Power Issue with Slideout

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by Marineman

lol...Well, a fuse and a breaker are basically the same thing. Why don't we use a fuse and a breaker in our house electricity? Same with our cars? It's one or the other.

Now, you can fuse/breaker a specific appliance. My wife uses a hair dryer and the cord has a GFI on it in case it's dropped in water. But most electrical appliances, which includes vacuums, stereos, ovens, etc., they all rely on the breakers in your power grid to "Trip" in case too many amps are drawn on a circuit.

In my RV's situation, the fuse AND the breaker protect the hot lead going to the switch. So all of the 30 amp wiring coming from the point of power are the same, going directly to the 40 amp switch, which is then transmitted to the 30 amp motor. So in this case, the 30 amp auto reset breaker is pointless if there is a 15 amp fuse in front of it, because if the system becomes overloaded, that 15 amp fuse will blow before the breaker overheats.

And all of this is happening, front to back, in a 30 amp World (circuit).

The only reason I see the 15 amp fuse having a purpose is to blow when the slide is out of adjustment, as any motor under a load will draw more amps. And if that's the only reason, we should be told that.

I also just finished reading a post on another RV thread and the person was having trouble with blowing this fuse when the slide was fully retracted, or when it sealed up tight in the closed position (same thing happening to me), which is when the motor works the hardest. He replaced it with a bigger fuse, problem solved.

Now, it's on us if we ignore a bumpy slide. Me, I'll adjust mine if it gets bad. It's not hard to do.

I understand electrical circuits lol..I work almost everyday elbow deep in high and low voltage ..but I will say that rv’s are perplexing to me. Boats I understand..
They have a higher standard of compliance..yacht certification/ABYC standards .usually not any surprises.
I will stop beating this to death lol I was trying to explain that on a production line they may have wiring harnesses premade and just adapt the end of the line and fuse differently depending on size of slide motor installed.. it was just a guess.
I will leave this to the experts but I would wager that all the same models are wired the same way unless it was just a one off mistake.

I go on air conditioner service calls where a 10 year old ac unit just starts randomly tripping the breaker.. the compressor is pulling more amps to start up because of internal breakdowns .. I check the original capacitor and add a hard start if necessary.. check the breaker to see if it’s hot or warm to touch Check to make sure all wire connections and screw terminals at breaker and contactor are tight..check voltage and refrigerant charge.
If it runs with the hard start I tell them it’s probably just a bandaid and might last a day a week or a year but the ac unit is on its downward spiral.

Electrical problems rarely happen randomly...it’s usually a cause and effect situation

BUT that being said I’m glad you reached a comfortable solution and you made me aware of extra fuses that may be lurking under my fifth wheel

[flybouy]

Plain and simple, somebody screwed up. A fuse or a circuit breaker serve the same function, it's an overcurrent device to interrupt the circuit and prevent a fire. Now, if the 30 amp was protecting branch circuits downstream, then you msy have several circuits, each protected by the 30 amp as the main circuit is wire sized to handle 30 amps. That could be one 30 amp load, or two 15 amp circcuits, or three 10 amp loads. There is no way that Keystone would purpously waste the money to place a 30 amp breaker and wire to match just to step it down to 15 with no other circuits connected.

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by flybouy

Plain and simple, somebody screwed up. A fuse or a circuit breaker serve the same function, it's an overcurrent device to interrupt the circuit and prevent a fire. Now, if the 30 amp was protecting branch circuits downstream, then you msy have several circuits, each protected by the 30 amp as the main circuit is wire sized to handle 30 amps. That could be one 30 amp load, or two 15 amp circcuits, or three 10 amp loads. There is no way that Keystone would purpously waste the money to place a 30 amp breaker and wire to match just to step it down to 15 with no other circuits connected.

Hmmm I never considered the financial factor.. I think your on to something Marshall.

[Marineman]

Originally Posted by flybouy

Plain and simple, somebody screwed up. A fuse or a circuit breaker serve the same function, it's an overcurrent device to interrupt the circuit and prevent a fire. Now, if the 30 amp was protecting branch circuits downstream, then you msy have several circuits, each protected by the 30 amp as the main circuit is wire sized to handle 30 amps. That could be one 30 amp load, or two 15 amp circcuits, or three 10 amp loads. There is no way that Keystone would purpously waste the money to place a 30 amp breaker and wire to match just to step it down to 15 with no other circuits connected.

Bingo!!! This is the exact conclusion I've come too.

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by flybouy

Plain and simple, somebody screwed up. A fuse or a circuit breaker serve the same function, it's an overcurrent device to interrupt the circuit and prevent a fire. Now, if the 30 amp was protecting branch circuits downstream, then you msy have several circuits, each protected by the 30 amp as the main circuit is wire sized to handle 30 amps. That could be one 30 amp load, or two 15 amp circcuits, or three 10 amp loads. There is no way that Keystone would purpously waste the money to place a 30 amp breaker and wire to match just to step it down to 15 with no other circuits connected.

