Community Forums

Jonnyboy 316 · 03-21-2014, 10:14 PM

Already to leave late on Sunday to get home and get ready for work on Monday after a great long four day weekend...sure! We have all been there, squeezing the last hour or two from one of rving's wonderful times. It's time to go...you've paid for a late departure and now it is definately time to get on the road home, so you begin your ritual and now it's time to pull in your slides!
So first and second slides come in without incident. Push the button for the third slide, and for the first time in eight years....Nothing happens!!!! You spend the next ten minutes trying to figure why the slide won't budge..the DW not too happy because it was your idea for the late departure.
SOLUTION: On my Fleetwood, I tested my slowblow ceramic fuse on my bedroom fuse...it tested okay. Another ten minutes...tested the motor...the power...all good! Tested the slide again...no luck. Pulled the fuse again and tested it again...no good....then a minute later...GOOD!
Go figure??? Put in regular 20Amp fuse...all I had in that size but not a slowblow...
Apparently slowblow fuses can get tired over time and many uses.
Two messages from this experiences...a meter and an extra fuse can save your memoriesof a great weekend.
What other quick fixes have saved your rving experiences? Please share your elixirs.

The KISS, keep it simple stupid, was really meant to show that sometimes it is the simple things that can spoil things. A fuse! That still tests good....intermitently no less!

Tomtall · 03-22-2014, 01:31 AM

First off, nice trouble shooting and repair job. I have had similar fuss/electrical panel gremlins make you scratch your head.

Being in the service industry most of my life as a technician I have had to mentor many a fresh buck out of votech schools. I found that even though they had strong book skills that most had poor trouble shooting skills. This was to be expected however because of their lack of time being in the trench's. I used that term a lot during those years of schooling those kids.

KISS is a wonderful word and can have favorable results when used.

Just ask my wife

**CLIFFTALL** · 03-22-2014, 03:09 AM

Thanks for the post. We all can be reminded of KISS ( at least I can ) from time to time. As stated , good detective work. Glad you got going.

wa8yxm · 03-22-2014, 08:30 AM

Yes. fuses (Not just slow blow) DO sometimes get "Tired" with age and can fail even though they appear to be perfectly good. I have seen that many times in my 60+ years on this earth.

Libero · 03-22-2014, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

Yes. fuses (Not just slow blow) DO sometimes get "Tired" with age and can fail even though they appear to be perfectly good. I have seen that many times in my 60+ years on this earth.

I concur with the quoted youngster, so to speak, :-)LOL, (@75+ years I can get away with this but 65+ could also mean 85 -still laughing) Anyway, I have seen many bulbs and fuses that look OK yet still don't work and some fuses fail when there has not been an over current situation. Often there can be a cold solder joint or some other imperfection that can cause a failure. If you can measure the voltage on either side of a fuse and it is the same, well that is good, and of course measuring the resistance works also but a cold joint can be intermittant also.

So just because the visual check indicates AOK, perhaps it is not.

In an emergency, I have used a slightly oversized fuse to get me out of a jam, but I have done so with exteme caution. I now carry a good supply of every type and size of every fuse I have in my vehicles.

Good trouble shooting by the OP.

Jonnyboy 316 · 03-22-2014, 09:54 AM

To clarify my earlier post of Tired Fuses, do understand the slowblow fuse was tested on a meter and showed bad....then good. When put to the test again it failed. Tested immediately after failure, and was bad on continuity check. Tested again a minute or two later and it was okay again. The point is that slow blow fuses use a bimetal strip, and that strip can wear out from repeated expansions. You would, of course, always use a meter to test for continuity.
I now have about ten slowblow fuses for next episode.
Thanks and happy camping!