Slide operation...HWH

Jim, I had a similar problem with my HWH system and it was a solenoid problem

Woke up this morning and immediately tested the slides...and they are working. The cold mornings for the last month have meant non-operation but today the slides are fine.

So, I'm calling it a poor ground connection on the ground stud at the hydrualic manifold. There's 7 ground wires with ring terminals on the stud and they all appear to be in good condition, but for the slides to go from non-functional to functional just after reefing on that nut, and for it to stay functional kind of points to a poor connection there.

When I can get an impact tool to remove the nut, I'll take that stack of grounds off, clean and tug test them all, and add some corrosion inhibitor.

So that's it, a bad ground. Thanks for everyone's advice.

I'm sure you're all excited about the work today...here's what happened. I watched the Washington Huskies (#5 - 6-0) get beat today. Now 6-1. Oh well.

What happened was after the game I clambered underneath with a new digital meter that was delivered today and found 12 volt on one big supply wire. Soaked all the local connections with P-B Blaster. Disconnected the 12 volt wire and covered the end with a sock after using a rotary brass wire brush to clean up it's terminal. Did the same to most of the other connections under there, including removing 2 inline 20 amp fuses and polishing their terminals. Liberally applied contact spray and the wire brush treatment where ever I could.

Decided that all the terminals and wires going into those terminals were in good shape. Did have a bit of crud here and there, but nothing terrible. Also did the 'tug' test of around 20 lbs on wire terminals with no failures.




You can see that the copper terminals are in good shape.

Here I've gotten the terminals all polished up (and it didn't take much) just before reinstalling them.




After all that and more, went inside and...no operation. Hmmm. And it's in the 80's by now.

So went back down, found the ground lug, and used P-B Blaster on it. Thirty minutes later, tried unsuccessfully to remove the main nut. On there good. I'd need an impact driver for that one. But I did reef on it a bit and tugged on all the wires. Everything seemed solid. When I went back inside, now the motor runs when the switch is pressed.

Tomorrow morning, when it's cold again, I'll test it again.

My new meter has a Bluetooth feature so if I can get that working, I'll be able to monitor the voltage reading inside when I press the extend button. Magic.

Now in a site permanently and checked this morning at 65F. No operation. The slides were extended previous afternoon and worked fine in 84F temps.

Jammed a pair of small needle nosed pliers under the rocker switch on the dash to activate 'Extend' while I went down and climbed in under the slideout and probed around the hydraulic assembly with my meter. Couldn't find a solid 13V anywhere I probed! But did see my meter readings swinging low to high low to high. Reminded me of a poor ground connection.

Anyway, while delicately probing around the smaller wiring, I touched one 16 GA wire and WHIRRRRRR the motor takes off. Scared the living you know what out of me. Jerked back in that small space in a slapstick effort to avoid being eaten by the motor. You'll just have to imagine it, but it was comical.

Was not expecting the motor to start because of where and how I was probing at the time.

Anyway, with the lack of solid voltage anywhere, I'm now thinking that I've got a corroded ground lead to the slide solenoid. I'm going to remove them all and clean them all up later today. It gets up to 80F here, and the assembly is in the shade so comfortable to work on. Glad I waited.

Stay tuned...

Just a suggestion RE: listening while operating solo: place your smartphone outside with an audio recording app running. That way you can "listen" to what it is doing while pushing the slide retract button yourself.

Not really, Don. I'm traveling south and have arrived at my destination here in Pahrump, Nevada in the desert. Since I arrived I've been busy working on minor RV things, running errands, and taking quick tours of the area (you know how it is when you move somewhere new) so haven't worked on the slides since I got here at 2 pm yesterday.

But, yesterday I was also in Tonopah where it's slight cooler than here. It got down to mid 50's the previous night and my slides didn't work until 10 am after it got up to 60F. I got them functioning again by wiggling the wires down there...whacking the back of the motor didn't do anything that time.

I've decided to stay here for a month, but haven't decided on which spot I'll take here in the park yet. I'll do that today. After I move I can get back to work on this problem.

Just now tested the slides at 57F air temp and...nothing. Friendly neighbors and I'll be here for a month so should be able to find help with testing soon.

Well, I guess he got his problem sorted out.

Progress .... keep at it

Because of the possibility that placing the heater near the hydraulic assembly could have been a coincidence, today, preparing for tomorrows departure, I didn't set up the heater. But I was prepared too.

It's important for my schedule that I leave tomorrow, and it's been getting down to the teens the last two nights. So at 11 this morning, I started testing the slides. I could get no movement from them even as the air temps progressed to 60F.

Finally, since it was 4 pm and the temps would soon fall again, I took my rubber mallet and focused a blow to the back of the small motor on the assembly. Immediately went inside to test.

And the slides were working. So when I'm in an area where it's warm and I can work on the problem, I'm planning on removing that motor, and the nearby solenoid, and digging into their innards to see what I can see. Probably be able to do that next Tuesday as I'll be in the Phoenix valley. Should be warm enough for work.

I like Don's test idea, but today sort of proved it's a motor or solenoid issue in a very small area and I think I know which component.

New tactic. When it is cold, use a hair dryer or heat gun and heat up one component at a time and then try the slide. If that doesn't make things work, then heat up the next component. Keep doing that until you find the right one. Might take a couple of days because you will probably have a little spill over heat and you could get a false positive.