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inverter broke free from mount


JRK

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On the drive home from delivery, I noticed that the Oliver rear light was being intermittent. At a forum suggestion, I checked the buss bars beneath the small dinette seat for a loose wire, and found that the inverter had broken loose from its mount. Only the top two screws had been installed. The bottom two screws had not been placed (or there were no screw holes in the mounting plate indicating that). The inverter was able to flop about in the compartment, banging into the circuit breaker and bouncing on the buss bar. The intermittent problem probably has been identified.

The mounting plate was plastic - probably resin? The plastic plate is glued or affixed to the interior, inside seat wall. I would prefer to put a bolt through the mounting plate with a fender washer or similar on the back, but do not see how I would be able to do that. One screw stripped out, probably after the stress from the other screw caused the fracture - or the other way round.

My question is suggestions on how to best replace and mount the inverter. If all four screws are in place, it probably would stay put. The recommendation was for #8x1/2" screws.

Thanks, 

John

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2014 Toyota Tacoma 4x4

2021 Elite I #758       

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Has Oliver always mounted these suspended on the side wall?  These things are heavy - I don’t think I’d do that except with plywood as the mounting surface.  

Regardless, this is the second failure in a very short period.

You guys will forgive at least one snide comment: we have so much knowledge and so many good examples of these systems upgraded correctly here on the forum and jeez sometimes it seems like Oliver ignores them all as a matter of policy. 

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I agree that the mount should have been plywood. Any suggestions at this point? The plastic (resin?) mount is glued to the inner seat wall.

John

      

2014 Toyota Tacoma 4x4

2021 Elite I #758       

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Please open a ticket,  with photos. 

I agree with Overland, this is one case where plywood is way better than hdpe. 

I'm thinking, if you keep hdpe, small pilot holes, and coarse thread screws for remounting . 

But, do let service know.

2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

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IMHO There is nothing wrong with HDPE (plastic) if mounted correctly with a good two part epoxy like JB Weld, I would repair it by drilling four holes through the entire assembly, including the inner hull wall, and secure it with stainless machine screws and self locking nuts. But Oliver will want to fix it their way, if you open a service ticket it will get put back on with self tapping screws. Hopefully all four of them....🙄

My inverter mounting board has had a little play in the front top corner since new, but it hasn’t gotten worse in five years.

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited by John E Davies

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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Terrible installation.  Backing board material is too fragile as evidenced by fracturing at the screwhole, the screws are too small (make them the diameter of the mounting holes), too short (should be as long as backing material is thick, and too few (screws top and bottom).  It would be a simple matter to drill a few more holes in the mounting flange of the unit allowing for more fasteners.

Also, the holes were located too close to the edge of a backing material which, again, seemingly fractures easily.

You can take it a bit further by taking an appropriate length of threaded rod, drilling and tapping backing material at the appropriate sites, and injecting a bit of epoxy resin in the tapped hole before seating the rod, leaving enough threaded shaft sticking out to hang the unit and fasten in place with nylock nuts.

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Thanks, Neuman's. I had already looked at everything you mentioned, except the threaded rod.

John, the problem with mounting into the hull is that there is no inner/outer hull where the mounting plate is glued. It is affixed to the single wall inside, along the center of the trailer, small dinette seat, the seat against the rear dinette. I can't drill or screw into the fiberglas, through the HDPE, without drilling through the wall, into the aisle., exposing the screw.

I did open a ticket, with photos. Minimal response so far. 

The other problem is that I cannot remove the inverter or make it horizontal without disconnecting the 2 heavy cables on the one side and the lighter weight cable on the "bottom".  It is not "rotatable". A quality control inspection, or any visual inspection or glance, would not have seen the bottom two screws/holes because they were hidden by the inverter, and teh 4" of space between the inverter and the wheelwell. That I will need to get my hand into to make the screw hole and connection. There is no way to get a drill motor into the space to make holes, or drill additional holes in the flange, that I can figure out. 

John

Edited by JRK

      

2014 Toyota Tacoma 4x4

2021 Elite I #758       

      image.png.d972b5fc86270818b1e0f030bfaa433a.pngMap of Provinces I Visited

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1 hour ago, TxTortoise said:

Has anyone made a pre-delivery checklist of all these low probability, but occurring failures, scattered about the forums from new owner pickups?  

This is a great idea if not already done.  My delivery is not until this Fall but I have been adding items I am seeing as either significant or recurring in the Forum to my own checklist.  Perhaps if each new owner asks the same questions about the same issues at delivery the appropriate level of focus will be made so that the issues are resolved permanently.

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2021 Elite II, Hull# 898

2018 Toyota Tundra, 2003 Dodge Ram 3500 5.9l SRW

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This is the kind of half-assed work that will ruin a company reputation really quickly.  You see that kind of shoddy work on houses all the time (and I’ve fixed plenty of it on my own house to correct things that the original contractor did badly), but the Oliver trailer should be more like automotive quality when it comes to the design and manufacturing of systems and mounting hardware that will be bouncing down the road.   At some point as Oliver’s production volume keeps increasing, they are really going to have to redesign some of the trailer to better suit true high volume, high quality production.  

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12 hours ago, JRK said:

Thanks, Neuman's. I had already looked at everything you mentioned, except the threaded rod.

