Raptor intermittent slide operation

I am only guessing by looking at your pics but I believe your camper has two slides?? Those three "things" with red covers screwed to the wall look like auto-reset breakers. The large black wires along the bottoms are DC from the battery. Each breaker feeds a different circuit and it appears that two are heavy loads (the larger black wires going up) and a smaller load (red wire with fuse holder in-line??). Also, the breaker furthest from camera has two loads, one large and one small.

Since your slide would be a large load, let's say it is prolly the middle or far breaker with larger black wires at top. This is easy to test if you have a 12V test light available to use. Connect the test light ground clip to the neg battery post and then touch the probe to the top screw of the center breaker where wire is connected while your wife operates the slide. If the light goes out when the slide stalls, you have found the problem circuit. If light stays on go to the next breaker and repeat the test.

The breaker that gets warm is prolly the circuit the slide is in. I would test it first.

Any electrical load causes heat. If your slide was working correctly, it would warm the motor as the motor is doing the work. There is a problem in the slide circuit causing excessive amp draw and that is tripping the breaker. The clicking you hear is the breaker re-setting itself.

If you determine the breaker is tripping you can start looking for a bad connection in the wiring harness. Could be corroded or just a loose fit or poor splice. The slide motor could be going bad too. Also, the slide itself could be binding and causing the motor to over-work itself. Hold your hand on the slide as it moves to feel for any jumping or popping motion. It should go in and out smoothly.

You should be able to find the circuit if you test for it. Then check wiring as best you can. From there, unless you are very mechanically minded, it would be time to take the rig into the dealer and have it repaired.

I can tell you that auto reset breakers work just fine when new but if they are tripped repeatedly, they become weaker and will soon not support the load they are designed to hold. You should get this fixed as soon as you can.

Good Luck and keep us posted with progress so that we can all learn from your deal.

Mowdoc's advice and information is good stuff.

Back when we had our Raptor our dealer suggested I should remain hooked up to our truck, with the truck running while extending or retracting the slides. I had the breakers reset a couple of times, but while hooked up it seemed to run smoother.

On my '07 3814, I had the same problem with my single slide. The "breaker" is only 30 amp rated, which seems like it is just enough when the unit is new. I replaced it with a 40 amp and no problems since. The breakers are available at truck stops or truck supply stores. Take your old one with you to get the exact style.

My single slide has had a squeal (metal to metal) since new and no amount of lube (as far as I can get in the telescoping arms) has solved it - works fine other than that.

Thanks Mowdoc...first I checked the slide mechanism and did a little lubing of the gear teeth with some dry lube (amsoil metal protector). Then checked all the connections, all ok. Seems it was the middle breaker with the problem, it was the one that was tripping. Replaced with a new 50amp one, $8 at the RV dealer, and the slide works like normal!

Old one



New

Fantastic!! I love happy endings.

Let's see- lube slide and check operation, diagnose and replace bad breaker. You spent about 10 - 12 bucks (don't forget the lube) and fixed your own rig. A dealer would have nailed you for an hour minimum plus he would have charged more for the part so I figure you saved yourself a hundred bones or more!! Don't forget the expense you would have spent taking it to the shop and picking it up again.

The only down side to this story is some deserving RV tech was not able to earn the $10 he would have been paid for doing the work.

Good Job Badhabt!!

Months, maybe a year or two, someone here purposed a simple check. Replace the "warm, tripped" one with one of the other ones you know is working correctly. For $8, carry an extra one or two. My Raptor would "cool" down in seconds, so at least I could get my slides in at the campground. No worries.