happi jac's

[arnoldziffle]

Was in a conversation with an insurance appraiser today regarding some minor damage to my NL 8-11 Q Classic (fiberglass). As my camper is off the truck and sitting on the jacks he mentioned that he has had at least 3 claims where the happi jac system has shorted out and the jacks have moved on their own, tipping the camper. He said to pop the breaker ie: take the power away from the board and of course that would stop any movement. Although Northern Lite says you can leave the camper on its legs, this could be a rare event that could possibly happen. This year in storage I left the camper on its legs (lazy). Normally I put pallets under the camper and just use the legs to give a bit of stability. So just to be on the safe side I have cut the power to the happi jac panel. PS: what ever happened to the NortherLite.org site? john on Vancouver Island, BC, Canda

[burningman]

Solved. One 75-amp push/pull switch, one piece of metal bent 90 degrees with a hammer and a vise and a few holes drilled in it (to mount the switch),a few inches of 10-gauge wire, a male and a female insulated flat spade connector and two ring terminal connectors and three small wood screws.
The 12V power feed that originally went to the controller goes instead to the switch, then from the switch to the controller.
I’d suggest anyone with any wireless jack controller do this.

[bigfootford]

Adding a cutoff switch for the power to my HJ's was one of the first things I did when we got our BF camper back in 2000.

I put the switch right by the back door so I can reach it standing outside the camper!

It is a 50 amp switch push pull type.

Max current I have measured raising my camper is 35-40 amps.

Two reasons for the switch:

1. An electronic failure of the control chip or drivers for the Jacks power could make one or more jacks to run!

2. Why have power to something that you rarely use?

Jim

[HMS_Beagle]

I've had this happen. When I picked up my first Bigfoot camper from the dealer, it was raining lightly. We put the camper on the truck and stepped inside to get out of the rain. We had left the wired controller hanging on the door for the cable connection. After awhile I looked out and saw one jack moving, it had already hit the ground and was picking up that corner of the camper intent on overturning it. I ran out and unplugged the remote, which stopped it. Water had gotten into the RJ45 connector, and activated one jack.

My current Bigfoot (10 years newer) has the RF remote. There have been a couple of occasions operating the jacks when they continued to move after the buttons were released. I don't know if this would stop given time - and I was unwilling to invest the time - so I began pushing all the buttons in a bit of a panic and it stopped.

[arnoldziffle]

just an add on after last post regarding RF jacks. I have the old style hand controller with the telephone cord connection so the neighbour can't move my happi's AZ

[arnoldziffle]

My NL is 10 yrs old. It has 2 different model Happi's. I do not have the ones that you can release the legs. However, I believe the issue is that in very rare instances (moisture ingress on the main board) there could be a situation where the jacks could activate on their own. I keep my camper on shore power all the time when at home (power air dryers etc.). Even if I did not have the shore power on, the batteries are still live. I have a battery turn off switch in the camper that NL's come with, but I believe that just stops the panel from overcharging the batteries (which shouldn't happen if you have changed your converter from the old paralex models). Anyhow I have just unplugged the hot to the board and will probably just add a rocker switch later this year. AZ in beautiful BC

[Kayteg1]

I own 2 campers with Atwood jacks.
Atwood jack are activated by time switch that turns off after a minute or 2.
But all remotes operate on the same frequency and if you have your jacks activated and your neighbor operates his remote at the same time - your jacks will respond to neighbor remote.
I had my 2 campers sitting in different corners on my driveway when I work on them and would I not make a habit to make front front support when I drop them, I very likely would end with tipped over camper.
At 2.5-3 tons supported by "toothpick" jacks it doesn't take much.

[K_Mac]

Did you happen to get any model #'s that it was more prone too, older,or later model's ?

[work2much]

Never heard of such a thing. I think I would be more worried about the jacks coming down while driving. When stored I completely switch power off to the camper.

[JimK-NY]

I have never had or heard of Happijacs just starting to lower or raise position on their own. That was be a b...tch if it occurred while driving.

For storage I put pallets under the camper. Mostly I am concerned about swaying during heavy winds. Eventually the swaying could damage the camper.

[AnEv942]

I had added power switches inside the camper to our non-remote controlled Atwood jacks. There was no way to kill power to them short of unplugging at the head, wired directly to batteries. Ours have rocker switches on the jack head so I saw as a potential problem. Whether going down the road or setting on the jacks at camp, even though highly unlikely, shorting or water intrusion causing jacks to travel on their own could be disastrous.
Couple of 50 amp toggle switches easy enough.
I was under the impression that many campers had a means to de-energize jacks?

[54suds]

as much as I post negative about CRAPPI jacks lack of quality and what is effectively zero product support this is the first I've heard of this shorting out particular problem. there are many reports of the legs dropping while the truck was moving Also the shut off switch was suggested here before but my less than perfect memory has me thinking it was for a different problem

[burningman]

Wow, that’s got me thinking!
The control module for the Happijacs is in the left rear compartment on my Northern Lite.
I keep the remote in there.
It would be really easy to wire a shutoff switch in the power wire to the module, which would be super convenient to reach when using the jacks.

I’m gonna do that.

Edit: I brought this up on a Northern Lite forum and a guy chimed in saying his did this!
I just now went outside and pulled the power wire off my controller and I’m absolutely going to put on a switch.

[BradW]

First post?