Boilermaker Chemist

Since purchase of my OTT last year, I had been thinking of installing a MicroAir EasyStart on my Truma A/C. However, I wasn’t sure if it would allow my Truma A/C to run off my Champion 2000W generator, especially since I run it on propane and often camp at elevation. Fortunately for me I met @mossemi at the Oliver Rally last May and it turns out that he has the same generator and like me, runs it on propane. He told me that with the EasyStart, his A/C ran fine off his generator even at elevation. Thanks to Mike for that info. So now you can imagine my excitement when they announced that there were going to be ten EasyStarts given away at the Rally! But alas, I was not one of the winners. However, I met a nice couple from Oklahoma who did win one. And as luck would have it, they had decided not to use it, so they graciously gave it to me! Although I made several attempts, they refused any compensation. So I owe them a big thanks. Below are the details of my installation. First, thanks to @Patriot for previously posting this video: SoftStart Install on Truma A/C I found it to be very helpful for understanding how to remove the A/C covers, where to mount the EasyStart, how to run the wiring, how to get access to the control board and for making connections to the capacitor. However, DO NOT follow the detailed wiring instructions because the video is for a SoftStart not an EasyStart. Next, a couple of thoughts on safety. After I removed the A/C cover I found an old mud dauber’s nest. Fortunately it was not inhabited at the time. But they seem to like that area, so beware. Second, the video doesn’t mention it but you should make sure that the capacitor has been discharged before working around it. Since I’m not a qualified electrician, I won’t comment any further. Finally, I used my 17’ Werner ladder to get access to the roof. The optional Werner platform made this much easier. Also, accessing the roof from the curb side felt safer since the awning acts as a short railing. I used a sheet of rubber tool box liner and a piece of interlocking foam utility mat to protect the fiberglass and provide slip protection. With those additions, I felt safe enough to work in my stocking feet. As shown in the video, the white cover can be taken off by removing the eight screws (covered with lap sealant) with a T30 Torx driver (note that the two screws at the back are shorter than the others). Following that, removal of two additional T30 screws allows the foam cover to be lifted off. Be careful as you work with the cover off because the exchanger fins are easy to dent. Access to the silver electrical box is achieved by removing three T15 screws (one on top, and one on each side). Here’s the EasyStart device that I installed and the universal installation kit that comes with it: In general, I followed the wiring instructions provided by Micro-Air. I will say that I found the generic wiring instructions to be a little confusing (did I mention that I’m not a qualified electrician?). However, I was able to find specific wiring instructions for the Truma (that even I could understand) here: EasyStart Wiring Instructions for Truma A/C Although not necessary, I first removed the cap covering the wiring connections to the compressor motor with an 8 mm socket to confirm the wiring colors at the R, C and S terminals. (I don't know why but this photo is upside down and I couldn't figure out how to change it). I did deviate slightly from the installation instructions in one aspect, as I chose not to cut any wires but instead use terminal connections. That way, if I ever decide to remove the EasyStart, I can put everything back exactly the way it was. So instead of cutting the Red wire coming from the control board, I removed it and installed the provided 14 gauge Black wire with female terminal in its place. I then cut the Black wire and crimped on a male terminal to the portion not used and connected it to the female terminal on the Red wire that I had just removed. Finally, I used a WAGO push-in wire connector to tie these two to the black wire on the EasyStart. Next, after removing the white cap from the run capacitor, I installed the Orange wire from the EasyStart onto the Herm terminal next to the White wire. Then, I removed the Blue wire from the capacitor terminal and replaced it with the White wire from the EasyStart. Finally, I connected the Blue wire that I had just removed to the Brown wire from the EasyStart. Here’s a look at the wiring after everything was tidied up with zip ties: Overall, I’m pretty happy with the installation. However, looking back there is one thing that I wished I would have done and that is to add a bit of HVAC tape to the top of the EasyStart to give some additional support. I’m not sure how well the double sided tape will hold to the foam, especially given the conditions that some of our roads are in. I’ll probably go back and do that at a later time. BOTTOM LINE: After the install of the EasyStart, I noticed a very gradual ramp up of the compressor, as expected. More importantly, I can report that my Truma A/C runs very well with my 2000W Champion generator running on propane, even at 6000’ elevation. Added bonus: Unlike before, I can now run the A/C off my 15 A circuit at home. If you have any questions about this install, feel free to comment below.

