Grounded by Ground control

[Lantley]

As I was attempting to hook up the trailer this afternoon. Discovered touch pad for my leveling system had gone kaput.
The keypad was locked into Retract all Jacks mode and I could not stop it. So it sucked in all the jacks. The nose of trailer went straight to the ground and I was dead in the water.
To Lippert's credit I was able to get someone on the phone in customer service. Customer service, technical Support person walked me through some steps and we determined that my keypad was bad It needed to be replaced. There are sending to me one free of charge.
But this weekend's camping trip has been canceled. On the bright side I am glad this happened in my driveway and not at the campground.
It would have been a much bigger issue at the campground.
I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but the camper is sitting as low as it possibly can all Jacks are fully retracted. It's essentially stuck in that position.
I unloaded my fridge and turned it off because I didn't want it working while it was that unlevel.

 

[Bozo]

Holy buckets! Definitely dodged a bullet with it happening at home instead of out camping.

 

[M and E]

As I was attempting to hook up the trailer this afternoon. Discovered touch pad for my leveling system had gone kaput.
The keypad was locked into Retract all Jacks mode and I could not stop it. So it sucked in all the jacks. The nose of trailer went straight to the ground and I was dead in the water.
To Lippert's credit I was able to get someone on the phone in customer service. Customer service, technical Support person walked me through some steps and we determined that my keypad was bad It needed to be replaced. There are sending to me one free of charge.
But this weekend's camping trip has been canceled. On the bright side I am glad this happened in my driveway and not at the campground.
It would have been a much bigger issue at the campground.
I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but the camper is sitting as low as it possibly can all Jacks are fully retracted. It's essentially stuck in that position.
I unloaded my fridge and turned it off because I didn't want it working while it was that unlevel.

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Sorry that the trip was canceled but it sure was a good thing it happened at home. Curious if you know if that is a common failure.

 

[2 Allies]

It happened on our 385FL back in March this year while in Panama City Beach. Got to the camp ground and could not get off the hitch but was level enough for the night. With the help of BryanValRox (member of the forum) , I was able to run the jacks manually with a drill motor at the hydraulic pump and was able to get off the hitch.
Working with Lippert was able to diagnose as a bad keypad. They sent one overnight but at my expense. Changed out and has been flawless since. When pulling the old one out I noticed it had corrosion on the board and attributed it to water infiltration doe to its location in the open propane bay.

 

[BryanValRox]

As I was attempting to hook up the trailer this afternoon. Discovered touch pad for my leveling system had gone kaput.
The keypad was locked into Retract all Jacks mode and I could not stop it. So it sucked in all the jacks. The nose of trailer went straight to the ground and I was dead in the water.
To Lippert's credit I was able to get someone on the phone in customer service. Customer service, technical Support person walked me through some steps and we determined that my keypad was bad It needed to be replaced. There are sending to me one free of charge.
But this weekend's camping trip has been canceled. On the bright side I am glad this happened in my driveway and not at the campground.
It would have been a much bigger issue at the campground.
I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but the camper is sitting as low as it possibly can all Jacks are fully retracted. It's essentially stuck in that position.
I unloaded my fridge and turned it off because I didn't want it working while it was that unlevel.

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View attachment 5904

That really stinks, sorry your trip had to be canceled!

Could you share how this happened? Meaning, did you power open the master 12v and things started to happen. Did you power on the touch pad and it started? Did you press buttons and it started?

I am just curious what the conditions were.

Hopefully any young ones are not to disappointed to be missing out on a Halloween Camping weekend.

 

[Lantley]

That really stinks, sorry your trip had to be canceled!

Could you share how this happened? Meaning, did you power open the master 12v and things started to happen. Did you power on the touch pad and it started? Did you press buttons and it started?

I am just curious what the conditions were.

Hopefully any young ones are not to disappointed to be missing out on a Halloween Camping weekend.

Good question, As best I can tell as soon as I hit the power button on the keypad it went into retract all jack's mode. I was sort of shocked that things started happening as soon as I turned on the power and it took me a moment to figure out what was going on.
The shock of; did I press any buttons, Why is something happening? So there was a brief moment couple of seconds until I figured out what was really happening. Once I figured it out, I started to press buttons to try to get it out of auto retract mode with no success.
I then called Lippert and they diagnosed a bad keypad.
There were no little ones involved in the last minute cancelation, I think the dog was more disappointed than anyone that we suddenly weren't going. .
There were just recent post concerning driving at night. This little mishap happened right at the critical driving and arriving at night departure time due to the delay caused by the faulty keypad. Had I been able to get it going I would have arrived at night, which just kind of made me chuckle because I told myself was no longer arriving at night. But in the RV world we know things happen and the best made plans often don't work out. Who would have guessed A faulty keypad would have canceled my trip at the last second not minute but second LOL

 

[Lantley]

It happened on our 385FL back in March this year while in Panama City Beach. Got to the camp ground and could not get off the hitch but was level enough for the night. With the help of BryanValRox (member of the forum) , I was able to run the jacks manually with a drill motor at the hydraulic pump and was able to get off the hitch.
Working with Lippert was able to diagnose as a bad keypad. They sent one overnight but at my expense. Changed out and has been flawless since. When pulling the old one out I noticed it had corrosion on the board and attributed it to water infiltration doe to its location in the open propane bay.

