MH Levelling Jacks Question

[BFL13]

This may not be worth a lot of your time if it gets tricky since it is another guy in the park with the problem and I don't have a clue perhaps even to understand your answers or even to get more info as needed.

Anyway---- maybe it is an obvious thing so here goes. The jacks controller has a green light and when he hits the button to lower the jacks there is a click and the light goes out. After a short time he can repeat that. He says sometimes? there are two yellow lights too.

The suspension air bags are still full and must empty before the hydraulic jacks will go down. First attempt he said the front bags deflated but the back ones did not. He started the engine and reflated all. Then after that now both front and back air bags stay/are still full. MH engine is off when he tries to lower the jacks as is normal he says.

This has never happened before until today. Today he raised the jacks ok and moved the MH a few yards from his site but then on returning to his spot the jacks won't come down.

I am thinking the jack controller has a resetting CB that pops as soon as he tries to run the jacks and then it resets so he can keep doing that, but whatever is wrong is still wrong. I am thinking it has something to do with the air bag air release not working.

Or what could it be? Just how does the air get released? If there are solenoid switches for that to "unplug" the air and let the air out (by the weight of the MH on the bags he says) is there a way to tell if that is it? Like tap on the solenoids (if any) to unstick them or could it be just one of the four or what--I don't know and he doesn't seem to know much either! Is there a place to measure a voltage we could do?

I just want to give him an idea before he calls in a mobile tech and spends big on letting them poke around in case it something easy.

Thanks.

[BFL13]

Follow -up. We tried various things to identify the problem or fix it and no joy. eg, it was not low battery, we redid the brakes setting to see if it was that, etc.

One thing he added to the story is when he first drove forward to park it again the system did work at first and he got the front jacks down which raised the MH front end but the rear jacks did not come down. (all the way?) He got the front jacks back up, he can't remember how in all the fuss that went on, but the rear jacks remained partly down.

The rear jacks were still partly down today. So he raised them manually with the T handles and we hoped now everything would work. Nope.

Anyway over to him now. He has called the company and might also get a local RV tech on it. At least now thanks to Doug here and the others, he has some idea what to expect from the techs he talks to.

Thanks for the help guys, all in a good cause.

[BFL13]

Thanks for all the great info. Time delay to try anything since he went off somewhere in his car this morning and not back yet.

[Retired_JSO]

To Level, I apply the parking brake, shut down the engine, turn the key to accessories and hit the HYD/LEVEL button twice. It does the rest and shuts off the system after 2 minutes. Ready to leave, I start my engine, push the HYD/Level button followed by the STORE button and go outside and finish my walkaround. By the time I am finished making sure everything is put away, the jacks are up and so is the air suspension.

[dougrainer]

BFL13 wrote:

dougrainer wrote:
610 system has 2 solenoids on the Jack pump. The first solenoid is activated by the Touch pad and stays ON. That supplies power to the control board(NOT the touch pad but control board) for all Jack functions. USUALLY, this means that solenoid either is not functioning OR there is a problem with the touch pad. A quick test for a defective HWH touch pad is to PUSH each button HARD. If the function activates from pushing the various buttons hard, then the touch pad needs replaced. Doug

Could it be that when he pushes to HYD button the first time to power on the unit, it doesn't always maintain contact and releases itself, which shuts everything off and you get that snap/click? Might pushing it "hard" get it to maintain contact? I don't know how hard he pushes.

It did work to retract/"store" the jacks so he could back up, but that involves turning on the engine and that fills the air bags so then he can retract the jacks.

After the bags are deflated, when do the valves close so you can refill them? Do they stay open until you go to fill them or close right away? If the latter, then the solenoids for that would not have been operated since he parked two months ago, did not need to move on retraction for backing up, but only first tried to move when he moved forward again to park let the air out.
Gives some time there for them to become stuck since last used?

Once the system dumps the air/levels and shuts OFF, the air valves close(electric side) also. What keeps the bags from inflating when jacks are extended and the rv is level is the ride height levers are in the open position. That is why you must retract the jacks to get the air bags to air up. Doug

[dougrainer]

Your HWH 610
First push turns the system ON
2nd push dumps the air and then about 30 seconds later the jacks start extending and auto level
You cannot confuse the HWH controller
If NOT in Park Brake, there is a red LED that tells you this and the system will not function if the Parking brake is not ON, OR, the brake is ON but the HWH does not see the signal----rare on Diesels, more common on Ford chassis. Doug
Current 625 systems (after the 610), the FIRST push starts the whole process. Doug

[BFL13]

dougrainer wrote:
610 system has 2 solenoids on the Jack pump. The first solenoid is activated by the Touch pad and stays ON. That supplies power to the control board(NOT the touch pad but control board) for all Jack functions. USUALLY, this means that solenoid either is not functioning OR there is a problem with the touch pad. A quick test for a defective HWH touch pad is to PUSH each button HARD. If the function activates from pushing the various buttons hard, then the touch pad needs replaced. Doug

Could it be that when he pushes to HYD button the first time to power on the unit, it doesn't always maintain contact and releases itself, which shuts everything off and you get that snap/click? Might pushing it "hard" get it to maintain contact? I don't know how hard he pushes.

