tray. Either way 3 in line will just barely fit inside. Notice the change in direction of the straps to hold three together on the tray. Too bad they didn’t show this part of the installation in the video. I was going this route but after removing my old tray, the sliders were crusty and the tray itself weighs 30 LBS. I prefer it without the tray which allows for 2-3” extra height too. I can check/tighten the bolts and remove the main ground as they sit on 3/4” rubber and foam insulation surround. With the tray, it has to be rolled out for battery post inspection or disconnect.

It’s easy to test for voltage on either side of the awning switch. Your LevelMatePRO has been working, so it should be wired to the right side. Where is the LevelMatePRO grounded? You have an odd set of lights out, others working. I don’t believe they’re wired like Christmas lights! See if a ground came loose common to all dead circuits. A ground that’s open will not blow fuses and your fuses are good. Good luck with it and let us know.

Yes, and they just look better in white!

Welcome to the Big Boy club! 🤣 Three (3) Forum members now have 900 Ah Epoch (one with 920). 🤠

Pulled the truck up for Starlink to be centered between the trees! 😎

🤣😎🤣😂

Dan, we disagree half the time and you always come back with something good.

Why should there be? My flatbed trailer which we use to haul dirt bikes has one (no house batteries on board). Have you touched one on your Oliver? Something starts your 9K LB sled of batteries! 🤣 You’re going to have to realize 99% of us have “starter batteries.” When you go off in EV-land, like what the F is a Frunk? 🤣 Please translate to those of us who turn the key to start a combustion engine, gas or diesel. We have “starter batteries” and we all have “house batteries.” Pics if your EV fuses, hence my confusion. Thank you. And we have many posts here on disconnecting the AUX wire on the 7-blade connector. This winter, please come to Quartzsite! I’d love to meet you! Spend some time with us, including Steve @ScubaRx. He’s The OTT elder, the guru of everything OTT. Me, I’ve rebuilt everything I’ve ever put my hands on, after 3 years with Hull #113, there’s honestly no better Oliver out there, IMHO of course! 😎

I'm not getting this. Do Oliver TTs have something new in late model units? And I don't recognize the fuses in the picture above. Not familiar with Brightway either. On our Oliver I'm pretty sure the breakaway switch uses power from the house batteries applied to the brakes when the pin is pulled. I often pull that pin manually to test for amperage at the trailer brakes. I have a breakaway battery on a flatbed trailer we own. It needs one since it doesn't have house batteries. Is this not disconnected by design? (so that truck starter batteries and house batteries are isolated.)

We have the same model RM2454, and we've done the same thing! Chris says I hit the switch with my butt when making a drink. 🤣 I use the shelf above the fridge as a bar top. I've gotten up in the middle of the night and it's dark up that way with no lights on! If all the lights are off, then it got turned off accidently. Our fridge has been holding today on AC power, after it needed LP to cool it down at first. I also realized it was nowhere near level. Checked the LevelMate this morning and the front was almost 6" low! That's the way it is in my driveway, hitched with the truck parked in the garage. I raised the front about 3" this morning but can't get it higher because it has to stay hitched. Richard, I'm glad you are working on getting yours to perform again! I was looking at replacement fridges and they're either too small or too big and too much money. Thanks for the heads up on Dinosaur boards. Yeah, if the Xantrex is keeping Marianna up at night, just shut it down. I sleep above our Victron and if it's charging when I want to go to sleep, I'll turn it off. Lucky I can switch it off by the phone app. At some point I'll figure out how the AC/DC circuits work on our model and how to test them myself. This guy may be worth following.

Pulled our Oliver into the driveway yesterday, since we're leaving for SW Colorado tomorrow. Like Dewdev, I started our Dometic 3-way fridge on DC. It did not seem to work. On the Epoch and Victron apps you could see it was only pulling -4A total and our system pulls -2.5A with almost nothing ON! I think I had the Maxxfan on too, so the fridge switched on DC was not actually pulling any DC power from the batteries! Switched it to AC and the readings changed to -16A which is a good number showing the fridge is drawing amperage so should be running. Two hours later the freezer had cooled down to 26F, the fridge at 62F, ambient cabin temp was 79F. This was going nowhere fast! Later last night, I switched the cooling to LP and started the Beech Lane fan at 50%. I sat at the dinette for 5 minutes to hear the LP ignite. It took two tries because on the first try I had forgotten to first light a cooktop burner to bleed the LP lines. After the bleed, I could hear it go through the click pattern twice to ignite and then I could hear it burning, a soft smooth sound. This should be working now. Got up this morning to read the freezer at 8F and the fridge at 36F (Ruuvi sensors and app). We always keep the fridge cooling setting at #4 out of 5. So our fridge is hardly a 3-way anymore! I will try running on A/C (Victron inverter always ON) while we are towing. Maybe now that it's cool it can sustain running on electric. Last trip we were at 7600 ft elevation north of Flagstaff and the fridge had issues staying lit overnight at altitude. This trip we will always be above 7K+ ft. After all I've done to our Oliver, I'd hate to think fridge upgrade now, but it looks like it's coming soon. At least we have the 45L CFX5 fridge in the truck if all else fails. We're packing light on food with good local markets on the route!

