30 amp Main Fuse Blows

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rstazick

New member
Joined
Oct 1, 2016
Posts
2
Location
East Lyme, CT
I have a 2002 Montana and the main 30 amp fuse keeps tripping when retracting the slide outs. Everything worked well at home but when we got to the campground the problem surfaced. After exhausting the local fuse supply I was able to retract the living room slide. The fuse at the hydraulic motor for the slides never blew.Spent the weekend in a hotel.
I stopped at a RV dealer and explained my issue and the mechanic said it sounds like a bad converter.When we got home I replaced the fuse with a breaker type blade fuse. When we got home I extended the slides, bedroom is small and moves easily and the living room is much slower. When the living room slide hit the end of extension the hydraulic motor stayed on and labored after a few seconds 30 amp breaker/fuse tripped. Could the slide out limiter switch be bad?
If there was a bad hydraulic motor I would assume the fuse at the motor would trip.
I am contemplating replacing the converter with a new more state of the art one to see if that solves the problem.
Trying to save a trip to a local dealer. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
 
Welcome to the forum. I have no idea of what's causing your problem but one question which needs to be answered is what is the manufacturer and model of the converter? This may help the experts whom will be chiming in soon.
 
  First thing I would try before starting parts swapping is to manually run your slide in and out. It should move easily. I practiced on mine just to make sure my battery powered drill was strong enough in the event I ever need to do it and it ran in and out like a breeze. If something is getting it in a bind it would put a huge load on the hydraulic pump and cause it to trip.
 
I'm not clear this problem would imply a "bad converter", and in any case that can easily be verified with a couple simple tests.

In addition to identifying converter make & model, what is this "main 30A fuse" that blows?  Surely your Montana has more than 30A of total DC power capacity.  Also, were you plugged to shore power at the time, or running from the battery(s)?  Even with a non-functioning converter, your battery(s) should provide plenty of power is adequately charged.

If there was a bad hydraulic motor I would assume the fuse at the motor would trip
If there are multiple fuses in a circuit, it is difficult to predict which will blow first if an overload occurs.  In a typical RV the slide power will be direct to the battery with its own fuse, not involving the converter itself.  However, the converter module may be an integral part of a "power center" with both AC and DC power distribution panels, in which case the slide wiring may pass through that.
When the living room slide hit the end of extension the hydraulic motor stayed on and labored after a few seconds 30 amp breaker/fuse tripped. Could the slide out limiter switch be bad?

Could be, but the typically the slide motor controller senses the high current draw when the slide stops moving and shuts down. That is intended to shut it off without blowing a fuse if the slide hits something or binds up somehow. Do you know what brand of slide mechanism you have, e.g. HWH, Power Gear, LCI, etc.
 
I will get the number of the converter and post. The battery is 2 years old and tests high 13's. I will pull the terminals and test. I will see if I can find out the slide mechanism brand, it is hydraulic, to manually override there is a mechanism that resembles a bottle jack pump.
Thank you all for your replies!
 
Are those "high 13's" with the converter/charger powered on, i.e. plugged to shore power? If so, that means the charger is operating. To actually check the batteries, disconnect from shore power and turn on a couple lights for a few minutes. Then turn the lights off and read the battery voltage. A fully charged 12v battery should read 12.6v
 
I like that 'RVing when we are not horsing around.. While I was stuck in Georgia, one of the RVers who showed up brought a couple of "Emergency vehicles" with them.. Yup. if the tow vehicle for their Toy Hauler trailer broke down where there was no cell phone coverage.. Just saddle up and ride to coverage to summon assistance.

The "Toy's" were horses.

A friend next to 'em objected to the.. er.. aroma.. Didn't bother me though.  Old farm boy. Smelled like home (I road many moringgds to round up the cows)
 
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