Level up System

Kimmytheone · 01-23-2022, 04:40 PM

We just purchased this 2017 Sandpiper from a private seller. It took him 3 hours to get the Jack's to retract & he ended up changing 2 wires around on the solenoid. We are from Iowa & it's cold as heck here & he told us as well as the owners manual that these Jack's don't operate below 30 F. That's understandable, & will hopefully be solved when we put extreme weather hydraulic fluid with an anti structure fluid in to replace what's in the reservoir now. However, there's obviously a problem with the wiring from the solenoid over to the leveling keypad control. We had all if the wiring checked with multimeter & the guy found a ground wire in the plug that is plugged into the keypad is putting out 12.82 volts. The leveling controller itself smells like something got hot or burnt on the circuit board. We were told that that ground wire in the plug that plugs into the keybad that is throwing out voltage tells him that there is a short somewhere. We are beside ourselves with this 5th wheel camper & sold our home to live in this year round. Iowa summers, then south for winters. We haven't even been able to get the Jack's up to go South yet. Anyone have any issues like this?

dalford · 01-23-2022, 05:19 PM

Are you talking about this relay? That relay decides which direction the hydraulic pump will turn. If he switched the wires there must be an issue with the control board that that commands retract or extend.

Is the hydraulic motor running and bogging down or not running at all? You may need to swap the wires back on the pump relay (it has a technical name but I can’t remember it) to make it run in the direction that will retract the rams.

ktvaughan · 01-23-2022, 09:22 PM

More info needed.
Does the pump run at all?
Do you have the RV plugged in to truck or generator?
I have swapped leads at relay when controller was fried.
Is 10 amp fuse at relay blown?

NMWildcat · 01-23-2022, 10:16 PM

The Level Up system and hydraulic slides will work in much lower temps. Mine work fine in single digit temps with standard Dexron III fluid. They are slower in the cold though.
I would call the Lippert tech support line and they will help you run diagnostics to determine the problem. They have even sent me free parts in the past.
It does sound like a bad controller or keypad, but I would call Lippert before throwing parts at it.
Here is the link to Lippert Master Manuals. Look in the leveling and stabilization one for your particular system. https://support.lci1.com/master-manuals/
Good luck and let us know.

Kimmytheone · 01-24-2022, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dalford

Are you talking about this relay? That relay decides which direction the hydraulic pump will turn. If he switched the wires there must be an issue with the control board that that commands retract or extend.

Is the hydraulic motor running and bogging down or not running at all? You may need to swap the wires back on the pump relay (it has a technical name but I can’t remember it) to make it run in the direction that will retract the rams.

Hi, Thank you so much for your reply. You folks on this forum are so sweet & amazing in helping everyone out. So much appreciated.

I'm talking about the wires that are on the dual polarity solenoid.. The yellow & green wires were switched around to get the Jack's to retract. He then changed the wires back to the way they are supposed to be. I've been working with the Lippert tech on this, but we got to the point where we needed a multi meter to finish troubleshooting the issue. I have no idea how to run the meter so I'm watching you tube videos to learn. On the green & yellow wires that come from the controller also have white wires aside them crimped together. In the wiring diagram that Lippert emailed me does not show any white wires going to solenoid with each the of the green & yellow wires. The only white wires coming from the controller on the diagram having 1 to the dual polarity solenoid & the other one comes out of the harness & runs up into the pressure switch along with a yellow wire with black stripe. All white wires that come out of the harness from the controller are all grounded to the back of the hydraulics compartment wall. I have an RV repairman coming tomorrow afternoon, so I'm going to leave this up to him to figure out. I purchased a new controller which was $385.95 with tax & shipping, but Lippert tech want repairman to call him to trouble shoot before he puts new controller on & possibly damage it & have to buy another one. Thank you so much for your reply again. So much appreciated! I love this forum & all the wonderful folks in here. Have a great day😁

Kimmytheone · 01-24-2022, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

The Level Up system and hydraulic slides will work in much lower temps. Mine work fine in single digit temps with standard Dexron III fluid. They are slower in the cold though.
I would call the Lippert tech support line and they will help you run diagnostics to determine the problem. They have even sent me free parts in the past.
It does sound like a bad controller or keypad, but I would call Lippert before throwing parts at it.
Here is the link to Lippert Master Manuals. Look in the leveling and stabilization one for your particular system. https://support.lci1.com/master-manuals/
Good luck and let us know.

Hi Thanks so much for your reply!
I have purchased a new controller, $385.95 with Tax & shipping. I have been talking to Lippert Tech support quite often with troubleshooting. The camper is plugged into shore power as we are sitting in a heated shop. It has been cold here (below zero) for about entire month of January. As cold as - 30 below with wind chill factor, but we are in a 55 degree heated shop & hack still not working. Pump will not even come on. Have RV repairman coming tomorrow to do troubleshooting before we out any new parts on it. The slides work fine in the cold. Just not the Jack's.

koller1509 · 01-24-2022, 11:34 AM

You may want to have the repairman check the auto-resetting circuit breaker for the level up pump. They did issue a tech bulletin about replacing it with a larger 100 amp breaker. It helps with the cold weather operation.

