Ok Whats up with all the slide stuff?

[The Renegade]

There seems to be a lot of threads on the slides and troubles with them. Slides stuck and will not retract. Motors burning up. I have had campers with slides and never had an issue with any of them. Whats up with all these issues?

Is it user error?
Is it shotty equipment from the supplier? (Whoever makes the parts)
Is it trying to move to heavy slides?
Is it not as big a deal as it seems but shows up here on the site for help?
Is it installation?

Im gonna be a Newbie to the Motorhome world and this does scare me. I would bet Brian hates turning his laptop on Monday mornings and has to read all of this. Better be thankful he is here because I dont know what would happen if he was not.

Whats your opinion on the problems?

[FOURWHL]

Your biggest thing is gonna be keeping the motors clean/protected. I think they’re installing additional shielding st the factory now, but if not it’s an easy add. Most of the problems on the big trucks have been due to water seizing up the brake on the motor. It’s a really nice and heavy duty slide system otherwise.

[bclemens]

The slides are getting smarter...which sort of makes them dumb.

Breakage happens. but a lot of the "not operating" is that most of these are using the slide controllers from Lippert now. It tries to protect you from doing major damage...and at the same time, creates potential slide operation issues as a result.

The bulk of what I see if someone tries to operate slides with low voltage. They come out, coach has been parked for a month. They open up the slides to get ready for a trip. The controller tries to operated under low voltage, it triggers a fault, shuts the slide down. It might show a motor issue (incorrectly), might show low voltage (correctly). But with low voltage, I don't think it is diagnosing the issues properly either.

If you let the coach charge up, gen or plugged in, in most cases you can clear the fault and move on. What most people do, is look at the codes that are supposed to diagnose these things and you get "slides stops not set" "or bad motor" and they panic. I also don't think Lippert has done a greta job in addressing these issues from an educational perspective. Manuals could be better in describing this. My best guess, is that more than half od these slide issues could be corrected without a visit to the dealer.

[FOURWHL]

On that subject - how does the slide controller handle no voltage? Does it have a direct connection to the batteries or does the cutoff shut it off as well?

[bclemens]

No voltage seems to be fine. It is only when operating under low voltage that I seem to see issues.

Most people think...OK, well I'm plugged in so I'm fine. But if the batteries are low, they are still working off the batteries and they need to be charged. It is something I will bring up in a product meeting. If we are plugged in or gen running...can we not run off the converter instead?

[FOURWHL]

Hmmmmm interesting. I may just put a cutoff switch into the mix then for driving. Simple and effective. Assuming I remember to flip it

[milkman55]

When I picked out my Isata 3 on the dealer lot, the slide was broken. The dealer said it was because of all the customers on the lot opening and closing the slide improperly. This is at that LARGE Texas dealer that turns everyone loose with a golf cart to try out all the RVs with NO supervision, so I was not surprised.

They replaced one of the slide motors before our PDI (which lasted two days, excellent experience) and I have had zero issues since. I will not operate my slide unless I am plugged in or the generator is running (give the voltage system time to detect and kick in after plugging in or starting the generator). I think following this protocol has saved me a lot of headaches.

[chroniekon]

What I'm reading from this...even though you plug in or start the generator to put the slide out, if your batteries are low, you need to give some time to let the batteries charge up since the slide systems are running off of battery voltage only. If the batteries are down a bit, plugging in or starting up isn't going to help much until the batteries have some time to come up to full charge.

[The Renegade]

Originally Posted by bclemens

The slides are getting smarter...which sort of makes them dumb.

Breakage happens. but a lot of the "not operating" is that most of these are using the slide controllers from Lippert now. It tries to protect you from doing major damage...and at the same time, creates potential slide operation issues as a result.

The bulk of what I see if someone tries to operate slides with low voltage. They come out, coach has been parked for a month. They open up the slides to get ready for a trip. The controller tries to operated under low voltage, it triggers a fault, shuts the slide down. It might show a motor issue (incorrectly), might show low voltage (correctly). But with low voltage, I don't think it is diagnosing the issues properly either.

If you let the coach charge up, gen or plugged in, in most cases you can clear the fault and move on. What most people do, is look at the codes that are supposed to diagnose these things and you get "slides stops not set" "or bad motor" and they panic. I also don't think Lippert has done a greta job in addressing these issues from an educational perspective. Manuals could be better in describing this. My best guess, is that more than half od these slide issues could be corrected without a visit to the dealer.

Slides getting smarter which makes them dumb..... That actually makes a lot of sense.. I think we might even say that coach wide would you agree? All the computers running things which is nice when its all working but a pain when something fails. Or just more room for things to fail.. Educational post Brian and all makes sense. I thought this would be a good place to clear up some of the issues maybe and a good place to help us learn proper usage.. Thanks Bud

[letsgorving]

Originally Posted by chroniekon

What I'm reading from this...even though you plug in or start the generator to put the slide out, if your batteries are low, you need to give some time to let the batteries charge up since the slide systems are running off of battery voltage only. If the batteries are down a bit, plugging in or starting up isn't going to help much until the batteries have some time to come up to full charge.

That is exactly what I'm thinking MIGHT be our problem since we put the bedroom slide in 2nd, and is starts to dog near the end. Will pay attention to battery from now on

[FOURWHL]

I would think if the charger were set high enough (say all the way up at 30A) it should be able to handle the load via the batteries. But I could definitley see now if it were turned down to 5A or something it wood need to draw on the batteries a bit. Then if they’re low this scenario happens.

Edit: probably also depends what mode the charger is in ... bulk v float would likely make a difference.

[A32Deuce]

We ar eout a lot so the chassis alt. and solar on the roof keeps the bats up. That being said, I dont put the slide out until the unit is level and either the gen is running or connected. No problems so far. Also I have a 3 foot long crevice tool to vacuum under the slide!

[bclemens]

Sound logic. Being level is key and proper voltages.

[The Renegade]

I can see where the low voltage would foul things up a bit including timing and such, but do you think the low voltage could burn up a motor?

[bclemens]

No, but it could send a code that says the motor is burnt up. SO the dealer replaces said motor and in doing so has to reset everything...which in turn clears the code and resets the slide stop. So while it may seem like that fixed it....did it?


Now, I have seen motors burn up. Low voltage can certainly contribute to that as well as it is not operating a maximum efficiency. Or maybe they just go bad...but I think a good portion of what we see is low voltage symptoms. With the occasional motor going bad.

[Kimber45]

knock on wood 6 units in just over 10 years and never a slide issue for me.

[chroniekon]

When the voltage to a motor goes down the amperage goes up, so that could explain some motor failures.

[The Renegade]

Gotcha. Makes perfect sense. Hope this thread helps others because I know it has educated me some. Thanks again for the explanations.

[mlmay12]

I must be missing something here. If your generator is running or you are plugged in to shore power, the converter is sending 13.6 volts to the batteries and on my converter that is at 60A. That is a direct connection to the battery terminals that put the potential at the terminals at 13.6 volts even if your batteries are low. That should be more that enough to power the slide at the required voltage of at least 12.0 volts. I have never had a problem with my slide but don't see an issue unless you are running on low batteries without your converter providing any power.

[bclemens]

In theory, if all connections are on the same stud. Some of the batteries have studs and then other accessory studs. Something I want to look into.