Electronic controller for a vehicle leveling system and vehicle leveling system comprising same

1. A vehicle having a vehicle leveling system operable to level the vehicle when the vehicle is stationary, the vehicle leveling system comprising:

multiple leveling jacks mounted to the vehicle at spaced locations, each of the leveling jacks being controllably extendable and retractable to level the vehicle cooperatively with the other leveling jacks; and

an electronic controller comprising:

an extend-enable switch;

a retract-enable switch;

an all-activate switch; and

at least a first group-activate switch, the electronic controller being configured:

to generate, upon coordinated actuation of the extend-enable switch and the all-activate switch, an all-extend electronic signal operative to activate simultaneous extension of all of the leveling jacks simultaneously;

to generate, upon coordinated actuation of the retract-enable switch and the all-activate switch, an all-retract electronic signal operative to activate simultaneous retraction of all of the leveling jacks simultaneously;

to generate, upon coordinated actuation of the extend-enable switch and the first group-activate switch, a first group-extend electronic signal operative to activate simultaneous extension of a first sub-set of the leveling jacks; and

to generate, upon coordinated actuation of the retract-enable switch and the first group-activate switch, a first group-retract electronic signal operative to activate simultaneous retraction of the first sub-set of the leveling jacks.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein activating all of the leveling jacks of the vehicle leveling system simultaneously comprises delaying activation of at least one of the leveling jacks until after activation of at least one other of the leveling jacks.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the electronic controller further comprises a plurality of status indicators operative to indicate the status of a switch or operating mode of the electronic controlled.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 wherein at least one of the status indicators is a visual indicator.

5. The vehicle of claim 4 wherein the visual indicator comprises an incandescent bulb, an LED, a multi-color LED or a liquid crystal display.

6. The vehicle of claim 3 wherein at least one of the status indicators is an audible indicator.

7. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the electronic controller further comprises a power switch for controlling power to the electronic controller.

8. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the electronic controller further comprises a processor for controlling the operation of the leveling system at least partially in response to manual actuation of the switches of the electronic controller.

9. The vehicle of claim 8 wherein the electronic controller further comprises electronic memory configured for signal communication with the processor and operative to store information about the status or operating history of the vehicle leveling system.

10. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the electronic controller is in operative communication with a sensor or link operative to detect whether the transmission of the vehicle is in park or neutral.

11. The vehicle of claim 10 wherein the electronic controller is further configured to prevent extension of the leveling jacks if the transmission of the vehicle is not in park or neutral.

12. The vehicle of claim 10 wherein the electronic controller is further configured to automatically retract at least certain of the leveling jacks if the vehicle brake is engaged and the transmission of the vehicle is moved out of park or neutral.

13. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the electronic controller is in operative communication with a sensor or link operative to detect whether a parking brake of the vehicle is engaged.

14. The vehicle of claim 13 wherein the electronic controller is further configured to prevent extension of the leveling jacks if the parking brake of the vehicle is not engaged.

15. The vehicle of claim 13 wherein the electronic controller is further configured to automatically retract at least certain of the leveling jacks if the parking brake of the vehicle is dis-engaged.

16. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein at least a plurality of the leveling jacks are electromechanical leveling jacks.

17. The vehicle of claim 16 wherein the electronic controller is in operative communication with a sensor operative to detect voltage of power supplied to the electromechanical jacks.

18. The vehicle of claim 17 wherein the electronic controller is further configured to prevent extension of the leveling jacks if the voltage is less than a pre-determined value.

19. The vehicle of claim 18 wherein the electronic controller is in operative communication with a sensor operative to monitor an electronic value supplied to the electromechanical jacks.

20. The vehicle of claim 19 wherein the electronic controller is further configured to control extension of individual leveling jacks at least partly in response to the electronic value drawn by that leveling jack.

21. The vehicle of claim 18 or claim 19 wherein the electronic value is current or voltage.

22. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein at least the extend-enable switch, the retract-enable switch and the all-activate switch are push button switches.

23. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein at least the extend-enable switch, the retract-enable switch and the all-activate switch are touch panel switches.

24. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein the electronic controller further comprises a level indicator.

25. The vehicle of claim 24 wherein the level indicator is a bubble indicator.