slide out and landing gear stalls when retracting

[shug2323]

I hope someone can help...The RV shop seemingly has tried everything.. I own Mobile Suites 5th wheel. When I retract the living room slide out, it stalls. I hear a click as if there is a reset button and then it works.. Then it stalls again. I wait 30 seconds and can continue to retract.....I have the same issue when retracting the landing gear. It stall, I hear the 'click' and 30 seconds later it's working again ….Repair shop tried putting in a new control panel...new batteries...new switch......problem still continues...….Does anyone have a clue/hint/suggestion ? Thanks

PS....I have no issue when we let the slide-out out or let the landing gear down...It is almost like there is a power surge that is causing a fuse to blow and get automatically reset.....The fact that it is both the landing gear AND the slide-out seems like a clue

[john_bet]

CA Traveler wrote:
The CB is sized to protect the wiring so don't upgrade.

I'd hope that with a relative high draw item like slides/jacks they would have a dedicated CB.

From your posts my take it that your dealer has marginal service. ie Shotgun parts replacement until the problem is found.

Lipperts answer for the last 10 years is to upgrade the auto resetable Circuit Breaker to 80 Amp or to parallel two 40 amp circuit breakers. Apperantly they have not done so and are not willing to make the changes to fix the problem.

[john_bet]

shug2323 wrote:
thanks for jumping in...I have tried to keep the rollers lubricated....But the fact that my legs/landing gear does the same thing makes me think the breaker is/has gone bad or needs an upgrade to 80 Amps from what everyone else is suggesting

X 2.

[justme]

I also installed the 80 amp breaker and never looked back 🙂

[shug2323]

thank you everyone for your help and the education

[momentum_rv]

shug2323 wrote:
I have no idea. It seems they were talking with DRV and Lippert and getting some guidance from them...I actually talked to Lippert this morning and they have no idea about their old 'upgrade memo to 80A CB...(They just told me that they don't do wiring).

Here is my theory. My original battery started dying which started to cause a degrading of the CB and when I put new battery in, the dmage to the CB had already been done and was no longer funtioning properly.......Is this even remotely possible ?

Definitely!

[rjstractor]

It appears that the new circuit breaker has solved the problem, but something that is often overlooked in low-voltage, high amperage applications is connections. All connections in the circuit have to be clean and tight. I don't have a fifth wheel, but in my experiences with motorhome levelers, winches and electric/hydraulic dump beds, most issues were caused by poor connections.

[momentum_rv]

TV, AC, electric fireplace are all A/C 120v. No influence on hydraulic 12v pump.

The wiring is over kill so no problem with overloading wiring to pump. If Lippert recommends (see Lippert bulletin above) then no warrantee issues either.

What you need to remember is the pump load is the same regardless of which breaker is in the line. The only difference is when you have a slightly higher draw it won't trip the 80 amp breaker. If there is a catastrophic failure (short or blown pump motor etc) the breaker will still trip.

In the OPs case it sounds like the breaker was worn out from tripping a lot. My guess is after awhile while on a trip or after storage and battery(s) are a little low on voltage the pump amp draw will go up and it will start tripping again. If not, great!

[shug2323]

I have no idea. It seems they were talking with DRV and Lippert and getting some guidance from them...I actually talked to Lippert this morning and they have no idea about their old 'upgrade memo to 80A CB...(They just told me that they don't do wiring).

Here is my theory. My original battery started dying which started to cause a degrading of the CB and when I put new battery in, the dmage to the CB had already been done and was no longer funtioning properly.......Is this even remotely possible ?

[CA_Traveler]

The CB is sized to protect the wiring so don't upgrade.

I'd hope that with a relative high draw item like slides/jacks they would have a dedicated CB.

From your posts my take it that your dealer has marginal service. ie Shotgun parts replacement until the problem is found.

[shug2323]

Problem resolved for the moment....Dealer put in new 50A breaker and opened and closed slide -out about 30 times and all good...….Think I may buy a spare just to have handy as not sure what was the root cause...….not sure about upgrading to 80 as it might void some warrantees……may go with the 50A for a while and see if problem is resolved.


Does anyone know anything about the fire risk if I were to put in an 80A breaker ? It seems I shouldnt really be going over 50 with the slideouts and landing gear (assuming I don't have TV, AC, lights, and electric fireplace on while I am closing the slideouts ) so I am thinking little to no risk.......I would appreciate an education on this that you might be inclined to share

[shug2323]

thanks for jumping in...I have tried to keep the rollers lubricated....But the fact that my legs/landing gear does the same thing makes me think the breaker is/has gone bad or needs an upgrade to 80 Amps from what everyone else is suggesting

[ChadHubbard]

I had this problem last time out. Ordered an aerosol can of Slip Plate graphite spray from Amazon. Sprayed the rollers, drive gear, rack, etc liberally while my wife operated the switch. Problem solved, for now at least.

I understand that my electric rack system is different from a hydraulic system, but am assuming that they both use rollers and a 'tube in a tube' slide arrangement of some kind.

[ChuckSteed]

Upgrade the resetable breaker yourself instead of going to a dealer. Requires basic hand tools. You can find the part at most any auto parts place. Disconnect battery first and
Remove and replace breaker and reconnect battery. Lippert recommends 80 amp breaker There is nothing wrong with the hydraulic pump and motor.

[CA_Traveler]

With a clampon ammeter. And one that retains the max amps.

Also have they measured the voltage drop for the battery post (not cable) to the motor terminal for both wires? Should be very low. Or the battery voltage vs the motor voltage. All of these are measured under load.

BTW Years ago with a new rig it became obvious that the shop didn't have the skills to fix the warranty items. The mfg referred me to a speciality shop that fixed everything.