Slide Problem

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jlazar

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 27, 2010
Posts
235
Location
San Antonio, Tx
I went to storage yesterday and picked up my 2005 Allegro Bay.  Started immediately.  Drove about 40 miles round trip to get it weighed.  Ran the generatore and refrig the entire time.  When I got home, turned off the refrig and hooked the 50 amp with and adapter into a home plug.  Went to put the slides out and no response.  No motor noise.  Left it on the shore/house hookup and started looking around.  Took a while teo find the resettable breakers and reset them.  Slides extended fine.

This morning we left for a trip.  Slides retracted no problem.  When we got to the campground after a few hours, did normal setup.  Slides would not go out again.  Went through the reset of breakers and slides went out.

My understanding is that the breakers probably went off due to low power.  Once shore power and reset, they are fine.

I have had the two 6v house batteries checked and they showed good levels.  My coach requires the key to be out of the ignition for the slides to work.

Would you agree that I appear to have an electrical problem?  Is it the batteries or something else that I should be looking at?

Would appreciate any thoughts on what I should be checking and, if it is a power loss, what might be causing it.
 
My slides run slow if I am just on the Batteries. I usually hook up to shore power or leave it running or run the generator. That would be my recommendation to you.
Bill
 
I was hooked to shore power.  Also had the gen running.  Cannot leave engine running on my coach - there is a slide shutoff switch.  I am trying to determine what might be causing low power to the reset breaker that would cause it to trip.  Once reset, the slide works.  What can I test/check?  Or is this one for the RV shop.
 
You may have had both the genny running and be plugged in to shore power but... only one of those was sources supplying the current for operating the coach etc., most likely the Generator!!

Either one or the other will supply the converter which,  in turn, supplies the 12V required, along with the batteries. Check all the 12V connections on that side for corrosion, tightness etc. as slides are usually 12V DC operated....

What specific breaker would that be?? Generally, breakers are used on the 120V supply and fuses on the 12V side but.... that is not written in stone!! If any breaker has tripped often, then it may be time for a new breaker. They do weaken over time and use and can pop at a much lower current than is expected.
 
Thanks, I will check that.  I am not sure which breaker was affected.  The breakers are located in the lower compartment to the right of the entry door.  There are five or six resettable breakers there.  They are all labeled but none indicate the slides.  I pushed the reset button on all of them.  Did not feel any resistence when pushing any of them and they all returned to position unlike a GFI which remains in.  Do you folks usually leave your inverter on line charge only or auto invert?
 
If they all had reset buttons then they are most likely reset-able 12V DC circuit breakers, as opposed to 120V circuit breakers which are more like a switch that has to be turned off then back on to reset them.
 
It sounds as though you may have a low battery or a bad (corroded) connection to a battery. Shore or generator power is providing enough 12v for the slide via your charging system, but not on battery alone.  How were the batteries checked? Voltage alone doesn't mean they will work ok under a heavy load, and the slide motor pulls a lot of amps. Have you checked the water level in the cells (assuming a standard flooded cell type battery) lately? Make sure the electrolyte is above the lead plates and top off with distilled water if not at least 1/4' over the plates.

 
I seem to be learning this somewhat through trial and error; this was only our 3rd trip.  I checked the battery levels on Friday night before we left.  Of the two batteries, there was only one cell that I topped up with distilled water.  It was so close I almost didn't bother with it.  No sign of any corrosion.  When we took possession the dealer gave me a paper (late Sept) indicating both batteries had been tested out of vehicle and were good.  Results were: 6.29V, 750CCA measured, 550CCA Rating and 6.31V, 785CCA measured, 550CCA rating.

Please tell me if this sequence makes sense.  I forgot to turn off the 12V switch on the floor by the door the last time I put it in storage (approx. 2 weeks ago).  That caused a drop in power which resulted in the breaker tripping and no slide movement.  I didn't fully understand the Inverter/Charger and had moved the switch from Line Charge Only to Auto.  With the batteries not fully charged, this further caused a drain on the batteries and the second instance of the slides not working.  After being on shore power for 3 days and with the Inverter in Line Charge mode, the slides have worked every time since then.  Was it possible this sequence of events was due to not turning the 12V off and having the Inverter in the wrong position?

Also today, as I was leaving the campground the switch on the macerator stopped working.  It worked fine as I was doing the black tank but when I switched to do the grey tank, it stopped working.  No hum or noise of any type.  Also, the compartment light dimmed more than 50% when I flipped the macerator switch.  I let the grey tank empty through the bypass and figured this was another symptom of a problem with 12v charge.  Once home, I got to thinking about it more and it didn't make sense that the macerator wouldn't work with shore power on.  I remembered something I read on a forum and took a screwdriver and turned the screw at the end of the macerator.  Flipped the switch and it worked perfectly.  Lesson learned - these were two separate problems.  If having a 12v problem, don't assume every other thing that pops up is automatically related to the same problem.
 
Just recently, like today, I had a problem with my slide out.  This is the second time and so I was able to fix it right away.  The anti-billowing device on the awning was off track, and would only allow the bottom of the slide out to go out a few inches and then it would stop.  The top of the slide out did not move at all.  The first time it happened I thought there was something wrong with the electrical motor or gearing.  I later figured out that it was the anti-billowing device on the slide out awning that was stopping it. 
 
Your macerator issues may not be related to your slide issues.  I lost mine this year in a similar way.  I found the in-line fuse blown, and it blew every time I tried to use it.  Root cause - I had a very slow leak in my black tank valve (probably due to me using cheap alcohol windshield washer fluid for my gray and black tank winterizing).  Since I kept the macerator hooked up all the time, this caused constant "head pressure" on the pump seals that leaked by just enough to ruin the stator and brushes.  I had to replace the macerator ($190 just for the pump!).  I fixed my leaking slide gate valve, but now keep my macerator unhooked so that if I get any more leakage, it shows up in the compartment instead of inside the macerator.  I also will use only the pink stuff for winterizing. Lesson learned.

I'm not sure about your slide issues as my 2010 Allegro requires me to have the engine actually running to extend or retract the slides.

Gordon
 
Just to update everyone.  After I was on shore power for three days last week, I put the coach back in storage.  Got it out today for a trip and extracted the slides both at home and at the campground with no problem.  I am convinced the problems I had last week were due to being a newbie:  Leaving the 12V master switch by the door on while in storage and having the inverter in auto/invert mode versus line/charge only.  Thanks again for all the feedback and help in my learning process.
 
Some rigs, like my Fleetwood, require that the hand brake be set before the slides open and close. My previous rig, a Coachmen, did not require the brake to be set.
 

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