Considering the mixed reviews on the changes for 2026, I wonder if Oliver does any consumer research before deciding what to change. For example, has this forum ever been used by Oliver for customer feedback by way of polling the changes they are considering ?

I would guess it’s the Dometic NRX 130C. I believe the door has to be removed to take out the freezer. Not sure how difficult that would be.

I would think code would require a fuse on that wire.

I’m curious, has anyone that has installed a battery disconnect switch addressed the potential issue of “inadvertently de-energizing the emergency breakaway brakes? I wonder where the power for that switch comes from.

Well, it’s only been a few months, but so far they work great. I will say that the gauges appear to be much “beefier” than the tiny indicator on the manifold so my guess is that this will be a lasting solution. If not, I will repost any issues that I have. But for the minimal cost, I’m not too worried about it. Also, if one of them fails, I still have a backup.

Oh, the changeover regulator works fine, it's just the indicator that stops working. In essence, I just added a couple of new indicators for $30. instead of replacing the whole regulator for $75 and then have the problem happen again.

I wish I could depend on that. On my previous rig, the indicator got stuck and no longer worked. Although it was replaced under warranty, after several months same problem. Same thing happened on my Oliver. Seems to be a quality issue.

I agree, I always have my own tanks refilled, often at a Tractor Supply. I find AllStays to be a good app to find sources of propane when I am traveling, not to mention nearest Love's, Costco, etc.

I came up with an equally inexpensive yet much simpler approach that also avoids the use of batteries. I thought about buying the tanks with integrated gauge from Costco that @routlaw mentioned but I didn't like the thought of getting rid of two perfectly good LP tanks. Then I saw these gauges at my local Wal-Mart for about $15. They simply screw right onto the tank. Just open the porthole access and peek inside to see if your tank is empty.

@Steve Morris sorry to hear about your issues. Knock on wood I haven't had any issues to date. On my Winnie Minnie I purchased the external antenna and attached it on top of the air conditioner shroud. You might try that. But mine works fine on the Ollie without it.

@Steve Morris, sorry to hear about your issues. Knock on wood I haven't had any issues to date and just posted my install to this forum. On my Winnie Minnie I purchased the external antenna and attached it on top of the air conditioner shroud. You might try that. But mine works fine on the Ollie without it.

