6 Point Level Up System Problems . . Has anyone seen anything like this?

[pegmikef]

Has anyone ever seen anything like this with their level up system. This is what I just emailed LCI. When I came back from getting new tires, I think my level up system went wild. I saw something similar on another thread, but not quite the same. Jim B. in that thread mentioned that something may have corrupted the eprom with the software. Anyway I would to hear any ideas or suggestions you can give me. Thanks.

1. Used external button to extend the landing gear so I could unhook and move my tow vehicle. No problem.


2. Turned on the level up system and pressed the "auto level" button as I always do. It started by lowering the front end as it always does, but this time it RETRACTED THE JACKS ALL THE WAY and started displaying a series of messages as normal like grounding other jacks, please wait . . . , but nothing was happening and after a minute of so an error message was displayed "ERROR, Jacks timed out . . . Press Enter to acknowledge." I did and it displayed "Jacks up, not level."


3. I turned the unit off and extended the landing gear jacks and tried "auto level" again. The results were exactly the same as in 2 above.


4. I again turned the unit off and back on and used the manual mode to extend the front jacks to level it front to back and then the left and right jacks to level it from side to side. No problem.


5. Later, I wanted to try the Auto Level again (since the manual mode seemed to work ok). I turned the unit on again, went to the manual mode, pressed the retract button (I wanted to raise the left and right jacks). With the retract button lit, I pressed the left button, but instead of retracting the left jacks, it RETRACTED THE FRONT JACKS. I tried this a couple of times with the same result.


6. I again used the manual mode to level the trailer. No problem.


7. I then tried to calibrate the system since the trailer was level and the jacks were down. I turned off the unit, pressed the Front button ten times, and then pressed the rear button ten times. There was no response, no beeping and no messages. I tried this three times. Afterwards, I did turn the unit on to make sure it had power.

 

[Jim.Allison]

I'm waiting for a response from this one. My 6 point has been acting strange too. I can't iterate the exact sequences but the OP's symptoms seem to be similar to mine.

 

[danemayer]

Mike,

I'm thinking either a connector is partially unplugged or the brain has gone bad.

 

[pegmikef]

Thanks Dan, Where might the connectors be. I had four new tires put on today. Do you think their might be connectors around the rear jacks that they might have hit with their Jack? I will get my creeper out in the morning and look around under there. That's the only place I can thing of that something might have been disturbed. I will let you know.

 

[danemayer]

Mike,

The first place to look is at the control panel. If you do have a connector problem, it may be coincidental with respect to the tire work.

On our 2011 4 point, I'm pretty sure there's a sensor near the doorside rear wheel, above the coroplast.

I'm not positive, but on the recent 6 points, I think they may have one behind the rear wall of the pass through storage, doorside, or possibly in the front compartment closer to the off-door-side.

The brain I think is located somewhere near the pump.

One of the problems is that there must be 100 variations that Lippert has produced.

Another thought: check your battery connections and grounds. I think someone had some weird symptoms due to low voltage at the control panel.

 

[Mrsfish]

Mike,

The first place to look is at the control panel. If you do have a connector problem, it may be coincidental with respect to the tire work.

On our 2011 4 point, I'm pretty sure there's a sensor near the doorside rear wheel, above the coroplast.

I'm not positive, but on the recent 6 points, I think they may have one behind the rear wall of the pass through storage, doorside, or possibly in the front compartment closer to the off-door-side.

The brain I think is located somewhere near the pump.

One of the problems is that there must be 100 variations that Lippert has produced.

Another thought: check your battery connections and grounds. I think someone had some weird symptoms due to low voltage at the control panel.

are you saying that Mike has a short in his brain?

 

[danemayer]

You know, I'm pretty sure if I just flipped that around there'd be a better joke waiting to pop out.

 

[bdb2047]

I had this happen. I had to disconnect 12v to system,pulled fuse for several minutes, then was able to manual level and reset auto level and has worked since. Occurred last December. Talked to Lippert after and was told I would have to replace brain if it continued. Sensors for mine are located in front compartment and attached to frame cross member in center of trailer behind rear axle. I can access rear one thru heat vent in floor.

 

[Bones]

You guys and your level up.

 

[Relayman]

how does the levelup system recognize "level" ?

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[danemayer]

how does the levelup system recognize "level" ?

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There's a sensor. When on level ground, in a level position, the system is calibrated so that the current position of the sensor is from that point on remembered by the system as "level".

 

[pegmikef]

Well, it looks like resolution to my problem is going to be somewhat drawn out. I have had a couple of email exchanges with LCI and the ball is back in their court and this is Friday afternoon. No big deal because the rig is always here at the house and we are not going anywhere for awhile.

