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11-29-2017, 06:06 PM
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#1
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Dragonship Captain
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Eastern PA, USA
Posts: 1,335
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A roof over my head.... and running without air.
I built a mega car port in the back yard a few years ago when we had a 30' Travel Trailer. Keeping things out of the weather makes them last a LOT longer.
So, I hadn't tried to get the Dragonship in there yet, but since it's going to be parked for a month and a half I winterized and gave it a shot. Not having a foot of snow/ice on the roof like I've had to remove before on other units when we go South in January is a good thing.
Well, it fits......JUST. In fact I had to air down to get the AC's under the front of the structure. With the engine off I hit auto level, and as soon as the air started dumping I turned the levelers off.
Now, I THOUGHT that unless I hit "Retract" it wouldn't air back up..... You know the dreaded "Pogostick Ride" we occasionally discuss here..... I was trying to do that on purpose! Well it did air up again eventually, twice. So I had to air down a few times to get the pieces that were sticking out under the front edge. Once under there there was more room.
Sooooo, look for a mod where I install a switch to interrupt the signal from the levelers going to the suspension as I do NOT want it to air up until I'm well clear......
__________________
2020 RAM 3500 DRW Long Horn. In the hunt for a Palomino TC, formerly a 2017 Berkshire 38A: https://dragonship.blog/
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11-30-2017, 05:27 AM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 653
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I have thought manual air bag control would be nice. Like if you are pulling in a steep driveway to raise the coach, or to level 1st with air bags, or to level with air bags when stopping for lunch, but you do not want to look like your moving in putting levers down.
your good at this stuff, I see a small joy stick control-
I'll be your 1st customer.
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2012 390BH
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11-30-2017, 07:03 AM
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#3
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oscarvan
I built a mega car port in the back yard a few years ago when we had a 30' Travel Trailer. Keeping things out of the weather makes them last a LOT longer.
So, I hadn't tried to get the Dragonship in there yet, but since it's going to be parked for a month and a half I winterized and gave it a shot. Not having a foot of snow/ice on the roof like I've had to remove before on other units when we go South in January is a good thing.
Well, it fits......JUST. In fact I had to air down to get the AC's under the front of the structure. With the engine off I hit auto level, and as soon as the air started dumping I turned the levelers off.
Now, I THOUGHT that unless I hit "Retract" it wouldn't air back up..... You know the dreaded "Pogostick Ride" we occasionally discuss here..... I was trying to do that on purpose! Well it did air up again eventually, twice. So I had to air down a few times to get the pieces that were sticking out under the front edge. Once under there there was more room.
Sooooo, look for a mod where I install a switch to interrupt the signal from the levelers going to the suspension as I do NOT want it to air up until I'm well clear......
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I have to do the same thing to get into our garage. Let us know if you figure something out...
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11-30-2017, 09:37 AM
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#4
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Dragonship Captain
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Eastern PA, USA
Posts: 1,335
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Well, I think I may be making progress..... The picture below is from the Equalizer installation manual.... I wonder if it would hurt anything to splice into the grey wire, temporarily interrupt it and send permanent 12V..... It's right there in the cockpit. We're talking less than a foot of wire and a switch.....
__________________
2020 RAM 3500 DRW Long Horn. In the hunt for a Palomino TC, formerly a 2017 Berkshire 38A: https://dragonship.blog/
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11-30-2017, 09:43 AM
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#5
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 24
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Based on the photo it sounds like a toggle switch with one side of permanent 12V would allow for an air dump
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11-30-2017, 10:15 AM
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#6
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Dragonship Captain
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Eastern PA, USA
Posts: 1,335
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OK..... so the electronic auto dump valve is a Norgren A16-18694-000
Hope I never have to replace it..... Google it.... Certainly don't want to hurt it....proceeding with caution!
So, it's made by Norgren. Called the nice people at Norgren and they told me it's a "Proprietary part made for FL and they control all the data... can't tell you anything about it."
Well then.
Called Freightliner. Nice man asked me if I watched Hogans Heroes and did the "I hear nothing, I see nothing...." after he told me that there are no signals going to this valve other than the two described in the Equalizer installation manual and that in theory interrupting the "reinflate" signal would not hurt it. Suggested pulling the plug on the valve...... OK, that's good. Don't want to have to crawl under there, but putting a simple switch in would do the same thing.
Next call to Equalizer.
Nice man at Equalizer suggested that instead of hitting "Auto Level" to get the dump going and then turning the panel OFF, to just hit any other switch, or even "Auto Level" again and the Auto Leveling process will stop, but the air dump continues. I'll have to play with this.
Then he proceeded to tell me.....(after the Hogan's Heroes disclaimer) "Our control panel is back feed protected". This is good to know. Also says some manufacturers have a dump switch, and some manufacturers make it inflate when the engine is running regardless of what the Equalizer does......
