Hydraulics Failure - landing jacks and slides all failed

[danemayer]

Left the campground this morning. The auto-leveling hydraulic system and slides all worked perfectly. When we got home, I tried to extend the front jacks using the control panel in manual mode. The motor ran for about 2 seconds and stopped, extending the jacks an inch or two. The control panel shut down. Turned it on again and did the same thing, getting another inch or two. Long story short, it didn't look like I'd be able to unhitch. Rear jacks had the same issue. Slides would not operate at all.

Battery read 13.7 V on a voltmeter with the the disconnect switch turned to 'off'. 12V systems appeared to be working normally, except for the hydraulics. Checked the minibreakers on the distribution panel by the battery - no difference. Recycled the 12V cutoff and tried again- still failing.

Called Lippert and got a call back a little while later. They walked me thru manual bypass operation to test landing jack operation using a drill. Both rear jacks extended and retracted independently by closing the respective valves.

At that point I tried the control panel again and everything was working - all landing jacks and the slides. So all that changed is that a little time went by, and I used a drill to spin the hydraulic motor extending and retracting each of the rear jacks.

Lippert technician suspects a bad ground or low voltage condition, but wasn't sure. He had me check a number of wires to see if terminals were loose - everything seemed ok. Fluid level is normal. Nothing appears to be leaking.

So the good news is that everything is working again. The bad news is that it could happen again at an inconvenient time. More good news that I now feel confident I could operate the system in manual bypass mode if necessary.

Talked to the local dealer. He thinks the problem could be that I had shore power connected. He thinks that can cause a problem with the system. He also thought that if there was something else wrong, it would not be possible for him to find the problem until it failed consistently enough for him to observe and diagnose.

Anyone have similar experience? Ideas? What about operating the auto leveling system when shore power is connected?

 

[branson4020]

I doubt being plugged into shore power has anything to do with this. First thing I would suspect is a faulty switch in the control panel.

 

[Mikemm62]

Dan,
Did you have your unit plugged in while you talked with Lippert. I have had similar problems and found my fuse was blown in my truck ( the one that supplies 12v to the charging system for the trailer) and it takes 15- 20 min for you to restore enough power in the battery for the level up to function properly. Hope this helps.

Mike Markus

 

[danemayer]

I was connected to shore power while talking to Lippert.

 

[kkamshop]

I have a question. What was the outside temp? Could hydraulic fluid been cold or thick?

 

[danemayer]

Probably mid to high 40s by the time we got home. The hydraulics worked earlier in the morning - temps probably mid to high 30s.

 

[kkamshop]

I was curious because cold weather will raise pump preasure and shut the system down.Because the sensors register the higher preasure they think the rams have reached there stops.

 

[chasdvorak]

I had some low voltage problems with my BH3580 and the LevelUp when I wasn't hooked to the truck or shore line. I first had the low voltage when the Level-Up was installed. The suggestion from Ron (the install guru), was to add a second battery to the RV. I was usually able to move the slides, but the LevelUp makes a clicking noise and won't operate. When I hook up to the truck or shore line it works fine.

Then I winterized and removed my battery, but later had to move the RV. I hooked up to the truck and shore line but could not run the hydraulics...had some lights but couldn't move the slides or LevelUp until I put the battery back in. So....that said I'm not sure what the problem is since I thought I could run it through the truck or shore line. I'll have to do some more research in the Spring, but will probably end up with 2 RV batteries.

 

[vangoes]

With the intermittent power it is most likely a loose grounding wire somewhere. Although I do not have the level up system, I've had the same issue a couple of times with our landing jacks and in both cases it was a wire crimp had loosened up. Both times it was also on the battery ground wire.........once at the battery connection and once at the breaker strip. Try going through all of the crimp connections and recrimping. PS.....be safe and disconnect the battery first.

 

[lwmcguir]

If my battery is low my hydraulics wont work off the truck power alone. Have to charge up the battery. The hydraulic pump pulls quite a few amps. Cooler weather would creat the friction noted above that would pull even more. I have used ours below 32 with no problems and a good battery.

 

[danemayer]

I appreciate the responses. Everything continues to work correctly today. Slides worked ok and jacks worked ok for hitch up and for unhitching. Given no obvious problems with connectors, I'm not ready to start recrimping wires. I suppose I'll have to see whether the problem reoccurs.

 

[Willym]

With regard to shore power. The auto level requires a reset between uses. If you plug into shore power before auto levelling, opening the battery master switch will not kill power to the levelling computer and hence will not reset it. Hence if you try to level the system after connecting to shore power an error message will be generated and nothing will happen. You need to open and close the master switch before connecting shore power and trying to level. I, now, always execute auto level before connecting shore power.