Auto leveling - voltage drop

[Puddle Pirate]

I would suggest doing a load test on your battery's ----- with a old school battery tester that looks like a old school hand-held toaster---Harbor freight- $20 bucks ish-----

[Ranger431]

Originally Posted by poohbear

If they were the rv dealers install probably cheapest made battery on the planet

I think they are Energizer 9 volts - not the no name brands!


LOL.

[JimD]

The service department carries a wide range of batteries.

[mopluv]

Check all battery and large electrical connections. I found many not tight, and also found hardly none of the cable connections tight. Manufacturers just don't take the time, just get it built.

[ccsest]

I had the same problem and was very frustrated until I spoke to Lippert. The system needs VERY GOOD batteries at full charge. Having my unit in storage, picking it up and heading for a destination was not enough to get an adequate charge on two group 24 batteries.

I upgraded to three group 27 batteries and added one 195 solar panel. Problem solved. I have not had low voltage problems in three years now.

On another note, my battery storage is very tight, making it hard to check water levels. I am looking into a water maintenance system. system

[Paul Henry]

Follow your battery 12V leads back to a panel behind a basement wall where there are multiple connections. On my 2017 Jayco Pinnacle all 8 connections found there were not even hand tight. Securing those connections fixed my low voltage woes when leveling.

Originally Posted by Ranger431

Wanted to see if this makes sense to anyone. I took my 2020 355MBQS in for some minor warranty work. One of the things on the list was sometimes when running off of just the batteries on the fifth wheel (no shore power and not connected to the truck) and I’m using the auto leveling system it will fault and the error code is something related to a voltage drop. He said everything checked out, and it had something to do with the residential fridge (even though it happens when the cooling is turned off). It has two batteries, but he said adding more wouldn’t help, because it doesn’t raise the voltage.

I won’t auto level with the truck under the nose of course, but I have pulled my truck next to the trailer and used the cord.

Thoughts?

[JDsRVcrzy]

Originally Posted by ccsest

I had the same problem and was very frustrated until I spoke to Lippert. The system needs VERY GOOD batteries at full charge. Having my unit in storage, picking it up and heading for a destination was not enough to get an adequate charge on two group 24 batteries.

I upgraded to three group 27 batteries and added one 195 solar panel. Problem solved. I have not had low voltage problems in three years now.

On another note, my battery storage is very tight, making it hard to check water levels. I am looking into a water maintenance system. system

I know, I Know... Old thread... But, I think its worth reviving since there's no closure on this one. And!!! I have the same issue. Took it in to the dealership and they blamed a resetable breaker in the battery box.. Well, brought it home after 6 months for repairs and my 6v x 6v batteries would no longer hold a charge. Never felt they had enough cracking amps for the hydrolic levels anyways..

Went out an got the size 24 AGM batteries because thats what fit in the battery bay and I have 400w solar that should be enough to keep the batteries going? Right? Also, I got better things I can be doing than constantly watering batteries??? Once a month? REALLY??? Also, we not big dry campers. Always on land power when were not traveling.

Anyways, brought the AGM's home and put them on the trickle charger for full charge before I installed them. First thing I did was raised the leveler legs, got the dreaded "low voltage!!!" Guess I'm going to be doing some crawling around to tighten some wires and clean some grounds up....I will report my results.. stay tuned..

[JDsRVcrzy]

Cleaned up some of my grounds and found a plastic MP 50amp short stop circuit that was barely working. Replaced it with a Bussman type 1 metal 50 amp short stop circuit and now all my voltages at on point.

[F350guy]

I haven't tested my new lithium set up by doing auto level with no shore power but I did try the front jacks as I have to do that with some regularity. I couldn't tell the difference between shore power and no shore power in how they operated. My previous 2 6 volts always struggled. I did watch my monitor while operating the fronts and it showed I was using 50 amps while they were working. Not sure if that means much but thought I would share that info.

[JDsRVcrzy]

Interesting you say this. I watched my voltage display on Solar controller vs. voltage on displayed on my inverter vs. the voltage shown on leveling display. Solar controller vs. voltage on displayed on my inverter have always matched or slightly different. However, what had been displayed on the leveling display has off by 2 to 2.5 volts. Completing this fix, all the voltages displayed now match. I don't know if clean up the ground connections was the major fix, but I'm certain the short stop circuit breaker did.. It appears the auxiliary terminal had been over torqued which is evident the terminal was loose and the top of the housing was cracked...

I can't understand why my dealer technician couldn't figure this out....

I couldn't locate the original plastic Mechanical Products 50 amp short stop circuit breaker anywhere so I went with a Bussman 50 amp short stop breaker.