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MongoBadger · 07-04-2018, 09:37 AM

Good morning all and happy independence day, unless you're somewhere else, then happy Wednesday.

My power leveling jacks control panel is not turning on in my 1998 tradewinds 7370. I've read that the key had to be on our the engine running and that the disconnect switch had to be on.

I've tried key out, key too on, and engine ruining toggling my battery disconnect switch to the right and left in each of the above configurations. It's one of those switches that is always in the middle and you push it one way or the other and it bounces back to the middle.

I pulled out the control panel and it is very clean and has no obvious problems, however in googling the past number there is an updated panel, but I see no indications mine is broke.

In the electrics bay I did find a 20 amp circuit breaker that looks like a fuse. I tried putting a 20 amp fuse in its place to see if it's bad, but apartment the pins are different thicknesses so it wasn't a good test.

I've also checked the other fuses in the box and all appear good.

Anyone know how to check these or have any other ideas?

Richard S. · 07-04-2018, 09:48 AM

You may have a fuse block down on the left inside firewall with 4 or 5 fuses. Follow the wire harness from your control panel.

JJH3rd · 07-04-2018, 10:06 AM

The culprit in our MH is the switch on the parking break. If that switch isn't closed, the jacks don't work.

MongoBadger · 07-04-2018, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard S.

You may have a fuse block down on the left inside firewall with 4 or 5 fuses. Follow the wire harness from your control panel.

Found it, nothing labeled for jacks, but there were some mystery fuses that all checked fine. There are also some relays, but they aren't labeled. Do you know if they use a relay?

MongoBadger · 07-04-2018, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJH3rd

The culprit in our MH is the switch on the parking break. If that switch isn't closed, the jacks don't work.

Do you know where this switch is? The parking brake is set, of course, but I can check a switch to see if if that's it.

Also I have this mystery red light that's lit up, is that related do you think?

Edit: I just looked at the bottom of the parking brake switch and there are only 2 air lines going to it and no wires to any sort of switch. Is it supposed to also have electrical lines for that? I took a closer look and I don't see any obvious place to attach them.

MongoBadger · 07-04-2018, 12:08 PM

As an update, I'm looking at this panel and noticed that every whole has a connector inside. I did take a pair of tweezers and widened them to ensure a good connection. However I noticed that the far left pin on the long one and the bottom left on the 6 block have no wire corresponding too them on the plug. This doesn't concern me much as I know this control panel was used on a few different systems, but thought it was worth mentioning. I did hunt around for loose wires and found none and no evidence of tampering either. I also visually confirmed that the buttons on the panel still engage the switches like the should, however I don't have a multimeter to confirm this.

Edit the picture rotated when I uploaded it, imagine it rotated 90 degrees clockwise.

Whaler2 · 07-04-2018, 01:47 PM

On many NRVs the jacks and generator share a relay. See if your gennie will start If so that will eliminate the relay as the culprit. You said you had it running, release and reset your air brakes, make sure it is not in gear or could run through gears while parked and back to neutral. Most likely something simple so start with the simple things.

MongoBadger · 07-04-2018, 02:25 PM

So I haven't had them working, didn't mean to imply that I did. The generator does start I've cycled the air brake and through the gears back to normal. I'm going to catch an uber to the parts store tomorrow and see if I can get a replacement auto resetting breaker/fuse and hope that's it.

Edit: sort of a new development, the red light two pictures up does not turn on when the Jack control panel is unplugged. Also, when the panel is connected the light goes off when the settings are as the manual says they should be to use the jacks. For example when the key is set to off the light is on, but when the key is set to on the light goes off. So it seems to know when it is able to use the jacks, the panel is just not powering on.

Also the light status does not change when the auto resetting breaker/fuse is pulled.

Scooter · 07-04-2018, 09:40 PM

Perhaps the emergency brake has to be engaged.....

MongoBadger · 07-04-2018, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scooter

Perhaps the emergency brake has to be engaged.....

The offering brake is on and I also tried bleeding down the air tanks to force the spring breakers ok. I really think that red light is indicating if it's ok to put the jacks down.

I also found 5 fuses on the controller itself. 3 are 3.5 amp and 2 are 1.6 amp. However, according to a diagram I found from power jacks, it should be 4 3.5 amps and one 1.6 amp. They are funny little round fuses though so I may have to order them online.

Tahiti16 · 07-04-2018, 10:35 PM

Sounds like time for a trip to harbor freight, even their cheapest meter is better than no meter.

Right now are troubleshooting a very big symptom.
You my have progress you don't know about since symptom didn't change.

Meter is lot faster than swapping parts.

MongoBadger · 07-05-2018, 04:27 AM

Good point on the meter, I'll pick one up today as well. I was looking at these panels online and it tells me mine is obsolete and that I need a fancy new upgrade kit. Does anyone know exactly what's obsolete about it? The new product description doesn't say and I'm beginning to think it's just a way to charge more money.

Walter5555 · 07-16-2018, 05:41 PM

The thing that happened to my rig was, my jacks would not go down and I checked just about everything I could with the Electoral system and still could not fine out what the problem was.
Ir took a while and them I asked my self what else makes the jacks go down?
It down on me that my jacks were high hydraulic, so I checked the oil level in the tank which is located under the hood in front of the left front tire.
An low an behold the oil level could not be seen on the dip stick.
After I had added some oil to bring it up to whee it is so-pose to be they work fine.
Hope this will help some one, it solved my problem
Walter5555

TLGPE · 07-22-2018, 12:32 PM

Mongo, this thread is a few days old now, but I noticed that you mentioned having the engine running when you try to level. If you haven't tried with the engine off, maybe you should.

Also, I wonder if that little red light means "NOT IN PARK". That will definitely prevent the jacks from working.

My HWH is having a similar problem, and I'm working with the company to troubleshoot it. My dash light tells me that the brake is set, but the little light is on and the panel will not engage.

This probably no help, but it's all I have to offer.

Tom