Camper gurus, need help ASAP.

[txfireguy2003]

Quick rundown:

Camper trailer with one slide out. Slide does not operate with the switch. Put brand new battery on it today, no help. Checked fuses, none blown. Checked breakers, none tripped. Here's where it gets crazy......I can remove the switch and use a feeder battery to operate the slide. Volt meter says I'm getting voltage to the switch (13.8VDC plugged in, 11.8VDC unplugged from the shore line). Switch seems to be functioning properly according to the volt meter, but no slide movement.

So: direct connect to battery hotwire = slide works.

Running through switch = slide no work

Sounds like a bad switch to me, BUT the switch is working correctly. When I test it, it's sending 13.8VDC through the switch, but somehow it's not reaching the motor. My feeder battery is only running 12.8VDC right now and it operates the slide, so I can't see why the 13.8VDC won't. Any thoughts?

[Btoutdoors]

I remember my cousin having to replace some sort of circuit board when he had a similar problem.

[Centraltexan]

Camper gurus, need help ASAP.

When you push the switch to move the slide, does it make any sound? Like it's trying to move the slide?


Edit, mine sometimes gets "stuck" and have to crawl underneath and crank on the spindle that moves the slide. Two turns, and the switch works.

[ColinR]

Could still be bad switch. The connection in the switch is enough to carry voltage thus why u get your voltage reading on both sides of the switch but the connection in the switch is not good enough to carry amperage to operate the slide motor.

[txfireguy2003]

When you push the switch to move the slide, does it make any sound? Like it's trying to move the slide?


Edit, mine sometimes gets "stuck" and have to crawl underneath and crank on the spindle that moves the slide. Two turns, and the switch works.

No, nothing, nada.

[germinator]

My 2¢, This could possibly be a grounding issue. Run a temp ground wire from battery to the motor ground side or to negative side of switch. This will confirm you have a good ground from battery to switch, since you already know it has good connection to motor from switch with the feeder
battety test. Have you kept voltage meter on switch outpiurnwhile it is engaged to check if it hold voltage?

[txfireguy2003]

Could still be bad switch. The connection in the switch is enough to carry voltage thus why u get your voltage reading on both sides of the switch but the connection in the switch is not good enough to carry amperage to operate the slide motor.

I thought the same, so I ran a little experiment. Hooked my feeder battery up to the input side of the switch, and the slide circuit to the output as normal. Toggle the switch and the slide works as designed.

[Centraltexan]

You got me buddy, always something with them darn things!!

[klepdo]

I had a mouse chew through my hydrolic hose. You should have a way to hand crank it closed. The hose cost me $175.

[txfireguy2003]

Update:

Slide works 100 percent normal off of feeder battery, even through the switch. Hook it up to the regular electrical system and nothing happens at all.

I've read that there are three common problems with slides....voltage, voltage, and voltage. So I don't get it. I even jumpered directly from the input wires to the output wires, using the trailer voltage (13.8VDC) and hooking it directly to the motor wires.....nothing happened at all, not even a click, sparks, nothing!

[txfireguy2003]

My 2¢, This could possibly be a grounding issue. Run a temp ground wire from battery to the motor.

I thought of that, but it's not possible. I can't find the motor, nor any manual override. Google search is useless for this model, and the owner's manual says I have to cut a hole in the bottom of the trailer....no thanks. Could be a loose ground where the battery is grounded to the frame I guess.....The terminals were pretty corroded and rusty when I swapped batteries. I cleaned them down to bare metal, but didn't check the other ends.

The lighting inside is fairly dim when it's unplugged from AC shore line. Battery reads 12.X on the terminals, but I didn't check contact to ground. There IS some voltage loss between the battery and the switch, as there is only 11.8 volts reaching the switch when unplugged, even though it reads over 12 at the battery terminals. That being said, I'm getting plenty of volts into and out of the switch when plugged in, so I would think it should work when plugged in.

[Kurdawg]

Hmm that's about all I got lol.

[txfireguy2003]

It just doesn't make any sense. It was working perfectly this time last year. Sometime between Summer of last year and the end of deer season, it quit working. I had to hotwire it with the feeder battery so I haul it home from the lease in February. I assumed it was a bad battery, so I replaced the battery today, as I have a trip planned starting tomorrow! It tried to work off the new battery for about half a second, and hasn't tried since.

I can still hotwire it for this weekends trip, but I'd sure rather make it work right.

[germinator]

Have you kept voltage meter on output of switch while the switch is engaged? If
voltage drops, it could be a bad ground from battery to your negative side of switch.

[txfireguy2003]

Yeah, it's exactly same voltage into and out of the switch. Just checked the contacts, originally had some high resistance connections on the battery posts.....8ohms measured from the top of the wire terminal to the battery post. Disconnected and cleaned contacts, reconnected, 0.0 ohms at every connection I can reach. From battery positive to a spot on the frame of the trailer reads exact same voltage as reading from post to post on the battery. I'm going to leave it plugged in over night, the battery voltage seems to be creeping up very slowly, as if it wasn't fully charged when I bought it this afternoon. I'll check back in the morning. If it isn't working then, I'll just have to hotwire it this weekend and work on it next week before hauling it to the new deer lease.