LCI's first response was that it could be a number of things (basically the same things Dan listed above), plus it asked for the part number of the controller. I have eliminated low voltage, corroded terminals, low hydraulic fluid and loose connectors. All those looked good, plus the slides operate normally using the same hydraulic system. One other thing they mentioned was a bad valve, but since all the jacks mechanically work ok (just ignore instructions and do what they want), I kind of eliminated that.

My big achievement today was locating the controller. Again Dan was close as it is in the generator compartment mounted on the ceiling three feet from the pump, but is hidden by a wiring harness and hydraulic line. There was no part number so the best I could do was send them a picture of it.

I will update this with any progress.

 

[avvidclif]

I had this happen. I had to disconnect 12v to system,pulled fuse for several minutes, then was able to manual level and reset auto level and has worked since. Occurred last December. Talked to Lippert after and was told I would have to replace brain if it continued. Sensors for mine are located in front compartment and attached to frame cross member in center of trailer behind rear axle. I can access rear one thru heat vent in floor.

When I talked to them about mine going stupid they said the controller used a NOVRAM and removing the fuse etc would not reset it. Last time I tried the fuse trick several times and it didn't help. My controller is in the front compartment but now I need to get under it and find the rear one.

 

[pegmikef]

When I talked to them about mine going stupid they said the controller used a NOVRAM and removing the fuse etc would not reset it. Last time I tried the fuse trick several times and it didn't help. My controller is in the front compartment but now I need to get under it and find the rear one.

There's two controllers or did you mean find the rear sensor?

 

[avvidclif]

There's two controllers or did you mean find the rear sensor?

I meant the rear sensor, they feel like it is loose and changing position when traveling. That causes the system to go stupid.

 

[pegmikef]

Does anybody out there have any idea where the rear level up sensor might be located on a 2014 Big Horn 3010RE (or on any Big Horn for that matter)? Thank you. I also read on another forum that this sensor can sometimes become loose in its mounting or the connection itself gets a little loose and can cause problems similar to mine.

 

[jbeletti]

Mike - the rear level sensor is likely behind your rear axle, centered side to side. Either screwed to the floor or bracketed to a frame member. Rather then accessing the sensor, consider unplugging it from the controller to see how the controller reacts.


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[pegmikef]

Mike - the rear level sensor is likely behind your rear axle, centered side to side. Either screwed to the floor or bracketed to a frame member. Rather then accessing the sensor, consider unplugging it from the controller to see how the controller reacts.


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Thanks Jim I will try that, but from other symptoms I am thinking it may be brain dead (e.g., won't accept the zero calibration code).

 

[pegmikef]

Ok, folks, my level up system has suddenly started working correctly again and I have no idea why. All I really did was locate the controller and sent a picture of it to LCI. Here is the wordy (sorry) description of what I did that I just sent to the LCI tech that was helping me.

Off and on all weekend I kept trying to zero calibrate the unit by pushing the front and rear buttons ten times each and never got a response.

I don;t think it really has anything to do with it, but I read on the Heartland forum someone (I think it was jesstalkin) said on his unit he had to use the up/down arrows to calibrate it. Thinking I might have a similar unit I tried it on mine. Nope, no response. Just for kicks I tried the front and rear buttons again and it worked, beeped and displayed a message to press ENTER to zero calibrate. I did and it said it was calibrated and turned itself off.

I tried retracting and extending the jacks (left and right) and it worked perfectly. I raised the front end hooked the trailer up to my truck and used "Auto Retract" to raise the jacks and it also worked perfectly.

I then did the big test. Manually lowered the landing gear and unhooked my truck and when the truck was clear, I tried "Auto Level" and it also worked as it should finally saying success, level.

Now my dilemma is I don't know what caused it to not work correctly and why did it start working again? I haven't moved the trailer so it is probably not something loose that moved back into place. I have two thoughts.

1. The controller is on its way out and this was just a warning that it is going to die soon. Maybe I should get a spare.

or

2. My batteries were low and caused the initial level-up error of jacks timing out after it completely retracted the landing gear seeking front to back level. The trailer sat at the tire dealer for a couple of hours with the refrigerator running and the other parasitic draws. It was only a three mile drive back to the house so it probably would not have charged it back up. The screen said the batteries were 13.2 Volts, but I think that is the converter output. Doesn't explain why unit was not responding for the zero calibration attempts.

Does anyone have any ideas on what could have caused it to fail, and then start working again? I will appreciate any comments. Thanks

 

[danemayer]

Disconnect shore power, let it sit for 30 minutes. Cycle the up down arrows on the level up control panel to find out the voltage getting to the control panel. Could be a battery/battery terminal problem. Could be a poor ground.