No lights on slide

[Blaster 84]

I have lost the lights on the living room slide of a 8285WS. I have done continuity checks on the bulbs and checks all fuses. There no switches that control the lights other than the ones on the individual lights. At this point I believe I have to expose some wiring looking for a hidden fise, or a loose connection. Does anyone know what would be the proper panel to take off?

[fonzie]

I would look underneath the slide to see if wires are damaged where the wires extend/retract when slide moves....

[OldCoot]

Also check outside where the wires go up the alum tube for chaffing, etc.

[Blaster 84]

I inspected under the slide a d trailer Body and did not see any wires. That's why I was trying to find out which panel I needed to open. Where do I find this aluminum tube your referring to?

[VinceU]

Originally Posted by Blaster 84

I inspected under the slide a d trailer Body and did not see any wires. That's why I was trying to find out which panel I needed to open. Where do I find this aluminum tube your referring to?

Coot I think is referring to alum conduit. Mine is plastic conduit (tubing). Usually inside the frame is wire disconnect or connector.

[jimh]

on the older trailers, they would make the connections behind the lights.
they would make the first connection at the left rear side marker then string from that one to the left rear tail light and so on until they got to the left front side marker. (when both side markers on the left side were lit, u had continuity all the way around). sometimes i would only have the left rear light working. found the poor connection was behind the left side marker light.
you may want to check behind the closest light burning near the ones not burning.

[Blaster 84]

I consider that. I found a wires going to and from the light over the table, and over the couch. There is only one wire leading to the reading light over the couch and also the wall light. I would think the wire leading to these fixtures would originate in the breaker box. But don't know how it would reach the slider.

[fonzie]

Look again underneath the slide, there has to be some wiring on a flexible wand that extend and retract .........

[Blaster 84]

I found the problem. The wire for the slide is a 16 gauge wire that does travel through a flexible conduit along the bottom edge of the slide and then travels into the square metal tube that the slide rides on. I dropped the belly pan and found a 14 gauge wife coming out of the other end of the tube. It's a two wire cable with a thick coating. The wire caught on something as the slide was extended and pulled a connection apart. There was a lot of chaffing on the wire exposing the copper in several places. Judging from the markings on the wire it was also being caught between the tube mentioned above and a housing around the tube as the slide was retracted. I replaced the damaged wire with 16 gauge hoping to relieve the binding. Lights now work, so on to the next challenge.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by VinceU

Coot I think is referring to alum conduit. Mine is plastic conduit (tubing). Usually inside the frame is wire disconnect or connector.

No, it is the alum tube framework on the end of the slide the wire goes into. But it is a moot point as he found the problem.

[Blaster 84]

You are correct, it is the framing and not the drive with the gears on it. BTW, do you have any awning poles left for sale?

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by Blaster 84

You are correct, it is the framing and not the drive with the gears on it. BTW, do you have any awning poles left for sale?

No poles at the time, have brackets. Will check on pole material when I get to FL at the end of next month. If I can get a decent price and enough people are interested, I'll get the material and have some for sale by the end of Mar.