It did work to retract/"store" the jacks so he could back up, but that involves turning on the engine and that fills the air bags so then he can retract the jacks.

After the bags are deflated, when do the valves close so you can refill them? Do they stay open until you go to fill them or close right away? If the latter, then the solenoids for that would not have been operated since he parked two months ago, did not need to move on retraction for backing up, but only first tried to move when he moved forward again to park let the air out.
Gives some time there for them to become stuck since last used?

[azpete]

have him read the manual again. follow the leveling procedure. when a guy tells me that if i hit this, this, and then this, it doesnt work. my solution is dont do that.
there is good diagnostic information in the service manual. if you have a green light on the touch panel, the park brake can be an issue. the air dump should be automatic after the second push on the touch pad. it also can be activated manually.
do the diagnostics, its cheaper than just guessing and throwing parts at it.

[BFL13]

Thanks for the good info. Be an hour or so before we can try things like the touch-pad as suggested..

Pushing the HYD button once gets a brief power on then quits with a click--that might be a solenoid instead of a circuit breaker?

I wondered if it was low battery so I asked him to try that trick using the house batteries. He used the "boost button" on the dash and now the controller had no power at all. Release the boost and unit has power. It seems it gets battery from the engine battery.
No idea why no power with the boost on.

I am now wondering if it is low battery but where the engine battery seems ok until you try to use it. Maybe instead of a resetting CB that lets him try again soon after, it is the battery coming back to life enough to power the controller but not enough to power the systems?

He has been there two months, started up, raised the jacks and backed up a little ways then shut down. Then later he started up and moved forward back to his spot and now he is having this trouble. But the "low battery" light on the control panel does not come on. I don't know if his solar is set to also do the engine battery.

The manual says if the brake is not on the unit will not work so I will ask him to try starting the whole thing over and then put the brakes on again and see if the controller has reset or whatever.

He was a bit vague on whether the jacks were fully retracted, saying something about 80% or something I did not understand. He says there is air in the bags when I asked if that little shot of air was all there was. The manual does show a few things that can be tried out like that with your fingers crossed.

He described the procedure for lowering the jacks he uses, and now I am reading the manual it seems he always does it manually by using the dump button. It says to hit the HYD a second time and it is automatic from there. I think he said he hits the HYD a second time and then hits dump. That might confuse the 610's brain? No idea.

Anyway he isn't that badly off; he can still use the MH and he can always level by driving up on some planks.

[dougrainer]

610 system has 2 solenoids on the Jack pump. The first solenoid is activated by the Touch pad and stays ON. That supplies power to the control board(NOT the touch pad but control board) for all Jack functions. USUALLY, this means that solenoid either is not functioning OR there is a problem with the touch pad. A quick test for a defective HWH touch pad is to PUSH each button HARD. If the function activates from pushing the various buttons hard, then the touch pad needs replaced. Doug

[sdianel_-acct_c]

First I would read the manual and follow the steps to check the system.
If that doesn't help, I would have him call HWH Factory in Moscow Iowa. They can help troubleshoot. They are so busy right now that it might be 2 weeks before a technician can call him back.
On our coach, parking brake must be on and transmission in neutral. Batteries must be charged.
We just went through some problems with our 2004 Country Coach. Only difference is that we have air bag leveling and not actual jacks. We took ours to the factory in Iowa. There are many components. 2 of our air valves were stuck) and you're right, the technician whacked it to find out it was bad. They also rebuilt the black "brain" box while we were at the factory.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

First I would read the manual and follow the steps to check the system.
If that doesn't help, I would have him call HWH Factory in Moscow Iowa. They can help troubleshoot. They are so busy right now that it might be 2 weeks before a technician can call him back.
On our coach, parking brake must be on and transmission in neutral. Batteries must be charged.
We just went through some problems with our 2004 Country Coach. Only difference is that we have air bag leveling and not actual jacks. We took ours to the factory in Iowa. There are many components. 2 of our air valves were stuck) and you're right, the technician whacked it to find out it was bad. They also rebuilt the black "brain" box while we were at the factory.

[BFL13]

CA Traveler wrote:
BFL13 Really? You've got 12,000 posts and you post this? Not one hint of what rig or model numbers of the equipment but green and yellow lights.

I understand it's not your rig but... :h

Back to solar...

Hey, all MHs look the same to me. You mean they aren't?

It is a 2002 Dutch Star by Newmar and it has an HWH computer controlled levelling system 610 Series.

It isn't quite the sequence of events as I posted above. The controller HYD button has to be pushed first and that turns it all on with the green travel light coming on, but that power immediately shuts off.

No chance to go to the next step of selecting a function such as "dump"

Manual dump with engine off, ignition on, and hold the dump button down gets you a little shot of air and then that quits. You can hear a whine from underneath when that is on after the air quits.

I have the 610 manual to read but haven't dug into it yet.

Yes, his brakes are on so the HYD button works.

[CA_Traveler]

BFL13 Really? You've got 12,000 posts and you post this? Not one hint of what rig or model numbers of the equipment but green and yellow lights.

I understand it's not your rig but... :h

Back to solar...