We get 100s of hummingbirds in Prescott, with the peak season during August. It just cooled off and the hot summer temps are gone 'til next season, thank goodness. They all know Chris as the bird lady. She puts out seed, water in the bird bath and gallons of sugar water in 4 feeders. She even had a couple hummers drink from a hand feeder! The hummers will start to migrate south in the next few days/weeks. We do have some winter hummers, but only a few. We spend an hour or so on the deck each evening. Soon we'll be wearing winter clothes and have the fire ring going! 😆 Hummers in Prescott v2.MOV

"Well thought out?" Any need to move beds and bedding is not a good design. @ScubaRx was first to install motorized ball valves! I believe Steve has his switches outside somewhere. I installed them right under the bed, so Chris throws the switches after I run the hose (the third switch/valve is used to drain the fresh tank). Our 12" mattresses are quite heavy and Chris is particular about the sheets/bedding. I don't touch the beds when made, only when home for mods when the sheets are in the laundry! Notice the underbed duct delete too and the addition of a return duct air filter! 😎 @Dennis and Melissa recently blew the fuse for their front jack. Seeing the (extra) fuse at the front jack, he didn't think about three fuses under the streetside bed. Who would? Honestly, only some book-smart engineer in China, that never in his life traveled in an RV, could find a more illogical place for these fuses! We have yet to have to move our beds while camping. See my mod post below. It's worth the work, at least it has been for us! 😎 Some hand carry water jugs. But we always have an extra 35 gallons in the truck bed and we fill via the "boondocking" valve configuration about every other week when camping. I thought I was the only one who added this extra FWT, but recently @FloraFauna wrote, "wish I had opted for 40 or 45 gallons." I bring 25' and 10' hoses and together 35 ft will get from the truck bed to the Oliver rear while hitched. I could not see hand-carrying water (or moving the bed), for something we use so often when boondocking. As soon as one of us hears the water pump gurgle, start to take air, we'll pump in about 20 gallons, saving the remainder for a couple days later. Double your fresh water supply, will allow you to double your stay! 😍

😍 Love it! The Dog House is certainly getting high-tech. Love to see your take on this one with all of your great Mods! Mike/Mossey, I hope to meet you at The Rally! (Your hull graphic should be easy to find.)

Chris, didn't I just read you have 122 days left. Yeah do it now, get all of your "IT" work done before you retire! 🤣 Many of my installations are complex. One thing about me, is I'm not afraid of work. I like to work extra in preparation so that we have less work while traveling and when camping. I design systems to minimize the need for campsite setup/tear-down, maximizing time away enjoying our travels! We've been fortunate that in 3 years and 188 overnights to date, my Maintenance & Repair and Mod efforts have all been done at home where I have the time and tools (again, knocking on that large chunk of wood, my forehead)! We add to the to-do list but do not work the list while camping! 😎 This Wi-Fi setup is complete and never again will we need to change the Wi-Fi source on our phones, laptops, TV screens or anything else while traveling or at home. We are connected while towing, at any rest stop and when we first get to the campsite while others are connecting to slow campground Wi-Fi, asking about and entering passwords, setting up their poles, running wires to boot their Minis, we're not even thinking about it. Our systems are always ready, up and running! Should we rush to plug-in? No, first we lay out the camping carpet, get out two camp chairs and make a drink! 😎 Already leveled with the LevelMatePRO, we have 900 Ah power, 35-gal extra water, Inverter and Internet always running, the A/C running has the cabin cooled while towing, and all is ready even before we arrive. No hurry, I may not plug in until the day we're leaving if we need a charge that the DC-DC charger will not handle on the road. Refill the fresh tank, dump waste tanks and we're ready for another week away. Easy on the road only stems from good planning and prework. I love Pareto's Law, the 80/20 rule! I'd say 80% of the time our 5G setup will suffice for campsite Internet connection and 20% of the time when cell coverage is weak, it will take 2 minutes to add the Starlink Mini. Either way, all Internet sources feed the Wi-Fi devices already set to our Home Network. I believe it's worth the trouble and now we're saving lots of money not needing home Internet service.

