Help - jacks are draining my batteries

[Dupa]

My 2020 camper came with HappiJacs which consume a ton of power from my 2 deep cycle batteries. Once the batteries are drawn down after removing the rig (3000 lb dry weight) from my truck, it's nearly impossible for the generator(s) to get them back up to an acceptable charge while camping so we're really limited in what we can do and for how long. We have plenty of power as long as we leave the camper on the truck, but that's highly undesirable. I have tried loading/unloading with gens running; have tried using power drill to get legs to/from the ground; batteries have been load & spec gravity tested several times and are fine; adding a 3rd battery and/or increasing battery size is not an option due to the size of the battery compartment and no other exterior storage options; the rig's entire electrical system has been diagnosed by a tech and it's fine; contacted the camper manufacturer and they simply shrugged their shoulders and have not offered any insights or solutions; adding solar would be an absolute last resort.

Do any of you experience this? How do you get around it? What input/suggestions do you have for me to solve the power issue? Do any of you have an alternative method for taking the camper off the back of your truck? Anybody tried an impact driver?

 

[Dupa]

Since plenty of power exists while connected to the truck. Perhaps use an electric cable to connect truck to camper prior to loading ?

Sadly HappiJack dumass website offers no electrical information about their products.

That was my first thought as well but, unfortunately, the jacks only draw from the battery. So whether I am connected to the truck, gens or shore power while loading/unloading, the jacks discharge the batteries much faster than the truck/gen/shore can replenish.

 

[WOODY2]

That was my first thought as well but, unfortunately, the jacks only draw from the battery. So whether I am connected to the truck, gens or shore power while loading/unloading, the jacks discharge the batteries much faster than the truck/gen/shore can replenish.

There has to be a way to get 12V power to the jacks via a pigtail and transformer, trick is finding the correct reasonably/sized priced transformer.

 

[Mickey Bitsko]

Find the wire from the battery to the jacks, put an inline cut off/on switch

 

[Ozarker]

I looked those jacks up, I don't see how they would cause a constant draw unless the motor/E.board was faulty.

As Mickey suggested, use an inline switch. If you can't locate the wiring disconnect them and run a new circuit dedicated to the jacks. Turn them off when not in use.

 

[Herbie]

It sounds like OP is talking about the batteries being drained by unloading the camper in the field - not a passive draw.

I agree that it sounds like the solution is to sever the connection between jacks and batteries, and power the jacks via another method. Happijac does not post the power specs (which is a cruddy way to run a business), but I can confirm elsewhere they're 12VDC. Based on the size of the motor cans, I'd estimate they're in the 5A range (each). If you have a generator, then powering a reasonable 12V power supply from that should work instead of the batteries, and unless I'm WAY WAY off on my power guess, it shouldn't be too hard to find a 120vac/12vdc power supply of sufficient current output.

EDIT: Confirmed, at least one Happijack retailer lists the camper jack remote control system at 20A. A 120VAC/12VDC 30A supply would run on even the smallest generators and should be easy to find. (Assuming your genset doesn't have a sufficient 12vdc output built-in!)

 

[jonyjoe101]

How long are the jacks running when in use? How large (amp hours) are your batteries?

On there website someone ask a question about the amp use on there latest 4800 series jacks. It didn't specify if the amps are for 1 jack or all 4 jacks. But if its 20 amps x4 that would be 80 amps. But if it only takes 30 minutes to unload the camper, it might use a total of 40 amps out of the battery(s) during the endeavor. A fully charge pair of batteries should be capable of handling that. If it take an hour to remove the camper, then it would deplete the batteries to about 50 percent (if each battery is in the 100ah range).

"TCM: What is the current draw of the 4800 series jacks?

Aaron: Amp draw is a function of the load. The higher the load, the higher the amp draw. In our jack testing when lifting 1,500 pounds, the 4800 jack drew 10.5 to 11.5 amps. That is nearly identical to our 4160 jack. The beauty of that fact is that the 4800 is nearly as efficient as the 4160 at lower weights, but offers much higher load capacity.

When the 4800 jack was tested with 2,800 pounds, it drew 18 to 20.5 amps. According to our own testing, the 4800 is drawing half the amps at that load compared to our competitors. Going down it only draws four to five amps because of gravity and weight."

As an example I have a 12 volt tire inflator that is rated at a modest 45 amps, and that requires me to run it connected to the battery terminals and have the engine running. Definitely if the jacks consumed 80 amps, they might need the engine alternator help. One thing that happens with lead acid and a heavy load, the voltage drops and amp use increases to compensate for the lower voltage further draining the battery.

 

[Herbie]

I also question whether your battery bank is actually healthy. Jonyjoe101's math assumes you're pulling full amperage on all four motors continuously. I would have guessed that unloading a camper would involve a main burst while you're dropping the legs from fully retracted, followed by a lot of checking and nudging a little at a time. Even underload, bumping the jack motors for a few seconds as you raise it the last little bit shouldn't use that much power.