Wierd Slideout Problem

Here's a wierd one for you, we have been on the road a few weeks and each time we put the slides out or brought them in we had the shore power hooked up. Well the other day I had already unhooked shore power and had hooked up to the truck prior to bringing in the slides and they wouldn't come in all we got was a clicking noise from the hydraulic pump. I thought whoops the battery was dead, nope it showed 13.6 volts on my meter, and the water level was okay also. I was just about to call a RV tech when I thought "wait I'll hook up the shore power again"! Sure enough I unplugged the truck hooked up the shore power and all worked as it should. We have run the slides in and out before without shore power just not in the past few weeks. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Ron

Check the voltage under a load, ie, unhook shore power, and monitor the battery voltage while you try to bring the slide in or out. It certainly sounds like an issue with your battery, or the wiring to it.

We had a similar problem with our slides one time and I found a loose battery terminal. Easy fix and didn't cost anything!

If all your connections are good, most likely your battery has a shorted cell. Bad battery. If your battery is over 3 years old, I would replace it any ways.

We just replaced the battery the end of June, I went out and put my meter on the battery while bringing in the slides it read 12.9v with the load on it, so I think that is acceptable. However, we hooked up yesterday to take the BH & truck over for the TX maintenance inspection and when we brought in the slides while the bedroom and entertainment slides were coming in it sounded as though the battery was weak (real draggy) then when the main slide started to come in it quit and I could hear loud clicking coming from the black switch looking thing next to the hydraulic pump. We let it set a minute and tried again and it worked fine. My theory is it is this black switch thing next to the pump where the battery cables hook up is going bad, or it is the resetable circuit breaker for the slides. I have two 40amp circuit breakers wired in paralell for this, the additional one was added a couple of years ago when we were having a similar problem with the slides and our dealer said the single 40amp breaker was not strong enough and added the second breaker, but during that time we never got the clicking noise from the pump area. The item next to the pump I refer to is I guess some sort of relay but I don't know how to test it to determine if it is bad.

We start our oilfield gate guard job tomorrow, so I'll have a lot of time to work on stuff between logging in vehicles. If anyone has any ideas let me know.

Thanks,

Ron

It is a soloniod used to start the pump motor. the two center connections are 12V battery (red wires) The green on the left is ground and the right side activates the solonoid. I think they are useing 12V to activate it. (can't check right now).

If it is draging down, it is a voltage issue. As the voltage drops, there is not enough residual voltage to keep the relay engaged, solenoid clicking. Check the battery connections, they need to be wrench tight not finger tight. Remove the cables from the battery and make sure they are bright and not corroded or burnt. You still could have a bad battery, have it tested as well.

Just had a the same problem in my BH. I had a 2nd battery installed when I purchased it and the ground wire on the 2nd battery was loose. But mine wasnt the slides it was the landing gear. Make sure them cables are tight everywhere.

Dave

navyAZ1 said:

We just replaced the battery the end of June, I went out and put my meter on the battery while bringing in the slides it read 12.9v with the load on it, so I think that is acceptable....

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When you checked the battery voltage, was your converter on? If so, you were seeing converter voltage, not the actually battery voltage. If not, I would double check the connections and wiring from the battery. If you had a loose connection you could still meter 12-13 volts but it could starve for amps under load.

John

Ahhhhh! I did have the converter working during the test, so now I'll give it a try with shore power and truck disconnected. Connections on the battery are tight so it might well be a bad battery. When we brought the slides in this last time yesterday to move to our current site they all worked well. I love electricity when it works when it doesn't I get nuts!!!!!