One of the first things that I did after I bought my Winnie Minnie back in 2020 was to install a rear view camera. After doing some research, I chose the Haloview MC7108 Wireless RV Camera with 7'' Monitor. I was not disappointed. It had excellent resolution and the image on the screen had brilliant color. Fast forward a few years and I bought the Oliver. Although nearly everything about the Oliver was an upgrade, IMHO the Furrion rear view camera was certainly not. First, the image on the tiny 4” monitor was so small that I could hardly make out any detail. Even worse, the image brightness was so poor, if I had my sunglasses on I couldn’t see anything but a blank screen (yes, I tried adjusting the brightness and contrast). So I finally scrapped the infuriating Furrion and replaced it with another Haloview MC7108. I am very happy with the replacement. Below are the details of my installation. In making modifications to the Oliver, my number one rule is to try to avoid drilling any additional holes in the fiberglass. With that in mind, I also purchased the Yinettech Camera Bracket Adapter Kit for Furrion. The steel adapter plate is made to screw onto the Furrion “shark fin”. The kit also included a Pig Tail Plug Adapter since the plug on the Furrion camera is not the same type as the one on the Haloview. It turns out that the Haloview camera is much heavier than the Furrion. So I was concerned that the plastic “shark fin” might not hold up over time, especially considering my lengthy travels and the state of some of our roads. Also, the Haloview camera comes with a rather long cable which won’t fit inside the “shark fin”. Rather than take a chance on using the “shark fin”, cut the cable and make new connections, I chose to mount the camera on top of a Carlon PVC Type 2FSE electrical box. This provided plenty of room for the long Haloview cable and the Yinettech plug adapter. So the wiring was essentially just plug and play. When I removed the “shark fin” gasket from the Ollie I noticed that the area underneath it had been filled with caulk and this was raised above the fiberglass. I decided not to disturb the caulk around the opening for the cable since it was in good condition. Instead, I cut an opening into the bottom of the PVC box to accommodate the raised area and thereby allow the box to sit flat on the fiberglass. I cut off the mounting feet on the box and using the Furrion gasket as a template, drilled holes to match the existing ones in the fiberglass. Since the PVC box was grey, I sanded down the exterior, wiped it down with acetone and then applied several coats of Krylon Fusion All-In-One Gloss White spray paint and primer. This paint is formulated to bond well to plastics like PVC. A weatherproof cover plate was treated similarly and painted. Coincidentally, the rubber gasket that comes with the camera also fits nicely inside the conduit opening. Adding a PVC conduit adapter holds the gasket firmly in place. In order to keep water out, I overlapped butyl tape all around the bottom edges of the PVC box, covering the screw holes. I then secured the box to the fiberglass using the original screws that were used with the “shark fin”. Next, I used Geocel ProFlex RV white sealant around the exterior edges of the box, the top cover plate and the bracket supporting the camera. Screw heads on the cover plate were sealed with the GeoCel and screw heads on the camera bracket were sealed with black Dicor. Finally, I used two cable ties to form a drip loop on the cable to keep water out and used a gasket cutter to cut a hole in a rubber stopper to make an additional seal for the cable. The Haloview kit comes with two nice options for mounting the monitor on the dash. One is a U-shaped bracket that can be secured to the dash with screws. I chose the other which is the center mount bracket. It is simply attached to the dash with 3M tape but is very secure. I am extremely happy with the addition of my new rear view camera system. I think the resolution and color of the Haloview system are exceptional. There are also a lot of extra features on the Haloview system that you will not find on the Furrion.

If you are looking for a restaurant, we had a nice dinner at Rock House Eatery in Guntersville last year. It's about 10 mi from the campground.

The owner’s manual for my 2023 says to set the AUX to “ARC”. However, I’ve tried that and a number of other things to no avail. I’ll probably have Oliver service take a look next time I’m there.

I second this suggestion. I installed the Truck System Technologies TST 507 TPMS on our Ollie and our previous TT. Wouldn’t consider towing a trailer without this important safety equipment. Now on clearance for $149 at TechnoRV!

I think you can probably eliminate the pedestal surge protector, you should already have a hard-wired EMS (Electrical Management System) in your Ollie. Since your TV is a half ton PU, my advice is to carefully consider what you plan to put in the bed because it’s pretty easy to exceed your max payload capacity. I feel your pain on that hitch lock!

If you haven’t already done so, I recommend downloading the FXC Xantrex Control app. It makes it much easier than using the remote display to check or change the settings.

@Ronbrink Very cool build! Thanks for the detailed description and photos. I was thinking of something similar but building your own portable power station is brilliant. I think I might have to copy that. Is that an Apache case you used to house the Li battery? Do you think the lack of airflow underneath the solar panels reduces their efficiency or causes excessive temperature at the ARE topper?

If you are looking for a simple way to keep your 7-pin plug out of the dirt, I found this Plug Keeper on the RVUpgradeStore.com for only $3.99. Since I have a particular aversion to drilling holes in our Oliver, I wanted to attach it to the trailer tongue with VHB tape. However, the back of the plug keeper is hollow. So I made a backing plate from a piece of 1/8” black acrylic sheet to increase the surface area for better adhesion. Two 3/16” aluminum trifold rivets worked well to attach the acrylic to the plug keeper.

@katanapilot Sorry, I do not, but below are the dimensions (I assume exterior) from Amazon's site. If this seems like it's in the ball park, let me know and I can get you more accurate dimensions from the interior.

