"Jacks Down" alarm is constant

All,

After fueling up I pulled out of the service station and across the main road in Naples, Italy. We had had a long drive and my brain was not not fully engaged so I didn't notice the big dip in the road as I pulled out. The result was that I drove one of the jacks in to the (freshly laid) tarmac on the service station as the tail dropped. The "Jacks Down" alarm came on immediately so I stopped at the side of the road. After checking all round the jacks were all retracted. I then got called back across the road by the owner of the service station who was ranting about the massive hole and scrape I had left on his forecourt. When I saw the damage to the tarmac I thought the worst for the RV.

We left fairly quickly as the area in Naples looked pretty damn unfriendly and proceeded for a couple of miles to the camp ground (alarm still going off). When we arrived the jacks extended without a problem so I am pretty sure that I haven't bent one of the rear legs however I need to fix the alarm situation.

Any thoughts on what might of happened, knocked a cable off to the jack alarm or is it more serious than that?

p.s you guys have been lifesavers whilst we have been on our tour of Europe, always feel like there is someone who can help at the end of the internet. Thanks again.

Yours

Dumb RV Driver that needs to concentrate more!  :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[

Check on top of your jack, there should be a switch and some wires. Maybe something came loose there.

The only other thing I know of is if your Hydraulic tank is low you will get a jack down alarm, some systems go by fluid level to tell if they are up.

Capt Steve,

Many thanks for your rapid response, I will check the top of the jack.

With regard to checking the fluid level, I made this mistake when we were travelling through France. The rear right Jack would not retract so I checked the levels. It wasn't even registering on the dipstick so I stupidly filled it up. When I finally got the jack back up (with a bar!) the fluid tank overflowed everywhere. I have been told that I should check the levels when the jacks are retracted and the slide is back in, is this correct?

By the way, ever since I did this we have had hydraulic problems. The right rear never fully retracts and I have to persuade it the last few inches with a bar and some light pressure. Also the slide won't extend without the jacks being down first which was never a problem before. Someone has said that I may have caused a hydraulic lock when I overfilled the tank. Probably not even worth mentioning however better to get the full picture.

Thanks again for your help.

Yes, fill the tank with jacks up and slides in. It sounds like your tank might still be a little overfull. If the level switch triggers it tells the jacks that they are up and stops.

But that is unrelated to this issue. Hopefully this is something simple to fix.

On a workaround, If you can't find the issue and need to go somewhere to have i looked at, you can effectively silence the alarm by triggering your parking bake switch. Either at the switch or by pushing the brake down just one click. NOT enough to drag the brake but enough to hit the switch and silence the alarm. Of course make sure the jacks are up first! lol

Steve

Steve,

Don't get me started on AutoPark, after the jack incident the AP failed spraying hydraulic fluid under the coach and applying the brake on the motorway. After 40 mins on the hard shoulder and a top up of fluid we were able to limp in to Macon. At Macon I took the AP apart and removed the hydraulic connection thus making it a man system. Due to running with a faulty AP I have burnt away the shoes somewhat and now have to chock the wheels on an incline.

The alarm sounds with the brake applied or released and always has unless the jacks are retracted. I was thinking of getting at the buzzer to disconnect it. I have piece of mind because I always walk round the RV before we leave to check the jacks even if the panel states they are retracted.

The issue I have is that we are travelling Europe for 6 mths (2mths in) and currently in Italy, I would not trust an Italian mechanic based on the standard of cars they produce and the fact that as we have an RV everyone we meet in Europe thinks we are rich so the price for everything rises.

Many thanks again

Ian

If you have an HWH jack system, if you disconnect the two wire electrical plug on the top of the jack, it will stop the buzzer. Takes care of the symptom but not the problem. Maybe when you hit the pavement, you broke the magnetic switch in the jack itself and therefore causing the system to think that the jack is extended. there is a very small tolerance in this switch and if the jack is extended even 1/16" it will set off the alarm.

Pete

I think you are misjudging Italian mechanics and vehicles. I had the opportunity to see how good they were when I had a break down in 1963 just outside Milan on the Autostrada, mechanic came with a pre war fiat and a device to pull a stranded vehicle. I believe that was the fastest my VW had ever gone. We were fixed and on our way in about 2hrs, this was at about 1:00am. In 2007 we rented a Dethleffs Class A motor home in Germany, it had a Fiat chassis. We were the first renters and it had 26Km on it. In 5,470Km not a single problem and it had unbelievable power in the Alps.

