KarenLukens

All set up, completely for the first time.

Actually this is the first day that I really do feel retired... It's been 5 years plus but there was so much going on. Today we are sitting here with a registered trailer that we love living in, and we will soon be full timing in it for fun. The house is safe, the kids are gone, heck the grandkids take care of themselves more or less, and this is it... Today is the day that I finally feel retired :) It's a good complete feeling. The awning went out for the first time today and it really sealed my feelings about this Lil' Nugget. What a great day it has been. One month of ownership and our baby has already completely crossed the USA. We added the rest of the States that we've visited back into the map, but this pic is simply where our Lil' Nugget has been in the last month until today...

Hi & Welcome Spike & Liz :) You can find ladders and a bunch of accessories here - https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/DVETVI1ZF5E8/ref=cm_wl_sortbar_o_page_2?reveal=all&view=null Then as far as recommending things, the very first recommendation that I have is buy this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YJLAIK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=DVETVI1ZF5E8&coliid=I2LDTOZB66F2O6 This way you can regulate the water to the level of pressure that you guys want. Then the list above has a lot of stuff that we use. As far as options, I would definitely get the Truma Hot water heater, Dexter easy flex, most definitely the built in inverter for blow driers, microwave, etc. The thickest mattresses they offer, the propane outside quick connects with the 30lb propane upgrade and at least the 4 - T105 batteries with the Solar. This way you will never be restricted to using a generator or needing to stay in an RV campground for power ever. We also bought the Rhinoflex that is in the Amazon list, the Magma pots and pans and the cooking utensils that we have used for a few years. Plus you will at least want a sewer slinky to put the hose on top of. These are our every day recommendations that really work for us.

I tried the online manual a couple of weeks ago after I saw that ours was set for AGM's. I read the printed manual again today and then called Jason back after it went off. Zamp told him that we are seeing the actual charging voltage and can't see the actual battery voltage unless I disconnect the main terminal. They said that on the brightest of days, that we might see up to 18volts registering on the meter and that today at 15.5 was within the normal parameters. So all is good, it did shut off on its own, and I will continue with my research on it for now. We've had the trailer for a month today, and this is the first time that I've seen it actually turn off. On another note though, if I could set the parameters myself, I would have it shut off when it reaches 13.5 just because it would be nice to have some control, but the 13.7volts will do for today being that we have no choice with this box. Feeling out of control today :)

2:30pm it just kicked off. It was at 15.5 and now shows the battery back at 13.7/ 46.1ah. So it does kick off eventually. Still 14.88 should be the max so we will see what they say. You can see that the blue light above the lightning bolt is off now.

It's 1pm now, it's still charging at 15.5vdc/11.2a/31.8ah and it's still bouncing from 3 to 4 bars on the charge meter on top. 14.8 is max so, I'll await for Jason's call back and then talk to Zamp after Jason turns it back over to me. I am on shore power right now, so I will unplug later and get another full set of readings.

Hi Buzzy :) We only have the one controller and then the pannel beneath the bed like yours. I can only adjust the battery type and I did it myself after we picked it up. We have the 4 wet T105's. It's 10:30am now and it's been bouncing between 14.8 & 15 depending on what we're doing. The sun is cranking down hard, we have the awning out for the first time. I'll give it another hour and see if it ever shuts off. 14.8/ 6.6amps

Looks like the Zamp controller wins as it's showing 14.8vdc along with the meter and the containment is only showing 14.6vdc. I called Jason at Oliver and he's looking into it right now. We're in the desert today and the Zamp just flashed 14.9,so we will see where it stops. Right now it's 8:50am. Wasn't I supposed to be retired today, hahaha, the life of an RV'er... Lol.

Here's where it is right now,it should be on "Float Charge" , but as you can see, it's still charging because the little blue lightning bolt is still on. Now we're at 14.5vdc on the Zamp and 14.3 on the containment, so I will be heading outside in a few minutes with the meter.

