Fuse Panel Problem - Slide and Interior Light Circuits

We have a 2009 BH 3580RL. I'm on the road and ran into a problem with the kitchen/living room slide circuit. We were running the kitchen/living room slide in and popped a fuse (automobile blade fuse not circuit breaker). The kitchen slide was completely closed but the living room slide was about 12" from closed. My 12v fuse panel is listing slot 2 as Ceiling Lights, Slot 3 as Off Door Slide and Slot 4 as Door Slide (I think they meant Bedroom Slide as slot 4). All of the fuses are 15 amp fuses.

The living room and bedroom slides are activated by a single momentary on switch. The slides open and close separately but both with a single activation of the switch. I replaced the flopped fuse (which I thought was slot 3, with a 15 amp fuse and the switch was still dead....no pump activation. The Level-Up and bedroom slides were fine, but not the kitchen/living room slide, so I didn't think it was a problem with the buss bar circuit breaker.

My wife noticed that the kitchen/living room lights were dim, but I checked the voltage and still had 13,4v (no shore power was available at this time). She also noticed a red fuse blown light activating as I toggled the slide switch. I checked the red light circuit and it was circuit 2 for the ceiling lights, not circuit 3.

So....if I pull the fuse for circuit #2 (ceiling lights), I get no movement on the slide and dim ceiling lights. If I pull circuit #3, I get no slide but the ceiling lights are OK. Also, I was able to operate the slide after replacing the 15 amp fuse in slot #2 (ceiling lights) with a 20 amp fuse (I ran out of 15 amp fuses) and it works fine.

I also learned that I have another kitchen/slide momentary on switch right under my pump so I can work the slide from outside the coach (cool feature - never realized I had it). I replaced the inside slide switch for grins, but it did not fix the problem.

At this point, the slide works with the 20 amp fuse in place, but the ceiling lights dim if slot 2 fuse (ceiling lights) is removed while slot #3 (slide) is in place. The slide and ceiling lights won't work with the slot 2 fuse removed.

We finally get to my problem....

I believe I have a short somewhere in the slot 2/ slot 3 circuit, but where do I go from here to to locate the short. I already checked the switch wiring for the ceiling and slide and found no obvious problem. I was looking for suggestions or past solutions before I start pulling the entire 12v panel or crawl under the basement to the 12v converter or battery circuits.

As always, any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Chuck Dvorak

Wow Chuck that was a pretty good disciption of your problem.
I would start with checking all of your main ground wires to the frame. Remove and clean the paint off at the frame connection of the main ground. Check all of your positive cables too.
Low voltage and bad ground can cause this overload on the fuse.
Also hook up to shore power and see if you still have the same problems.
You can put a volt meter on the positive of your batteries and the other side to your frame. You said you had 13.4 V have DW push a slide button and see if the voltage holds up around 12 or 13 or if it drops down.
Hopefully it's just low voltage and bad ground
Not a short.

Good luck
Jerrod

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Chuck, I would take a look under the slides as there is an area where the wires may get pinched and/or shorted.
Also look for a square job box and remove the covers to check the wiring connections.
I'm at a loss as to why the slides don't work when a fuse is removes because I think that the only device protecting the hydraulic pump motor is an auto reset breaker.
And yeah, check all the neutral connections including the battery.

Peace
Dave

Guys - Thanks for the quick reply. I'll follow the advice and advise if ya's solved my problem.

Chuck

Re: Fuse Panel Problem - Slide and Interior Light Circuits **** More Info

I'm taking a break from the vacation and went back to this wiring problem. Here is what I discovered:

The 12v fuse panel shows slot 2 connected to the Ceiling Lights with a 15 amp fuse. Slots 3 & 4 are connected to the 12v lights on the ODS and DS slides. They have nothing to do with operating the hydraulics on the slides...just the lights and they are also 15 amp fuses.

If I work the slides with the switch located at the pump, I have no problems. If I work the slides from inside the coach at the control panel, I pop the 15 amp ceiling fuse in Slot# 2. (It doesn't make a difference if the ceiling lights are on or off....fuse still pops). If I pull the slot# 2 fuse, the ceiling lights don't work, but I get a glow on the ceiling lights when the slide switch is activated.

If I place a 20 amp fuse in slot# 2 the lights and slides work. I checked my ground from the battery to a buss bar and all of the positions appeared tight. I loosened all of them and re-tightened. Also checked contacts at the main solenoid (I think that is what you call it. The part that controls the extend/retract movement of the hydraulic pump), and they are tight.

so....the easy answer is work the slides from the pump switch or just live with the 20 amp fuse in slot# 2. I like easy, but would really like to troubleshoot this issue. My thoughts are that there is no reason to have the ceiling lights tied into that slide switch unless someone thought it was easy to jump off the power side of the switch to supply 12v for the ceiling lights....that doesn't make any sense....so I'm leaning toward a short somewhere. Both of the slide switches are wired with some 2 wire connections to a single post, but I attributed that to the loop that was created to accommodate the two switches.

As a side note, my circuit breaker is pooping intermittently while working the Level-Up. I plan to replace the breaker and I believe the breaker that needs to be replaced is linked to the pump and not the 12v battery connection to the 12v bus bar.....or should you replace both???

Any thoughts or guidance is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Chuck

Re: Fuse Panel Problem - Slide and Interior Light Circuits More info

Also....I crawled under the slides and it did not appear that there were any pinched wires. I opened the boxes and all connections were capped tight. I added some electrical tape just because it seemed like the right thing to do when you're u have the covers off. It appeared that most of the wires were for the 120v sockets and appliances on the slides.

- - - Updated - - -

....and I replaced the circuit breaker to the pump and all is well. I cycled through couple of Auto levels and the breaker did not pop.