Or you can do as I do.  I have one jack that occasionally doesn't want to retract all the way.  So I "help" it all the way up (I use a device that I had made that looks like a see saw) and it retracts fully and the alarm goes off.

And if you have power gear.. With the JACKS fully retracted, Top off the jack fluid (normally Dextron III) in the tank  The jack alarm on a Power Gear is a float switch in the tank, Tank not full, Jacks must be down you see.

Gents,

Thanks for all your advice (point taken about the Italians ).

I am going to drop the RV off the jacks today and move on to hard standing to check out the wiring/fluid levels.

Will keep you posted to my findings, many thanks again

According to my HWH manual it say not to turn the jacks off after they retract.  They will turn themselves off put the solenoids will remain in the 'jacks up' position so that if any pressure builds up (as in an expansion due to temperature increase) it will drain off.

The way the alarm works depends on the jacks.  Powergear (Kwickee) have a switch at the top of each jack that closes when the Jack is up.  Pressure can build up on a hot day and extend a jack just enough to set off the down alarm (according the the Techs at Powergear).  The solution in this case (according to PG Techs) is to top stop and retract the jacks again.  Or, if you have broken one of the two wires coming off the top of each jack, this will set off the alarm in a continuous fashion.  I have a new MH with Powergears and last weekend experienced intermittent chirping (jacks down alarm).  Warranty work at dealer worthless.  They added fluid to reservoir (overfilled) as low fluid in reservoir can be a problem but overfilling really does not help.  Then the techs did not get the breather cap on tight and the system threw fluid out upon operation and the chirping was not helped at all.  I took fluid out so that I am indicating almost full on the dipstick without screwing in the breather cap (level well above add mark) to stop fluid blow out.  Then I inspected the wires from the switches on top of the jacks and found that one was almost completely frayed through (thoughtless installers had routed in around a brace very tightly so naturally it wore through very quickly).  I spliced in a new wire section and rerouted to avoid future problems.  Voila, problem solved.  I really wonder about the knowledge of folks that work on MHs.  I have never been a tech but it seems to me that the first thing I would look for is a fault in a switch wire.  The folks at Powergear told me in a email how the switches work and then it was easy to do this simple inspection.  You would think an experienced tech might just take a look at switch wires rather than overfilling a reservoir.   

Uh, HWH uses the switch at the top of the jack,  Unless they have changed Power Gear uses a float switch in the tank that holds the jack fluid,, If you are down a bit on fluid, BEEP Annoying BEEP BEEP BEEP is a happening thing.. I should know, Have power gear.

John has it correct. Power Gear uses a float switch in the reservoir to indicate jacks up or down.  I'm not sure how their ill fated electrical jacks handled the situation.

I have Kwickee (now powergear) jacks on my 37G 08 Winnebago Destination and it does not use a float in the tank for jacks down.  It has a switch on top of each jack (ala HWH).  This was confirmed both by Powergear technical folks and by the fact that I found a nearly broken wire on the right front jack switch that was causing my intermittent beeping.  I do not know about newer or non-Winnebago installations.  The jack system on my Destination is labelled, Winnebago Kwickee.  Just goes to show that one size never fits all in the MH business.

I'm not sure when, and why, the Kwikee and Power Gear team-up was made, but it appears it was not for product quality improvement purposes.

I lived in Italy for 12 years. If you have any association with the U.S. Military there are a number of bases throught Europe that have auto hobby shops.  Maybe someone can assist you there.  Just a suggestion...

Thanks guys,

Due to time constraints and the outside temp in the late 90's I disabled the alarm. This worked as a temp fix however I am not in a good place to inspect the jack (ants everywhere). We are moving on to Sicily tomorrow so hopefully I will get chance to get underneath.

As always thank you all for being my lifeline in Europe.

Will update

Ian

we have been on our tour of Europe

Click to expand...

Not to change the subject, but I've been watching the photography section and haven't yet seen any photos of Italy. May we expect some soon?

-Roni

Yeah Ian!!!

We demand pictures!!! or, or, or, we won't post till we see some! (stomping foot)

;D ;D ;D