Fuse cutting out for landing gear.

[twindman]

I guess I didn't check the internal 12 V lights, but I thought all 12V was dead. Anyway, after raising the front end more than usual, it wouldn't retract a minute later. The resetable fuse kept clicking every 10 seconds or so.
I turned off the batteries completely and tried to check out continuity and voltage on the circuits. Couldn't find anything, so powered up again and everything worked.
I know the fuses auto reset, but what made it trip in the first place AFTER we were done raising the front end. And why did it continue for 3-4 minutes and the self correct? Did the motor overheat and short out? If so how did it fix itself?
Thanks for any help.
p.s. I am in Canada on the way to Alaska so don't really want the landing gear to stop working!!!!

[1retired06]

Many have posted landing similar gear issues and the fix was replacing the existing 40 amp with 80 amp breakers. We have done that fix on two of our units.

[mlh]

I would oil the landing gear good find one of the fuses if I could and in a dire emergency just hot wire around the fuse.
Lynwood

[sambam]

I agree, lube up the landing gear. Maybe the motor did get hot after raising so high and needed time to cool down. But, lube is always good. I've had this problem with my slide-outs, particularly when the super slide is retracting on really hot days. Sometimes the fuse will trip 3-4 times while pulling it in.

[Mudchief]

I had the same problem and had to go to the 80 amp fuse.

[twindman]

I wasn't clear, apparently. When it quit working, the fuse kept clicking on and off about every 10-15 seconds with no activity on the RV electrical system. IT would reset and click off again immediately.

[jcurtis934]

These are cheap, cheap, cheap automotive breakers that operate on the bi-metallic principle...two different metal strips that react by opening when heated by current. Opening can produce burning on the contact point that makes them more resistive, which means more heat is produced and they open with less reliability. Yours was having "heart palpatations" for some unknown reason...almost like your landing gear motor was still engaged. To strange. John

[twindman]

Yes, I thought it was change too! Hope there are some ideas out there.

quote:Originally posted by jcurtis934

These are cheap, cheap, cheap automotive breakers that operate on the bi-metallic principle...two different metal strips that react by opening when heated by current. Opening can produce burning on the contact point that makes them more resistive, which means more heat is produced and they open with less reliability. Yours was having "heart palpatations" for some unknown reason...almost like your landing gear motor was still engaged. To strange. John

[1retired06]

Only idea I can come up with, is if it does it again, swap the breakers out, with 80amps.

[BB_TX]

OK, time to throw in my 2 cents. Just to be clear, it is an auto reset circuit breaker, not a resetable fuse. A fuse once blown can't reset. And they are cheap. Nothing more than a piece of bimetal with an electrical contact on the end.



The fact that it continued to click with no apparent movement could be that the motor (or jacks) was somehow "stuck" and could not turn leading to high locked rotor amps. And during your troubleshooting it somehow freed up and operated normally. Is it still working correctly?

Could also be that once the breaker cooled completely, it started working ok. But opening and closing burns the contacts a little each time it does it and should be replaced. The pic above shows mine after multiple cycles. I would be surprised if you did not have future problems with it. Inexpensive and easy to replace.

[mjammersc]

Yeah, these resettable breakers form the factory are borderline and once they start tripping and resetting, they will do it more and more frequently. There is a notice on Lippert's site about it and the need to switch to a higher rated breaker. I just got mine updated under warranty to an 80 amp. They will also trip more if the battery is low as it will draw more current then. I see my system draw 50A easy, especially when they stall so it doesn't take much to trip the stock breakers.

[jcurtis934]

As lynnwood said, if need be, you can clamp locking pliers across the two contacts to get your landing gear to work...or any other method you can think of. The threads on these breakers are metric as I remember it which makes it harder to slap a jumper wire across. John

[HOOK]

A second 50 amp fuse wired parallel will also correct the problem.