2023 #3: One Year In and a Lithium Challenge

Happy Fourth of July! We just spent a week (6 nights/7 days) camping in full shade on mostly rainy/cloudy days. We were at one of our favorite oceanside campgrounds in Connecticut and we scored a site in a wooded section next to the tidal marsh. The clouds and 2 huge trees overhead mostly took our solar panels out of the picture. Mostly. More about that later. 

We figured this would be a good test of our Lithium Platinum Package with its 640 AH batteries. We left home fully charged and used the fridge on 12v power for the hour drive to the beach. Since it was cloudy, that used 4% of our charge before we even set up camp. We proceeded to dry-camp for the week pretty much the way we had with our other trailers. We ran the fridge on propane, pumped water from our tank, used minimum interior lighting, and remembered to turn off lights we weren't using. In the end, that wasn't really necessary. Unlike our other trailers, we also ran the inverter to make coffee and run the microwave. We watched TV for several hours on a couple of rainy nights. 

End result: when we hitched up to leave on the seventh day, we still had a 63% state of charge in the batteries! Remarkable. One surprise: during the day, if there was any sun at all, the solar panels still managed a very low trickle charge - even in the shade. So, although we weren't gaining any charge, we weren't losing any during the day, either. The Lithium Platinum Package is amazing. Virtually unlimited power, especially if you can use your solar panels. The only thing that really challenges it is running the air conditioner off the inverter.

We also managed the entire week without adding fresh water or emptying our black and grey tanks because we were close to a bathhouse. We only took one shower each in the camper and avoided adding any solids to the black tank. We ended the week with the black tank 38% full, the grey tank at 56%, and 38% still in the fresh water tank. Our next trip will be 2 weeks. We'll see how that goes.

This trip also marked the one-year point in our Oliver ownership. Once again, we had problems to fix. At first, our water pump was running without creating any water pressure. I discovered multiple loose pipe fittings on the input side of the pump plumbing that were causing the pump to suck air instead of water. I also found that the factory had failed to secure that input plumbing. Even though the pipe straps were place, they were not screwed down. Basically, the pump assembly looked like someone at the factory went to lunch while assembling it and never finished the input side when they got back. Since the pump assemblies are done on a bench at Oliver Trailers, it's hard to see how this got past Quality Control, but that's been the case with a lot of things on this trailer. Here's a list of the issues we've found and addressed in the last year: 

• Defective 30A shore line cable. (Replaced at the factory during delivery.)
• Improper jumper setting on Xantrex. (Fixed at factory during delivery.)
• Leak under sink from loose drain fitting. (Fixed myself.)
• Air conditioner short cycling. (Eventually replaced the thermostat.)
• Toilet flange broke. (Improperly installed at factory. Replaced it myself with parts from Oliver.)
• Defective axles from Dexter. (Repaired by mobile tech under warranty.)
• Electronic door lock improperly installed, damaged by water. (Replaced myself with parts from Oliver.)
• Stabilizer jack rubbing against body, causing squeaking. (Repaired under warranty at factory on return trip.)
• 120v electrical splice burned/melted. (Repaired myself.)
• 2 wheels running hot. (Apparently caused by combination of undisclosed balance beads in tires from the factory and the spin-balance I had done. Those 2 things don't work well together. Factory said they weren't aware tires from their vendor contained balance beads.)
• Chrome trim strip around interior belly band fell off. (Re-adhered at factory under warranty on return trip.)
• Carriage bolt securing stabilizer jack and body to frame stripped due to faulty bracket. Was not torqued to spec even though it bore torque pen marks from Quality Control. (Required disassembly and replacement at factory during return trip under warranty. More on that experience in previous post.)
• TV cracked at mount points because the mount itself is bent. (Replacement TV supplied by Oliver under warranty.)
• Unsecured plumbing, loose fittings on pump input side.

That seems like a long list, but some of the problems were minor and/or easily fixed. Others not so much. Either way, we hope we're near the end of our teething pains, because this trailer is really good when everything is working right. Looking forward to seeing how far we can stretch those dry-camping capabilities. At least we know power won't be a problem!