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Old 05-19-2019, 03:55 PM   #21
Stircrazy
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Originally Posted by jsb5717 View Post
The real issue is whether to lift the tires off the ground or not. I don't know if there is a diffinitive answer but found this

https://www.etrailer.com/question-258321.html

And this from the manual

Never lift the unit completely off the ground. Lifting the unit so the wheels are not touching the ground will create an unstable and unsafe condition.
that's a liability statement, I talked to them one day when I first got mine to see if I could use the system to change a tire. they said oh ya there is no issue lifting the tires off the ground. so take everything with a grain of salt.

Steve
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Old 05-23-2019, 08:01 AM   #22
babaloo
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Yes !...Thats what I do with my Cougar 279 RKSWE. Level L to R with blocks.....then watch my bubbles for front to back adjustment, finishing off with "auto level". Auto Level can lift tires off the ground quickly, so I disagree with those who say ' I've had my wheels off the ground many times, with no problem'....I'd much rather have those 2 wheels on the ground, than floating and relying on my 2 relatively small electric jacks to pick up the weight on that side, (4 jack Auto Level system). So much more stable with wheels touching AND jacks, and I believe, better for frame as well.
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Old 05-23-2019, 04:56 PM   #23
OregonDuck
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We're at 1 year with the 3.0, 4 point elec system. I've found (as mentioned on older posts in the forum) that you don't want to lower the manual portion of the front jacks all the way to the ground when setting up; rather, leave about 6-7" to the ground, then hit the "drop front jacks" function.

This is specific to helping not lift the tires off the ground. The front jacks need enough extension to lower as much as needed during the auto level. If they don't have much play, the rear jacks overcompensate, lifting the wheels off the ground.

All this said, I've also found that at about 1.5 degrees off level side-to-side at the start (seen on the control pad when we first park) will, on our rig, lift the wheels and cause an out of stroke error regardless of the front jacks. We've been out many many times in our first year with the system, and this has only happened twice. We chose to put blocks under both tires and rear jack; we were more comfortable with wheels on ground for stability. YMMV
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Old 05-23-2019, 05:28 PM   #24
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I will use my lego blocks to level side to side when needed and I have needed to a few times. While there is no issue with flexing the frame lifting the tires off the ground or other concerns like that I just do it because I know I'm going to need blocks under the jacks to prevent the out of stroke issue. I do really like the system though. You will get to learn about the quirks and how to deal with them. They are minor really.
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Old 05-26-2019, 04:14 AM   #25
jimborokz
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I park at the same winter site ever year. The first year I had the level up system I put one 2x10 under the right to "pre-level" r to L as I used to with my old rig. In the PDI the dealer told me it needed to be very close to level for the system to work. After going to sites worse than mine and having no issue I now just hit the auto level and it does fine and all wheels stay on the ground. If I had a tire come off the ground I would likely move to a different site or block the tire to keep it in contact just so the suspension is not hanging. I have not encountered a site that is that bad. I would raise high enough to get a tire off the ground to change a tire but not for a longer period with the slides out.
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Old 05-28-2019, 03:12 AM   #26
NotyetMHCowner
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Well we are on year 4 with Ground Control 3.0, and even so most of the time it works great, a lot of times it does not. The problem is always "out of stroke" even so that is not true. I have read a lot about this system since we bought it and apparently if one side of the jacks is 2" or more than the other side, you will get "out of stroke" as a safety feature because it thinks it might be twisting the frame. We have been to lots of uneven campsites and trying to judge how much to let the manual part of the front jacks down so that the end result is within 2" between the two is pain. I have had it to the dealer twice about this and they just say it works as designed.

The biggest aggravating thing about this "out of stroke" error is that it will not reset by itself without manually retracting all jacks so they can "home" themselves. This requires hooking the truck back up because if not, the front jacks strain too much to lift from being bottomed out. Over the years, I have found little things to do to try to have success but I have cussed this system out loud many many times. I may just have a "lemon" but I will never have it again. I will only have level up in the future.
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Old 06-02-2019, 06:01 AM   #27
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It sure sounds like your GC 3.0 is having problem and you're dealer is not helping. Have you called Lippert?

I've gotten the Out of Stroke error a few times. In each case, I just press Auto Level again and it levels the trailer. I've never, ever had to re-home the jacks.

I do *not* pre-level the trailer before auto-leveling it. I will place some of those yellow square plastic pads under the low-side leveling legs, but that's it. Works great every time.
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Old 06-02-2019, 06:43 AM   #28
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"out of stroke" shouldn't cause you to rehome the jacks. We have retracted all without it being hooked to anything with no problems. The trick as we have found is the front landing gear don't like being more than 2 holes different and no more than 8-10 holes showing.
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Old 06-02-2019, 08:33 AM   #29
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During our PDI we were encouraged not to extend the front jacks beyond 8 holes as well. Seems to be good advice that helps stability and allows the system to work as well as possible. Use blocks to make up the difference.
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Old 06-02-2019, 10:44 AM   #30
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To be clear, the error message I actually get is "out of stroke" and "retract all jacks". It goes on to tell me which jack is out of stroke (that's how I know for sure that it is not out of stroke). It also tells me I can manually retract all jacks or hold the retract button. That is all it allows. Nothing else. So I have not choice to retract all of them and start over. This has happened many times over the last 4 years.

