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Racorman's avatar
Racorman
Explorer
Sep 01, 2015

Can I Operate Slides With the Engine Off?

I have a 2012 30' Itasca Class A. It came with (2) Napa 12V 210Ah house batteries (Total=420 Ah) . I replaced them with (6) Interstate 6V 210Ah batteries (Total=624 Ah)
The single chassis battery is 12V 750 CCA Motocract MAX

The owners manual states:

NOTE:
We recommend that you KEEP THE ENGINE RUNNING WHILE
EXTENDING OR RETRACTING SLIDEOUT ROOMS so the engine
alternator can provide maximum power for proper operation of
the slideout mechanisms.


With the extra battery power I've added, do you think there is any problem in not keeping the engine running when I open up the (2) slides? Any possible damage to slide electric motors?

Thanks
Class A

45 Replies

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  • Trackrig's avatar
    Trackrig
    Explorer II
    Sep 01, 2015
    Kayteg1 wrote:
    Trackrig wrote:
    The slides take a very heavy amperage draw - why would you not want to help the batteries out with power output from the engine? I'm sure you could do it, but why put the extra load on them?

    Bill


    On the other hand why would you burn $5 worth of fuel and add wear to the engine to do 10 cents job?


    I think wear on the batteries will eventually cost more than wear on the engine. 60 seconds of idle on the engine vs a huge amp draw on the batteries.

    Bill
  • Bill_Satellite's avatar
    Bill_Satellite
    Explorer II
    Sep 01, 2015
    I would recommend that you continue to run the engine. It won't hurt anything and it will keep the battery voltage higher can could be achieved with a resting battery. Generally you will see 13.5+VDC while the engine is running (alternator charging the batteries) but somewhere around 12.5VDC while resting. Additionally, you will see that the batteries will likely maintain 13.6 during the slide movement whereas the batteries will likely drop pretty quickly from 12.5 during such a strenuous operation.
  • Kayteg1's avatar
    Kayteg1
    Explorer II
    Sep 01, 2015
    Trackrig wrote:
    The slides take a very heavy amperage draw - why would you not want to help the batteries out with power output from the engine? I'm sure you could do it, but why put the extra load on them?

    Bill


    On the other hand why would you burn $5 worth of fuel and add wear to the engine to do 10 cents job?
  • Trackrig's avatar
    Trackrig
    Explorer II
    Sep 01, 2015
    The slides take a very heavy amperage draw - why would you not want to help the batteries out with power output from the engine? I'm sure you could do it, but why put the extra load on them?

    Bill
  • Kayteg1's avatar
    Kayteg1
    Explorer II
    Sep 01, 2015
    Sounds like pretty hefty slide motors.
    The 2 batteries you have are good for serious welding.
    Would you have a problem with moving slides with them, you are in serious troubles.
    For comparison, I do have 8' slide in my Truck Camper.
    I can operate it on converter power alone, when batteries are disconnected.
    This will not work with camper jacks that take lot of power for lifting 5000lb camper.

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