Electric Slide Help

[LewF]

I am having a problem with one of the electric slides on our 2009 Camelot 42KFQ. The two rear slides are electrically operated, the bed side by a gear operated electric system and the "wardrobe" side by a cable system. The wardrobe side is misbehaving.

Two days ago the slide refused to come in as we were preparing to leave in the morning. I removed the fascia piece over the motor and was able to bring the slide in with about 10,000 cranks of a ratchet wrench. The slide would power out but not in and the motor turned freely. That evening at a one night stop the slide was OK, it moved in and out under power. Next morning, you guessed it, it would not come in under power. By this time I figured out a way to get a drill in to turn the motor and power the slide in and brought it in with no problem. That evening, once again, the slide worked both out and in under power. We have stopped for a week long stay and I will try to figure the problem out during this time.

According to the wiring diagram both the rear electric slides are controlled by some sort of Intellitec circuit board that looks like it has some relay modules plugged into it. Anyone who has suggestions would be appreciated.

Some questions:

1. Where is the control module located? The wiring diagram says it is in the "wardrobe" but I can't find it.
2. Are the slide motors controlled by relays? Must be since the small switches on the control panel surely can't carry the motor operating current.
3. Any idea on why the problem is intermittent? Temperature? It has been cold in the mornings and warm in the evenings.

Any ideas and help is appreciated. In West Yellowstone for the next week and will continue to try to figure this out.

Lew

[dsbike]

I am not familiar with the slide operations, but when I have intermittent electrical problems the 1st place I look is for a bad ground or if I have power to the motor when I hit the switch. Bad ground, repair the ground. No power to motor, check for power at the switch and on down the line.
Cold mornings could be moisture on a contact or relay.

[Robi.1014]

Slide motors and similar reversing applications (the step motor, for example) are indeed driven by large current-carrying relays. The rocker switch that we press (at the control panel) is carrying very little current as you suspect.

The slide motor gets a full 12VDC to do it's thing. A digital multi-meter connected across this motor's terminals will show this during your successful sliding out. When you want the slide to come back in, the high-current relays energize in a different pattern and "flip" the 12VDC as applied to the motor. Stated differently, you will not find a permanent "ground" connection at either pin (or wire) of the drive motor.

Troubleshooting:
1) if the high-current relays are not receiving the 12VDC signaling voltage from the control (rocker) switch, obviously they will never energize and the motor will NOT bring the slide in. Testing at the back of the rocker switch will help you find if the rocker switch is at fault. Your multi-meter negative lead should be attached to a known-good ground during this test. The positive (red) lead will show you if the rocker switch is working correctly.
2) if (1) above indicates that the rocker switch is sending the signaling voltage to the high-current relay pack, then it is clear that the high-current relay (that is supposed to energize to bring the slide IN) is not energizing and/or not sending 12VDC to the motor. Listen to this relay module when rocking the IN/OUT control switch. Is the high-current relay "clicking"? If you hear a click, the relay is "picking up" (energizing), then you've confirmed rocker-switch and signaling is reaching the high-current relay pack OK.
3) If relay clicking from (2) is heard, my thought is that the relay contacts are not passing the high-current voltage to the slide drive motor. Replacement of the failing relay is the only solution at this point. If clicking is NOT heard, maybe there is hope that you can find why the controlling 12VDC signal is not energizing the relay.

Why might temperature affect the "IN" but the "OUT" works OK? Well... High-current relay contacts are funny animals when they are marginal due to current arcing, corrosion, or other reasons such as the relay's electromagnet coil is not pulling as hard as it should.

Best of luck....

[LewF]

Robi.1014

Very helpful answer. You confirmed what I suspected that there must be some relays and a control circuit somewhere. Now to find it. I know I have good control panel switch operation and I know it works sometimes so I suspect a balky relay. I suspect you are right that temperature must have something to do with it. I'll give some feedback when I find the control circuit board and the relays. Thanks again.

Lew

[Gordon66]

The control module is under the floor panel in the closet to the left of the rear wardrobe. A friend had the same problem with his PDQ. The problem was the plug that plugs into the module was not completely pushed into the module. After pushing the plug in all worked OK.

[LewF]

Gordon66

You are right. There was a loose plug on the control module. The problem was finding the control module. On a Camelot 42 KFQ, with the combination washer/dryer, it is behind a small panel in the lower,curb side, back corner of the closet. I asked the "professionals" as Buddy Gregg where I have my coach worked on if needed in Knoxville and they sent me on the wildest goose chases looking for the module. I finally thought it through a bit and traced the wires from the bed side slide, controlled by same module, and found it. Sure enough a plug on one side was not firmly seated and when firmly pushed in all worked fine. Thanks for the idea and pointer to the area where the module was found.

Lew

[Gordon66]

Glad to hear you fixed the problem. I have had several of those plugs lose connection.