Slide/Electric Jack Issue

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white01ss

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Joined
May 31, 2017
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8
Hi All,

I have a 2012 Forrest River Patriot and having an odd issue.

We were hooked up to shore power all 3 days we were at the site, and everything worked without an issue.  I noticed when I rolled in my electric awning Saturday evening, it was moving slow, but it did roll up.  When I went to leave yesterday, the front electric Jack was slow pulling back in.  When I went to bring the electric slide in it would not budge.  If I held the slide button and pushed on the slide it went in. 

When I got home, I went to unhook from the truck and the jack worked perfectly and the slide went in and out without issue.

The Battery is only a couple months old and was showing fulling charged.

It appears my issue is when I am plugged into shore power?

Thoughts on what would cause this?
 
You need a voltmeter and tell us the voltage at the battery when plugged in, when connected to the running truck and when not connected to anything.

If you are going by the lights on the monitor panel to determine battery charge, be aware that it will show full charge when plugged in.  Pretty useless item.
 
lynnmor said:
You need a voltmeter and tell us the voltage at the battery when plugged in, when connected to the running truck and when not connected to anything.

If you are going by the lights on the monitor panel to determine battery charge, be aware that it will show full charge when plugged in.  Pretty useless item.
Click to expand...


I did not check if everything functioned while plugged into the truck, but I can do that and report my findings.  Thank you
 
My guess is the battery was NOT kept charged while you were camping.  As a result, low 12V to close things up.  On the drive home, the truck provided sufficient charge that all worked well after the drive home.

Check the converter / battery charger in your camper.  I suspect no charge getting to the battery.

The checks suggested above should confirm where the trouble is.
 
grashley said:
My guess is the battery was NOT kept charged while you were camping.  As a result, low 12V to close things up.  On the drive home, the truck provided sufficient charge that all worked well after the drive home.

Check the converter / battery charger in your camper.  I suspect no charge getting to the battery.

The checks suggested above should confirm where the trouble is.
Click to expand...

Well, my volt meter was dead last night, so I am going to pick up new batteries today.

Anyway,  I think you are onto something because last night the electric jack and slide would not work.  The refrigerator and all accessories on the inside function properly plugged into my house.  I think the truck charged up the battery on the way home, and the slide/jacks worked after that.  Now that a couple days have passed, they no longer worked plugged into shore power.

In my previous camper, I replaced the inverter, so it looks like I may be doing it again on this one.  :mad:
 
The deep cycle battery is only a few months old.

I checked voltage last night and I have 13.4 volts at the inverter and have 13.4 volts up near the tongue of the camper. 

Please excuse my lack of knowledge on electrical components, but there are two distribution points near the tongue with 3-4 wires coming off of them.  Each one of these distribution points (approx 2" x 1" in size) has two posts on either side. I call them distribution points but there may be a better term for it...but past that point, I have 4.6 volts.  When I take the Positive and Neg Terminal off the batter any check voltage I am only getting the same 4.6 volts.

Thoughts????
 
Is that 13.4v "near the tongue" actually measured at the battery, or just somewhere along the line?

Without some idea of the wiring to the battery and the converter/charger, it's hard to guess why those "distribution points" have only 4.6v, but that is obviously a problem.  You need to investigate the wiring to/from the battery that delivers power to those points. A photo would be nice, but a sketch would do.
 
The 13.4v is under the frame before the distribution points.  Past the distribution points to the battery, it is 4.6v.

I can get some pictures tonight and post them up.  I have tried to attach a quick diagram

 

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Just had this happen a couple weeks ago to some friends we were camping with. Exactly as Grashley troubleshot, the battery didn't stay charged while plugged to shore power. ( was a brand new battery) We hooked jumper cables to the battery from another vehicle to get the slides and awnings in. The trailer plug didn't provide enough power to do the job. Haven't heard what the problem was, but obviously the 120v/12vdc inverter wasn't doing the job.
 
I did replace the converter/inverter last night and I am still having the same issue.    :-\
 
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