slide hydraulics only work with Battery on

[hoopers2]

I just took delivery on my Bighorn 3670 this past week, so maybe this is a newbie question.

My bedroom slide hydraulics work fine with 110 power only (battery off), but the main slides do not work with just 110, unless my battery is turned on. Is this normal? Maybe 110 doesn't have the amps needed, so maybe it makes sense? Not a big deal, now that I know it. Was scratching my head for a few minutes.

Thx

 

[cookie]

Since it is the same pump that runs all the hydraulics, if one slide works they all should work.
Look in the hydraulic pump compartment and you should see some isolator valves. Make sure they are all open. Counterclockwise.

Peace
Dave

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[danemayer]

The bedroom slide may be electric, not hydraulic. The hydraulic motor gets power thru the buss bar and 12v circuit breakers near the battery. If the battery cutoff is OFF, I think that cuts power to the circuit breakers and in turn to the pump.


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[hoopers2]

Since it is the same pump that runs all the hydraulics, if one slide works they all should work.
Look in the hydraulic pump compartment and you should see some isolator valves. Make sure they are all open. Counterclockwise.

Peace
Dave



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Thanks Dave. I checked the valves, and they were all fully open. Just weird that the main slides will only work with the battery on. The motor makes noise with just 110 plugged in(battery switch off), but the slides don't move. But as soon as I turn the battery on, everything works just fine. I did read that the slides can take a lot of amperage, and my house 110 is only 15 amps.

 

[hoopers2]

The bedroom slide may be electric, not hydraulic. The hydraulic motor gets power thru the buss bar and 12v circuit breakers near the battery. If the battery cutoff is OFF, I think that cuts power to the circuit breakers and in turn to the pump.


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Oh, will that makes some sense. I have four slides and 3 valves. Maybe my bedroom slide is electric. Though the hydraulic slides make noise when I push the slide button and the battery is OFF (something is making noise, and I assumed it was the hydraulics, but it could be something else making noise, I don't know).

 

[rgwilliams69]

Sometimes if the main slides are on one switch and the bedroom slide is a separate switch on the control panel that will indicate the bedroom is electric/cable versus hydraulic. Our Cyclone is built this way.

 

[danemayer]

You may be getting some power from the converter across the buss bar and to the pump, but the amperage from the converter may not be enough to start the pump motor.


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[hoopers2]

Sometimes if the main slides are on one switch and the bedroom slide is a separate switch on the control panel that will indicate the bedroom is electric/cable versus hydraulic. Our Cyclone is built this way.

Yes, I have two switches.

I think we figured this out. Thanks everyone.

 

[hoefler]

The hydraulic pump is 12v powered. The electric slide is also 12v powered. When the batteries are off, you are running off the convertor. The convertor alone cannot supply enough current to the pump motor, hence it does not work. Look at the size of wires feeding the hydraulic pump. Compare them to the wires that connect the convertor to the battery bank. The pump wires are at least twice the size and will carry well over 100 amps. Most convertors are rated at 60 amps or less.

 

[JohnDar]

I tried to find the actual current requirement for the pump motor, but no luck. All I could find was that it requires a fully charged battery.

 

[MTPockets]

These are 12v motors, so must have 12v. With the battery switch off there is no 12v power available. The converter I would think is supplying power to charge the battery, so when the switch is off = no power.

 

[sengli]

I know no one ever looks at this. But if you look in the owners manual, it specifically tells you to never operate the coach, or slides with out the battery in the coach. It acts like a large current capacitor, and using the converter alone isn't enough of a current source.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Bottom line....the battery has to be connected to make the slides work. Its the same with with most everything in the coach including the landing gear. The only exception is anything that only works on 110V...TV, microwave, etc, etc.

 

[Wharton]

Why were you running with the battery off to begin with? Just curiosity with your new toy???

 

[traveler44]

I don't know if mine would work on just the 110V or not, never needed to, but I do know that they will work with just the 12V because I have run them in and out with it before. If you need to get to something inside while you are travelling you can just turn the thumb screws shut on the slides you don't want out and hit the switch to run a single slide out or in and then open up the other thumb screws again. So we run a slide out enough to get through and then close them before as we go again. Tom

 

[JohnDar]

You can run them off the truck umbilical if the trailer battery is dead. Done that a couple of times. But the battery does have to be in and connected.

 

[wdk450]

I found out my factory truck umbilical has a 30 amp fuse. BTW, it was blown and I never knew. This would make a nice argument for a LED on the charging line at the truck connector. Check for lighted LED with trailer disconnected (no trailer battery backfeeding) and truck engine ON.

You can run them off the truck umbilical if the trailer battery is dead. Done that a couple of times. But the battery does have to be in and connected.