Bathroom Lights

[Imelda]

I just bought an Oliver Elite 11. I love it and am learning how to use it. I have a question -- Is there a switch to turn off the bathroom lights or do I have to use the master switch?

[Overland]

Some Ollies are wired differently than others, but on mine the bath light switch is on the underside of the overhead cabinet, above the toilet. 

[Imelda]

7 minutes ago, Overland said:

Some Ollies are wired differently than others, but on mine the bath light switch is on the underside of the overhead cabinet, above the toilet. 

Thank you, just found it where you said it was. Now 2 more questions on lights:

Does the refrigerator have a light in it?

If I am parking the trailer for a while, does it have a battery disconnect switch somewhere that I can disconnect the batteries and prevent them from draining the batteries down. My horse trailer w living quarters has this feature.

[Ray and Susan Huff]

I don't believe Oliver trailers have a battery disconnect.  You would need to unhook the batteries

[Mainiac]

Do you have solar? If so, no need to disconnect batteries. With the way it is set up, there really is no current drain. In our boat we have a shut off switch, but it is just an easy way to shut off the electronics (the bulge pump is powered but had never drained much current).

[DavidS]

It is cheap and easy to install a battery disconnect switch on the battery.

I can access the switch by opening the door to the battery compartment. 

 

[Patriot]

We asked about the battery disconnect during our delivery day inspection. We were told our 2020 Oliver does not have a battery disconnect.
 

Edited July 17, 2020 by Patriot

[AndrewK]

Our 2019 has a breaker under the driver's side bed, to the left of the positive bus. 

Push the yellow or red button in to turn off.   Close the yellow or red gate switch to turn on.  

Breaker is similar to below.

Andrew

[Overland]

That breaker will disconnect most of the electrical but not all. 

[AndrewK]

On 7/17/2020 at 4:12 PM, Overland said:

That breaker will disconnect most of the electrical but not all. 

Overland,

My battery monitor shows no current across the shunt, when the breaker is open.  Meaning less than 0.01 amps/hour. 

Andrew

Edited July 20, 2020 by AndrewK

[Overland]

Check the light on your CO monitor. 

[ScubaRx]

If I leave the trailer unplugged and out of the sun, I will be down a couple hundred amps in about two weeks. I discovered this quite by accident recently. My measured phantom draw is about 10 amps/day. Theoretically, the batteries should last about three weeks at that rate, but my AGM's are at least 7 years old and, like the old gray mare, they ain't what they used to be!

For the more mathematically curious, 0.4 amps/hour x 24 hour = 9.6 amps per day.

[John E Davies]

A warning about post type disconnects. Check the amp rating. DavidS’ is rated at 125 amps continuous for use on the Negative terminal only. He has it connected to the small ground wire coming out of the hull, so that is fine. Do NOT connect it to the huge 4/0 inverter ground cable, if you have one. The inverter draws that much or more and can quickly fry this device.

Also make sure the cable is fully supported by clamps or heavy nylon ties so it can’t torque the attach bolts loose. There is a lot of weight and leverage involved, especially on bumpy roads.

If you have an inverter and want to disconnect all the possible electrical draws you need a high amp marine type Positive disconnect rotary switch rated at 300+ amps. Blue Seas makes excellent ones, some are even key lockable. This should be located inside the hull as close to the battery as practical and will require cable fabrication.

Be safe, research well, and do not ever install a low quality part. Oliver uses some very high quality electrical components, in the main circuits, bravo for them. The other stuff like the POS fuse panel could sure use an improvement....

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited July 19, 2020 by John E Davies

[mossemi]

4 hours ago, John E Davies said:

A warning about post type disconnects. Check the amp rating. DavidS’ is rated at 125 amps continuous for use on the Negative terminal only. He has it connected to the small ground wire coming out of the hull, so that is fine. Do NOT connect it to the huge 4/0 inverter ground cable, if you have one. The inverter draws that much or more and can quickly fry this device.

John Davies

Spokane WA

JD,  I am confused by your small ground wire comment.  The only ground wires smaller than the main 4/0 I remember having were a yellow jacketed 6 AGM, a black 10 AWG from the Furrion solar port I added, the black 6 AWG and the temp sensor for the Zamp controller.  
It looks to me that the disconnect is on the left main 4/0 to the cabin/inverter and the right 4/0 is the jumper to the battery behind the battery with the disconnect.  What else could the disconnect be controlling?

I think the disconnect is in just the condition you are warning about.  Maybe DavidS will chime in with a clarification.

Mossey

[John E Davies]

Mossey, maybe I am not seeing his cables correctly DavidS does need to chime in.  We don’t want any fires.......

john Davies

Spokane WA

[AndrewK]

On 7/18/2020 at 6:35 AM, Overland said:

Check the light on your CO monitor. 

Overland,

The stated Atwood CO monitor power consumption in “power conservation“ mode is 0.01 amps/hour.  
In my case it is actually less than that.

Even at the stated rate, it would take more than 800 days to use up 200 amp/hours of usable battery capacity.

That is close enough to zero for me.

Andrew

Edited July 20, 2020 by AndrewK

[DavidS]

John D and Mossey inquired about how my battery disconnect is attached. I am not sure I understand the questions, but I will try to answer. 

