Slide out stuck on one side

[tknull]

Hi all. I have a 2011 Salem 312 QBUD that has a schwintek electric slide out issue. It goes out ok but when I try to bring it back in, it appears that only the one side is working. It comes in on that side about 3-4 inches then binds up. The controller has a red LED on it that the tech at Lippert tells me means that the motor is amping out. Which, he thought, would indicate it is binding as well.
Three guys can push it back in and the motor clicks as it is being pushed and the retract button pressed. There are no filings on track to indicate grinding.
I have removed the outside vertical piece on the trailer and hit the switch and the motor moves it along the track with no load on it. I am now having a heck of a time getting the piece back in but thats another story.
Any other ideas as to what it might be?
I think now that i have the piece off of the exterior, I will pop the motor out and see if I can see anything wrong with it.
HELP would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[uralman]

Similar thing happened to mine twice. Each time motor needed replacing. I now carry spare motors. I also carry spare cable and controller. Helps troubleshooting.

[tknull]

How did you know it was the motor? What was it doing?

[uralman]

I replaced it. Can’t remember what the error message was from the controller.

[XLR29HFS]

My slide did this and I was told by tech to look for a pinched wire.
I opened up the controller box and found about 12feet of wire all balled up and squished inside.
I uncoiled it and straightened out the kinks, coiled the excess wire up outside the controller box in a more relaxed fashion.
Reset the system.
Slide has work fine ever since.

Likely still a broken wire in there that will fail again at the worst possible time but for now it is working.

[tknull]

I would think a pinched wire would mean no power at all. The motor seems to have power just not working under load.

[XLR29HFS]

I would have thought so too, but my slide would move out a couple of inches and then it seemed like one side jammed and then it would skew a bit and stop. I could not find any blockage or damage. If I switch direction to bring it in just until the motor unloaded then I could move back out a bit. I was out about 6 inches when it first jammed up and I had to wiggle it all the way back in a inch or so at a time. The tech said he had seen this "pinched wire" scenario a couple of times. As I said maybe the wire strands are actually broken and there is only partial contact at the bend until it draws current and heats up completely breaking the circuit. Straightening out the wire may have just pushed the ends of the strands into contact. I am sure there is an electrical expert on here that will set me straight.
All I know about electricity is that the bumpy end of the battery goes in the flashlight first.

[tknull]

Haha. Mine is stuck all the way out but I see your point. Thanks.

[pismolocal]

This seems to be a common thing. My bedroom slide did the same thing. Had to push it in an inch, go inside and use the controller to bring in the other side till it faulted again...then run back out and push the other side in another inch. Repeated this for about 30 minutes until I got the slide in all the way. RV is 6 months old. Have an appt on the 14th to have it looked at. Grrrr.

[uralman]

I keep a spare motor cable. It comes in handy for diagnosing the system.

[tknull]

Just an update. I managed to get the motor and gears to move along the track on the exterior. I then lubed everything up and put back together. Reset the controller and wallah! it worked. Took a bit to get it re timed but it now works. Thanks for all the input.