Originally Posted by Marineman

Bingo!!! This is the exact conclusion I've come too.

I’m having a hard time letting this one go
I can totally accept the mistake theory BUT lol why on earth did it wait 5 years to rear it’s ugly head? Something must have changed and I’m betting it’s the motor on its last legs or slide binding. I have the curse of not accepting random unanswered problems.. now maybe the wire connectors are corroded causing low voltage and high amps to the motor ..nope you replaced the wire and it still blew the fuse . I dunno I’m still thinking it’s the motor......

I’m gonna need you to send it to me if you don’t mind to check it out....I will have it back to you in short order ...it’s gonna bother me

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by jasin1

I’m having a hard time letting this one go
I can totally accept the mistake theory BUT lol why on earth did it wait 5 years to rear it’s ugly head? Something must have changed and I’m betting it’s the motor on its last legs or slide binding. I have the curse of not accepting random unanswered problems.. now maybe the wire connectors are corroded causing low voltage and high amps to the motor ..nope you replaced the wire and it still blew the fuse . I dunno I’m still thinking it’s the motor......

I’m gonna need you to send it to me if you don’t mind to check it out....I will have it back to you in short order ...it’s gonna bother me

You'll be ok, just type in YouTube dot com and search for flying monkeys destroy rv or whatever else you might think of...

[Marineman]

Originally Posted by jasin1

I’m having a hard time letting this one go
I can totally accept the mistake theory BUT lol why on earth did it wait 5 years to rear it’s ugly head? Something must have changed and I’m betting it’s the motor on its last legs or slide binding. I have the curse of not accepting random unanswered problems.. now maybe the wire connectors are corroded causing low voltage and high amps to the motor ..nope you replaced the wire and it still blew the fuse . I dunno I’m still thinking it’s the motor......

I’m gonna need you to send it to me if you don’t mind to check it out....I will have it back to you in short order ...it’s gonna bother me

Haha...You have no idea how many sleepless nights I've had over this problem. I'm a mechanic by trade. I joined the Marines right out high school in 1978 and I scored very high on the mechanical and electrical test and they put me right into Heavy Equipment Mechanic school, or for those in the military, a 1341 MOS.

I spent two and half years in a 3rd echelon shop where we rebuilt 71 series GMC diesel engines, rewired heavy equipment, generators, rebuilt hydraulics, tuned and troubleshot everything and anything you can imagine.

After I was discharged I worked at an equipment rental yard where I wrenched on every know mechanical beast known to man. haha Then I became self employed and owned and worked on my own trucks for my dairy business. Did this for 15 years and I've never taken my car or trucks to the shop unless I just plain didn't want to fix it myself.

Long story short, I'm 61 years old and I still wrench on everything I can get my hands on, unless, I don't want to deal with the problem myself, which is usually because of a time constraint or my garage doesn't have a lift.

And the number one thing I learned way back in Trade School was troubleshooting. This is the most devious part in the mechanics World of fixing things, as even the best can be stumped. But always start from the bottom up. If the car dies, check to see if you've run out of gas. Sounds dumb, but you'd be surprised how many people replace a fuel pump when that wasn't the problem.

So, I entered this dilemma with over 40 years of mechanical experience, and I will admit, I'm still stumped over the low voltage hot lead that went to the switch. More so because that hot lead still reads a low voltage reading even after being unhooked from the 30 amp auto reset breaker.

People have asked me, "Is it the right wire?" It's the ONLY purple 30 amp wire in my entire RV. It's also the wire that matches what's in the wiring schematic from Lippert Components. Purple at the switch, purple at the 30 amp breaker.

I believe there is a connection that I cannot see (no telling where it is) that splits away somewhere in the middle, sending a low voltage reading to the switch. It has to be separated because I don't get a low voltage reading at the other end, or where it connects to the 30 amp breaker. The reason I say this is with the wire being disconnected from power, continuity is lost and the wire should be dead on both ends. But it's not. If this is the case, I should get that low voltage reading at both ends if one is hot.

And I really believe this is where my problem with the slide is. This junction, this internal switch, whatever is in there, it is sending electricity to one side of the circuit, but not enough to power the slide. And it lives without the 30 amp breaker connection.

If it was a short, it would blow the fuse or torch the wires. If it's connected to another appliance or lights in my RV then I should see the compromise if I were to use that component at large. But I've checked every single electrical component that uses 12 volts from the battery and they ALL work perfect.

This is why I ended up running my own wire. It was my last and most tedious resort. And when the 15 amp fuse blew on my own independent wire, I thought to myself, this might be why I have that low voltage reading at the switch on the old wire. There is a road block on my electric current in the factory wire, which may have prevented the 15 amp fuse from blowing.

And just to let you know, I went home at lunch today and tested my slide out again. It's never worked better. Quiet, smooth, in both directions.