John, the problem with mounting into the hull is that there is no inner/outer hull where the mounting plate is glued. It is affixed to the single wall inside, along the center of the trailer, small dinette seat, the seat against the rear dinette. I can't drill or screw into the fiberglas, through the HDPE, without drilling through the wall, into the aisle., exposing the screw.

I did open a ticket, with photos. Minimal response so far. 

The other problem is that I cannot remove the inverter or make it horizontal without disconnecting the 2 heavy cables on the one side and the lighter weight cable on the "bottom".  It is not "rotatable". A quality control inspection, or any visual inspection or glance, would not have seen the bottom two screws/holes because they were hidden by the inverter, and teh 4" of space between the inverter and the wheelwell. That I will need to get my hand into to make the screw hole and connection. There is no way to get a drill motor into the space to make holes, or drill additional holes in the flange, that I can figure out. 

John

My suggestion, either as a DIY or to pass along to Oliver, would be to glue and screw a piece of good quality dense plywood (veneer or marine grade) to the existing HDPE sheet, using plenty of marine adhesive caulk and the longest stainless screws that will work without piercing the fiberglass. I’d use at least eight screws and countersink them.  I would think that should be sufficient.

That assumes of course that the HDPE is strongly affixed to the hull. It should be, but I think the other recent failure was the board itself coming off. 

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3 hours ago, Overland said:

My suggestion, either as a DIY or to pass along to Oliver, would be to glue and screw a piece of good quality dense plywood (veneer or marine grade) to the existing HDPE sheet, using plenty of marine adhesive caulk and the longest stainless screws that will work without piercing the fiberglass. I’d use at least eight screws and countersink them.  I would think that should be sufficient.

That assumes of course that the HDPE is strongly affixed to the hull. It should be, but I think the other recent failure was the board itself coming off. 

That was my thought, too. The HDPE is securely affixed, or when I tried to pull it off, it would not budge. I asked service about doing this, but have not had a reply.

John

      

2014 Toyota Tacoma 4x4

2021 Elite I #758       

      image.png.d972b5fc86270818b1e0f030bfaa433a.pngMap of Provinces I Visited

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  • 3 months later...
On 4/6/2021 at 6:40 PM, Ralph Mawyer said:

Has anyone made a pre-delivery checklist of all these low probability, but occurring failures, scattered about the forums from new owner pickups?

We are interested if anyone has made one as well.

We have started one and it's looking like it will be a very long but we anticipate very fine day when we pick our Oliver up in Feb. We planned on getting there a day ahead of time but thinking 2 so as to be really well rested after our 1300 mile trip. 

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FWIW I just went out and checked the screws on my inverter.  All four were installed but they are precariously close to the edge of the backing material.  I think that if I had engineered this mounting system I would have countersunk machine screws into the backing before installing it.  Then it would be a simple matter of slipping the inverter mounting holes over the screws and putting on the nuts with permatex thread locker.  This would also allow you to remove the bottom fasteners on the inverter with a socket and ratchet rather than try to get a screwdriver in there.

It would be a simple (but added) manufacturing step for the factory to lay out the holes with a template then drill them out and countersink.  By using a drill press and making the hole the same diameter as the threads, you would ensure the fasteners will be at a 90 deg. angle to the backer to avoid issues when mounting the inverter.

For a repair, I would start by drilling a few more holes in the flanges on the inverter.  I would mark out the holes on the HDPE backing and drill them out to accept threaded studs that I would epoxy into the holes.  Then I would proceed as described above by fastening the inverter with nuts using a thread locker.  You would need a small right angle drill. Northern tool has some pretty compact models for under $100.00.  You might also need to shorten a bit with a grinder to fit it in there.

Great excuse to buy another drill motor.

 

Mike and Yasuko

2021 Legacy Elite Hull #820 

 

 

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9 hours ago, LongStride said:

You might also need to shorten a bit with a grinder to fit it in there.

When I say “bit” I’m referring to the drill bit.  A stubby bit would give you more room.

Mike and Yasuko

2021 Legacy Elite Hull #820 

 

 

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Take  2 or 3  3/4" by 1/8 "  aluminum flat stock. Bent in a ( c) configuration or a (s) configuration depending on amount of room at the top by the seating area. Through bolted at the top of seating area. I would use flathead machined thread hardware with a decorative washer.  The straps to have a nut and bolt attached at appropriate places for attachment of the inverter. The bolts that the inverter will connect to will have extra length so the inverter can be attached after the bracket is installed. Bracket should be predrilled to attach to the plastic backer with screws. Bottom leg of the (c) or (s) bracket will be screwed ( not sure if you can in the ollie) or glued. This should transfer the weight of the inverter. The inverter to be bolted on with nyloc nuts or nuts, lock washers and threadlocker.  As safety is key all power sources should be de-engerized.  Just my thoughts -  Kevin

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Well, I am in the middle of my 7 week trek from California to Maine and back. I attached the inverter to a larger piece of marine grade plywood and used velcro-type fastener to attach this board to the inside of the seat enclosure. I have lost a drawer that won't stay closed - duct tape works well, but the inverter has remained affixed to its mount. No issues.

John

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2014 Toyota Tacoma 4x4

2021 Elite I #758       

      image.png.d972b5fc86270818b1e0f030bfaa433a.pngMap of Provinces I Visited

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