Rear Slide Dead

[KarenS144]

This is a 2011 Georgetown 280DS....

We de-winterized last week and in the process of cleaning the filter, spilled some water on the "slide out room controller" which is located UNDER the freakin' water filter. What moron thought that was a good idea?!?

Anyway...we dried as best we could, left the door open and ran a fan into it for hours and thought all was well. We closed her up, slides in and put her in the garage. We're getting ready for our first camping trip this week and ran the front slide out and the rear slide won't move. Doesn't click, lights don't dim like it's drawing any power...nothing. Fuses seem fine, we wiggled, pushed & cussed wires...nothing works. DEAD.

DH thinks we fried the controller:



Is there anything else we should check? How hard is it to replace the contoller? It doesn't LOOK too difficult but one never knows.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

[Iggy]

Have you checked to see if you blew the fuse or DC circuit breaker?

[markb5900]

If you have a multi meter, check the voltage at the motor first, see if you have it there or not.
If you don't, then back track to the controller and see if it is outputting voltage for that slide or not. If one works and the other doesn't, I would suspect you have something else wrong other than the controller.

[KarenS144]

We're pretty sure it's the controller. We bypassed the controller & jumped from the battery to the motor and the slide worked. We're going to try to find a controller tomorrow. If not, we'll jump the slide when we arrive at camp and then jump it to retract and worry about it later. Or... if we chicken out there, we'll just deal with the slide being in. it won't be the end of the world.

Thanks!

[WDK]

...My next forum thread was going to be about how to manually or perhaps bypassing the controller as you did to push out and retract the slides as well as the electric shade for the front window.. I asked the guy on our walk through if he knew how.....yeah right. Anyway could you please tell me if there is a way to manually operate the slides and or can you give me some instruction on how you were able to bypass the controller.

Thanks

[KarenS144]

These were the instructions we were given on another forum:

Remove it and jumper between the battery connections and the slide motor, touching intermittently with the last jumper. It should go one way or the other if all else is well and reversing polarity should send it the other way.

If you look at the pic I posted, you see there are positive & negative battery connections and positive and negative motor connections. DH unscrewed the controller from the floor, then unplugged both positive wires and used a battery jumper (a little wire with small alligator clips on the ends) to make the connection between them. He attached one clip to the motor + wire and just touched the other end to the battery + wire and the slide moved out. We didn't run it all the way out but know it moved.

[Brother Les]

I do not believe that you 'fried' the controller. I think that you blew a fuse or circuit breaker. http://www.kinetekcontrols.com/produ...ntrollerDS.pdf

Kinetek Controls: Products, motor speed controls, battery chargers

Call Kinetek Controls Company and ask them for advice on their product, it may be an easy 'reset'. Their number is on the above brochure.


Kinetek Controls

3705 Lane Rd. Ext
Perry, OH 44081
Tel: 440-357-5711
Fax: 440-357-5440
www.kinetekcontrols.com
Email: kcinfo@kinetekinc.co

[WDK]

Though I get jumpering the controller for troubleshooting, this cannot be the way it is designed in the event of battery or motor failure....does anyone know if there is a way to manually jack the slides in and out. Where is that controller found on your coach....I assume the other controller must be in the same approximate position relative to the other slide. I will be getting into all this research.....though I can't sit back and wait until I get all this figured out. We are planning our second outing this weekend and I am dreading what to do in the event of a slide failure or the stabilizer jacks that will not come up....your are stuck where you are until get the slides in or the jacks up.

WDK

[KarenS144]

Well, no. Bypassing the controller isn't the preferred way to move the slide. There should be a manual crank somewhere on the slide. We have a tool that is supposed to be used with a drill to get the front slide in.

I don't think slides or jacks fail often. Ours did only because it got wet. Our controller for the back slide is located under the bed at the corner that can be reached from the hall behind a small door. I have no idea where the controller for the front slide is. We've never seen it!

[WDK]

...yes I got the tools and some vague instruction about closing a valve on the motor or disconnecting it and using the tool and a drill in a slot on the motor which I have yet to find. I would hope that the slides and jacks don't fail often though it only takes once out on the road to make for a very frustrating trip especially if you can't readily manually solve the problem. Thank you for the info....will keep on it until i find out how.

WDK

I do like the 280DS