80 amp breaker lippert0058.pdf

Kimmytheone · 01-24-2022, 01:08 PM

Thanks you so very much!!! I have saved this bulletin document & will show to the repairman. Your help is so incredibly appreciated. I'm a 61 year old woman who does all the maintenance on our home which we just sold ď closed on Dec 30th for this very reason, & now I'm maintaining this camper.

Kimmytheone · 01-24-2022, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by koller1509

You may want to have the repairman check the auto-resetting circuit breaker for the level up pump. They did issue a tech bulletin about replacing it with a larger 100 amp breaker. It helps with the cold weather operation.

Attachment 268110

Hi again! Where is this breaker located in our 2017 Sandpiper? If you know by any chance😁

koller1509 · 01-24-2022, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimmytheone

Hi again! Where is this breaker located in our 2017 Sandpiper? If you know by any chance😁

On mine it is in the compartment on the drivers side where the batteries and level up control panel are. If you have an inverter, it should be next to it.

Kimmytheone · 01-24-2022, 06:42 PM

OK, Thanks a bunch. I'll let you all know what the repairman finds. Thanks for your help.

Kimmytheone · 01-24-2022, 06:51 PM

I promise to keep you all posted on where the problem was. It still puzzles me that the ground wire coming out of the plug that's plugged into the display keypad is putting out 12.82 volts. We will soon know hopefully. I'll let you all know & we'll see which of you win the guess.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO COMMENTED WITH POSSIBLE PROBLEMS/FIXES��

Kimmytheone · 01-28-2022, 05:17 PM

Yes, that is where ours is at. In the compartment where the touch pad & inverter is. It says 100 Amps on it, but I'll still have repairman check it. Had to reschedule appt to next Tuesday due to weather here in Iowa. I'll keep you informed of what the problem(s) are. Thanks bunches & bunches for your help. So appreciated��

Kimmytheone · 02-11-2022, 12:15 AM

OK Everyone that responded to my post. The leveling controller was bad, & the valve that runs the front Jack's is compromised so with this being the issie. Since the front Jack's valve is bad, it won't let the back 4 Jack's work. Having all 4 valves replaced so not to have any of the others go bad once the first valve is replaced. The valves have been ordered & I will get back to you all to tell you if there are any other issues once the new valves are installed.

Kimmytheone · 02-12-2022, 04:49 PM

Hi again everyone!
My RV Tech & Lippert Tech found that not only was the leveling controller bad, but after controller was replaced, they found that the Valve for the 2 front landing Jack's is compromised & leaking hydraulic fluid & Lippert stated that this is why the back Jack's are not working because since the #1 valve is compromised, the other 3 are not getting any fluid to raise the back ones. I've been told by another friend to just replace all 4 so I won't have issues down the road. Has anyone else had to replace any valves in your rigs? If yes, how old was your rig when you replaced it? Just curious.

Kimmytheone · 03-02-2022, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

The Level Up system and hydraulic slides will work in much lower temps. Mine work fine in single digit temps with standard Dexron III fluid. They are slower in the cold though.
I would call the Lippert tech support line and they will help you run diagnostics to determine the problem. They have even sent me free parts in the past.
It does sound like a bad controller or keypad, but I would call Lippert before throwing parts at it.
Here is the link to Lippert Master Manuals. Look in the leveling and stabilization one for your particular system. https://support.lci1.com/master-manuals/
Good luck and let us know.

Hi,Jack
Well I finally found out what the problems were with our jacks not retracting. 1. The seller of this camper took 3 hours in the bitter cold trying to heat up the hydraulics with a salamander heater to try to get the jacks to retract the day we went up to pick up the camper. He finally switched the 2 wires around on the solenoid to get them to retract, which told me that he had problems before & n
Knew that this was messed up when he sold it to us and he said on the bill of sale that to his knowledge, the camper was in good operational condition. I have to argue this with him cuz how could he say that it was in good working condition when he spent 3 hours trying to get the jack to retract? Hmmmmm? So, it was the leveling controller that had a burnt circuit on the circuit card, & this happened when the wires on the solenoid were switched around. The other reason the jacks were not retracting was due to a bad #1 valve & since it was compromised, it couldn't get fluid to run to the other 3 valves to retract the rest of the jacks . Ordered & replaced new valve & jacks work like a dream now. However now we have the slide out controllers are both throwing an error that points to a short to ground on the hall connection. Lippert is going to help me manually over ride the controllers & do troubleshooting on them. I will let you know how that goes. Thank you so much for your help. Do you know anything about wifi extenders or boosters? We will need one for campground wifi.

NMWildcat · 03-02-2022, 08:46 AM

Glad you are getting things figured out and fixed!
No on knowledge of wifi extenders. We mainly boondock where there is not even a cell signal

. You might want to start a new thread for the wifi stuff to get better responses. You can also use the forum search function to find previous threads on the subject.
Happy RVing!!!

Kimmytheone · 03-02-2022, 08:28 PM

Scott & Liz,
Thank you so much for the well wishes. I will start a new thread. Thanks for all of your help. I'm new to this forum & it is the most amazing thing I've found. Everyone is so nice & so extremely helpful. It doesn't get any better than this!!! If you're ever in Iowa during the summer, give us a shout out. Would love to meet you folks. (319)591-0123 is my cell. We are in Southeast Iowa. Thanks again for your help & kindness!

Kim & Ron Hemm

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