We've only had one day where the Solar pannels didn't fully rejuvenate the batteries so far. We were parked in the open and also driving. It was a dark and cloudy day with lots of rain and the pannels really didn't do much of anything. We had gone down to 12.4 during the night and they only took it backup a tenth all day. We have the Zamp controller and it has no adjustments on it... I prefer being able to make whatever adjustments are needed and the Zamp doesn't match the capacity gauge exactly. My plan for today is to put the multimeter on the battery and see if either of them are right. We are finally parked for a day :) There's not much to say about this controller other then it's designed for beginners. It shows you the screens and that's it. There's no simple way that I know of yet, to make changes. So the 2 volt gauges in our trailer are 2 tenths different at times. Edit - actually there's more... The controller is supposed to switch over to a regulate mode after reaching 13.6volts and ours didn't. It just kept charging at full according to the lights on the pannel until it hit 14.7volts that afternoon... I'm really not impressed with this beginners model of controller that doesn't even give you an off switch. I've got to pull the bed apart to turn it off. Really it's not a controller because it's just telling you what it's doing. As far as I know, you have no control at all... Look at the pic and see the different battery levels, the first 3 lights on the left should have lit up together at 13.6vdc and that shows that it's working properly at full charge. On our gauge here, ours has never shown fully charged yet, it stops at the next one over to the right, the 3/4 charge light. And that's where it stayed when it was showing 14.7vdc, which according to their pamphlet, means it was still on full power charging, way after the capacity was met. The good news is that the containment meter still showed 13.7... Or is that good news when the 2 gauges are now showing 1 full volt of a difference between them? I'll watch it some more today and see if we need to take it back and get it fixed or maybe they have changed their idiot lights from their own written parameters. Reed

We made it to California yesterday and got our Lil' Nugget registered and it's a real good feeling, having everything legal again. Yesterday was the last day for us to get here while still being under the temporary registration from Oliver, so today marks the 31st day that we've been owners :) We pulled into the Needles KOA last night to make Karen happy. Why would we need hook ups? Well it's going to be 97° here today and she wants to use the air conditioner today while we ralax finally after leaving Charleston, South Carolina, on the east coast March 7th... That was a lot of driving, but that's California anyway :) They had to physically see the trailer and now we have our permanent plate for her. So we're finally taking a day off, kinda. I ended up buying 4 sets of quick disconnects for the water system, and that coupled with the Rhinoflex hose that we leave installed on the sewer, makes hooking up a breeze. Karen uses the app called, "sanidumps" to search for free dump stations, and we found this nice little park off Route 66 yesterday morning with a free dump station. The app shows you both the free and the pay dumps in an area up to 50 miles away, so it's an extremely useful app to have when boondocking like we usually do. I feel retired again today after all that driving :) Reed

No thanks Raspy, the Anderson doesn't work with my car. And after driving 2400 miles with the Oliver, it tows perfectly even at 75mph, which is what we did today getting to Albuquerque tonight. We're going to slam the miles to Needles tomorrow and get it registered. Then we're free and heading back east to meet up with some more friends and members from here. Either way you guys are welcome to stop by or head down to our spot on the Yuba River.

Welcome home Buzzy :) Things are back to normal here once again, it's been nice and quiet here for a couple of weeks and the pressures have been removed :) Karen and I are really glad to welcome you back into our family, Our home :) Reed

Exactly :) Excellent post Raspy :) Last night our door was a touch off again on pretty level ground and I just lowered both rear jacks a bit and it leveled right into place. It is much better to put blocks under the tires behind the door if the door frame tilts a bit, but keeping the wheels either on blocks or as much on the ground as possible, the frame isn't being forced to carry the extra weight of the wheels and axles. I'm going to ask Larry at LHC what he thinks when we get there because I want to add in a couple scissor jacks to get rid of the 3 point wobble that you feel in the bathroom. I used this as far back on the frame as possible on the Casita and it worked great under the propane tanks. https://www.amazon.com/Valterra-020106-RV-Stabilizer/dp/B001UGJPXQ/ref=cm_wl_huc_item It will work great on the Oliver also but permanent stabilization looks like a real good option with putting the scissor jack between the wheel and the tank overflow hose.

Hello & Welcome :) We started our Fiberglass RV binge out with a Casita also and then started saving up for our Oliver that we just picked up last month. This 4 season trailer really is the best of the best and you guys will be really happy :) It's big enough and comfortable enough to live in full time with room to spare, yet still tows like a dream behind many smaller crossover SUV's :)

Honestly, I don't want to find out. Every inch of drop is marked on it and 2" would be really noticable, but... I like that TPMS and we just have to check and see if our system in the car will tie in a trailer first, after we get home next month. If not then we will probably buy this one.

That looks like a good system, I've been watching the threads you guys have started on these so far and I do feel the need for it. But right now, we're still on the road and I have the Hopkins level on the Olli that I can always see thru the mirror. It's not a replacement for a good TPMS system but it does show me that the trailer is running smooth and level while on the road for starters.

