Electric Slide Issues

[knovak]

We have a 2003 Starcraft TravelStar 21SSO. Bought is used at the end of last summer.

Our slide is not working. We were camping this past weekend in less than ideal conditions (rain and lots of mud, not electric other than the battery) and had the slide out. I hand cranked it out and hand cranked it back in. Only used the electric to make sure it was tight before we pulled out. It worked fine.

Today I went to load the camper and needed to put the slide out. Hit the slide button above the fridge and nothing. I hand cranked it back out.

Hubby came home. Fuse is fine. Used the test light (or whatever it is to check). Not getting juice at the switch. No juice at the motor under the couch. Then we find out that the lights in the slide above the table and couch are also not working.

Could it be moisture? We dealt with a lot of mud pulling out but did hose the camper off when we came home. Did we get too much mud under the camper?

Any ideas of where to start.

Thanks in advance.

[RoyB]

The problem with removing the cables from the battery is you may have them reversed when you hooked them back up. A battery disconnect switch will help big time where you will not have to remove cables.

Just do a quick check on the battery terminals... Look for the word "NEG" or the symbol "-" on the battery case and make sure this is the cable that goes to the frame ground connection which is close to the battery.

If they were installed in reverse order you will also find a couple of blown fuses that will need to be replaced after you get the battery cables in the right order.

Once all is ok and correct then take a picture of your battery cable connections with your cell phone for future reference.

Roy Ken

[marcarolle]

We bought a 2004 Antigua 215SSO in the spring - our 1st HTT.

The hand crank was not in the trailer. I will have to order one. For you experienced guys and gals, do you think I can get it from any dealer, or does it have to be from a Starcraft dealer?

Knovak: you can easily get the owner manual AND the brochure for your trailer from the Starcraft web site. When we were considering our current Antigua back in May, I sent them an email asking for the manual & brochure in PDF formats. They sent them to me within 2 business days. Careful: these are large files. I printed out a few copies: one that stays in the trailer, one that stays in the car, and one at home. Then I saved the PDFs on all my home & work computer. Info is then readily available.

Just my 2 cents.

[JSGlow]

We have a hand crank fitting on the facing just below the dinette.

[SLSAntigua]

Regarding the slide operation, Red and black battery cables are Positive and the White cables are Negative connections. Probably have 2 whites and one red and one black. Make sure all are connected and tight.

With regards to the Hand crank feature at least on my Starcraft, in between the slide motors is a Hexagonal shaft (shaft 6 sides). Using an adjustable wrench, you could crank the slide out or in depending on what you need to do. No need for a cranking tool. Normally have to take a panel off underneath the sofa bed and dinette to get to the shaft.

Steve

[Chuck_S]

If your slide has a hand crank option it should have come with the hand crank. Look at the slide motor, there's a cross pin on mine where the slot in the end of the crank connects. I was surprised how easy it came in with the hand crank.

-- Chuck

[Habs33]

In reading this, while I have no current problem with my slide (kocking my head) I am wondering whether all slides have a hand crank option. Would be nice to know if I ever run into problems. I have a 2004 Jayco Jayfeather 23D. thanks

[knovak]

The slide worked great when the battery was installed. Lights in the slide took a few days to figure out. The wire was lose at the fuse box. All is well now except for the hot water not working but that's a search in the archives for a different day.

[Chuck_S]

The Roo hand crank works well.

My Roo 23SS slide retracted half way last Sunday and then everything stopped. Not willing to crawl under the trailer to check for a fuse I used the hand crank for the first time in 9 seasons.

Sunday afternoon the slide functioned perfectly so I'm guessing there's a self resetting breaker somewhere.

All guesswork until I get at it again tomorrow.

-- Chuck

[bikendan]

maybe you should install a battery disconnect switch, instead of disconnecting the battery wires every time.

[epeters]

I hope this is the solution. By the way, we bought our trailer new and I have all the manuals. They were ZERO help.

[knovak]

Thanks epeters and all others who have replied.

The more I have been thinking about it, the more I think this is the problem. We unhooked the battery so that it wouldn't run down with all the little stuff running.

Can't wait to see if this is the solution. I just want to get out of here and start the holiday, so I will wait to see if it works when we get to the campground.

We bought our camper used. The owner's manual doesn't really tell you much.

[epeters]

We have a unit made by Starcraft. If it is like ours, the slide is directly wired to the battery. Our slide stopped working last year and it turned out there was just enough corrosion on the battery terminals to keep the motor from running. Lights in the trailer all worked fine etc. We did a lot of work on the wiring, the switch, the converter and even took the slide motor apart and re-lubed it. Nothing worked until I cleaned the battery terminals.

Check those first! The slide motor does need a fair amount of Amps, and best I can figure, they wired it straight to the battery so that if something were ever to go wrong with the converter, you could still operate the slide.

[knovak]

Fridge is working. All other lights are working. Not hooked up to water at the moment.

We are plugged into the house right now. The slide has worked other times being plugged into the house.

All ideas are appreciated that this point. Heading out for the weekend and I can at least hand crank it until we get home and either fix it or take it somewhere.

[robsouth]

You need to check your battery. You need a full (or nearly full) charge for the slides to work.