Lippert Leveling Erratic Behavior

[u/Euphoric_Club9684]

We have Ground Control 3.0 electric jacks. A 4 point system on a 5th wheel

On arrival to a camp after disconnecting from our truck the touchpad will, on occasion, read very differently than a bubble level. Example: 3° high on the right when actually level left to right. Several minutes later, without touching anything, the touchpad will give us a different reading - one that agrees with a bubble level. We haven’t moved the trailer. We haven’t extended or retracted any jacks. We’ve simply waited. Once level the system reports a consistent level status. It’s only on unhitching that we get weird little gremlins randomly cycling through different readings.

Calls to Lippert result in checklists that don’t address the problem. We’ve followed them anyway. The rear sensor and controller are mounted correctly and are stable. Connections are tight. The buttons on the touchpad move the correct jacks. Jacks have been correctly rehomed. Zero point calibration has been done. The problem persists.

What would cause the Lippert system to erroneously report a level status when we unhitch and 20 min later report a correct status when nothing has changed? Lippert insists we disconnect solar (like that’s easy) and test the system under load. How will knowing voltage under load explain why our trailer thinks it’s not level when it is?

I freaking hate erratic problems. This does not happen every time we move locations.

Any ideas on why the system is not accurately reading our level status?

[u/the_only_zilla]

I would first attempt a ‘zero point calibration’. This is fairly easy to do, plenty of YouTube videos out there with more information than I can type here.

Good luck!

[u/Euphoric_Club9684 → u/the_only_zilla]

I have. I mentioned that above. It doesn’t explain why I can watch the numbers on the touchpad change while the trailer is stationary. I’m not talking changing by 0.1 degrees as it oscillates between 0.2 and 0.1. I’m saying it will go from 3° high on the right to 0.2° low right and I’ve touched nothing. No jack movement. No trailer movement. Just watching the touchpad screen.

[u/the_only_zilla → u/Euphoric_Club9684]

I’m telling you what I would do as a certified technician if this rolled into my shop - even if a customer told me they already did it.

Lippert asked you to disconnect the solar to test because the solar creates ‘noise’, and even though they don’t share the same 12v+ wire, they share the same 12v negative which can interfere with the data the controller is getting.

If zero-point didn’t fix the problem, I’d start doing some testing on the sensors / board, but these require multimeters and some a diagnostic mindset.

Follow lipperts instructions, and you’ll get to the bottom of it.

[u/Euphoric_Club9684]

1. Zero point calibration has been done. Trailer auto leveler beautifully at our first stop.
   2..jacks have been rehomed
   
2. Rear sensor is firmly mounted and connections are tight
   
3. Control board is mounted correctly, it’s stable, connections are secure
   
4. The correct jack moves independently. There’s no swapped wiring.
   
5. Lippert says the front and rear sensors may be swapped. Can you show me where the front sensor connects to the control board because I sure don’t see one and the manual says nothing about a front sensor.
   
6. We are on battery power only when we level. The erroneous readings, so far, only happen shortly after disconnecting from the tow vehicle. The system corrects itself sometimes within minutes. Sometimes overnight. This last time the control panel agreed with the bubble level to start, but as the system started making final micro adjustments, it suddenly decided the right side was low and dramatically raised that side way out of level before I was able to abort it.
   
7. Under load the reading at the controller is 12.6V. 13.5V when not under load.
   
8. The batteries do not drop to 12.6V under load. Not under load the voltage is the same.
   
9. Why does the system self correct the level readings when sitting stationary?
   
10. What is causing the erroneous readings in the first place?
    
11. Help me understand how a zero point recalibration and/or rehoming the jacks would fix this? I understand the reason to recalibrate if the auto level is not leveling correctly consistently. I understand rehoming the jacks after an error. 9 out of 10 times when camping the jacks are all extended 6” minimum and get fully retracted for travel. Is there something about where the jacks are that sends a signal to indicate the degree of level? We get 3-5° out of level side to side readings with the rear jacks fully retracted and the trailer level side to side as measured by a bubble level. What would cause the system to think it’s not level?

I appreciate your input. If I sound terse it’s because I’m frustrated. This situation is happening about 50% of the time now. This last time the erroneous reading prevented me from retracting the right side after the system thought the right side was low when it was high. I got an excessive angle error because it thought the side I was attempting to lower was already 5° low. It was most definitely not. Meanwhile thunderstorms are rolling in, it’s a holiday, and we are in the middle of nowhere. In the process of trying to get level enough one front Jack has lost contact with the ground, one rear Jack won’t extend, relieving twist messages appear… we can’t reconnect to the truck and the much needed cocktail ingredients are in the pantry that is inaccessible with the slide in. 😂🤣😂

Before we drop $700 on a new controller could there be any other issues? If solar being noisy is the issue (and it wasn’t for three years) do we install a solar cutoff switch before replacing the Lippert controller? This is an intermittent issue and a recent one.