Door remote not locking the door.

[AKBrick]

Here is a predicament/observation that CheetahGirl and I had a month ago and again just yesterday. Luckily we found the culprit.
Our door remote was not locking the door. Strange....Cheetahgirl heard the remote relay under the dash clicking when I pushed the button on the remote key fob, but the door mechanism was not working. I thought AHA! the door mechanism is not getting the electrical signal to operate it. I checked between the door and the MH's door frame and found thin metal contacts on the door itself and spring loaded contacts on the door frame that matches up when the door is closed. The contacts were dirty, (I learned this from my power plant days) so I took a pencil eraser and cleaned the contacts by erasing away the dirt on them. Yup, that was it because the cleaned contacts were able to close the circuit between the remote relay and the electric door mechanism when I pushed the "lock" button on the key fob. For awhile I thought that my key fob's battery had died but that was not the case.
While cleaning the contacts, I noticed that the door's contacts are beginning to get concaved by the contacts on the door frame pressing onto them from closing the door so much in the two years that we have been living in the motorhome. I believe that eventually I will have to replace them or move them around so that they make better contact with the ones on the door frame.
So there you go, a little helpful hint. If your key fob is not locking or unlocking the door, listen under the dash to see if you can hear the door relay making a clicking noise. If it is, then your key fob is working but the elecrtical signal is not getting to the electrical locking mechanism. Look for your contacts, then clean.

Cheers,
Tom Brickwell

[Diplomat Don]

A good thing to keep in mind. The eraser trick is good to know also.

Thanks

[AKBrick]

Just a short observation on this subject. Where we've been during these problems have been in areas that were very muggy and also close to the ocean. That could account for the contacts getting dirty.....maybe, but hey, it's a thought.
Later,
Tom

[Robin_M]

Good tip, Tom. Thanks for sharing. That is one of those things that hopefully will pop back into my mind some day down the road when I'm sitting there pondering about why my door lock doesn't work.

[BaldOldBob]

About a year ago mine also stopped locking, but the cause was a little different.

We are fulltimers and so I carry the remote fob in my pocket everyday. It turned out the problem was that it was absolutely packed with lint. Blew it out and it has worked like a charm ever since. Maybe I should wear Levi's instead of Wranglers, but regardless, it now looks like we have to check another "button" for lint.