Manual says shoreline may not be enough for slide

[breeves2245]

New Passport SL 229RK owner. A bit confused about the slide power. Manual says AC power may not be enough. Says I must have a fully charged battery.

I was prepping the trailer today and also changing out the 24 grp dealer supplied battery with two 6 volt Trojan T-105 batteries.

I had the dealer battery off and was curious if everything worked with no battery and plugged in to my storage outlet.

Slide worked, lights worked, AC fan worked, too cold at 57 degrees to test the AC. Microwave worked.

So if I'm plugged in and the inverter is converting AC to DC, is there anything that will not work? Not sure what I got at the storage unit, but I would be plugged in to 30 amps at a campground.

[travelin texans]

First, a "converter" converts AC to DC, an "inverter" changes DC to AC.
Your slides are powered by DC from the batteries being charged by the "converter" powered from shore power. Fully charged battery/batteries are required for proper operation.
The converter is capable of operating the slides without batteries but is not recommended as it puts extreme strain on the converter & will eventually cause damage to the converter.
If you have a residential fridge you will have an "inverter" to power it & possibly a couple other outlets, but will not power the A/C or microwave.

[dutchmensport]

Although your converter (AC power to DC power) may operate the slides, but without the battery, this puts a heavy strain on the converter. And as stated above, can cause damage, or burn out of the converter. The battery is required for slide operation, as it is required for other other DC items in your camper.

Disconnect your battery and plug into shore power. AC shore power will be "converted" to DC power in your converter. Now turn on one of your house lights. It appears nice and bright. Turn on the second light, and whatch the first one dim down. Now turn on the third one and the first 2 dim down even more, and on and on. Now, try powering your slide, and it probably won't move with those 3 lights turned on.

You camper is designed to operate with a battery.

[flybouy]

The main issue with running the slide motor without a battery is the initial amperage the motor will draw at start up. Every electric motor has 3 amperage ratings, running ,starting , and locked rotor amps. The starting amps maybe higher than the running amps by several factors. So while a 45 amp converter may be sufficiant to run the motor it may not be enough to efficiantlt start the motor. If the voltage drops from this starting load the amperage draw will be even greater. The battery supplies the energy required for that initial demand.

So the bottom line is this, you may think it's ok because it works but in reality every single time you do that you are weakening both the wires in the motor as well as in the converter.

[Roper46]

I never operate my slides without being on shore power and with good batteries.

[xrated]

I have the 6 point hydraulic leveling system on my trailer. That same system also operates the two hydraulic slides. With my clamp on ammeter, I see right at 70 amps when operating the system. Imagine what that would be doing to the converter if I didn't have the battery hooked up while trying to run it. The converter is a 55A WFCO.