Community Forums

Jager · 09-03-2016, 05:22 PM

07 Essex, 3 out of 4 slide open just as they should. The front passenger side doesn't open. Here is what happens.
1) Press button just like normal
2) The voice box for the slide unlocks comes on and says the locks are unlocking
3) The locks really do unlock, they are now fully unlocked.
4) Nothing. It is like no power is being applied to the slide motor.

I went in bathroom and checked all the slide fuses, they are good.
I checked and I have 13+ volts there as well.
Yes I know where the little black control boxes are that control the slides.

My question is this . . .
What tells the control board or slide motor that the unlocks are now in (unlocked)? It seems like whatever tells the control board or motor that the locks are unlocked is not happening. How can I tell that?

Any help is appreciated.

tom chelbana · 09-03-2016, 08:02 PM

Tom We have a 04 Essex and here is my 1st suggestion from another Tom. Go down to the cabinet were the control boxes are for the slide outs. The 2 boxes are close enough that you can switch the wires from the bedroom slide to your front slide and try it again. If that works your control box is bad and you will need to replace it. If I remember they are around 170$. !0 years ago I bought from Newmar a control box tester that lets you operate the slide with this test box which also has light to tell you if a sensor is OK or not. One of the best things I bought because as long as the motor and shaft for moving the slide are working this control box will operate the lock arms, the slide motor and test sensors if they are working or not. A year after buying it Newmar will only sell to dealer now.

azSkier · 09-03-2016, 09:34 PM

I have been struggling with this problem with 2 of my slides for the past year.

I have learned a lot, but have not fully solved my problem. Here is what I know.

1. The locking arms are open, but the sensor isn't working. So the controller will not move the slide. You can verify this by watching the 3 lights on the controller while someone else activates the slide. The controller manual will describe the lights.

2. Your inoperable slide is a big slide and it requires a lot of power to move. While you measured 13V in the bathroom, that is a static measurement. If other devices are on, lights and fans, there is a non-trivial voltage drop that robs the motor the power it needs. Make sure to have all 12v devices off.

3. I improved my slide performance by cleaning all 12V connections at the battery. Clean connections and healthy batteries are important.

4. I have had some success operating slides by putting the charger into bulk or absorption mode and then operating the slide. 14v gets more power to the motor.

5. Despite all this, my big salon slide was not reliable. I replaced that motor just last Wednesday. Still trying to determine if the slide is reliable or not. I will be working on this slide this Wednesday.

6.The controller has an adjustable POT that allows more current to drive the motor. Read the manual to understand this adjustment and the risks involved.

7. I have experienced some ability to move the slide with a good, swift kick. By this I mean I give the slide a momentary push right when I expect the slide to move. I think this works because of the following...
When resting, either in or out, the slide is in contact with a long seal. This seal slightly binds the slide to the rest of the motorhome. When the controller applies current to the motor, the resting inertia of the slide is too much for the motor to overcome and the controller shuts the motor off. The controller has a current limit that it will not exceed (adjusted by the POT mentioned above). Somewhere I read Newmar recommend applying baby powder to the slide seals. I think this is to reduce the slide from binding to the seal.

8. I recently noticed some oil on the bottom of 2 of my slide motors. This is a clear indication of aged motor. I have a thread on this discussing what I have learned.

Sorry for all this detail. Hope this helps some how.

HHIDan · 09-04-2016, 04:40 AM

The slides are fairly easy to troubleshoot with a voltmeter.
Here is the manual for your controller (most likely):
file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/5300719100%20slide%20controler%20(3).pdf

The two pin connector is the speaker connector, disconnect and no more voice.

The square 9 pin connector provides the status of the three sensors (two arms and slide in-out) and has the input signal for the switch that controls the slide.
On pins 1 and 2 you can measure the lock arms status +5v is arm locked and 0v is arm unlocked (or vice versa). Measure what you get and then run the arms and just verify that this works. If not then a sensor is bad or needs adjust (out of position). These sensors are right behind the locks and are fairly easy to adjust. they are electromagnetic. Pin 3 is slide in or out. Note that you can also check the LEDs except those only come on momentarily.

The long 8 pin rectangular provides voltage to the controller on pins 4 and 5 and has direct connections to the three motors (2 arms and slide out motor). You can disconnect this cable and run the locks and slides, I made myself two jumper wires and it's very easy to run the motors by connecting ground to Motor- and +12 to Motor + for one direction and vice versa for the other direction of travel. Make one jumper connection secure and hold the other jumper and make a momentary connection. Be prepared to disconnect quick, motors are strong if you're at the end of travel I suppose the resetable fuse will open or you may cause damage (I never have).

When the controller is connected it applies voltage to the lock arms until closed and then runs the slide. The controller has two ways of knowing the end-of-travel. The sensors is one and the amount of current going out is the other. If current exceeds about 5 amps on the locks or about 20 amps on the slide motor the voltage is removed at the motor. Both these limits can be adjusted on the controller.

Your particular slide probably needs a slight adjust on on R13 for the arms and/or R9 for the slide, go easy and it's counterclock wise to increase.
If the slide is not starting then it can be R13 or R9 causing the fault. If the slide starts to move and then stops then the lock arms are all good and it's R9 needs a slight adjust.

The reason it works for the longest time and then fails can be any of the batteries are weak (less voltage = more current), motor is failing and drawing more current or slide is rubbing, wax the side of the slides is best advice.

