Level-Low

[Joe Cannarozzi]

I don't know. Haven't really ever considered it with all the other projects still undone.

The way things have been this year and looking forward it's hard to say when the next time we will hook up will be.

Would it be able to be activated by clapping my hands or voice command

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I don't have a dog in this fight because my bus does have automatic leveling, but if you aspire to install it be mindful of the fact that there are times when it isn't as precise as you may wish it to be. Also, there are times when its logic doesn't work for us.

If it insists on leaving the front end high, even though I know the rear can drop down more (thus lowering the front) I still end up manually leveling the coach because we don't want to have to use a step ladder to get to that first step.

I probably use the manual leveling as much if not more than the automatic, although the automatic does impress the troops if you have an audience, and you can get out of your seat, and outside the coach while the leveling system is still doing its up and down thing.

[dalej]

Jon, when I was talking to HWH, I ask him how their system would handle a case where you want to
dump all the air our of the system, like I do when I park in a Rv park but the front needs to come up a
little. He said your would have to dump the air and hit the auto button, then it should add air to the front,
did you notice the should? Then I ask would it ever start adding air when it goes through its every 30
minute cycle. He said yes. So I ask, is it possible that after it cycles to find level a few times or though
out a few days, would the bus slowly be raised back to road height, but still level, he said it's possible. I
said then should I just manualy level to keep the bus as low as possible, he said thats possible.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Good point and excellent information Dale.

When I turn off my key the valves "lock" the air in the air bags. On the previous coach the automatic function would work with the key off.

What he isn't telling you is that if his is a key off control system you will work your compressor to death. A windy day, people moving inside the coach, or just a slight leak in the leveling system will make the system activate and either dump or add air. We quit leaving the automatic feature "on" because on a windy night you could hear valves dumping and filling air when the coach rocked, and then you hear the compressor kick on, and on that coach the pressure required to raise the front was greater than the compressor shut off point, so the poor system would never quit laboring.

If the HWH cannot be turned off after leveling I see it as a disadvantage.

[phorner]

"When I turn off my key the valves "lock" the air in the air bags. On the previous coach the automatic function would work with the key off."

Man, I gotta work on the "lock" part, 'cause mine sure doesn't....

Then again, that will have to wait until I can actually start the coach, once my battery challenges are completed...

[tdelorme]

Our Country Coach Intrigue has HWH fully automatic leveling. I usually level by dumping all air and then hit the level pad. When the coach is level, I then hit the off pad. It never moves after that. If it did settle, I would hit the level pad (twice) and let it re-level. If the compressor started cycling too often, I would try and find/fix the leak. I like the HWH, but the Foretravels we had a few years back had a manual system that also worked great. Lack auto level will not be a deal killer when we find our bus.

[bill&jody]

one of the benefits of rolling your own controller is that it can do whatever you want it to do, given that it can sense its environment. dale's comment about "can it eventually end up at road ht" is interesting in that the controller (either the ones that came in the busses or one we'd invent) have no idea where in the travel the bus as a whole (or the ends) are apart from how many times its added air. the whole thing, as it exists, runs open loop.

damping out transients like wind and people walking around is pretty easy to program around. having two or three heavy-weights park their butts on the same sofa for a while could still confuse it, tho. without some kind of feedback, its kinda difficult (read, impossible) to tell where the bus is relative to the ground. a truly closed loop system would need to be able to sense lift. wonder how we could do that.....................

dale's answer from hwh is very, er, unsatisfying. basically, the current state of the art auto leveling only works if there are NO leaks and the ambient temp stays pretty much the same.

like jon, i too use mine to get level and close to the ground, then turn it off. sad how these things never seem to quite perform as advertised/expected.

wmm

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Hey Bill, maybe there is a way to get feed back from a cheap laser measuring tool, something like builders find at home depot or lowes?
If you could, then put one on each corner of the bus pointed at the ground, or something like that

[truk4u]

Dale,

I experimented with the HWH after talking to you and when I raise a side using the HWH, it does put air in the front bag, bringing up the entire side.

As a side note, I was a little low on the right side the other day, so I hit the auto level and instead of adding air to bring the side up, it just dumped air on the other side to make it level.

Go figure...