The Blaylocks look good to me also. I have wedges that I made from 4x4's and I'll make my own for them. I like the Anderson's but they break...

We made it from Georgia, thru Alabama, and into Mississippi yesterday and met up with ScubaRx and his wife. We all went out and had a great dinner last night and then today, out came my grinder from under the seat and Steve and I made a mount for our rear view camera. It works great and now Karen has her cup holder back all to herself :) I know some of you guys were laughing when I said that I had brought my grinder, but today was the 3rd time that we've used it on a simple mod. The first was to smooth a rough edge on the step, the second was to round the edge all the way down the sewer slinky hideaway and open the sides up a bit more, and then again today :) I've only used the drill once so far and that was to drill out the hole in the latch on the bulldog hitch because it was made to small for a standard sized hitch lock. So... To me, these simple tools are really important being I'm on a 4600 mile round trip from our house to the Oliver factory. Our Lil' Nugget is really becoming a home :)

The Anderson's are really pretty strong but... If it's a severe front to back grade, then I use blocks. It really is best to have both for extreme circumstances along with chocks for all tires when on a hill. You will need a rubber mallet for the Anderson wedge to drive it in underneath the ramp section when on hills also. The Anderson's do hold well on hills as long as you drive the wedge in hard, if you don't, it can slide some and because it is an angled ramp, it will lower if the tire rolls on the wedge even a pinch. Anything over 3" really works best with blocks... One night I was setting up at right on 4" and with the ramp on the edge, it rolled off and shot the wedge up into the bottom of the car and cracked the face off of the wedge. So if you're off more then a few inches, blocks are really the safest way to go.

The only way to tell is to try it to make sure that you can see it. I have mine up top so that I can see over the load in the back of the car. It also would have worked just above the 6" propane access door. I would just put it at eye height, it will work either way :)

This is the Hopkins thru the rear view mirror. I can see it easily and I tucked it right up against the seam so it shows in the top of my mirror. I can see the level lines thru the mirror also but the camera was lost today with all of the daylight.

No creaking at all with here the wheels airborne, the jacks and frame are rock solid :)

Do a simple Google search for RV frame flex and you will come up with plenty, like I said, it's a normal thing to have happen when using the jacks as jacks instead of just as stabilizers. I asked Jason when I picked up my trailer, I have talked to Daniel Oliver, Jim Oliver and 3 or 4 of the guys in the warehouse. Oliver's answer is to use the jacks for stabilizing only, end of story... That's why they recommend the Anderson Levelers. Level with blocks or whatever and then just snug down the stabilizing jacks, there won't be any flex because it has been done properly like Gary & Jona do. No Problem here... Like other members here, I am using my jacks as jacks to level and so far they are doing g a great job. Is this recommended by Oliver? No! Plain and simple, they want you to block the tires like normal. Some of you are really over complicating this and that's fine with me but chilling with a beer is a lot easier on your stress levels :) Once again tonight in Georgia, we are totally level but all tires are on the ground this time with no blocks under the tires. The jacks are setting on the Camco blocks, everything is level, and all is good and the door is square as usual. My test of the jacks being used alone on the curb side, to level on a hill, simply proved that Oliver's recommended way of using blocks or levelers under the tires, is the recommended way that works every time because it's a no brainer. I made it work fine without the levelers because with the door open and the tires in the air, it sagged enough to not let the door close. It was a good test. Quite a few of the owners here had said that they only use the jacks to level, I found out that in some extreme cases, as usual, that the frame will flex if blocks aren't used under the tires. It's not a scenario that is going to happen all of the time on every set up. I am a proud Oliver Owner now and I am casting my vote for not needing to use blocks under the tires to level out before lowering the jacks every time. I've been able to level out just fine without blocks under the tires everytime and I also posted pictures for people to see the trailer leveled just fine on a hillside. There is no frame problem... Never was a major problem anywhere, anytime on this end.

</span> BTW, nice avatar John :) Yea, the 4 high is for ramping on heavy trailers, basically a safety diclaimer probably. They don't have a maximum weight rating and this is my first time buying them. I used the Tri-Links for a few years and still a good plywood base is hard to beat on dirt. These feel strong enough and I'm putting them thru the Oliver paces just like I did with the Tri-Links on our Casita. I will keep checking them out and so far they are holding up well. I bought 3 sets of them for the convenience. I can leave the stacks intact with the handle in place, when I put them under the jacks on level ground. One set for each jack. https://www.etrailer.com/question-187788.html