Slides

[Campin Cajun]

I never really looked into it, but I always thought and was told by non Berkshire owners, that our slides work off of the chassis batteries so it is a good idea to slide in or out while the engine is running. Well that is not correct. Berkshire, at least mine, must work off the house batteries, because when my engine is running my slides do not operate.

Can anyone confirm this?

[DanielJ]

I thought that they don't work while the engine is running so that you don't try to deploy a slide while moving.

[bubbles]

Originally Posted by DanielJ

I thought that they don't work while the engine is running so that you don't try to deploy a slide while moving.

Correct. The levelers (if Lippert) should be deployed and retracted with the engine running. The slides will not deploy if the engine is running (safety feature). Wouldn't hurt to be connected to shore power when deploying slides but not a requirement.

[Campin Cajun]

While setting up in campgrounds I have been told several times I should leave my engine running while auto leveling and sliding out. Once by a guy in an American Coach and three times by Tiffin owners. So that tells me their slides operate off the chassis batts.

I always tell them my slides run off the house batts and they look at me like I am nutz. They do not believe me. I am not saying one way is better than the other. But with these new fangled Diesel engines that we are not supposed to idle for long periods I would say that the house battery hook up is a little better for our engines and for our neighbors in the campgrounds.

[beipers]

Agreed. But it does mean that you need to think ahead while boondocking. If you are not careful, you won't have enough power to pull them back in. We had this happen last summer when the inverter charger was not working, so running the generator didn't help. We had to use a battery charger for a couple of hours to get enough charge back to pull everything in.

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[Superchief]

Campin Cajun, One way to possibly tell which batteries power the slide, may to turn off the power from each separate set of batteries, one at time, and then see which ones power the slides. I haven't tried it, so if you do it, let me know what happens. Craig

[Superchief]

Just another note, the front two slides are hydraulic and the rear slides are electrical. Don't ask me how I know that. Okay if you insist, I burned my hydraulic pump out and only the two rear slides would operate.

[Campin Cajun]

I'll try that tomorrow.

[Superchief]

I just tested mine. All of slides only work off of the House Batteries not the Chassis Batteries.

[Campin Cajun]

I did mine also. Same conclusion here.