My brother in law is visiting and the batteries in his Montana 5th wheel have died. Even though he is hooked in to power at my home, his slides will not work. He has an operational converter and all 12 volt accessories are working, buy not the slides. We called Keystone Montana Tech Support and they told us that the slides ONLY work on battery power. Without the batteries, the slides will not work. I asked about the converter operating the slides and the tech said no. I'm curious; batteries have a shelf life. So, if you're in a campground, hooked up, and the batteries die, do you have to put yourself at the mercy of the local merchants for 2 $200.00 batteries? Personally, I've never heard of any RV that won't operate the slides with shore power and the converter. At least my my Holiday Rambler will work. Am I behind the times of trailers with cheap by-passes? Aren't slides supposed to work with shore power and converters? Please educate me.Another thing; one of the hydraulic lines ruptured and had to be replaced. To get to them, we had to drop the belly covering. His 5'er 'supposedly' has the 4-seasons package, but when we dropped the belly, there was no insulation. There was a quilted piece of aluminum foil material laying on the belly covering, but that was it. Once the covering was dropped, I was looking at the bottom of the floor, nothing else. My BIL was not disillusioned; he swore and 'be damned' the aluminum was the 4-seasons. Also, it's 6 years old and is de-laminated in may places. This is one cheap, piece of $.., I'll never own one. Anyway, someone tell me about the slides working on the converter and the belly insulation. Thanks.

Not sure about the dead batteries and slide operation...so far we have never had dead batteries...But, most slides can be operated by hand. I just have to stick a crank through an opening in the skirt and I can crank ours open or closed manually.

The hydraulic pump motor is a high current device, something like 50 amps, maybe more for starting current. It is connected to the battery via a short #4 ga wire. I don't think the converter is capable of supplying that kind of amperage.The pump does have a fitting on the end that you can connect a drill to and run the pump to operate the slides if the battery fails.Curious if you have hydraulic slides, and if so have you actually tested yours with a dead battery to see if the slides will work. Probably will not if hydraulic. If you have cable slides, maybe.

The slide motor draws a lot of current to operate. More than the converter alone can provide. That's why it needs the battery. There is a label on my control panel saying that batteries must be in place before operating the slide.Having said that, my slide motor would still try to run even without battery. It probably wouldn't be able to do it, but it would grunt and try.Also, if your BIL batteries are really failed and dead, they are pulling current from your converter too, making the situation even worse.

Thank all of you for the replies and really, I am surprised. Depending on the converter, I would have thought that 120 volt electricity, through the converter, would provide more power than a stand alone battery. Yes, I know there is a crank handle to move the slide but I really wouldn't want to attempt that task. I really think that is a cheap short cut on Montana's part. I keep the batteries disconnected on my Holiday and keep a conditioner attached to them. My power stays plugged in and ALL 12 volt accessories are operational; including the slide (only one). What about the insulation? Any comments?

BB_TX wrote:The hydraulic pump motor is a high current device, something like 50 amps, maybe more for starting current. It is connected to the battery via a short #4 ga wire. I don't think the converter is capable of supplying that kind of amperage.The pump does have a fitting on the end that you can connect a drill to and run the pump to operate the slides if the battery fails.Curious if you have hydraulic slides, and if so have you actually tested yours with a dead battery to see if the slides will work. Probably will not if hydraulic. If you have cable slides, maybe.They are hydraulic, BB.

How does your slide work? | Good Sam Community

goducks10
Explorer
Mar 12, 2015
It's 4 seasons if you lived in 1850. :) As for the slide needing batteries. Both the trailers I owned said the same thing on a sticker that was near the slide control.
netjam
Explorer
Mar 12, 2015
RE 4 season. Not sure about yours but on mine (2011 KZ Escalade) the dealer sold it as 4 season but after having the bottom off to replace the black valve, I noticed the same as you.(only a thin piece of foil) I went through the KZ literature very carefully. They talk about residential and full time living but never really call it 4 season livable. I do live in it in freezing weather and it works, but insulated its not.
clev
Explorer
Mar 12, 2015
rjxj wrote:
My system is gear drive slide. It requires many amps so they run an individual 6 gauge wire just for the slide and the relays. Even if yours is hydraulic it will still draw many amps.

Find out why the batteries are dead. You know the converter is working because the lights work but you need to use a voltmeter on the batteries and find out what happened. Did it blow a fuse? Etc.

Was something left disconnected after repairing the hyd hose? Start at the battery and back track. You should see about 12 volts on the battery and about 13.6 to 14 plus when it's charging.

The dead batteries are a mystery. He recently installed 2 optima yellow tops, just last month. I was trying to get him to replace his converter with a better, more efficient one, but he didn't. That may be why none of the slides work; low power converters. I replaced mine with a Progressive Dynamics, 80 amp, a few years ago. Mine was still working, but I wanted one that was more efficient.
I'm still surprised the slides won't work without batteries; are most manufacturers doing that these days, or just Keystone? If the slides attempt to move using just the converter, perhaps upgrading to a 60 or 80 amp converter would provide enough power for operation.
Dave_H_M
Explorer II
Mar 12, 2015
schlep1967 wrote:
If you have a good set of jumper cables you can hook it up to the truck battery to run the slides in. Had to do that last year to run the landing gear to lift the trailer so I could hook up.

exactly what I was thinking
schlep1967
Nomad
Mar 12, 2015
If you have a good set of jumper cables you can hook it up to the truck battery to run the slides in. Had to do that last year to run the landing gear to lift the trailer so I could hook up.
spadoctor
Explorer
Mar 12, 2015
converters are usually 45...55 65 amp units....a battery could accept a draw of up to 300 plus amps to supply the slide pump. Also remember running a motor on low voltage...which you will have with no battery....causes the motor to increase current draw causing greater heat in the motor. You burn that motor up it is almost 500 bucks.....and a lippert ONLY part.
alboy
Explorer
Mar 12, 2015
Our Newmar Cypress has the artic pkg and has about 4- 6 inches of insulation with a sealed aluminum underbelly,pretty comfy in cold temps.
Arcamper
Explorer
Mar 12, 2015
They should call that the Florida 4 season package....
MFL
Nomad II
Mar 12, 2015
clev wrote:
Thank all of you for the replies and really, I am surprised. Depending on the converter, I would have thought that 120 volt electricity, through the converter, would provide more power than a stand alone battery. Yes, I know there is a crank handle to move the slide but I really wouldn't want to attempt that task. I really think that is a cheap short cut on Montana's part. I keep the batteries disconnected on my Holiday and keep a conditioner attached to them. My power stays plugged in and ALL 12 volt accessories are operational; including the slide (only one).

What about the insulation? Any comments?

My FW is also a so called 4-season, but like his, just has the bubble foil insulation in the belly. You could not use any insulation down there, that would hold water.

There is heat vented to the belly, but to be called 4-season is a stretch of the truth.

Jerry
azrving
Explorer
Mar 12, 2015
My system is gear drive slide. It requires many amps so they run an individual 6 gauge wire just for the slide and the relays. Even if yours is hydraulic it will still draw many amps.

Find out why the batteries are dead. You know the converter is working because the lights work but you need to use a voltmeter on the batteries and find out what happened. Did it blow a fuse? Etc.

Was something left disconnected after repairing the hyd hose? Start at the battery and back track. You should see about 12 volts on the battery and about 13.6 to 14 plus when it's charging.