Inermittent Vectra slide

Hi everyone!  I just found this forum and it looks great!  When I stumbled in here I was looking for festoon light bulbs and got a good link.  Thanks!

Now I'd like to see if anyone has had a similar slide problem.  The driver's side slide has always worked fine, and the passenger side slide will always go out, but sometimes won't come back in, although the hydraulic motor runs.

I've been to the factory three times, and had an independent shop and HWH each work on it once.  After the last trip to Forest City I got HWH to send me the wiring diagram for the connector that joins the HWH wiring to the Winnebago wiring.  I did some voltage tests and found that at the connector there's battery voltage going to the rocker switch in the bedroom, but only 6.5 volts at the switch, and around 5.5 volts coming back to operate the retract valve.  If it's 5.3 volts at the connector the solenoid valve will not operate, the pump deadheads and the slide doesn't move.  A little more voltage will operate the valve and the slide comes in normally.  Some days it works and others it won't.

My guess is that there's a cut wire with only a few strands left somewhere between the connector and the rocker switch.  The Winnebago service adviser said that they could run a new wire under the coach strapped to the frame, and charge more for that shoddy solution, after I've paid them over a thousand dollars already to fix the problem.  I passed on that.

I could wire a relay in at the connector, but if the circuit deteriorates any more that will fail too.

Welcome!

When our Horizon was new we had some issues that took a couple of years to finally get resolved so I feel your pain. I agree with the service guys, run a new wire - it's completely impractical and a waste of resources to hunt for the offending break in the wire.

It would be great if they could run a new wire, but I don't like the idea of poking it through the floor and running it along the frame as the Winnebago service guy suggested.  Would you approve of that?  I would wire in a relay at the connector first.  Seven volts drop into a 1.6 ohm load suggests that there's plenty there to power up a little headlight relay.

If you go the relay route, there's a chance the wire will go completely open and you wind up in the same situation. I've run wire, Cat 5, coax for my ham radio and RJ45 cable all over my Horizon. It takes more time figuring out how and where to run wires than actually pulling wire. Do whatever you think is right.

If that wire goes open it won't be intermittent any more, so I agree - a new wire is a better option for sure. 

More pressing right now it to get my Kenwood D700 installed, but I don't want to put a hole in the roof for the antenna.  So many projects, so little time.

Jim_Lou said:

... I don't want to put a hole in the roof for the antenna.  So many projects, so little time.

Click to expand...

The first hole is the most difficult, after that it gets easy.