After purchase of our OE II, I realized the first thing that I wanted to add was a cargo box for more external storage. Based on various posts in this forum, I decided to go with either the Arksen 29” Diamond plate (4.3 CF) or the Dee Zee DZ91717P (5.4 CF). While the Arksen has a look that more closely aligns with the Oliver, I chose the Dee Zee because of the larger capacity. As I will explain later, this turned out to be a problem. With regard to any modifications to our Oliver, my goals are to (1) minimize any drilled holes and (2) try to be consistent with Oliver installation techniques. With that in mind, I decided to use the same U-bolts that Oliver uses to attach their aluminum storage basket and purchased two of them from the factory (part #10839). This had an additional benefit since I only needed to drill two holes through the fiberglass (near the tongue jack) - the other U-bolt would be fastened at the tongue. Also, when it comes time to sell, it should be very easy to replace this box with Oliver’s basket should the new owner want to do so. Instead of buying the U-bolt plates from Oliver, I cut and drilled some old garage door hardware that I had laying around (apparently DW is right when she says I never throw anything away). To avoid the possibility of galvanic corrosion I placed pieces of vinyl siding between the steel plates and the aluminum tongue. Positioning and drilling the holes through the fiberglass was a little trickier than I had anticipated. They say measure twice, cut once. Not wanting to screw it up, I think I measured it six times. There isn’t enough space to get a drill directly underneath the fiberglass so I had to use a ¼” x 12” bit to drill the first hole, enlarging it to 3/8” from the top side. Once that hole was drilled, I used the U-bolt to determine the position for the second hole and drilled that from the top, first ¼”, then 3/8”. I then used my Dremel with a pointed abrasive cone to slightly taper the holes as others on this forum have advised to prevent cracking of the gel coat. Now comes the problem with the Dee Zee box. As you can see from the photo, there is an indentation in the rear of the box exactly where the rear U-bolt needs to be! (What did I say about measuring twice?) After considering other fastening strategies, most of which included drilling many more holes, I finally relented and decided to go with the Arksen instead. I trimmed a piece of interlocking foam utility mat (Designer’s Image 765-5058, 0.43” thickness) to use as a cushion between the box and the fiberglass. As luck would have it, I happened to have four 4” x 4” x 3/8” rubber vibration pads (UPE Group) laying around (did I mention that I never throw anything away?). After trimming to the width of the tongue with a razor blade knife I stacked the four pads and secured them to the tongue with 24” long cable ties. The ribs on the pads allowed them to interlock and stack nicely. And four of those pads adds just enough height to make the box level. To beef up the bottom of the cargo box, I added a piece of ½” plywood. To minimize moisture entry from the bottom, I used gasket cutters to make tight-fitting washers from 1/8” rubber packing sheet and placed them on the U-bolts between the plywood and the interior bottom of the box. The U-bolts were then fastened down with the steel plates using SS nylon-insert lock nuts. Permatex nickel anti-sieze was used on the threads to assist future removal, if needed. Overall, I am quite happy with this install. Special thanks to MAX Burner for giving us a tour of Casablanca at the rally in Alabama, including his own Arksen cargo box.

Just to emphasize that point, if you would be involved in an accident, you can be sure that the insurance companies will look into the details. If they find that you weren’t using a weight distribution hitch even though one was recommended, there’s a good chance they won’t cover the damages to your vehicles nor your liability for any damage or injury to other parties.

Several years ago on a trip through CO, we made an overnight stop at a campground near Gunnison. It was dark and since we were in a level site I didn’t unhitch. In the morning, I noticed that the trailer battery was dead. As I looked around I discovered the pin from the BAS had been pulled out. I must have snagged it while getting something out of the truck in the dark. No matter how I tried to reinsert the pin, it wouldn’t go in. Upon reading the installation instructions I found that if the pin is pulled out for an extended period the high current from the battery will weld the contacts together! Needless to say our departure that morning was delayed. So if you pull the pin to test your BAS, be sure you don’t get distracted and end up forgetting about it.

This is very interesting data. I made a similar comparison before and after I had the hitch put on at the factory and found a similar result. I am surprised at how little weight "re-distribution" this "WDH" provides. I don't have the data, but my guess is that a hitch using spring bars would do much more than that.