2005 High Wall electric lift woes

[Serpiente]

Hello everyone. I was an active popup user until the kids got old enough to want to stay home during the summer to hang out with friends...

Anyway, I have a 2005 HW 25 S-C with the electric lift. I have read MANY threads on electric lifts here on FRR but I still have questions. We cannot find the manuals for the Pup and I suspect they are in the camper itself.

The first question is easy, What type of battery do I need for the camper? It has been stored in a garage but the battery is missing.

Second, which wire goes where? The Pup has 4 wires. 1 white, 1 red, 1 black and 1 thin black with an in-line fuse.

Third, I need to move the battery box but don't know where. If you haven't ever looked at the design of this particular camper regarding the battery location it is CRAZY. The battery box is screwed down on TOP of the metal winch cover. (Using sheet metal philips head screws no less.) There is NO WAY to access the manual drive plug without removing the battery box. The screws have rusted. Moving the box, or making it removable, would allow me to manually lift using a drill.

Since new, the electric winch gave us trouble. We should have just returned the unit but the dealer, now out of business, kept slow leaking us.
Sometimes, the top wouldn't raise at all using the battery. Sometimes, it would go up in stages because something would click, an overheat CB, and we would have to wait. Hooking the truck up to the battery via jumper cables would let me raise the roof no problem.

Fourth question: The big red wire has two Pollack T1 thermal breakers wired together right where it attaches to the battery. Why two? Why together? Is this the problem?





Hopefully it is raining where you are and you can sit with a nice scotch and try to answer my questions.

Thanks!

[f5moab]

When I had the electric motor it had a red and black wire. Red went to a 40 amp circuit breaker that was attached directly to the battery positive, the black wire was attached to the battery negative.




The thin black wire with the fuse is "most likely" the battery plus to the trailer, while the white wire is usually the ground to the trailer. (When you say thin, how thin?)

On mine, the battery plus to the trailer was red....

[Serpiente]

Thanks f5moab, you can see the thin black wire in my first pic above.

It looks like, on your picture, you have all your wires connected to positive except the white wire. Maybe I just can't see the black wire. I dunno...

[f5moab]

The very thin black wire on the positive cable is for my Trimetric meter and has a 1 or 2 amp fuse inline. It is not designed for a large amp load.

The white wire on the negative cable goes to the right side battery.
On the right side battery (not shown)

Positive terminal: Red wire from the left side battery in the photo.
Negative terminal: White wire from the left side battery in the photo
Black wire from the powerwinch
White wire to the trailer's ground
A shunt with some smaller wire's and wiring to the Trimetric meter.

I do recommend that you try and track those wires to the source just to make sure before connecting the battery up. At least make sure the black goes to the converter, or to a splice where the spliced wires goes to the converter and the TV for power, and/or the white does go to a ground point, etc.

[Serpiente]

Well, I have answered almost all of my own questions. My wifey said, "hey, didn't you take a picture of the battery connections when we first bought it?" So after 3 hours of searching digital files in 2 big backup drives I found a pic. Without using up FRF bandwidth, the thick white and thick black go on the negative terminal, which is what we thought. The thick red and skinny black go on the positive terminal. I was always told to NEVER put a black wire on the positive terminal but I guess the terminal is colorblind!

The only question now is why the winch has never worked well. I'm going to head to the storage garage and do some lubricating and put on a fresh battery and see what happens.

Thanks!
(the saga continues)

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Serpiente

Well, I have answered almost all of my own questions. My wifey said, "hey, didn't you take a picture of the battery connections when we first bought it?" So after 3 hours of searching digital files in 2 big backup drives I found a pic. Without using up FRF bandwidth, the thick white and thick black go on the negative terminal, which is what we thought. The thick red and skinny black go on the positive terminal. I was always told to NEVER put a black wire on the positive terminal but I guess the terminal is colorblind!

The only question now is why the winch has never worked well. I'm going to head to the storage garage and do some lubricating and put on a fresh battery and see what happens.

Thanks!
(the saga continues)

RV wiring is usually similar to house wiring and not automotive wiring.
Not always but most of the time.

[Serpiente]

Well folks, the motor still isn't working. Here's what I've tried:

I replaced the battery. Nothing, not even a clicking sound.
I replaced the two big fuses in parallel near the battery. Nothing.
I checked the 80A fuse underneath the motor. Nothing.

I put the manual handle on the worm gear (in the grease) and started turning and the roof does move up albeit slowly. So the gears aren't jammed.

I spoke to a service tech today and he suggests spraying anti corrosion fluid on the up/dn switch. I will probably just replace the switch. I'm a little flummoxed by what switch to use. I want a DPDT, weather proof, on/off/on, momentary switch. I was going to buy a Morris model 70110 but a commenter on Amazon says the switch isn't spring loaded to the center, off, position.

Other than that, I would guess a broken wire, a faulty limit switch, a blown motor.

Help! The RV center nearest the popup is full til late July.

[cabranch47]

I had a similar, intermittent, problem on a trip. Sometimes the winch would not work, like no power. I banged on the side with a wrench and it would start working, something I learned back in the hotrod days on starters. Probably a bad spot on the armature. Replaced it when we got home. I do not think just the motors are replaceable, have to buy the whole winch ($400?). Electric motor place might could rewind it if that is the problem.

[NSNewbie]

If the motor is toast, they are replaceable, however switch over to a manual crank. The motors are known to have issues and who wants an unreliable lift system and the small backup manual raises the roof super slowly. Warning... Don't put a drill on it as you will likely break the head of the manual backup.
We converted to a manual crank and have no regrets. Very easy to convert and costs a lot less and goes up quickly with a little arm power.

[jimmoore13]

Perhaps replace the relays?
I had to replace mine in a 2014 camper.

You seem to be doing this already, but check all connections, including any chassis ground.
Also check that your limit switches are passing current (use a multimeter and make sure that resistance thru the switch is near zero).

Use the multimeter to test the toggle switch. It, too, should read close to zero resistance.

Note that many many times the relays will have two wires joined on one lug, and the kluge used to make the connections can also fail. It's a "U"-shaped piece of "tin" that doubles up the lug, but they are a weak point in the system.

A multimeter adequate for this task is about $20, and it's a lifetime investment you'll appreciate having. Photo of my relays and connections included. Note that the relay specs and part numbers are printed right on the relay. Auto parts stores and Amazon sell them.

[Serpiente]

Update:
Got the lift working by replacing the switch. Top raised with on problem at all, even after 7 years of storage!
Alas, I'll have to start a new thread because the floor has gone soft in several places so we can't use the rv...