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Resolved!! -- Electrical Problem -- Slide Out Will Not Retract

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My trip to Baton Rouge for LSU football this past weekend went to heck when my passenger side slide would not retract (we stayed Thursday night in Lake Charles, LA to visit my son's family).   After calling a couple of Lake Charles RV repair shops, the initial thought was the slide motor had quit working.  I was able to find a new replacement motor (KMG - Klauber Machine Group) from a dealer in Lafayette and found a mobile RV repair company that would work on a Saturday.   After the new motor was installed, the slide still would not retract.   The "square rods" connected to the motor were detached to assure the new motor was functioning.  We found that power to the motor existed only when the "out" part of the slide's in/out button was pushed.  There was no power to the motor when the "in" side of the button was pushed.    Finding an apparent electrical button, the control panel was removed and the wires for the stuck slide were placed on another slide "in/out" button.  Again, there was no power to the stuck slide when the "In" was pushed.   The two young mobile repair techs were now perplexed and did not have the skill to trouble-shoot the electrical issue.   To get back home to Katy, the power supply wires to the motor were "reversed" so the slide could be retracted so I could drive home to Katy, TX.   With the power supply wires "reversed", the slide will now not extend.  There are no fuses, relays, etc. in the slide motor compartment.

I'm and the young repair techs are perplexed why this one slide would not retract while the other two slides have no problems.

Below are photos of the motor, the control panel with push buttons (front and back), the battery control center, and wiring diagram for the slide outs.   Any thoughts on how to trouble shoot the electrical problem now that the slide out will not extend?   Is this problem best done by RV Masters or some other repair shop in Houston?

Thanks for the forum's help!

 

1) Front of Control Panel / 2) Back of Control Panel with wires disconnected from "Pass Front" button / 3) New Slide Out Motor with Yellow and Green Power Supply Wires "Reversed" / 4) Slide Out Wiring Diagram / 5) Battery Control Center

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Slide Out Wiring Diagram.JPGIMG_1798.JPG.1b36df13fc96a349bd8c97a24fac83de.JPG

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Mike, the drawing is OK, But very simplified - not a true drawing of how the wiring is installed !

   Missing a circuit to supply power to slideroom motor.The drawing pictures one relay to power the in and out voltage to the motor- there are 2 power relays. One to power the slide in and one to power the slide out. input to the common point of the repay pictured is pictured; but that power should come from a larger fused supply with the key switch only controlling the relay coils of the in and out relays / with a limit switch to stop the slideout travel and to stop the slide at a in or park point.

     Magnetic switches are very commonly used for the sensor circuits stop point.(They do not fail often) The setup should have 2 high current relays - one for the extend and one for the retract function. Is the bathroom wall between the slide in question? or some other space/wall at one end of the slide. It is not uncommon for the control relays to be hidden in a wall.(If one connection comes loose from the coil circuit of one of them the whole system is locked up) like you have described !!!  Builders do not mount the wiring in most cases and the wires hang down from the mounted relays and they come loose as the coach bounces down the road !

The slide should extend if you place the wiring as it was to extend the slide, Did it work ? Is so then have a helper press the  retract switch and with no noise in or out side the coach listen  for a clicking sound each time the button is pressed. There has to be  some relays hidden somewhere along with a bigger fused circuit to feed the required 20 amps to the slide motor.

A call to the coach technical help line requesting information on the location of the relays might help.

NOTE! depending on what shift and the person installing the wiring - this location can vary.

Good luck Rich. 

 

Slide Out Wiring Diagram.JPG

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Rich --

Thanks for the great feedback!  When looking in the area of the slide motor I didn't see a relay, fuse, etc. for the motor.  All that I saw were the green and yellow wires coming out of the wire bundle that connected to the motor's black and red wires (see the motor photo above).   It makes sense that there is a relay somewhere as the wires on the back of the slide out control switches are different colors (orange "slide in" wire, blue "slide out" wire, and a common purple wire for all three switches).  Somewhere the orange and purple wires at the control switch change to green and yellow wires at motor.   The wiring diagram is from my owner's manual.

