When raising the camper off of some saw horses to put back on the truck, I am raising the camper about 1', the jacks work just fine.When raising the truck from a much lower position, like when you would use it off the camper and I need to raise it over 2' is when I am having an issue.The HJ's have a mechanism that stops them after one minute of continuous use (up or down) then you just push any button on the remote and away you go. I get about 1 foot of lift out of the way, then the entire electrical system shuts down. No jacks, no lights, nothing. Then in less than a minute all is working again and I can raise the camper some more. The jacks are on a 30 amp fuse, the larger silver looking type. I thought that might be tripping but that would not shut off the entire camper.It would also be symptomatic that the batteries were low, but mine are brand new Lifeline's, fully charged. I didn't get the exact battery voltage while using the jacks this time out, but I will next time just the rule that completely out.This is never an issue when lowering the camper, so it is probably connected to the increase amperage used when raising the camper.Any thoughts other than the batteries being an issue?

The behavior is typical of a self-resetting thermal breaker.The wiring to the jacks is inadequate for the load the jacks are putting on it. I'd say stop every 9" or so and let things cool off.

mkirsch wrote:The behavior is typical of a self-resetting thermal breaker.The wiring to the jacks is inadequate for the load the jacks are putting on it. I'd say stop every 9" or so and let things cool off.I called Happi Jac, they said that the manufacturer may have installed such a thermal breaker. I've got an email in to Adventurer to see if such a breaker is installed.Happi Jack also said that if I plug the camper in and use both the converter and house batteries and it does it again, it is most certainly some kind of thermal breaker.If the batteries didn't have enough power he said that a red light would appear on the wireless remote, that does not happen when this occurs.

When you put a load on batteries you get voltage sag. I'd plug in the umbilical cord for the camper into the truck and have the truck running so your alternator is giving the jacks full power.The alternative to that is be sure the camper batteries are fully charged up. If it's cold out; the batteries will not output as much as they would when warmer. Ever start a car in really cold weather and it barely turns over the starter?Also if you're running all 4 jacks at the same time; you could run the fronts for a couple inches; then the backs; and alternate to raise the camper. See if the jacks have more speed when only running 2 instead of all 4.Do you have 1 battery or 2?

rtz549 wrote:When you put a load on batteries you get voltage sag. I'd plug in the umbilical cord for the camper into the truck and have the truck running so your alternator is giving the jacks full power.The alternative to that is be sure the camper batteries are fully charged up. If it's cold out; the batteries will not output as much as they would when warmer. Ever start a car in really cold weather and it barely turns over the starter?Also if you're running all 4 jacks at the same time; you could run the fronts for a couple inches; then the backs; and alternate to raise the camper. See if the jacks have more speed when only running 2 instead of all 4.Do you have 1 battery or 2?I have two group 31 Lifeline batteries that are 60 days old. The camper at the time had sat in storage for 1 week. I do have a solar charging system on board, so the batteries were fully charged, floating at 13.3 volts. The ambient air temp was approx. 65 degrees out.

Your Eagle Cap will be wired similar to other campers. Below is how my AF990 wiring starts.Note, the 990 has 2 ckt breakers that will stop both the jacks and lights.Edit: The diagram I used has a couple of errors. This was cut from a schematic I did a while back. I've since made some updates. The 40A breakers are in the main line and the wire to the generator is 2AWG.The issue is most likely the breaker just before or just after the disconnect switch. (If your disconnect is in a similar location in the circuit)

Happi Jack 4560's stop.... | Good Sam Community

egarant
Explorer III
Dec 19, 2014
I opened up my controller bigfootford, and found 5 20amp fuses, one for each jack and one for the slide, all were non-resettable fuses.

So, at least in my wiring configuration, their is only one resettable fuse for the jacks and it is housed in the fuse panel of the converter. That fuse I have changed out for a new one.

Now at least I know where the fuses are for each individual jack and the slide!

THANKS!
AnEv942
Nomad
Dec 19, 2014
egarant wrote:
I got a response from Adventurer, ...
He said he was told by the tech's that if it trips, best to replace it, why I don't understand, but I replaced them both. I will be taking the camper on and off the truck the next two weeks, I will report back if that was a fix...