I have four AGM batteries, and this is the battery tray from above. The disconnect is attached at the bottom right, on a negative terminal, and the positive connects to a battery at the top left. 

Here is a view of the positive terminal connections. One large red wire (the 4/0 wire?) and two smaller diameter red wires. 

There are two black wires connected to the battery disconnect, one large and one small.

Is this set up of concern?

[John E Davies]

Hi DavidS. The big fat black cable is your inverter ground, and it sometimes carries significantly more current than that disconnect is rated for (125 amps continuous). I suggest that you hook both cables back to the nearby post, without your switch. If you could find a disconnect with a higher rating, you could keep it as is, but your current situation (electrical pun) is a little risky IMHO. 

In theory you could just have the small cable going through a disconnect, but Oliver joins the inverter ground to the main chassis ground inside the hull (there was a recall about this a year ago) so the small cable ground would just find its way through that added wire to the battery....

Here is what is happening with my inverter running the microwave, while in sunshine, so the solar is contributing a little to offset the massive current draw:

 

 

If you run the MW for a long time, like 12 minutes for cooking a couple of frozen dinners, or if you added even more load, like a heater or toaster while the microwave was going, it could start overheating your disconnect. Have you ever felt the disconnect while running a heavy load? Was it warm?

I am not trying to alarm you, I just want to keep things safe. Those fat wires carry a whole lot of current, which is potentially dangerous. Google “welding with car battery”...

John Davies

Spokane WA

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by John E Davies

[mossemi]

David,

JD presents a very good, real world example of the load we can place on the Oliver battery system and that it could overload your battery cutoff.  Here is some additional information to support his suggestion to remove or upgrade your battery cutoff.  The Trojan battery manual provides a cable sizing chart which states that a 4/0 cable, 6' long can support 360 amps.  Oliver installed a 4/0 cable with an in-line 250 amp fuse between the inverter and batteries in my trailer and I bet yours is the same.  This means the fuse should blow before the cable would fail.  Your 125 amp rated battery cutoff now becomes the weakest link in the battery system.  It will not blow In an overload condition because it does not have that capability, but it might melt or burn and that is our concern.

I do not always agree with JD, but I know he always has everyone’s safety in mind.  And that’s a good thing for the rest of us.

Mossey

[DavidS]

Would a disconnect switch rated at 300 amps solve the problem?

[John E Davies]

David, that looks like the exact same part, maybe you should contact the seller to verify the continuous amp rating. We all know how flaky Amazon descriptions can be..... I don’t see how one can be rated at 150 and the other at 300 when the pictures look identical. Here is one that uses a removable key. It is rated at 200 amps continuous and 500 amps for 5 seconds. You would need another short “jumper” cable, similar to the jumpers on top Of the battery. I have never used one, I am just throwing this out there for your consideration. You would need to figure out either a mount or some other method of stabilizing it.
 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071D55VM3/?tag=massdeals-20

It could even be placed on top of the battery bank, I think. Maybe...... Possibly.

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited July 21, 2020 by John E Davies

[Ray and Susan Huff]

Every RV we have owned (only 3) has had a battery disconnect, though we have never used it, relying on keeping the RV plugged to shore power when idle for long periods.

Two questions (disclaimer - I am not an expert on batteries):

1. I see how using a battery disconnect switch would eliminate the phantom draws that will draw a battery down, over time.  But what about battery maintenance?  Isn't it a good idea to keep a battery, when not in use, connected to a trickle charger or other means of keeping the battery active and healthy, much like humans working out?  We have numerous vehicle batteries on our ranch (Cat, tractor, sawmill) as well as lawn tractor/mower, motorcycle and ATV batteries.  Those not used frequently are regularly hooked to a charger to maintain integrity.  Auto dealerships do the same with their showroom vehicles; I'm sure those out on the lot have batteries removed for securiity.

2. I don't know what percentage of RVs have battery disconnect switches, but there must be a reason Oliver trailers do not come with one installed.  Or, even offered as an option.

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by Susan Huff

[Overland]

On 7/20/2020 at 9:45 PM, DavidS said:

Would a disconnect switch rated at 300 amps solve the problem?

David, I just noticed that Oliver is showing a terminal disconnect on the photo for their new LFP package.  They might be able to tell you what brand and model they're using.

[DavidS]

39 minutes ago, Overland said:

David, I just noticed that Oliver is showing a terminal disconnect on the photo for their new LFP package.  They might be able to tell you what brand and model they're using.

Thanks, Overland. I emailed Jason to inquire as to brand and model. I then did a google image search for battery disconnect switch, and based on the photo I am pretty certain it is the side post version of the Ampper Side Post Battery Disconnect Switch, Battery Master Switch Isolator for Power Disconnect Cut Off. It says "battery negative post 3/8" hole only, DC 12 V system, rated current: 125 A."

[John E Davies]

4 hours ago, DavidS said:

Thanks, Overland. I emailed Jason to inquire as to brand and model. I then did a google image search for battery disconnect switch, and based on the photo I am pretty certain it is the side post version of the Ampper Side Post Battery Disconnect Switch, Battery Master Switch Isolator for Power Disconnect Cut Off. It says "battery negative post 3/8" hole only, DC 12 V system, rated current: 125 A."

DavidS, you should forward that info to Jason - he should know the specs but if you are correct that is a serious hazard.

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited July 25, 2020 by John E Davies