It has been broke for months now and have been using wire directly to the battery to open and close the 13 foot slide. The first repair was the rails and component on one end of the slide where you find motor #1. It still wouldn't work so Lippert told me it was the #1 motor. I replaced thee motor and it still didn't work. I then I checked the voltage and found out I had a bad 6 volt battery. I replaced all four batteries and the slide then worked once. It then went back flashing the same code that it always had that there was a short between the #1 motor and controller. I did a continuity test on all five wires in the harness to each motor and all is well. I switched the motor harnesses at the controller and still get the same code (#1 motor short in wire) with nothing hooked up. I can hear the click in the controller when the remote button is pushed. The voltage at the controller when the button is pushed is 12.3. I checked the amperage draw when i hooked up the wires to the motor directly.ly to the battery and it started out at 3 amps and increased to 10.1 at the end of the extension. I am using the existing harnesses to get electricity to the motors and is a real time consuming effort. Any help with this mystery greatly appreciated. David

newman fulltimer wrote:i would be checking grounds+1 bad ground

With nothing hooked up you stil get a short indication between motor #1 and ground? That isn't a ground issue.It sounds more like a problem with the controller itself.Can you disconnect the wires at the controller again, Then, while probing the controller itself, find the ground connection and with nothing connected, probe between each of the other connections and the ground connection?If that then shows a short to ground between the #1 motor and the controllers ground, It will mean the controller is shorted internally.

ScottG wrote:With nothing hooked up you stil get a short indication between motor #1 and ground? That isn't a ground issue.It sounds more like a problem with the controller itself.Can you disconnect the wires at the controller again, Then, while probing the controller itself, find the ground connection and with nothing connected, probe between each of the other connections and the ground connection?If that then shows a short to ground between the #1 motor and the controllers ground, It will mean the controller is shorted internally. This is a brand spankin new controller. It behaves just like the original. I was told that the controller was bad but it looks as though I threw away 300 bucks while I had a good controller all along.

That's an absolute nightmare. It's bad enough to have to pump money in something that should work quietly and continuously with attention but when no one even knows hot to fix it.. That's just plain ridiculous.Please keep us posted on your progress. It may help the next guy (like me).Best of luck to you.Scott

Schwintec slide mystery | Good Sam Community

27 Replies

MrWizard
Moderator
Sep 12, 2017
turn the meter dial to resitance
a set of numbers like 2K 2M 20m that have this synbol

when you touch the leads of the meter together, and the meter reads ZERO or super low number, ZERO aka zero resistance "complete continuity/dead short"

infinity is when you touch the leads to something and it reads a really high number, high resistance like 200 megahoms,

when trying to find a pinched wired , a high resistance reading say 2000 ohms (beeper won't beep) where it should be infinity,, means you have a leak to ground where the other probe is touching (frame ground)

a reading of infinity (super high number) means no connection to ground, move on check the next wire

Glad you found your problem

I used both a volt meter and a continuity tool that had a bulb that should light up if anything went to ground. I will say I am not known by the name Mr Wizard so I suspect you are light years ahead of me. I don't know what you mean by a reading of infinity. If you could give an explanation it would be very helpful. You guys are great. I am more of a wood guru and any help is appreciated.
tvfrfireman
Explorer
Sep 11, 2017
tvfrfireman wrote:
Thank you all for your advice and help. Newman turned out to have the correct fix to the problem. He suggested that the plugs were faulty so I took a sharp tool to the female plug and bent the four flat metal tabs that grip and make a connection to the pin in the male end on the controller. It now works like a champ. Hooray for Newman and RV .net Weeks of tinkering by me and others finally over. Thanks so much again to all of you. You are the best...
tvfrfireman
Explorer
Sep 11, 2017
Thank you all for your advise and help. Newman turned out to have the correct fix to the problem. He suggested that the plugs were faulty so I took a sharp tool to the female plug and bent the four flat metal tabs that grip and make a connection to the pin in the male end on the controller. It now works like a champ. Hooray for Newman and RV .net Weeks of tinkering by me and others finally over. Thanks so much again to all of you. You are the best...
tvfrfireman
Explorer
Sep 11, 2017
MrWizard wrote:
You said you did a continuity check on the wires
I'm going to Assume you mean you use the meter beeper to see if any were broke, or shorted together

I'm going to suggest you set the meter on high ohms, Not beeper and read each wire to frame ground, all disconnected wires should read infinity, no connection to ground
A resistance reading even a high one means a pinched wire connecting to frame

The basic use of continuity beeper, is to look for a broken wire
It won't find wires with a resistance path to ground

