PH with power lift questions

[jage]

How far down or up do you power your top? The PO of my SMB said to just listen for the engine to stop but when I hit the switch after he had it "down" it snugged down pretty good but I couldn't hear anything.

Can you pull the top down too much?

Also he claimed that twice leaving the top in a half-up/half-down position while camping killed the house battery. Anyone else have this happen? Is it possible?

Should I worry that the 4D battery has been drained all the way more than once?

[Colorado Ken]

I wait for the motor to stop on the up and down. The motor does not put it down too far, the latches snug it up the rest of the way...and still need adjusting after I've been on top loading gear and bikes. I may need to thread the J hooks further to get a snugger fit.

[jage]

Hmmm. My J hooks don't snug in the front at full thread and the rear doesn't even latch.. it's so long there isn't tension so the handle won't even stay down.

[etbadger]

The electric penthouse top (as on our van, and a couple others I have seen) has limit-switches in the motors that raise and lower the roof. You can run it full up/down till the motors on both sides stop.

The motors are not synchronized (the motors support this, but its extra wiring and circuitry that is not present in our van), and the roof develops a slight side-ways tilt while traveling up or down that disappears when the limits are hit.

On our van the hinge bolts for the front mounted U support tube for the roof bent. This allows the roof to move forward when down, making the front latches unable to tighten enough, and the rear unable to reach. We replaced the bolts and made some brackets to better support the bolts (details on our site somewhere... don't recall where right now...) Peel back the fabric and look at all 4 support corners and check the condition of the bolts for peace of mind.

-e