Lippert 3.0 leveling system fault?

[JohnnyRad]

Hello all, just got back from a short trip with my new Cougar 327RES and had a question about the leveling system. Its the lippert 3.0 4pt system. Everything works great leveling wise, its the LCD screen that's blank. It was working perfectly before we left, got to the campground and the screen lights up, but that's it. No words, nothing. Did a short search and couldn't find any info on this. Maybe its just a simple error on my part or something more? I tried to reset it with no luck. Anyone had this happen? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks again.

[CaptnJohn]

Originally Posted by JohnnyRad

Hello all, just got back from a short trip with my new Cougar 327RES and had a question about the leveling system. Its the lippert 3.0 4pt system. Everything works great leveling wise, its the LCD screen that's blank. It was working perfectly before we left, got to the campground and the screen lights up, but that's it. No words, nothing. Did a short search and couldn't find any info on this. Maybe its just a simple error on my part or something more? I tried to reset it with no luck. Anyone had this happen? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks again.

Really like my Ground Control 3.0! 1st time I've heard of your problem. Unsure of how that would be "reset". "Homing" will not help this one. Lippert help I've called twice. The 1st time it was a waste of time. The 2nd time, a few minutes later was great. I checked the manual and see nothing there on this ~~ betting the component failed. Let us know the outcome.

[Dhuhn]

My control panel did the same thing took it back to my dealer they replaced the panel. They told me the panel was bad.

[JohnnyRad]

I called the dealer yesterday and they said they have seen this happen before. To bring it in for a replacement. One of those things I guess. Thanks for the replies!

[JAbraham03]

I love the system except for one thing. If you get a position error you have to retract ALL the legs. This is really annoying since you have to hook it back up to the truck to be able to do that.

I spoke to the company and they said you cant have more than 3 holes showing in the front legs when you extend them. (no where in the manual does it say this. Plus is this is the case then they should only have the 3 holes not 10 or whatever there are. A lot of the time I dont have to extend them so I just ground them, unhook, and then auto level. But once the error code sets in that you have to retract all the legs to clear the error (and make sure you extend them ALL at least 6" first or you will be using a select choice of words) wish this could be done without rehooking to truck.

Has anyone tried it without hooking to the truck first? Only issue would be you wouldnt be able to do anything to fix the front legs.

[Canonman]

My answer was to go to "Manual Mode" and just level the darn thing.
Good to know about the three hole thing too. I have had mine complete the auto process with more than three holes showing though.

[JohnnyRad]

Originally Posted by JAbraham03

I love the system except for one thing. If you get a position error you have to retract ALL the legs. This is really annoying since you have to hook it back up to the truck to be able to do that.

I spoke to the company and they said you cant have more than 3 holes showing in the front legs when you extend them. (no where in the manual does it say this. Plus is this is the case then they should only have the 3 holes not 10 or whatever there are. A lot of the time I dont have to extend them so I just ground them, unhook, and then auto level. But once the error code sets in that you have to retract all the legs to clear the error (and make sure you extend them ALL at least 6" first or you will be using a select choice of words) wish this could be done without rehooking to truck.

Has anyone tried it without hooking to the truck first? Only issue would be you wouldnt be able to do anything to fix the front legs.

That's good to know. Nobody told us about that either. I've been setting up, pull the pins and hit level. Maybe 3 inches of travel max...

[NotyetMHCowner]

My screen went blank 1 time while picking it up after having warranty work done. They had left a light on in the bathroom and ran the battery down to nothing. When I connected the truck to the camper, the screen lit up but had no words or anything. The tech came back and just pulled the screen off, un plugged the connector to it, and plugged it back up. It has worked ever since.

I have had several faults that require retracting all legs, I agree it sucks. But I run my legs out pretty far in our driveway, because I have to retract them all the way to get it to set level. I have never had a problem because of this though.

The biggest problem I have had with the system is low voltage. I now have 4 6v batteries, but the front seems to still be too heavy to lift very far without throwing a code or shutting down. I have to always have the truck connected and idling to have enough juice to raise the legs. I do have a 290 pound generator, 150 pound washer/dryer, and 240 pounds of batteries up front along with a closet full of clothes and stuff under the bed. My next camper will have hydraulic jacks, with auto level of course!!

[JohnnyRad]

Originally Posted by NotyetMHCowner

My screen went blank 1 time while picking it up after having warranty work done. They had left a light on in the bathroom and ran the battery down to nothing. When I connected the truck to the camper, the screen lit up but had no words or anything. The tech came back and just pulled the screen off, un plugged the connector to it, and plugged it back up. It has worked ever since.

I'm glad you posted this. I know we left a light on as well and the battery was dead before we realized it. I might try to remove the cover and unplug it just to try before hauling it 2 hours to the dealer.

[Fit4Infinity]

There is a short video on a DVD disc you should have received with your unit. At the end there is a fraction about trouble shooting errors. They suggest checking for loose connections behind the controller module.

I've not had any problems with mine. I recently discovered how to automatically return the king pin to the height I de-coupled at. Very cool


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JohnnyRad]

Originally Posted by Fit4Infinity

There is a short video on a DVD disc you should have received with your unit. At the end there is a fraction about trouble shooting errors. They suggest checking for loose connections behind the controller module.

