Help on electric new used owner

[viola]

Hi everyone

I am a brand new owner of a used Oliver legacy elite 2019 hull 469. I absolutely love this camper.

I have plugged into house power and have no 110 working in the camper. also noticed the right rear led taillights are staying lit 3-4 bulbs per lamp whether i am plugged in or not. I think it is drawing the batteries down. I have the zamp solar system am i supposed to switch something around when i plug into house power? any help would be appreciated.

Viola

[John E Davies]

Weird outside lights are a classic symptom of corrosion inside your 7 pin trailer connector. The gunk is conductive and it shorts out the battery wire to one or more light wires, voila, dead battery.

IMHO it is best to just install a new one, once it gets that bad there is enough damage that cleaning doesn't make much sense. This pic is an example, there is way more gunk inside that cleaning the outside doesn't fix.

https://liveworkdream.com/2021/06/02/trailer-tail-lights-not-working/

Your "no shore power" problem may have many causes. Did this just happen or has it been dead always? Maybe you have a problem with your home outlet, like a tripped breaker or GFCI button.. Normally everything is transparent, you don't have to turn on the solar panels for example, it all switches automatically. Did you get an Owners Manual? If not you can download one at https://olivertraveltrailers.com/oliver-university/

Once you get this figured out you need to check the condition of your batteries, they could be damaged enough to need replacement.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[SeaDawg]

@viola, congratulations on your new to you Ollie, and welcome to the forum. We've enjoyed our Elite so much, now in our 15th camping season!

You said that you were afraid the lit leds were running down your batteries. What readings are you getting on the zamp solar monitor and the seelevel? (You should be seeing something at or slightly above 13. 2 in full sun, and something like 12.6 or so at night, even if you're not getting shore power, if you're not running any other loads like fans,, fridge, etc. Those led tail lights don't actually use a lot of power.) Even if you're not getting a charge from the house circuit,  imho your solar should be enough to keep the batteries up, if you're not using a lot of other things in the trailer.

Tell us about the house circuit you're plugged into. 15 amp? 20 amp? Anything else in your house using power on that circuit? Anything else running in the trailer?

@John E Davies is correct, if your connector is corroded, its best to replace. However, we've also had new owners who left the pigtail up in the rain or condensation, and moisture caused the "ghost" lights. Their issues disappeared when the connector was allowed to dry out, by hanging the connector so the openings are down, out of the rain.  A photo of your connector would help.

As John said, you may have tripped the house circuit breaker or its gfci, or you could have tripped the gfci of the trailer.

When you plug the trailer into the house circuit, you should hear a "click" inside the trailer when the  transfer switch kicks in, and the microwave  (if you have one) makes a chirping sound. Sometimes,  all it takes is disconnecting the trailer, and reconnecting,  with someone inside the trailer listening. 

Guessing you've already done so, but first step is to check the house circuit breaker, see if it's tripped. If there's a gfci on that circuit,  test and reset  that. Make sure you actually have good power coming from the outlet you're plugging into .  And, check that outlet for proper ground, and reverse polarity.

I think you have at least two separate problems here. Possibly three. 

Best to just start from the beginning, and rule things out.

[Jim_Oker]

A key and sometimes informative step in checking on what's up when plugging in to shore OR generator power and you're not seeming to get any of that power through into the trailer is to check the EMS (surge protector) remote display pane. In my 2021 E2 it's in the attic cabinet (the cabinet above the rear window) but I know they've moved this remote panel at least once so yours may be in a different spot. At any rate, if all is going well, that panel will show you the voltage, current, and cycle rate (hertz) of the power that's coming in from the external source. If it has decided that there's something wrong with that power and it's blocking it from getting into the trailer (the function of the EMS, with the goal of protecting the electrical components in the trailer) it will show and error code, which can be deciphered with the table of error codes in the EMS unit's manual (which should be bound in with the other manuals in the "standard features" book that shipped with the trailer (and which can be found on the Oliver site under Owners:University

If that panel is not showing anything while you're plugged in, it either means the EMS is toast or more likely that power isn't making it there - i.e. a tripped circuit, a bad outlet, a bad cord, or a bad connection between the power plug on the outside of the trailer and the EMS.