They react to heat and can be tweaked if excessive, even if they dont trip, over time they finally dont really work at their rating or just get weak. I replace if they've been tripped by load as soon as convenient.
bigfootford
Nomad II
Dec 19, 2014
egarant wrote:
Hey Bigfootford,

Whereabouts were those located, I only had one in the fuse panel.

Well how big was that fuse????

The 30 amp'ers are located on the HJ control board....under the cover!

Picture from the Eagle Cap owners forum..

http://www.eaglecapowners.com/campfire/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1338

Jim
HMS_Beagle
Explorer
Dec 19, 2014
The HJ fuses are located inside the HJ control box, wherever that is on your camper. I'm pretty sure mine has separate 15A fuses for each jack? Anyway those fuses are intended to protect the motors and the wiring between the motors and the controller. The fuse in your panel is intended to protect the wiring from the panel to the controller (and whatever other wiring it serves). You might also want to check all of the connections - with DC motors, the lower the voltage the more current they draw, if there are some questionable connections (that never happened in an RV, eh?) the voltage they see may be far less than the battery voltage, and the current draw far more than nominal.
egarant
Explorer III
Dec 19, 2014
Hey Bigfootford,

Whereabouts were those located, I only had one in the fuse panel.
bigfootford
Nomad II
Dec 18, 2014
egarant wrote:
I got a response from Adventurer, they indicated have a 30 amp Type 1 resettable fuse in the fuse panel for both the jacks and in my case, the slide.

He said he was told by the tech's that if it trips, best to replace it, why I don't understand, but I replaced them both. I will be taking the camper on and off the truck the next two weeks, I will report back if that was a fix.

I didn't know that there were resettable ATC fuses or that there are Type 1,2 & 3 resettables. Type 1 resets itself, Type 2 resets after power is turned off, Type 3 is a manual reset.

Maybe a 30 amp fuse is not enough, but I am sure they didn't but the required wiring in that would support anything higher.

The HJ controllers have 2 ATC fuses rated at 30 amps... 1 for the front, 1 for the rear....

If you think about that we are talking about 60 amps total...

Although I do not believe we will see more than 40 continuous It for sure is going to be nudging over 30....
I would replace it with a 40 and be done....
If something happens on the front or rears independently the 30 amp act will blow!

If in doubt contact/Call, no email Hjac and ask them what the resettable DC hot wire should be....

Mine is 40 amps, never replaced it and it has never tripped.

Jt
egarant
Explorer III
Dec 18, 2014
I got a response from Adventurer, they indicated have a 30 amp Type 1 resettable fuse in the fuse panel for both the jacks and in my case, the slide.

He said he was told by the tech's that if it trips, best to replace it, why I don't understand, but I replaced them both. I will be taking the camper on and off the truck the next two weeks, I will report back if that was a fix.

I didn't know that there were resettable ATC fuses or that there are Type 1,2 & 3 resettables. Type 1 resets itself, Type 2 resets after power is turned off, Type 3 is a manual reset.

Maybe a 30 amp fuse is not enough, but I am sure they didn't but the required wiring in that would support anything higher.
bigfootford
Nomad II
Dec 18, 2014
My BF camper weighs close to 4,000 loaded with our JUNK and water.

When raising it loaded it will pull about 35amps.... So check that resettable and you may find it might be a 20amp or 30... Not enough.

Jim
kerry4951
Explorer
Dec 16, 2014
HMS Beagle wrote:
Running all four jacks at once? With a heavy camper, each can draw about 10 amps or so. That's 40 amps for four which could trip a thermal breaker. I always run the front two or back two at once, 3-4" at a time alternately going up. You could run all four going down (very low amp draw) but you have to watch very carefully as they will not run at the same speed and you'll end up on three jacks (same is true going up).

I have Rieco Titan jacks. I have one of the heaviest campers on the market and I run all 4 of my RT jacks together while raising the camper. I never had any "cut out" issues with my jacks.
HMS_Beagle
Explorer
Dec 16, 2014
Running all four jacks at once? With a heavy camper, each can draw about 10 amps or so. That's 40 amps for four which could trip a thermal breaker. I always run the front two or back two at once, 3-4" at a time alternately going up. You could run all four going down (very low amp draw) but you have to watch very carefully as they will not run at the same speed and you'll end up on three jacks (same is true going up).

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