Balky Slide

[Grn_Mtn_Boy]

You need to have the batteries looked at. The 14 volt reading while getting charged is the voltage of the charging system output, not the battery. If you disconnect shore power and leave generator off for 15 min. Then check voltage. Will give you some idea what is going on. Low 12's like 12.4 is an indication that batteries are not good. Should still be above 12.7 after only a few minutes under load.

[Air Conditioned Gypsy]

Update:

I installed two new chassis batteries this week. Same Freightliner oem batteries that came new with the coach (Alliance 1000 cca at 32*. Freightliner dealers are selling these for $94 each after core trade in, killer deal.)

So far, no problems with the slide. If I have further issues, will keep you posted.

Thanks for the suggestions and advice.

Regards.

Chuck

[Arch Hoagland]

Thanks for the update...hope all goes well.

[bbest]

Curious about “boondocking at a farm” are the farmers friends?

[vsheetz]

New chassis batteries should not impact slide operation. Your slides operate from the house batteries.

I am thinking: Since you ran the propulsion engine - and it did not help. Then you ran the generator - and it did help. That the house batteries are not charging from the engine alternator. This is also a common problem for your Tiffin to have - as there is a high fail frequency solenoid that enables house batteries to charge from the alternator.

I would suggest to check the house battery voltage with and without the engine running - the voltage should increase about a volt or more if charging. Do thus check with no other charging active if course (no shore or genny power).

[Air Conditioned Gypsy]

Vince,

I replaced house batteries last week. Had them checked and one was bad. I was advised by a friend that replacing one battery was not a good idea, so I bought 6 US Battery US2200XC2. These are the same brand that Tiffin put in the coach, but Tiffin used US2000XC2. Same size, but heavier (more lead) and with a bit more capacity. So I now have more capacity and new batteries. Took the opportunity to clean and paint the battery tray and make sure all connections were clean and tight.

All batteries, house and chassis are new!

Will check the voltage as you suggest next week.

Thanks.

Chuck

[Air Conditioned Gypsy]

Originally Posted by bbest

Curious about “boondocking at a farm” are the farmers friends?

They are now! It is a Harvest Hosts farm, a group which allows self-contained overnight parking on their property. Sorta like wallydocking, but out in the real boonies. There's an annual fee, but I can't remember how much it is.

Regards.

Chuck

[Air Conditioned Gypsy]

Yet another update:

Last night I was boondocking at a farm in NC. Ran the gen a couple of hours last night, then again for 45 minutes or so this morning. When I brought in the slides, both the rear slides came in, no problem, the driver side front slide came in, no problem (all these are electric motor operated). Then when I tried the passenger side front (hydraulic operated), no joy. I called Tiffin and spoke with a tech who had me do some tests with my multimeter, check some fuses, and look at the controller board for status lights. He thinks that the controller is either bad or has a loose (or dirty) connection. I pulled off the main connector and inspected it for corrosion, etc, but it looked fine. But, after replacing the connector, the slide switch worked and the slide came in normally.

Not sure yet what the root cause is, but it is something in or near the controller. Until I get home next week, I intend to leave the passenger slide in, then mess with it at home or take it in for service.

WKYP.

Chuck

[ProjectPro]

I'm having a similar problem on my 2005 QDH. Always the front PS; very intermittent. I changed out the control panel over the entrance steps (because that was cheaper than individual switches) because the "check" switch was getting flaky. Fixed the "check" problem, but didn't improve the slide issue.

The way mine works is that the switch above the steps provides voltage to one of two wires, depending on whether extend or retract is pressed. A relay on the fuse panel below the driver's seat provides the heavier current to operate the slide.

I'm thinking that the relay might be easy to change out, and might exchange the PS and DS relays to see if the trouble follows. Anyone know if those relays just plug in to the board?

I'm thinking that it might also be temperature related. I didn't have the problem all winter in Florida, but my first outing since my return was last week in weather that was a little cooler. Sure enough the front PS wouldn't extend. Kept fooling with it and it finally came to life and worked normally, including retracting six days later.

[Air Conditioned Gypsy]

OP here. Back with yet another update. Sorry to wait so long....

After replacing the battery bank and properly managing the state of charge on the batteries, I continued to experience intermittent failure to extend/retract the hydraulic slide (passenger side, front.) And sometimes, the jacks would not deploy, again, intermittently. I took the coach to a shop for evaluation, but they couldn't reproduce the issue. Took the coach to Tiffin service center in mid-July, but they could not reproduce the issue and insisted that the problem was in the batteries - they gave me advice about managing SOC, using auto-gen-start, etc.

In August, we took a 2.5-month trip. Many stops, both boondocking and full hookups. Up until this point the problem had only shown itself when boondocking. This is what pointed toward a battery/charge issue. But during this trip the issue occurred several times while hooked up to shore power. On one occasion, when the problem showed, I called Tiffin and spoke to a technician. He had me check some things, and run through a procedure involving the jacks and the slide. He concluded that two of the solenoids in the system were failing, causing the intermittent problems. He surmised that the intermittent failure was what likely caused the slide to operate after running the generator (time passes) instead of low battery. Apparently, as these solenoids go bad, they become flakey, rather than just work/don't work.

When we got home, the continuous and the intermittent solenoids were both replaced. The slides and the jacks have not acted up since then, but I have only taken two short trips. Getting ready to leave this week for a few weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed that all will be well.

As far as I can tell, the only thing remaining that has not been replaced (that affects both slide and jacks) is the controller board that sits on top of the hydraulic pump. Will report back in a month our so on the status.

Regards.

Chuck

[skeet4me]

We had the same issue on our 16 Bus. I could hear the pump running, but after waiting for a few minutes I could hit the button again and the slide would come in. At times it would come in a few inches and then stop and I'd have to do the same thing.

So, in our case, we tried bringing that slide in first. It is the heaviest and longest slide in our case and since taking that approach we have had no more issues. I hope that works for you.

[lllkrob]

Originally Posted by Air Conditioned Gypsy

OP here. Back with yet another update. Sorry to wait so long....


When we got home, the continuous and the intermittent solenoids were both replaced. The slides and the jacks have not acted up since then, but I have only taken two short trips. Getting ready to leave this week for a few weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed that all will be well.


Regards.

Chuck

This was your problem all along. I had the exact same problem on my coach and the techs at Bunkhouse RV in Red Bay replaced these two solenoids. No problem since in over a year.

[Air Conditioned Gypsy]

Originally Posted by lllkrob

This was your problem all along. I had the exact same problem on my coach and the techs at Bunkhouse RV in Red Bay replaced these two solenoids. No problem since in over a year.

Rob,

Keeping my fingers crossed! Due to the intermittent nature of the problem, it has been a booger to get diagnosed/repaired. Everybody advised me that it was bad battery management --- until the problem started happening while on 50 amp hookup.

Well, at least I have new batteries that should be good for a few years.

Regards.

Chuck

[Air Conditioned Gypsy]

FINAL UPDATE:

It has been just over six months since the two solenoids were replaced. We have been on many trips, using both FHU and boondocking stays. I am happy to say that there has NOT BEEN ONE problem with the slides since the solenoid replacement. I think we can call this problem SOLVED!

Regards.

Chuck