New Toy: Wireless Leveling

The_Rigger

Has anyone checked out the Beech Lane wireless leveling system yet? I saw one on a friend's travel trailer, and after he demonstrated it for me I thought to myself, "hey, that's pretty cool."

...And then, shortly afterward, I figured, "what the heck; I've spent more money on dumber stuff." It'll be delivered and installed this Friday.

JamesDow

@The_Rigger
Haven't tried the Beech Lane system yet.
My system costs around $6.00 and I have three backups.
I did have to calibrate mine.
Not really sure if a system costing $79.99, requiring a phone and batteries is much better or different.
Cool maybe. 
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The_Rigger

Yeah, @JamesDow, I know... I've got spirit levels mounted on the street-side front corner of my camper too. They came with the camper, installed by the previous owner. But you must admit there's a certain coolness factor in being able to back the camper rig up onto an Anderson ramp and nail the L-to-R levelness in one shot from inside the tow vehicle.

[*shrug*] Like I said, I've spent bigger bucks on dumber things in my life. (A couple of previous marriages come to mind...)

The_Rigger

As expected, this little guy showed up today...  Took all of a half-hour to install & calibrate it; hardest part was confirming that my T@G was indeed sitting dead-level prior to launching the iPhone app and taking a couple of measurements. It was easy as pie pairing my iPhone to the leveler via Bluetooth and setting up the system.

The transmitter needs to be attached to your camper within 30' (10m) or so of where you'll be leveling from; usually the tow vehicle driver's seat. Unless you're driving a school bus for a tow vehicle, that's pretty easy to accomplish with a T@G or T@B. I stuck mine on the inward side of one of the overhead shelves, next to the stargazer window - pretty much a direct line of sight to my dashboard phone clip, some fifteen feet away,

They even include the two #1 Phillips screws for mounting and the two AAA batteries to get you started. Once it's installed and the camper is leveled (I used my 4' Starrett spirit level to zero the camper; this sucker is LEVEL!), I turned on Bluetooth in my iPhone and launched the RV Leveler app. You have to tell the app which way the transmitter is facing, the width in inches between the tire outer sidewalls, and the distance in inches between the center of the axle (or the rearmost axle if you're running tandems) and the center of the tongue jack. It then asks you to confirm the camper is for-really-and-for-truly sitting Level, and then sets what the Xmitter is sending it as Default. The resulting home screens show you're at Zero Bubble.

From here on out, unless I fat-finger a setting that I shouldn't be messing with any more, I should be able to back into a campsite, set my ramp on the low side, and drag the camper to Level with ease. Then I chock up the wheels, disconnect the Outback, and using the tongue jack and my phone, set the fore-&-aft level in seconds. I'll give it a full report in a couple of weeks, when I drag the camper around the U.P. for a week.

To be continued...

JamesDow

 
Ah yes UP in MI. We did that in 2021. No reservations anywhere. Just went with the flow and all worked out fine. Liked Lake Michigan Campground (45.98580, -84.97189). Almost ran out of luck at Island Lake Campground (46.27014, -86.65006), but managed to snag the last campsite. Got into the water at Lake Superior Scenic Turnout (46.48982, -87.20837). A bit coooold.
Can't say I remember taking much effort to level things out. Didn't use the sink, so most concerns were with sleeping somewhat level.
Have a great trip! 
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The_Rigger

I've got a weakness for the UP and Lake Superior.  I learned to surf in that lake, back a million or so years ago, when I was young, stupid, and bulletproof. (And yes; it is bloody cold!) My mission for my remaining years is to camp in every State Park campground in the state.

The_Rigger

As promised, the report: It works as advertised. Quick and painless.

I backed my T@G into my campsite at Bewabic last week and launched the app on my phone. Within two seconds I learned my desired parking spot was about 3" low on the curb side, without leaving the driver's seat. I stuck my Anderson ramp under the curbside tire and eased the rig back until the Leveler app showed I was within 1/8" of Zero, then I chocked tires and unhooked the camper. After pulling the TV away, I adjusted the tongue jack 'til the app showed Zero fore-&-aft, then cranked down the stabilizers to make contact, giving the curbside stabilizer just a touch of extra "boof."