The reason I hook back up and not let the jacks all the way down is because they strain so hard and sometimes one of the front jacks just quits raising. One of our first trips was headed out west. Our first night we stayed at a site that was downhill. I had to drop the jacks all the way without pulling the pin to show the "holes", so that when the truck was out of the way the camper could drop low enough to level. Well I spent an hour on the phone with Lippert the next morning trying to get both jacks to raise. Tech support just came to the conclusion that battery voltage was too low. Well it probably was by then. So I had to get the bottle jack out of the truck and help raise the camper back up to get hooked. This isn't the only time I have had to do this. I have since then replaced the 40amp breaker with a 80 amp breaker and I have added a #6awg wire in parallel with the factory wire to the auto level controller to help with voltage drop. I also have 4 golf cart batteries. I have never had another problem with the breaker kicking and low voltage.


One thing I have noticed if I have lowered the front way down is they seem to get in a bind when raising because of the camper "settling in" then when raising, the jacks are a little too far forward or too far backward. For instance, as I am dropping it down on the truck and the weight is coming off the jacks, they sometimes "scoot" up to an inch or so on the ground to find their "neutral". Even as recent as last fall I had to use the bottle jack to raise the front left jack. The FR lifts just fine but the FL just doesn't lift the weight of the camper. When I help it with the jack, it raises. My pin weight is 3660, so I know its more than most, but two 5,000 pound rated front jacks should never have a problem.

I had the camper in for warranty work (extended warranty) right before it expired in April, and asked them again to look into these problems. I asked them to find out if there had been any software updates made with GC 3.0 since ours was made in 2015. Of course the answer was no (imagine that).

We have an Andersen Ultimate fifth wheel connection hitch, so that is why I have to raise it off of the truck and drop it back down on the truck (instead of just dropping jacks and driving out from under it).
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Old 06-02-2019, 11:10 AM   #31
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GC 3.0 is voltage sensitive. 12.7 on the display before you start anything or it might error out.
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Old 06-02-2019, 11:12 AM   #32
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I never lift the camper without being hooked to the truck and idling. That way I have around 13 volts or more.
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Old 06-02-2019, 11:15 AM   #33
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When you're connected to the truck, you're reading the charging voltage, not the battery voltage - it's not the same.
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Old 06-02-2019, 11:16 AM   #34
chuckster57
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NotyetMHCowner View Post
I never lift the camper without being hooked to the truck and idling. That way I have around 13 volts or more.


One last thing. Has anybody dropped the coroplast and checked the rear sensor? It has to be SOLID against its mount.
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Old 06-02-2019, 11:17 AM   #35
NotyetMHCowner
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It will strain too hard if not assisted by either the truck or shore power and shore power is only a trickle charge, so the best help is with the trucks alternator assisting.
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Old 06-02-2019, 11:19 AM   #36
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Low voltage is no longer a problem with my setup. Just the stupid "out of stroke" error.
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Old 06-02-2019, 11:20 AM   #37
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It will strain too hard if not assisted by either the truck or shore power and shore power is only a trickle charge, so the best help is with the trucks alternator assisting.
I'm not sure where you heard that, but shore power 12VDC output from the converter/charger is upwards of 25-75 amps at 13.6 VDC, depending on the other 12 volt load on the converter. That's significantly MORE amperage than you'll ever get through the tow vehicle "7 pin plug".....
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Old 06-02-2019, 11:22 AM   #38
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Not if my batteries are 100%, right?
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Old 06-02-2019, 11:30 AM   #39
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I have put a VOM meter on the battery posts while operating GC 3.0. Display showed 12.9 and when the system started operating the VOM showed dips to 11.9 on a brand new battery.

I too spent 2 1/2 hrs with LCI tech support, and was told if the voltage dropped below 12.0 for any length of time, errors would probably occur.

I then plugged into shore power, display showed 13.4, VOM showed a dip to 12.1 during operation.

Been a while so I don’t remember what fixed it, but I think the battery was changed.

Fast forward a few months and a unit with GC 3.0 6 point. Intermittent failure, out of stroke and Jack error. Ended up being the rear sensor was loose.
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Old 06-02-2019, 01:59 PM   #40
NotyetMHCowner
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I just checked real quick while outside: on battery power only, 12.8 resting (I had just unplugged my shore power) and 12.2 raising front jacks. I did this a few times and got it down to 12.0 battery only. Plugged back into shore power and shows 13.4 resting and 12.3 raising. It did drop to 12.2 raising the third time.

Before I added the second #6awg wire, it dropped below 12 anytime I was raising the front jacks. I have never received a low voltage error, but I did not like the voltage drop of the little factory wire.

When I get some time, I will put a volt meter on the batteries and look at the difference between the battery voltage and the auto level voltage.

Like I said before, I do not have a voltage problem (or at least that is not the major problem). I have an issue with whatever causes the "out of stroke" & "retract all jacks" problem that causes such a fuss at the campground. And this has never been a problem on virtually level sites. It is always when side to side is a problem or having to drop the front way down.
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