This morning as we were just ready to hook up and pull out of the driveway, our slide out on our 2018 Cougar 22rbs stopped working. What we have done so far to resolve
1. There is power to the motor
2. We have re-spliced both sets of wires to make sure the connection is tight.
3. We have manually moved the slideout in to make sure it was not lodged.
4. When we checked for power at the motor with a volt meter a couple of times the slide out would work but only intermittently.
5. Obviously we are still under warranty but this trip will be a bust if we cant get it solved today or tomorrow am.
Is your battery charged and connected? is the RV plugged in and converter on? Is the problem only on one slide? Can you identify a circuit breaker in the slide motor circuit. When you intermittently have power does the slide move? If the answer to the last question is yes, I would think it is an auto resetting circuit breaker. You could always temporally hot wire the slide, risky.
If the motor does have power and the switch is "known good" then check the battery for a full charge/good wiring connections and check the converter for blown fuses. Be sure to also check the two red reverse polarity fuses. If all of that is good, then I'd suggest looking for one of these "auto reset circuit breakers" that has likely failed..... Usually they are located on the tongue/in the front storage compartment.....
Thanks After spending the morning checking everything it seems that the wires going into the motor may be loose inside. It is working now after playing with the wires a bit but we are nervous to travel without having it checked out. Have you ever heard of the wires being loose inside the motor?
Also it was cold this morning when I pulled the slide in. It worked fine then when my husband went to slide it out (forgot to put something away) The trouble began The fact it is intermittent is driving us crazy.
We are connected to house power ( not 30 amp)
The wires to the motor read 13.4
I don't see any switches like you posted and the fact it worked when the wires into the motor were being touched makes it seem like something inside.
I’ve seen the wire nuts at the motor come loose more times than I care to remember.
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2012 Copper Canyon 273FWRET being towed by a 1994 Ford F350 CC,LB,Dually diesel.
Airlift 5000 bags, Prodigy brake control, 5 gauges on the pillar.Used to tow a '97 Jayco 323RKS.
Now an RVIA registered tech. Retired from Law enforcement in 2008 after 25+ yrs.
On some 12VDC motors there are connections on the outside that can be fixed by tightening the screws on the terminal block. On some, there is a plug and internal connections. On that type, the motor has to be disassembled to repair the connections to the brushes. Here is a "sort of the same" DC motor. You can see the wires going to the brushes. If those wires are shorted out, open, loose or if the brushes are worn, that may be the problem with intermittent function.
Understand Ohm's Law. For an RV it boils down to anything demanding high amps against a "relative" low voltage supply will yield heat...often, lots of it.
The motors to your slides are protected by what is listed as an "automatic, resetting fuse". It's a thermal fuse, and you locate it within three feet of the positive wiring of the motor in question. If it's getting hot and gripping you know your problem...the battery is unable to deliver sufficient operating amps. The onboard battery charger from shore power is 2 amps, and makes no difference plugged in or not.
A single, deep cycle 100 amp hour battery will not supply sufficient " cranking amps" to operate your slides. Eventually the thermal fuse will fail, and the heat will transfer to the motor, your battery and all connecting wires. You can get crisping of these wires way into the walls of your RV.
RVs often have poor grounds. This is dangerous as it's essentially a closed ground loop. The mounting screws themselves represent most of the grounds present on your RV. It's well worth the time securing several sites of solid, direct grounds to your battery system.
When you slide motor gets hot the wires inside will "de solder" and fall.off, or they can crisp and simply break. This is good for otherwise the metal fuses.
It should be criminal negligence to sell any Rv with dc motors with a dc.battery incapable of operating the slides, but it is not. Likewise, good luck getting warranty to be honored.
All the hydraulic.pumps will be Lippert ones with the brand name stripped off of them. When you call them you'll be able to find a Lippert tech who will walk you threw what is happening. But they won't be happy, so be nice and adoptable. You find you won't get warranty credit without sending in the entire contraption. They won't tell you it is not possible to ship a compressor with open fluid in the mail. Not doing so makes it where your warranty is not activated. Better get a seasoned dealer or tech at bat for you on the phone. You'll need it.
Easiest solution is to immediately upgrade your battery system to sufficient design to meet pulsed 60 to 80 amp draws for ten minutes. Short of that you'll have the same issue over and over.
ddibon is correct, especially the last part. I would not take a unit with more than 2 slides off the lot without at least 2 group 27 batteries. I'm old so still like wet cell deep cycle marine batteries and replace at least every 5 years on my boat too.