Et Voila! Dead-level and rock-solid in about five minutes, no muss no fuss. Could I have leveled up without the Beech Lane unit? Of course! Have done so with my other campers for years. But it would've taken at least twice as long, if not longer, and would've probably involved a few more trips back-&-forth between the tow vehicle and the camper, a lot more monkeying around with the spirit level, and a bit of sailor's language - It always does.

Another nice thing I found about the system was that during my week in camp, I could double-check that the T@G was still sitting level and not settling Katty-wumpus any time I wanted to, merely by launching the app on my phone. Given how much rain went through the UP last week, this was a concern.

Yeah, it's a bit of an indulgence for a 14' teardrop - I'm sure it'd be more of a necessity for a big ol' Class A or 5th-wheel rig. But it definitely makes leveling a lot faster and more efficient. And for eighty bucks? Like I said, I know I've spent a lot more money for a lot dumber and less useful things in my life.

ragtag2

@The_Rigger, I suspect you might, just maybe, have an engineering background...  and it sounds like it brings you great joy to have and use just the right tool for the job.

As I enter retirement and am new to the ways of T@Gs, I am eagerly following many threads/discussions. Your posts are wonderful and appreciated. Thanks for continuing to be a prolific giver to this community. 

GulfCoast

We're minimalists. We eyeball the situation and the use the $3 bubble levels on each corner of the T@G for fine tuning. For gross side-to-side adjustment, we have a 1x6x12 and a 2x6x12 in the propane locker, which gives us up to 4-1/2" of correction. We set the fore-and-aft level with the tongue jack. 

I do have a nifty freeware bubble level app on the phone that we used a couple of times out of curiosity and to satisfy my fondness for gadgets. Anything close to level seems to be just fine for us. But, we may be a little more tolerant of sleeping a little off kilter. Linda is more concerned with irregular surfaces and I spent enough time on sailboats  to be happy with any bunk angles that aren't changing more than 20 degrees per second on any axis.

But, if we run into @The_Rigger in a campground, we'll definitely want to see that gadget in action.

The_Rigger

ragtag2 said:

@The_Rigger, I suspect you might, just maybe, have an engineering background...

Not strictly engineering, no... But I did lead a pretty technical life, once upon a time pre-retirement. I spent almost forty years as a theatrical carpenter and rigger, much of it traveling the world as part of the backstage crew of various touring Broadway shows and concert tours, and a large part of my duties involved working with scenery automation systems. If you've ever seen a first-run B'Way musical or a monster rock-concert show, you may possibly have seen some of my handiwork. That career path tends to cultivate serious Tool Junkies, as you might well imagine.
I'm glad you get something out of my posts; if my experiences can help someone, much as I've learned from other folks here, then my efforts aren't wasted.

The_Rigger

GulfCoast said:

But, if we run into @The_Rigger in a campground, we'll definitely want to see that gadget in action.

I'd be only too happy to show it to you.

Sharon_is_SAM

@The_Rigger - now I get your ID name!  Very unique career.

GulfCoast

Another option is a bubble level app on a smart phone. I tinkered with one and it works well with the phone lying on a flat surface on the tongue, showing the tilt angle in both axes. I reverted to the actual bubble levels stick-ons. We've decided that we like to have the T@G slightly bow-down to give a little more overhead clearance when using the galley.

The_Rigger

GulfCoast said:

Another option is a bubble level app on a smart phone. I tinkered with one and it works well with the phone lying on a flat surface on the tongue, showing the tilt angle in both axes.

I reverted to the actual bubble levels stick-ons.

When I bought my T@G, it had those stick-on bubble levels on both sides of the front left corner, one showing side-to-side and one showing fore-&-aft.  Coming home from my first shake-down campout in St. ignace, I found that one of them had fallen off and the other one was hanging on by about half of the double stick tape. I don't trust em any more.

I've used my phone's level app too, for a lot of things over the years besides truing up a camper. But it's only an effective level if it's calibrated, and I'll freely admit that I've forgotten to calibrate the thing more than once.