Hard-wired 12VDC connection is always better. It just takes connecting two wires anywhere in the trailer! 😎

I’m fit, I used to always weigh 240+ now 220 LBS or less. We played 2 hours of pickleball today, and generally play 3 times a week. We play against couples in their 50s, winning more often than not, just us in our early 70s! 😎 No fricken way I’m washing/waxing a vehicle anymore! After 50 years of keeping every vehicle I have in A+ condition, my energy for wax-on/wax-off has grown extremely weak! I’ll pay $100 to have a neighborhood kid work all day long washing my truck! Paid $2K for the best Ceramic Coating I’ve ever seen (just one guy, he kept our Oliver for 2 weeks). Taking our hull back to “the guy” for our first annual decontamination wash. I could not believe when just last week he said, the annual will be $180 (based on how I kept it, mostly untouched). Thanks Dan, I enjoy reading “Dan’s Mods!”

We need my good friend, our friend @Geronimo John to chime in! He showed us an ice maker he travels with and I purchased a larger unit which we now use everyday at home (use distilled water to minimize cleaning). Still planning on the Oliver Rally this year, though I missed registration (have a campsite). 😎 We're bringing the icemaker with us for sure, for campground wanderers that need hydration! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09133YZL4/

I'm with Dan on these comments, but many like and use the Calmark cover. I sold our Calmark a couple years ago to Gary in Minnesota. I would not have purchased one but it came with the deal used. I'm sure up north it keeps the snow off! We had 2 ft of snow once on our Oliver, but that kind of snow around here only blows in every few years and it will always melt in a couple days. 🤣 We all have different needs. Don't forget the rub marks on the gelcoat, unless your storage is well out of the wind. Down here, if I left a cover on, even for a couple of weeks, we would have 3 kinds of nests under the cover and the Pack Rats would chew the fabric all along the bottom edge to make their nests! I also like the rooftop solar showing, so I can leave it unplugged most of the year. 😎

Mossey replaced his over a year ago, so these days he could let you know how noisy the new Nova Kool is on DC. Given you have the 3-way Dometic (we have the same model), if you have it truly set on DC the inverter does not need to run. First push it to AUTO and then sensing 120VAC from the inverter it will automatically switch to AC. Then push the other button to switch from AC to DC. The DC light should then be ON. I have very good hearing and the Dometic fridge on AC or DC barely makes a sound, most people would not hear it. When running on LP you can hear a slight clicking sound when it's lighting the gas and then it too should run awfully quiet. The absorption fridge should be quiet in all three modes. Low noise is the only benefit of having absorption vs. a compressor fridge (and LP of course). Running the fridge on inverted AC is such a small load, about 1A on 120VAC (10A on DC), you should not hear the inverter unless your sleeping above it there would be a very light hum. The only time I turn off our inverter because of noise is if our LiFePO4 batteries are very low and the inverter is in full charge mode, producing full out 120A DC. Full out charge should be easy to hear, but when merely running the fridge, not. Noisy inverter, or a noisy 3-way fridge? It could mean there is an issue creating the noise. Is the sound coming from the fridge, your inverter, or both? Make sure your fridge is actually on DC, turn your inverter OFF if you have to and see if the noise is still present in DC mode.

Better stay with a 3-way fridge, unless you're plugged in. Running on DC overnight takes too much power for AGM batteries. We do, and it must stay below 10F to keep my Qt of ice cream cold! Glampin' right?! 😎 We also make ice! Two of these fit in one corner of the Dometic freezer, taking very little room. I refill one each night so we always have ice available for those adult beverages! https://www.amazon.com/Molds-Silicone-Trays-Large-Square/dp/B0771YDNCY/ @Ronbrink was first to have one of these in his TV. Like you, he has the dual-zone CFX which is great! At first, I didn't want to use the space, but I went with the single compartment CFX5 45L which just fits in this space by the passenger door. It's so nice always having cold water with us, and not only in the cabin. Often when traveling, we buy a load of meat from a local farm or butcher shop. I'll remove the drinking water, set the CFX5 down to freezer temps to carry the box full of frozen meats, yum! Some people go to museums. That's not us. We shop the great local food markets. Leaving to SW Colorado this Wednesday! With both fridges half empty, our first stop is always the Delores Market! 😍

Thermodynamics PVT (pressure-volume-temperature) was my worse subject of the engineering core! 🤣 They are dependent variables within a system. Most of the time, I just fill our Fresh Tank anyway. I've also upgraded to a REMCO US-made variable speed water pump, bumped up slightly to 65 PSI and 3.4 GPM ratings (OEM Mexico Shurflo was 55 PSI and 3.0 GPM). PEX is rated at 100 PSI for hot water, 160 PSI cold. I don't worry so much given these numbers, but want decent pressure and flow on request. When you get a chance, see if you have what's shown in my picture, both back-flow and restrictors on the two incoming water lines.