So, again, FL says they don't send any signals, FR MAY.......
Will try the new technique and proceed from there.
__________________
2020 RAM 3500 DRW Long Horn. In the hunt for a Palomino TC, formerly a 2017 Berkshire 38A: https://dragonship.blog/
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11-30-2017, 10:23 AM
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#7
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oscarvan
OK..... so the electronic auto dump valve is a Norgren A16-18694-000
Hope I never have to replace it..... Google it.... Certainly don't want to hurt it....proceeding with caution!
So, it's made by Norgren. Called the nice people at Norgren and they told me it's a "Proprietary part made for FL and they control all the data... can't tell you anything about it."
Well then.
Called Freightliner. Nice man asked me if I watched Hogans Heroes and did the "I hear nothing, I see nothing...." after he told me that there are no signals going to this valve other than the two described in the Equalizer installation manual and that in theory interrupting the "reinflate" signal would not hurt it. Suggested pulling the plug on the valve...... OK, that's good. Don't want to have to crawl under there, but putting a simple switch in would do the same thing.
Next call to Equalizer.
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Good old proprietary nonsense. Excellent detective work...
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11-30-2017, 11:29 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Middletown, DE
Posts: 166
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mdr
I have to do the same thing to get into our garage. Let us know if you figure something out...
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My 2016 Legacy has a lever on the dash to deflate the air bags. Dealer told me I should deflate the airbags before leveling. Will try to post a picture later.
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11-30-2017, 11:58 AM
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#9
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Dragonship Captain
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Eastern PA, USA
Posts: 1,335
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CRL1
My 2016 Legacy has a lever on the dash to deflate the air bags. Dealer told me I should deflate the airbags before leveling. Will try to post a picture later.
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Yes, some manufacturers have a lever or switch to do what we're trying to do. Ours does it automatically, but for some reason airs up again when the engine is running/coach moves.
A lever goes to a mechanically operated and actuated valve. A switch, or on our case the "brain" controls an electrically activated mechanically operated valve.
__________________
2020 RAM 3500 DRW Long Horn. In the hunt for a Palomino TC, formerly a 2017 Berkshire 38A: https://dragonship.blog/
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11-30-2017, 01:20 PM
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#10
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Dragonship Captain
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Eastern PA, USA
Posts: 1,335
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OK, just talked to Forest River. Like Freightliner they do NOT send anything to the valve......
So, it appears that ONLY the Equalizer control panel sends one of two possible signals to the valve.
I will try a few things as suggested by Equalizer (see above) and otherwise I intend to put in a switch which puts constant 12V on the dump wire (grey) out of the Equalizer Control Panel.
__________________
2020 RAM 3500 DRW Long Horn. In the hunt for a Palomino TC, formerly a 2017 Berkshire 38A: https://dragonship.blog/
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11-30-2017, 02:14 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 1,022
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Shame it has to be so difficult to do something so simple. On our old Bluebird, there was a switch on the dash (along with 600 others) marked "suspension dump" Hit that, and it went down and stayed down until you turned it off. Good thing, getting the old Bird in the storage unit could never have happened without it.
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12-01-2017, 08:10 AM
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#12
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wjflyer
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 6
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I have the same situation with our 38A and must deflate and back into my building. I turn off the engine, push the power button on the jack/leveler system(wait for it to go through it's diagnostic check), push the auto level button then within a second or 2 push the power button again to turn the system off. This will initiate the air bag deflate but will not deploy the jacks. Wait for the bags to fully deflate and go to the jack pump (on our 38A the second from the back storage compartment on the passenger side) and disconnect the harness from the pump/solenoid system. There are three connectors-a two wire power connector, and 2 multipin connectors. I disconnect all three but have not investigated to determine which ones could remain connected. With them disconnected restart the engine. The air bags will remain deflated while the coach is operational except for anything that requires the jack hyd system, that includes the full wall slide on our 38A. I align the coach with the building prior to this proceedure, as you should not turn the coach with the air bags deflated and certainly not drive it anymore than a short distance straight in and out of the building.
I store our 38A in the deflated condition. When I take it out of the building I drive it just clear of the building without turning, shut off the engine, reattach the pump connectors, start the engine, power on the jack/leveling system(if it is off the bags will not inflate), and wait for the air bags to inflate and the air pressure on the gauges to get up to spec.
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12-05-2017, 09:05 PM
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#13
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Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 24
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Did you end up trying it?
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12-05-2017, 10:24 PM
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#14
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Dragonship Captain
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Eastern PA, USA
Posts: 1,335
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Not yet. It's parked under roof until middle of January when we do a Florida mission. Then I'll mess with it again.
__________________
2020 RAM 3500 DRW Long Horn. In the hunt for a Palomino TC, formerly a 2017 Berkshire 38A: https://dragonship.blog/
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