You need to know which function to use and why, you are using it
I used both a volt meter and a continuity tool that had a bulb that should light up if anything went to ground. I will say I am not known by the name Mr Wizard so I suspect you are light years ahead of me. I don't know what you mean by a reading of infinity. If you could give an explanation it would be very helpful. You guys are great. I am more of a wood guru and any help is appreciated.
dougrainer
Nomad
Sep 11, 2017
1. You cannot buy the plugs
2. There are 3 parts to the system
1. The motor
2. The harness from the controller to the motor
3. The Controller
3. There may be 4 parts. SOME use a 7 foot harness from the motor down the rail and then run the 25 foot harness to the controller. So, you have 2 separate wire harness instead of one and 2 things to fail
4. I have NEVER attempted to run a continuity check on a Schwintek harness. BIG waste of time. I have a test 35 foot cable and I connect between the Controller and the suspected motor. IF it works, then the harness is BAD. I have replaced numerous harness that showed NO damage but were defective internally.
5. Motor One and Motor Two. How did you determine which was motor 1 and motor 2? There is NO standard for which motor is which. You have to disconnect one and see which side operates to determine Motor 1 and motor 2 on your RV
6. WHAT code did you get originally? 8?
7. If you have replaced the motor and controller, WHAT would you figure is the problem by reading item 2 above????? Doug
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Sep 11, 2017
Does this system use a plug and socket anywhere? Meaning in the power or control circuit? A plug and socket means fast connection and two points either side of the plug as well as within the interface itself. Because the control circuit was replaced that would eliminate that section. Does the motor power wire bolt on, or is it a in the form of a socket and plug? This may well be a control issue from where a controller meets a harness -

The pro-way to diagnose this is to find out the power circuit amperage draw. Substitute a 50 or 100 watt 12-volt light bulb for a synthetic load. Try the power circuit. No light, there is an open in the power circuit. Then do the same thing with the control circuit using the "correct" 12-volt light bulb as a synthetic load.

Diagnosing a power circuit failure by a static resistance reading requires a 4-wire milli-ohm kelvin bridge meter. This is the difficult way to do things.

A 100 watt 12-volt light bulb is CHEAP at a NAPA auto parts store. The screw-in light bulb base is a hardware store item as are two wire alligator clips.

Even a SLIGHTLY DIM bulb means trouble. Compare it to what you see connected across a battery as a test.

I prefer diagnosing problems like this the easy way. Few mechanics are savvy enough to use a synthetic load test. At $100/hr sometimes I wonder...
ScottG
Nomad
Sep 11, 2017
MrWizard wrote:
You said you did a continuity check on the wires
I'm going to Assume you mean you use the meter beeper to see if any were broke, or shorted together

I'm going to suggest you set the meter on high ohms, Not beeper and read each wire to frame ground, all disconnected wires should read infinity, no connection to ground
A resistance reading even a high one means a pinched wire connecting to frame

The basic use of continuity beeper, is to look for a broken wire
It won't find wires with a resistance path to ground

You need to know which function to use and why, you are using it

Good point, the beeper beeps at anything under 150 ohms (Fluke), so a high resistance connection would "beep" just fine.
newman_fulltime
Explorer II
Sep 11, 2017
ebay 20' schwintek wire harness 229755 price is 49.99 i believe
MrWizard
Moderator
Sep 11, 2017
You said you did a continuity check on the wires
I'm going to Assume you mean you use the meter beeper to see if any were broke, or shorted together

I'm going to suggest you set the meter on high ohms, Not beeper and read each wire to frame ground, all disconnected wires should read infinity, no connection to ground
A resistance reading even a high one means a pinched wire connecting to frame

The basic use of continuity beeper, is to look for a broken wire
It won't find wires with a resistance path to ground

You need to know which function to use and why, you are using it
Artum_Snowbird
Explorer
Sep 11, 2017
tvfrfireman wrote:
Artum Snowbird wrote:
There is two sides to every equation, and you need to figure out what side your problem lies upon. Either it's the positive, or the negative. That is where you start with this. Get out your jumper cables to the battery and connect up the negative first to the negative on your motors. Does it run? If so, go back on the negative towards the battery and find out where it fails.

If not, connect up a jumper cable to the positive side of your battery, and to the motors. Does it run? That proves the negative side is good, and you should look at the positive feed to find your problem. 50% of your problem is now solved, it's one side or the other that is not working.
Both sides work when i use my batteries wired to the harness when i by pass the controller.

Totally as they should without a doubt. But you need to do only the negative connection first, and then only the positive, letting the negative be. If either side makes it work, you have begun the isolation and are half way there. When you start by looking at the controllers you have not even figured out which side the problem is actually on. The power might be just fine, and you may just have a loose negative return wire.

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Schwintec slide mystery

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