Leveling Jacks are stopping and starting

[par]

We are on our way to Texas to spend the Winter and the last 2 campsites when it's time to pin the 5th wheel and retract the jacks they stop, then 5 to 10 seconds later they start up again. This repeats about 3 or 4 times until they are fully retracted. The jack controller is in Auto Retreat mode when this is happening.
Anybody seen this or have any insight?
Thanks,
Paul

[r time soon]

My guess is that you have too small of an auto resetting mini breaker on your charger bar wiring. That would have been installed by Redwood when your rig was built. Located near your batteries and hydraulic pump on the wall wiring. It should be the one that goes to the Trombetta for the hydraulic pump. I believe a 50 amp auto resetting mini breaker would do the trick. The smaller one you have now is getting hot under load and interrupting the hydraulic pump. Look for "12 volt 50 amp circuit breaker" on ebay, google shopping etc or your local auto parts store. Like the metal one in the attached picture or Grey ones like most rv's use.

Chris

[travelin' texans]

Have you tried retracting manually, not auto retract? Ours does weird things when using auto retract also so we don't use it, but works fine manually.

[par]

Thank you both for your replies.

Chris,
If I were to do a 'manual retract' without the fuse flipping do you agree that the fuse would not likely be the issue? I searched around the battery compartment (at the front of the unit) but can't see a fuse near the hydraulic pump. The fuse may be located closer to the battery which is located in a non-accessible space behind the basement since the battery space in the front is occupied by our residential fridge batteries. I need to empty the entire basement space and remove the wall at the back to get at that battery so I will wait till we get to our destination, assuming this tripping continues.

Another question, what is 'Trombetta', I've never heard that word?

Paul

[r time soon]

Paul, Probably correct about the auto resetting fuse/mini breaker. But retracting jacks is probably less work on the pump than extending and lifting our big heavy redwoods. Where ever your hydraulic pump is located, so should your 10 amp in-line fuse holder. Usually sticking out of the snake skin loom. If that fuse is blown then your keypad wouldn't have power.
Trombetta is the name brand for Lipperts Polarity reversing solenoid. It changes the polarity so the pump runs in both directions, clockwise and counter-clockwise. The trombetta is located usually on the pump housing or really close. Either 2 or 4 gage wire is used to connect it to electric motor on the hydraulic pump. I suggest you look on Lipperts site for some sheets on how to troubleshoot the trombetta, etc. Lippert Components the leading OEM and Aftermarket RV Parts and Accessory Supplier

Below is a picture of a trombetta:


Chris

http://www.lci1.com/assets/content/s...pplication.pdf

http://www.lci1.com/assets/content/s..._Component.pdf

http://www.lci1.com/assets/content/s...y_Solenoid.pdf

http://www.lci1.com/assets/content/s...ting_Guide.pdf

[johnboytoo]

Is it possible too many others things are going on that make the jacks stop /overload?

maybe just a loose connection 'fooling' the fuse ?

[par]

Johnboyto,
I was poking around the bus bar and found a moderately loose connection from the pump so I tightened that up. We will see in the morning if that the was the issue.
Thanks,
Paul

[rickc]

We had the loose connection issue, no trouble since tightening it

[markw]

Originally Posted by r time soon

My guess is that you have too small of an auto resetting mini breaker on your charger bar wiring. That would have been installed by Redwood when your rig was built. Located near your batteries and hydraulic pump on the wall wiring. It should be the one that goes to the Trombetta for the hydraulic pump. I believe a 50 amp auto resetting mini breaker would do the trick. The smaller one you have now is getting hot under load and interrupting the hydraulic pump. Look for "12 volt 50 amp circuit breaker" on ebay, google shopping etc or your local auto parts store. Like the metal one in the attached picture or Grey ones like most rv's use.

Chris

I had to replace this on mine last year. It was the correct size, just failing. I got the new one at NAPA.

Mark

[RCAircraft]

Originally Posted by par

Johnboyto,
I was poking around the bus bar and found a moderately loose connection from the pump so I tightened that up. We will see in the morning if that the was the issue.
Thanks,
Paul

We also had a loose connection resulting in the same conditions you described which was at the pump motor causing the off/on condition. Did not catch this in time. The heat from the loose motor connection damaged the motor. We had a complete system, including the hydraulic valves replaced with a newly redesigned system from LCI. I tie wrapped all cables and wires into neat runs which should help to reduce motion at the connections. So far, so good. This event did help me learn and use the LCI manual system described in the Level Up manual. Hope that will not be necessary again.

[par]

This morning was successful, after tightening the power wire (at the 12V power bus mounted on the wall behind the batteries) going to the pump controller all jacks retracted without stopping and starting
Pretty sure it's resolved but to be cautious we still need a few more days.
Thank you all for your input!!!
Paul

[rob_fla]

I have not have problems with my jacks but when doing a preventative maintenance check, I did find a lot of loose wiring on the front bulkhead.

Now I routinely check the front bulkhead wiring along with many other preventative maintenance checks with the hope of preventing future problems.

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by rob_fla

I have not have problems with my jacks but when doing a preventative maintenance check, I did find a lot of loose wiring on the front bulkhead.

Now I routinely check the front bulkhead wiring along with many other preventative maintenance checks with the hope of preventing future problems.

Rob..............Redwood could prevent a lot of customer headaches by putting in place some manufacturing torque specifications on the electrical connections. But, I doubt that they use anything much beyond hand tools. Real calibrated torque tools would cost them too much.

I check my two batteries annually and also check all of the connections for tightness. The first time I did that, virtually all of the electrical in the battery compartment were loose, especially the frame ground connection at the back of the compartment.

I just replaced the original two group 24 batteries (one no name "Mighty Bruin" and one Interstate) with two group 29 Interstate Marine/RV Deep Draw (SRM-29) batteries. The first two lasted for 5 years and 2 months. Actually, the no name load tested as not meeting the original specifications while the Interstate still load tested as better than the original specs. I decided to replace both batteries and donate the original good Interstate to my son-in-law for his fishing boat.

Guy

[rob_fla]

As much as I move year round, a little preventative maintenance goes a long way in fewer surprises.