Lippert has a video made by them on how to replace the keypad. Which tells me it's a known problem that they are well aware of and it is a lot more common than I realized.
You raise an interesting point with the corrosion. Mine is in the open propane bay as well, except it is in a sealed enclosure. However half of the enclosure is cut away, such that it's not really in an enclosure. Exposing the rear of the keypad maybe at the root of the issue.
Lastly I drove through a big rainstorm on my last trip, which now makes me wonder was that the last straw for the keypad!

 

[M and E]

I hit the power button on the keypad it went into retract all jack's mode.

I bet the pucker factor could have cracked a walnut.

 

[Lantley]

I bet the pucker factor could have cracked a walnut.

In hindsight there could have really been a hazardous situation. I was attempting to hook up ,everything was clear around the RV.
However I could have turned on that power button without everything being clear. Be it something under the trailer or something near the trailer could have easily been damaged or hurt.

 

[Bozo]

It happened on our 385FL back in March this year while in Panama City Beach. Got to the camp ground and could not get off the hitch but was level enough for the night. With the help of BryanValRox (member of the forum) , I was able to run the jacks manually with a drill motor at the hydraulic pump and was able to get off the hitch.
Working with Lippert was able to diagnose as a bad keypad. They sent one overnight but at my expense. Changed out and has been flawless since. When pulling the old one out I noticed it had corrosion on the board and attributed it to water infiltration doe to its location in the open propane bay.

Good observation and point about the corrosion. I will be taking steps to mitigate that issue. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Bozo]

This is something new to watch out for, could you imagine having truck under it but hitch not engaged yet. That would really tick a guy off.

 

[Lantley]

This is something new to watch out for, could you imagine having truck under it but hitch not engaged yet. That would really tick a guy off.

Yes the disastrous possibilities are endless. Something else I will consider. I've seen keypads now on eBay in the $50 range. I don't know if they're new or used. I haven't researched it that much because I don't know the exact model I need at this point. I want to wait and see what model Lippert sends me.
That said, if I could find a spare model in the $50 range I will probably buy a spare just to have it. Knowing the potential for failure without warning is out there, I don't want to experience this twice. If I can buy insurance for $50.
Uh Driving the car and staying at a hotel is looking better all the time LOL.!

 

[Lantley]

Good observation and point about the corrosion. I will be taking steps to mitigate that issue. Thanks for the heads up!

I am also curious if the back of your keypad is exposed to the elements. Like I said mine was in an enclosure but half of the enclosure was cut off on the inside exposing the back of the unit. I'm assuming this was done at the factory but I'm wondering why now? Was it intended for the keypad to be fully enclosed and not exposed to the elements? It seems odd that it would be in an enclosure but the enclosure cut open LOL. Only to hear that the keypads may fail from corrosion. I guess it's just one more bad luck thing or poor quality control provided by the RV industry.

 

[RoadJunkie]

Lippert has a video made by them on how to replace the keypad. Which tells me it's a known problem that they are well aware of and it is a lot more common than I realized.
You raise an interesting point with the corrosion. Mine is in the open propane bay as well, except it is in a sealed enclosure. However half of the enclosure is cut away, such that it's not really in an enclosure. Exposing the rear of the keypad maybe at the root of the issue.
Lastly I drove through a big rainstorm on my last trip, which now makes me wonder was that the last straw for the keypad!

The known problem is that the control units are installed without water protection coverage. One of my first mods was to build a water resistant cover for the panel.

 

[Lantley]

The known problem is that the control units are installed without water protection coverage. One of my first mods was to build a water resistant cover for the panel.

My control panel doesn't have a cover either but at least it's not exposed to the elements quite like touchpad which is in the propane area which is wide open to the elements. The control panel is on the ceiling of the front storage area and not nearly as exposed to the elements but it does not have a cover so there is some exposure. However the storage area while not climate controlled is for the most part dry and not open to the elements. I cannot say the same for the propane storage area which is totally exposed to the elements at the floor level.

 

[Oregon_Camper]

Everyone should learn how to manually extend/retract their landing gear (and slide outs)
Here is the Alliance video on how to do this...many more on YouTube

 

[Lantley]

Thanks Jim that is very good info. I will follow up with that tomorrow and maybe raise my rig off the ground.
Luckily my mishap happened at home but if I were in The campground That info would have been vital.

 

[Bozo]

I am also curious if the back of your keypad is exposed to the elements. Like I said mine was in an enclosure but half of the enclosure was cut off on the inside exposing the back of the unit. I'm assuming this was done at the factory but I'm wondering why now? Was it intended for the keypad to be fully enclosed and not exposed to the elements? It seems odd that it would be in an enclosure but the enclosure cut open LOL. Only to hear that the keypads may fail from corrosion. I guess it's just one more bad luck thing or poor quality control provided by the RV industry.

I will try and take a look today if I get time.

 

[Flyer32RLS]

Is there any option for the electric legs to manually extend/retract?

 

[Lantley]

Is there any option for the electric legs to manually extend/retract?

My paradigm has only hydraulic activated legs. There are no electric legs for paradigm however there is a manual operation I'm sure there's manual operation for the electrics as well. My last rig had electric legs.
Bryan posted a video above concerning manually operating hydraulics.
Below is a video I found with a little more detail on operating hydraulic Jacks manually