[geokeg]

One other potential problem is if the house/external circuit has reversed polarity at the outlet, the Oliver will not accept power unless you use the protection override switch. BTDT.  (rewired the outlet).

[dewdev]

10 hours ago, viola said:

Hi everyone

I am a brand new owner of a used Oliver legacy elite 2019 hull 469. I absolutely love this camper.

I have plugged into house power and have no 110 working in the camper. also noticed the right rear led taillights are staying lit 3-4 bulbs per lamp whether i am plugged in or not. I think it is drawing the batteries down. I have the zamp solar system am i supposed to switch something around when i plug into house power? any help would be appreciated.

Viola

Viola:

My trailer had the tail light issue being on whenever moisture got into the 7 pin connector (could also be corrision in the plug as John indicated). Keep this trailer connector dry by tucking it up behind the fiberglass body at the front metal frame or buy a device to keep it dry.

As far as the shore power - Are you plugged into a 30 amp circuit? If not, you may have a ground problem in the house circuit. Is your house circuit a 3 prong (grounded) outlet? As mentioned by Jim_Oker check the EMS readout to see if you are getting any error codes. My Oliver likes a 30 amp RV trailer receptacle the best. When I plug into a house 3 prong 15 or 20 amp house grounded receptacle sometimes I have to unplug it and replug it in for the EMS to not show a error message. 

Below are pictures of the EMS messages. It will flash between E-0 for zero error codes; line voltage, RV amp draw and Line frequency. If you are getting a error code (not a zero), thee is something wrong with the incoming power and the EMS is (protecting) the RV from getting unreliable power coming in.

Hope this helps. Good Luck 

 

[viola]

Thanks to all for the great insights, Yes my trailer connector was corroded i cleaned and sprayed electic contact cleaner on and the taillight problem resolved. Thank you Dewdev  &  John loved the pictures i am a visual learner.  I am sure i will have many more questions as i continue to go over this beatiful little camper. What a great community of Oliver owners just confirms my choice to buy one.

The 110 power issue was my stupidity i tripped a circuit breaker on my house and did not realize. I have so much to learn about this Ollie but I am so impressed with how everything is so well made.

Cant wait to take her on her first voyage.

 

[John E Davies]

Thanks for your kind words. This is a very supportive community. If you don’t have one already, get a little outlet tester, any brand is fine as long as it has that extra “GFCI test” button on top. That will save you a bunch of headaches, use it to test any new outlets you encounter when camping before plugging in. It is not uncommon for them to be either dead or miswired. Maybe some are inside your home!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=gfci+tester&crid=1Q1AIXQ787O8G&sprefix=gfci+tester%2Caps%2C144&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Ralph Mawyer]

I keep running into an Open Neutral in various parks, per my external surge connector.   Any concerns or way to address it.  Everything seems to work.

[John E Davies]

1 hour ago, Ralph Mawyer said:

I keep running into an Open Neutral in various parks, per my external surge connector.   Any concerns or way to address it.  Everything seems to work.

It is a serious safety (shock) hazard, I would contact the camp host or office and tell them to fix it ASAP before somebody gets hurt.

"In an electrical system, ground and neutral are connected together in one location only, at the neutral point. This connection is either at the power company transformer or in or near the main electrical panel of the dwelling (see Electrical Circuits). The voltage on a neutral wire is normally 0V (volts) on a live circuit. However, if a neutral wire is open, the voltage on the line side of this open neutral is 120V. You can get a shock from an open neutral wire."

https://www.electrical101.com/open-neutral.html

I personally would not plug into any outlet that failed the basic tests.

John Davies

Spokane WA