Hydraulic pump cutting out?

[HornedToad]

Ever since I've had my Voltage the hydraulic pump on the landing gear and level up would cut out after about 20 seconds and then operate as normal for about 20 seconds before it cut out again. I just thought this was normal because it always worked!!!

I'm going to share the link to a thread from another site that attributes this problem to a weak 12V 50 amp auto-reset breaker that cuts out and then re-sets and offers the solution to replace with an 80 amp breaker.

Hydraulic issue... pump cutting out?

[sundancer 87]

That's a lot of amps!! What size wire is used to power the pump #4?

[sundancer 87]

I'd be doing some diagnostics on the pump motor and wiring before I'd double the size of the circuit breaker.
Doing an amp draw on the motor would tell exactly how many amps it uses under load. If less than 40 than the circuit breaker isn't the problem.
Checking the wire size to in the motor circuit will verify proper sizing for the load.
Changing a 40 amp breaker to an 80 amp breaker without doing research is like putting a penny behind the fuse that always blows.


If an 80 amp is put in there the wiring from the battery and/or buss bar has to be able to handle that load, if not there's gonna be some smoked wires before the breaker trips.

[HornedToad]

Originally Posted by sundancer 87

That's a lot of amps!! What size wire is used to power the pump #4?

Attached is a photo from that thread posted by the moderator showing the 50 amp breaker on the buss bar. Several post mention this 80 amp breaker would not fit and would have to be jumped to the buss bar. I checked a wiring chart and it recommended 4 gauge wire for an 80 amp run over 10 ft. Also the recommendation to use an 80 amp breaker comes from the manufacture.

[sundancer 87]

Originally Posted by HornedToad

Attached is a photo from that thread posted by the moderator showing the 50 amp breaker on the buss bar. Several post mention this 80 amp breaker would not fit and would have to be jumped to the buss bar. I checked a wiring chart and it recommended 4 gauge wire for an 80 amp run over 10 ft. Also the recommendation to use an 80 amp breaker comes from the manufacture.

I don't have the juice system in my 3800 so I don't have this problem. However, an electrical engineer (hopefully), spec'ed out a 40 amp breaker to handle the pump. To replace the 40 amp with an 80 is asking for trouble without actually knowing what the motor draws.
It seems strange the manufacturer would now recommend an 80 amp when it thought a 40 amp would handle the load. If this is the case why not a recall to eliminate the problem?

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by sundancer 87

I'd be doing some diagnostics on the pump motor and wiring before I'd double the size of the circuit breaker.
Doing an amp draw on the motor would tell exactly how many amps it uses under load. If less than 40 than the circuit breaker isn't the problem.
Checking the wire size to in the motor circuit will verify proper sizing for the load.
Changing a 40 amp breaker to an 80 amp breaker without doing research is like putting a penny behind the fuse that always blows.


If an 80 amp is put in there the wiring from the battery and/or buss bar has to be able to handle that load, if not there's gonna be some smoked wires before the breaker trips.

We used nickels... lasted longer!

I agree, something isn't right. I could see maybe going to a 50 amp or possibly 60 amp breaker, but doubling it?


Aaron

[HornedToad]

This buss bar sits just above the battery and right next to the hydraulic pump. The 12V wiring chart recommends 12 gauge wire for an 80 amp run under 4 ft. That would be the size of speaker wire.

Since the wiring on the buss bar / hydraulic pump appear more than adequate and several post in the thread have replace this breaker with success, I just don't share your concerns.

I think the issue is that this 50 amp breaker is the largest one that would fit on the mini buss bar so that's what they used and it's not enough to handle the load on the hydraulic pump lifting & leveling a 20,000 lb trailer.