SchwinnTek Bedroom Slide Electrical Issue

[Corsair2Driver]

Hello everyone. Just wanted to pass along a problem we had with our bedroom slide, and our fix, of our brand new Heartland Sundance XLT267 fifth wheel trailer. Wife and I just got all packed up and we're on the last checklist item before hookup for our 300 mile trip home - bring in both slides. Wife hits the "In" side of the switch for the bedroom slide and only the left motor on the SchwinnTek slide begins to operate. After 4-6 inches of travel, the slide stops. Wife calls to me and says we have a problem. First thing we did was push the "Out" button and put the slide back in the fully out position. I then went to the right side, asked her to push the button again, this time I wiggled the motor connecting wire harness. Eureka! The slide came in as advertised and we could leave for home. Once home, I commenced trouble shooting and making contact with Heartland CS. With the slide all the way in, I squeezed between the bed and closet to inspect the wire harness to the slide motor. Much to my dismay, the facia on the slide was crushing the motor connector to the power supply when the slide was fully extended, and the connector to the motor finally separated from the the power supply. Not wanting to hookup and drive 400 miles round trip to the dealer for a possible multi-night stay for an iffy repair, I decided to work no the connector and see if I could fix this myself. I reshaped the rubber connector the best I could, re-installed the female connector into the power supply wire and then re-connected the male end from the motor into the power supply line. I covered the fix in electrical tape and then hard wired both ends of the electrical connection with cable keepers, one on the motor side and one on the power supply side, to ensure they were not in harms way when the slide was extended and they would not disconnect due to vibrations during travel.

To say the least, there was a traumatic time there wondering what on earth we were going to do with the slide stuck out. There is no information in the owners manual regarding trouble shooting the slide mechanism, nor is there any information on manually retracting the slide. After a lot of looking I did find some very useful You Tube videos and a trouble shooting guide for the Schwinntek slide mechanism. However, this is my first post and adding attachments is unavailable. Once I have permission to post attachments, I'll pass along some photos.

 

[Garypowell]

Thank you for sharing your fix but most importantly how calm and cool you were during the process all the way through sharing with us.

I get concerned when someone writes in after finding problems and all they want to do is bash HL. there are several active threads right now that only serve the purpose of venting.

And here you you had a fairly significant problem and simply worked through it......your my kind of member!

 

[Shortest Straw]

This is a good write up. While I have hydraulic slides and it won't help me, at least if someone camping by us has an issue I can tell them where to start. Well done.

 

[jbeletti]

Nice write-up. I've manually promoted you. Please post your attachments when you get a chance.

 

[jimtoo]

HI Corsair2Driver,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

Thanks for your description of your problem and how you did the repair. I'm sure it will help someone else at some point.

Be sure and check out our Heartland Owners Club. Join us at a rally when you can and meet lots of the great folks here and make friends for a lifetime.

Enjoy the forum and your new unit.

Jim M

 

[Ted_Dee]

Thank you for sharing your information with everyone. You are an example of why people read this forum and why my wife and I decided to purchase a Heartland product.

 

[JohnDar]

The key to most of the problems experienced is to stay cool and do as much diagnostics as you can. Even if you can't fix it yourself, if you can describe in detail what the problem is and what you see (maybe even photos), you'll get more help from members of the forum and Heartland. While we all wish it were otherwise, most of the problems that occur are not unique to a single owner or rig. We've all experienced some kind of problem with our rigs along the way. And dealt with it. All too often, folks with problems start their first post with "That effn Heartland..." (which gets edited out).

 

[HornedToad]

Driver,

All the slides on my SOB are Schwintek and I have followed many post on different forms about these slides, but your post is the first I've read about a problem with a crimp in the wiring. As Gary said, unfortunately most of the post you read are owners venting. I pay more attention to a post like yours that gives me a solution to solve a problem. Thanks.

I have had two years now of trouble free duty from my Schwintek slides by following three simple rules...

1. Only operate the slides when level
2. Only operate the slides on shore power or generator
3. Lubricate regularly

There are reports of catastrophic failure of these slides that occur straight from the dealer which have been attributed to the slide being installed mis aligned or with too big a gap causing the sidewall to flex and the slide to bind, or other reports quote water penetration causing the slide to bulge or warp causing it to bind. Rule #1... If the slide gets out of plumb it could bind.

Probably the most common issue with the Schwintek slides is from operating the slides with a weak / low battery causing the motor to stall. The high torque motors need a full 12v to operate properly. Rule #2 If you only operate on shore power or generator you should have a full 12v to the motors from the converter.

Lippert recommends you use a lubricate with PTFE, which I've found on the shelf at RV parts stores, to regularly lubricate the slides. Rule #3 Lubricate regularly.

Of the several great videos on YouTube about the Schwintek slides, these are a must see...
How to lubricate the slides
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KbVRFMo1Rg
Why you should hold the switch down for 5 seconds after the slide extends/retracts to reset the zero point
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSafAnjxIV4
How to disengaged the motor by removing the set screw and block the slide for travel after a catastrophic failure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xojUdPDWNS0

One final note, most of the issues I've read about where the motors fail or the slide binds are with the bigger / heavier den & kitchen slides, I can only recall one post about a bedroom slide.

 

[Corsair2Driver]

Thank you all for your kind words. What seems calm now was actually fear and chaos at the time and I'm glad a little time spent looking at the situation worked into a solution to first bring the slide in and then to fix the problem once we got home. The hardest part was working in such close quarters between the slide box and closet. Not an easy task and as you can see some of the photos are not as focused as I would like but I think clear enough to give you the idea. Picture #1 is what I found when I got home. The white end is actually two plastic connectors, one that fits into the rubber end of the power supply wire, picture #2, and one that attaches to the motor. I separated the white power supply connector from the motor, being careful not to pull wires out of the motor connector and re-inserted the male end into the repaired rubber housing. I then reconnected the motor connector and the power supply and wrapped the rubber connector with electrical tape (picture #3). The last thing was to position the connector away from the steel frame and secure the connector to the trailer side wall. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the attachment, but the wire keeper is attached where my finger is holding the connector.

HornedToad has attached three You Tube videos in his post that were created by Lippert Components and they are extremely useful. Thank you!

I have also attached a troubleshooting guide that I found at LCI. The guide says nothing about looking for or fixing a crushed electrical connector, so it wouldn't have helped much, other than describing the procedure to manually push the slide in so you can travel. As I learned many years ago, if something can go wrong, it probably will. Hopefully, these posts will arm you with the necessary information should this ever happen to you.

 

[danemayer]

I've posted the troubleshooting guide to the manuals section of the forum.