I've not had any problems with mine. I recently discovered how to automatically return the king pin to the height I de-coupled at. Very cool


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice! I guess I should've watched that DVD first.

[JAbraham03]

Originally Posted by Canonman

My answer was to go to "Manual Mode" and just level the darn thing.
Good to know about the three hole thing too. I have had mine complete the auto process with more than three holes showing though.

I have had more than 3 holes also, but when I called tech support at Lippert because no matter what I did I couldnt get the error to clear even after raising the jacks. He stated something to the effect of it throws off the travel that the controller knows. I am sure it is hit or miss. It also took me a while to determine how to auto retract them all when the error comes up until I found the 6" extension requirements for all the legs otherwise it starts to retract then beeps and errors out.

[JohnnyRad]

Good news, after taking the advice on here, I pulled the cover off and disconnected the wires. After waiting a minute I plugged everything back in and all is well. The display works as it should. I guess it had something to do with the battery going dead. Once again thanks everyone for the information and suggestions!

[Sparky1966]

When we purchased ours, the technician said we should never have more than three holes difference between the left and right legs or you will get an error. Almost every rig on the lot had more than three holes showing on the legs and had no issues.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by Sparky1966

When we purchased ours, the technician said we should never have more than three holes difference between the left and right legs or you will get an error. Almost every rig on the lot had more than three holes showing on the legs and had no issues.

Welcome to the forum

Lipperts ground control 3.0 has improved alot since it's introduction.

What your tech meant was the front legs shouldn't have more than three hole difference, not more than 3 holes showing. That means if the right leg has say 8 holes showing then the left leg should have only 5-11 holes showing.

You should have received a DVD explaining the leveling system, but not all the quirks are explained. The system counts rotations to know how far each leg is extended. I have seen an error if the front legs are too far from even, which is why I tell my customers to use blocks under one jack to keep the number of holes showing close to the same.

Some people have zero issues even with both front legs extended with a bigger difference than 3 holes, and I've had customers get errors with 3 hole difference.

Clearing jack "errors" does require extending all the jacks at least 4" and then auto retracting all jacks to "re home" the system. I've done it with NOTHING under the king pin as it does set the front end all the way down, and you don't want to set the front onto anything that can damage the unit?

[JAbraham03]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Welcome to the forum

Lipperts ground control 3.0 has improved alot since it's introduction.

What your tech meant was the front legs shouldn't have more than three hole difference, not more than 3 holes showing. That means if the right leg has say 8 holes showing then the left leg should have only 5-11 holes showing.

You should have received a DVD explaining the leveling system, but not all the quirks are explained. The system counts rotations to know how far each leg is extended. I have seen an error if the front legs are too far from even, which is why I tell my customers to use blocks under one jack to keep the number of holes showing close to the same.

Some people have zero issues even with both front legs extended with a bigger difference than 3 holes, and I've had customers get errors with 3 hole difference.

Clearing jack "errors" does require extending all the jacks at least 4" and then auto retracting all jacks to "re home" the system. I've done it with NOTHING under the king pin as it does set the front end all the way down, and you don't want to set the front onto anything that can damage the unit?

This makes way more sense! I thought that it was dumb that they would have made the legs so long if you couldn't use them. I have also had them error out if one of the legs goes into a hole. Just wish they had a better way to re-home them without having to hook it all back to the truck.

Thanks for the info!

[NotyetMHCowner]

Mine has part of the jacks that I can pull a pin and drop the feet closer to the ground to help with uneven ground. These have holes in them. The part of the jacks that operate with the leveling system do not have holes, they are smooth and square. So on mine, I can have a bunch of holes on one side and none on the other. The auto level doesn't know the difference.

The problems I have had were because of too small of wire running to the controller (I added #4 awg) and pulling 60 amps with a 40 amp breaker from the factory (I replaced with a 80 amp breaker). Details are on another thread.

[NotyetMHCowner]

I have "out of stroke" problems again with ours. This is so aggravating to have to extend then retract all the jacks especially when one of them wont extend with weight on it. I have had to get my 8 ton bottle jack out of the truck more than once to "help" one of the front landing gear get extended enough to retract all the way once again to rehome the jacks. This is so stupid. I know they programed it to keep us from twisting the frame too much and things like that, but I think once I put it in manual mode, I should be able to turn the camper over on its side if I want to!! Its mine!! I pay the insurance on it!!

I hate to think that I have to drive over boards and get it level before the auto level system will level it. That's its job, since it was a $3k option. Auto level should mean auto level. I have tried to add and subtract boards under the jacks to anticipate how extended they will be when level so that they are not more than 2 inches difference between them. But when the camp site is sitting several inches down on one side, it just doesn't work right and always throws the error.

It does work perfectly on high dollar concrete pads!!

[chuckster57]

Ground control 3.0 is very sensitive to low voltage. Turn the system on and scroll until you see battery voltage. Anything below about 12.5 is where we see that happen. Easiest fix is to plug in. Happens to us if a unit is dropped off for service and sits.

The other issue is the limited amount of travel the rear jacks have. Blocks will help and yeah the fronts don’t like to be more than 2 holes different, again blocks help.

[KOZKO]

How far is your landing gear off the ground before you start? I had problems by starting out at 6”-8”. Now I put “lego” blocks under all 4 jacks so once I start “drop front jacks” and “auto level” they only move about 3”-4” before the touch down.