Hope this helps!

HHIDan · 09-04-2016, 04:46 AM

OOps here is the file:

Jager · 09-04-2016, 06:57 AM

Big HUGE thank you to you guys for the replies! Some excellent information and I now have a lot of things to try and learn/discover.

Tom C - I would purchase one of those control boxes in a minute if I could get one. It makes no since to me that they will now only sell them to dealers. Swapping the wires should be very easy to do. As you stated they are very close by each other and that is a fast, easy test.

azskier and HHIDan - awesome information. I do have a multi meter and know how to use it. That, along with reading the manual should help me to isolate what is going wrong. I am a bit reluctant to extent the slide because we just arrived at a camp ground for a week and are 1,100+ miles from home. If I get it out and can't get it back in I'll really be in trouble.

I also see a couple of drops of some kind of oil in the bottom of that one slide motor, the one I'm having trouble with. One other thing I should mention, after reading the tread on the slide motor bolts coming loose I went around and checked all mine. This slide motor was a little loose so I tightened it. Mind you it was still firmly in place. It wasn't like it was moving around or anything but I could tighten the bolts on this motor where it took a considerable amount of additional force to try and tighten the others. So I tightened this motor to a similar level as the other motors. No clue if this has anything to do with this or not. I had operated the slide twice since tightening it without any issues. So I doubt these things are related.

I will be replacing this slide motor once I get home.

Thanks again. I'll post my findings and results.

azSkier · 09-04-2016, 07:49 AM

Be aware the motor is very powerful. Operating the motor without the controller allows you to driving the slide too far causing great damage.

Jager · 09-04-2016, 03:56 PM

azSKier - Yes, I recall reading several posts about the controller and over driving the motors and slides. One of the many reasons I was reluctant to mess with the POT was that adjustment can also do some damage if you turn it up too much. Like you said the motors are pretty powerful.

Tom C - you're a genius. While it was obvious after you mention it I never thought to swap the cables. I swapped the cables from controller to controller and presto! The slide works just like normal! It is the controller board. Now I just have to figure out how to get the board out of there . . . There is some black plastic cover over top of the board and I need to pop(?) it off to gain access to the board. I'm going to try and Fed Ex one to the camp ground I'm at and with any luck I'll have this fixed before I leave!

A huge Thank You to the guys that took the time to respond to this and help me out! Our vacation wasn't wrecked by this but it is better with the 4th slide out ;-)

tom chelbana · 09-04-2016, 06:05 PM

Tom The control board will pop off by putting a screw driver behind the case. You can use hot glue to attach the control board. Might think about ordering another one since they do go bad and if big slide is out I don't want to tell you how hard it is to bring in when you don't have power. There is away to power the slide by using jumper wires if the motor is OK but the control box isn't working.

HHIDan · 09-05-2016, 03:51 AM

Another bit of advice, make sure the controller is bad and not just out of adjust. And when you get the new one you still have to adjust the pots. And yes a spare is a good idea!

Jager · 09-05-2016, 09:08 AM

Thanks again guys. Big help.

Yes, I will definitely have a spare. I'll order 2. Are these boards pretty generic? Did you order yours from Newmar or can you just get them on Amazon or eBay?

Jager · 09-13-2016, 06:58 PM

Guys - just a quick update. I did order a new controller board and had it delivered to our vacation location. However it turns out I didn't need it.

You are 100% correct about getting good voltage to the motors. I went to leave and went to put in both rear slides at once. This is something I always do with no problem. I push both buttons and nothing. What the heck. On a whim I tried them one at a time. They each went in just fine but only one at a time. Next I tried the front slide that was working. Nothing. Confused I started to think about the voltage comment in your posts. Keep in mind I have brand new batteries and I am plugged into shore power and the charger is on. The batteries are in float. I also know the connections are all 100% clean and tight. I just did them.

So I start turning off stuff. It occurs to me I have the inverter on so I turn that off. Presto the working slide comes in. Next I trie the "broken" slide with the "bad" control board. Nothing. There are only 4 - 12v lights I haven't turn off. I turn them off and presto, the slide works.

So now the questions:
1) how can such a small current draw make a difference?

2) Shouldn't the charger supply plenty of extra power even if the batteries were low?

3) Is the anything I am missing doing that would cause the slides to need extra power to operate? Forget to lube something?

I have put the slides out many times with no issues but the inverter seems to make a huge difference. No sure why.

Thanks for all your help with this. I have learned a lot!

HHIDan · 09-13-2016, 07:01 PM

I always plug into shore power or run the gen before operating the slides.
This way, instead of 12.6 I have 13.5 or so volts at the batteries.

I see you are on shore power, try adjusting the pots on the controller. Go up a little bit towards max (believe its counterclockwise) about 5 degrees.
The controller may be shutting power down to the motor because you are reaching max current so increase the limit a little bit. Try lock arms limit first then slide out limit.

Scottybdivin · 09-27-2016, 11:59 AM

I had a similar problem last year where one slide would not work. I received the same advice to swap wiring at the controllers (there's a video out on Youtube somewhere). After doing so, the slide worked, so I thought it was a bad controller. I put the wiring back to normal, and both slides worked again and have worked ever since. I wrote it off to either corrosion in the wiring harnesses, or it simply reset the controller.