slideouts won't work with battery power

Bobby A

Well-known member
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the slideouts supposed to work without shore power ?? We are on a week vacation and when we arrived at our campgrounds I hit the switch to let the slideouts out before I hooked up to shore power and got nothing, no click no motor sound coming from the hydraulic pump NOTHING. So I plugged into the campground electric and hit the slideout switch and the slides worked fine. Need some help hear, have limited tools and really don't know what to do or check other than put a charge on the battery. Thanks in advance.
 

sandman

Member
HEY Bobby make sure you check the connections at the battery if the are loose or dirty sometimes they wont work so hope that helps.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
Bobby, the slides work through the battery. Make sure that the battery is charged. When my battery went bad, I had hook up the truck to get them to close. Shore power has to charge the battery 1st. Then the slides will work.. Bob:D
 
Bobby; check your batteries for full charge. This also happened to us--our batteries were in need of a charge for the slide operation. After charging
the slides worked correctly. It sure gave us a scare at first!
 

beardedone

Beardedone
Your batteries won't move the slide if they are weak. I recently left my unit at the dealer for a while and an employee forget to shut off the batteries. My the time I picked it up the batteries were so low the landing gear wouldn't work. I plugged it into the truck and there still wasn't enought power. I didn't feel like cranking it up so I told the dealer to charge them and left until it was done! So the amount of charge is important because hooking up to your truck may not bail you out.
 

Bobby A

Well-known member
Thanks to all for your replies and advice, I will take the battery out of the coach and put it on a charge overnight. I traveled 150 miles with my rig in tow, I would of thought if my battery was low, traveling would of charged my battery by then. Also, I think I tried to pull the slideouts out with the trailer still hooked up to my tow vehicle power and the slideouts would not budge, this should of worked shouldn't it of ??
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
You could also have a defective battery. If you are going to the trouble of taking the battery out, take it by an Auto Parts store and have them check it.
 

katkens

Founding Illinios Chapter Leader-retired
Bobby don't know what TV you have but most GM's never had the fuse installed for the charging circuit to the RV plug. It goes in the fuse panel in the engine compartment 40 amp I believe.....Kenny
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
Bobby, Kenny may have hit on something. If you can, check the charging fuse for the trailer. Big black box on the left side of the engine compartment. Blown fuse or no fuse....battery wont charge. Bob:D
 

Bobby A

Well-known member
Bobby don't know what TV you have but most GM's never had the fuse installed for the charging circuit to the RV plug. It goes in the fuse panel in the engine compartment 40 amp I believe.....Kenny

Thanks Kenny, I drive a Dodge Mega Cab, I just put the battery on my charger and the charger is indicating the battery has become sulfated and the charger is in the Desulfation Mode, the manual says it could take up to 10 hours, what the manual doesn't say is if the Desulfation Mode fails, does that mean I have a scrap battery ?? Thanks
 

Bobby A

Well-known member
Bobby, Kenny may have hit on something. If you can, check the charging fuse for the trailer. Big black box on the left side of the engine compartment. Blown fuse or no fuse....battery wont charge. Bob:D

I'll check that tomorrow Bob and Kenny thank you guys.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
Bobby, a sulfated battery means its junk. The battery if bad should have a warrenty on it. What brand battery is it, interstate? The battery that came with the horn lasted about a year. Bought a good battery after that. BTW, HL did not put the battery in the coach, the dealer did. OH, since you have a Dodge, im not sure where the battery charging fuse is. Bob:D
 

Bobby A

Well-known member
Bobby, a sulfated battery means its junk. The battery if bad should have a warrenty on it. What brand battery is it, interstate? The battery that came with the horn lasted about a year. Bought a good battery after that. BTW, HL did not put the battery in the coach, the dealer did. OH, since you have a Dodge, im not sure where the battery charging fuse is. Bob:D

Yes Bob its an Interstate, its not even 4 months old, should it be the dealers responsibility ??? I'll call my sales guy this morning, sorry I didn't get back to ya last night, it was getting late in this part of the country. (lol) Well, I would rather have the problem be the battery than something else electrical. Thats an easy fix. BTW, what brand of battery would be considered a good one ??
 
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jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
I went through 2 new Interstate batteries before I got a good one. The two new ones had dead cells.
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
Bobby, most dealers install a cheap battery. Yes its the dealers deal...not HL to warrenty the battery. If you could find a interstate dealer...take it to them. Interstate makes different grade batterys. NAPA used to be one. I bought my (not interstate) new battery from them (NAPA) and DUDE, it was all I could do to lift it into the coach:eek:. Must have a lot of plates in it. No problems for a year now. No matter what you do, get a good marine battery. Bob:D
 

rick_debbie_gallant

Well-known member
I have put an "optima" marine/rv battery as a back up battery. I have hooked up two battery disconnect switchs to it. With one swith thrown (on) I have a red led light in the battery comp. with both switchs on I can power the slides.
 

Bobby A

Well-known member
I have put an "optima" marine/rv battery as a back up battery. I have hooked up two battery disconnect switchs to it. With one swith thrown (on) I have a red led light in the battery comp. with both switchs on I can power the slides.

My Son was telling me about the Optima today, he said its a real good battery. Well I took my battery to a dealer hear in Muskegon MI., Lake Shore RV, talked to the service Mgr. Matt, a real nice guy, put my battery on some sort of hand held thingy and said the battery was good. He took me out to a Big Horn and showed me what to look for. I came back to the horn and started looking around in the battery compartment and I found the auto reset breaker (shortstop) that the red (positive terminal) on the battery was not connected with the rest of the breakers. It was just dangeling loose. It looks like there is some kind of copper plate that the reset breaker has to be touching. So I connected the breaker where it was suppose to be, touching the copper plate. I'm hoping that was the problem all along. I didn't have a chance to check it because we had a concert to go to tonight, so I'll check it in the morning. O, BTW, Matt at Lake Shore swapped out my battery for a brand new one. I'll give you all an update tomorrow. Thanks to all for responding to this post.
 

Bobby A

Well-known member
Just a quick followup to my battery/slideout issue. After instaling the new battery and re connecting the auto reset breaker to the copper plate as I mentioned in my last post, everything is working fine. I disconnected the trailer from shore power and moved the slides in and out. Also put the electric awning in and out too, because the awning workes on 12 volts also. All is back to normal. Thanks to all who responed to this dilemma and helping me figure this out.
 
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