As I mentioned above, to get the slide-out to retract so I could travel home, the green/yellow wires at the slide motor were switched.  The slide-out can not be extended / the motor accessed  until the electrical problem is resolved.

I guess the next step is to hunt for the power relays !?

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One more question for the forum.  Is there any way to manually extend the slide-out given I now only have a six inch diameter opening to the slide motor area?  The opening is just to the left and below the yellow wire screw caps (first photo with old motor)

Square rods that drive the slide bars are attached on both sides of the motor gear box (second photo with new motor).   The slide-out that was stuck open is also shown below.  Thanks for everyone's help and ideas?

 

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There is a wealth of information on the Lippert/Powergear website plus their customer service phone number. BTW, once you resolve this issue, you need to replace the zip ties with a radiator type hose clamp so moisture can't get to the brake assembly. Again, this is covered extensively on their website. There are instructions also on manually moving the slide.

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Different coach but my slide controllers are behind a panel that holds my cable/sat input in one of the bays. I have electric motors also that look identical to yours. Mine are Kwikee but like stated all owned by Lippert now.

On my motors there is a 3/4 inch nut and also on the motor is a "lock" switch. The lock switch on the motor is a little lever that keeps the motor from free wheeling. Your manual should state whether to turn the lock switch left or right to engage the lock.  If you disengage that lock switch you should be able to put a 3/4 inch wrench/ratchet on the nut to move the slide.  If there are two motors on the slide it will require two people and the wrenches need to be turne simultaneously (slide ends within 1 to 2 inches of each other) so do the wrench turns together.

The lock switches can bump open just traveling down some of our super highways.  Before trying the manual way, slide the lock switch one way and try the slide and then the other way and try the slide.  If the motor is not in the lock position it just may be a cause - worth the check.

Rots of ruck!

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Quick update (10/2/17).  After spending several hours this past Friday trying different control buttons and swapping relay modules (Bosch brand), the passenger side slide-out still will not extend.  This "electrical" problem is beyond my capabilities so I took my motorhome to RV Masters repair shop in Houston (I've had good service from them).  

Their statement was the circuit board in the battery control center could be bad (??).   I hope to have a diagnosis later this week.  I'll share my learnings with the forum.

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A final update for my slide-out problem.  The good folks at RV Masters in Houston diagnosed the problem to be a "bad" Lippert Slide-Out Controller.  The "in/out" switch and relay all work fine and were not the problem.    A new controller was installed and the slide out is working great again!   My "panic" purchase of a new $600 slide out motor was not necessary (I now have a gently used "spare" motor).   For my motorhome, there are two slide out controllers attached to the "roof" of the middle basement compartment between the two main beams of the frame.  One controller for the passenger side slide-out and one for the drive side slide-out.   RV Masters charged $130 for the new controller and $140 for an hour of labor to install the controller.

A new Lippert Slide-Out Controller can be purchased from Amazon for $85 (not including shipping) -->https://www.amazon.com/Lippert-135666-Controller-Above-Floor-Through-Frame/dp/B00S2ICOSI .   What does the Forum think about purchasing and keeping a "spare" controller in my box of "essentials" for my motorhome?

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ha ha! spare coach is gone. Insurance company finally paid us and the finance company so we are free and clear right now.

Hey Fagnam, thanks for the update and happy to hear it is fixed.

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11 hours ago, wayne77590 said:

We found one and as soon as the deal is finalized I'll tell what it is.

Are you going to have it in time for 6 State?

Bill

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I know this is an old thread but I'm having same problem, actually slide will neither go out or retract. I've successfully "jumped" the motor to do the work until I find the cure. I've verified that it's not the relays, I switched the other side slide relays with the inop side and they work, I've also verified that the switch works, still not getting power to the slide motor via the connection to the switch. I've not seen a controller for either side but will continue to search.. coach is an '07 Sportscoach legend 40qs

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I have a Dutch Star 2006 very similar symptoms.  I've checked the slide switch and it functions, I've checked the relays and they work with 12 volts but do not work when plugged in, I've checked the motor and it is capable of working with 12 volts applied.  I have searched everywhere for the controller that is referred to in several places here including above the I-beam and cannot find it any other hints were to look?

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