My slide motor is rated at 30 amps and is protected by a 30 amp auto reset fuse. It runs just fine on my single battery as I'm sure millions of other slides in others RVs do.
Most onboard converters will supply much more than 2 amps, that's what they used to do years ago. Mine is rated for 55 amps and it's probably typical for what you will find in most RVs now.
I had a very similar problem on my 2019. Found it during PDI walk thru but wanted to get out of Elkhart and on the road to my home in Arizona. My symptoms were a motor clicking noise and if fiddled enough the circuit breaker would interrupt. Sometimes it would work fine. We discovered if you pushed harder on the switch slide would move. I am not the type to return to dealer for piddly work, so I removed switch panel from wall and swapped rocker switch with another. Problem transferred to other slide! Switches are easy to swap as they plug in. I then went to a local Keystone dealer and for a replacement from "JR`. Cost me $15 and problem solved.
Try swapping the switches, it was obiously shorted internally when pushed with normal pressure...
For what you pay for these units, They are very poorly constructed. It's a shame we don;t have more of a governing board for complaints. When my black water tank fell out of the frame, due to Keystone using a different supplier and not modifying the frame design It created a smell that was there for a while. I found the cause to be the service dept never connected the vent pipe back to the tank products and service needs to be addressed!
This morning as we were just ready to hook up and pull out of the driveway, our slide out on our 2018 Cougar 22rbs stopped working. What we have done so far to resolve
1. There is power to the motor
2. We have re-spliced both sets of wires to make sure the connection is tight.
3. We have manually moved the slideout in to make sure it was not lodged.
4. When we checked for power at the motor with a volt meter a couple of times the slide out would work but only intermittently.
5. Obviously we are still under warranty but this trip will be a bust if we cant get it solved today or tomorrow am.
Any ideas?
Thanks
We have a 2016 and had tip out problems. When it all began it would just start and stop when we were taking it in and out. At first we thought it was a faulty remote. Stopped using the remote and used the panel instead. Then it continued. Finally they figured out that there was a small area on the tip out that wasn't caulked and it had leaked and warped the floor. It took three months in the shop as they waited for warranty approval and parts before we got our trailer back. the tip out floor was warped and had to be replaced. Basically they rebuilt the thing. It's worked correctly since though. Our Keystone spent a total of 5 months in the shop the first year we owned it.
This is the same type motor frequently used in automobile windows. After 30 years of electrical maintenance work, I have seen this many times before. In Factories and in cars. Automotively the test is to hit the door panel with a dead blow hammer and see if it starts working. There is a possibility that the brushes in your motor have simply stuck or they are worn to the point they are no longer making contact except for arcing across from the brush to the commutator inside the motor. 1 quick test is to use a small hammer and tap close to the mounting end of the motor. Not hard enough to dent the case, but enough to let the brushes make contact. Then test the slide again. If it starts working it will almost always be a stuck or worn out set of brushes. They will be replaceable but can be tricky to hold them retracted while reassembling the motor. If the motor runs after tapping on the housing the motor should be opened and the brushes checked as continued use could cause arcing to the commutator of the motor, then the entire motor would have to be replaced. Brushes are designed to wear.
Hope this helps, Terry
This is the same type motor frequently used in automobile windows. After 30 years of electrical maintenance work, I have seen this many times before. In Factories and in cars. Automotively the test is to hit the door panel with a dead blow hammer and see if it starts working. There is a possibility that the brushes in your motor have simply stuck or they are worn to the point they are no longer making contact except for arcing across from the brush to the commutator inside the motor. 1 quick test is to use a small hammer and tap close to the mounting end of the motor. Not hard enough to dent the case, but enough to let the brushes make contact. Then test the slide again. If it starts working it will almost always be a stuck or worn out set of brushes. They will be replaceable but can be tricky to hold them retracted while reassembling the motor. If the motor runs after tapping on the housing the motor should be opened and the brushes checked as continued use could cause arcing to the commutator of the motor, then the entire motor would have to be replaced. Brushes are designed to wear.
Hope this helps, Terry
See sometimes a hammer is the right tool for the job! [emoji16]
A ball peen hammer, a long common screwdriver (also serves as a pry bar or "hammer focal point concentrator"), a roll of bailing wire and a roll of duct tape. Life is good.......
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