Community Forums

canuckdave · 03-17-2018, 06:15 PM

We are currently sitting in the BLM area north of Yuma. We have owned this coach for 5 years now and are familiar with the requirements of opening and closing the slides ie: engine shut down, airbags full, park brake on.

For the first time ever the slides are stuck in the open position. I have checked all fuses and they are good. I located the slide out controller board, located in the right rear outside compartment. I have replaced the 20 amp resettable fuse just in case. I know to check for faulty grounds but can't find anything loose or rusted.

I am able to run the passenger side slides in and out with jumpers on the wires coming into the board but not the drivers side. Is there a second slide out controller somewhere? I have searched all the usual hiding places, under the bed, fridge etc.

I have contacted Monaco tech support and they sent me a wiring diagram (I am not strong in this stuff but can generally figure things out). The wiring diagram appears to only show the one controller for all 4 slides.

I have attached a photo of the controller board and of the wiring diagram. Does anyone have any ideas on a second controller?

bdpreece · 03-17-2018, 08:47 PM

Don't think there is a second controller. I would be interested to know the voltage between ground pin 4 and all the other pins on the ignition disable relay. It almost sounds like it thinks the engine is running and has shut down the slides. Just a WAG at this point.

MSHappyCampers · 03-18-2018, 10:53 AM

Dave, on many coaches the slideout controls are interlocked with switches on the cargo bay doors. This can affect some slides and not others, depending on whether the slide could damage a cargo door below it.

Those door interlock switches can be defective or may just need adjustment. You can use a clip lead and bypass the switch, one at a time, until you find out which one is causing the problem. Unplugging them won't work as it's a closed circuit.

canuckdave · 03-18-2018, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

Dave, on many coaches the slideout controls are interlocked with switches on the cargo bay doors. This can affect some slides and not others, depending on whether the slide could damage a cargo door below it.

Those door interlock switches can be defective or may just need adjustment. You can use a clip lead and bypass the switch, one at a time, until you find out which one is causing the problem. Unplugging them won't work as it's a closed circuit.

Joe, my OM does not talk about the need to check for closed bay doors and I don't see any electrical leads other than the electronic locks. I've attached pictures of one of my door latches and wiring. It's worth a try though. Can you describe better how to bypass the switch?

Monaco Wolfy · 03-18-2018, 01:55 PM

I think Joe's Windsor is like ours. We have basement doors that swing up. I had a similar issue with the switches going bad. The slides won't move then. It looks like yours swing sideways. You may not have switches like ours, located on the upper part of the door openings, So when the door shuts, it pushes a very visible switch with two wires connected to it.

egwilly · 03-18-2018, 02:09 PM

If you cannot get them to close, can you manually retract them to get home?

canuckdave · 03-18-2018, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by egwilly

If you cannot get them to close, can you manually retract them to get home?

I know it can be done but I've never had to do it and don't look forward to learning. If I can't fix the problem, that will be Plan B.

MSHappyCampers · 03-18-2018, 05:41 PM

Dave, they don't use those interlock switches on side opening bay doors! Hope you find the problem soon!

CJ7365 · 03-18-2018, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by canuckdave

We are currently sitting in the BLM area north of Yuma. We have owned this coach for 5 years now and are familiar with the requirements of opening and closing the slides ie: engine shut down, airbags full, park brake on.

For the first time ever the slides are stuck in the open position. I have checked all fuses and they are good. I located the slide out controller board, located in the right rear outside compartment. I have replaced the 20 amp resettable fuse just in case. I know to check for faulty grounds but can't find anything loose or rusted.

I am able to run the passenger side slides in and out with jumpers on the wires coming into the board but not the drivers side. Is there a second slide out controller somewhere? I have searched all the usual hiding places, under the bed, fridge etc.

I have contacted Monaco tech support and they sent me a wiring diagram (I am not strong in this stuff but can generally figure things out). The wiring diagram appears to only show the one controller for all 4 slides.

I have attached a photo of the controller board and of the wiring diagram. Does anyone have any ideas on a second controller?

I am not too good either reading wiring diagrams, but this one looks like one controller controls all 4 slides.

What kind of slides do you have, maybe we can help get them in manually

l1v3fr33ord1 · 03-20-2018, 05:02 AM

Dave-

The controller can control three slides, actually.

A recent thread covered troubleshooting the slide controller. It turned out that there was a failed relay on the controller. See this post.

There are five relays on the board, of which one is a "spare" in a two-slide coach. Give me a little while and I may be able to figure out which one that is. You could swap the "spare" with the "front/rear" relay, and see if that fixes the problem. I hope to be back shortly with that "swap" answer.

In the meantime, check for 12V at each of the slide switches located on the "convenience center" panel in the coach. With the ignition off, there should be 12V on both switches. If it is not there, replace the 5A fuse on the controller board and test again. For that matter, test for 12V at the fuse socket with the 5A fuse removed (with the ignition off) before you test anything else.

I am willing to help you troubleshoot by phone. If you'd like that, please send me a private message that includes your contact info.

l1v3fr33ord1 · 03-20-2018, 07:06 AM

Dave-

OK, I think I've figured it out:

Relay, upper-left: front/rear selector
Relay, upper-right: spare
Relay: middle-right: in direction
Relay, lower left: ignition disable
Relay: lower-middle: out direction

You should confirm these for yourself. I've made plenty of mistakes before!

As you can move one slide with jumpers, but not the other, the problem may lie in the "front/rear selector" relay.

If you choose to test by substituting the "spare" relay, do yourself a favor and pull the 20A circuit breaker first. This disables the switches in the convenience center, so funky things should not happen. Then put the breaker back in to test.

I've attached a diagram I made for the slide controller. It's the same info as the one from Monaco (for a three-slide controller), but I've labeled the relays differently so I can make heads or tails of what they do. the pinouts/signals are listed in the bottom-left of the drawing:

To bring in front slide: Jumper pin 10 to pin 2 (12V) Jumper pin 3 to pin 1 (ground)
To bring in rear slide: Jumper pin 10 to pin 4 (12V) Jumper pin 9 to pin 1 (ground)

Notes:
1) This bypasses the 20A circuit breaker. 20A at 12V is almost 250 watts. Be careful.
2) The jumper wire must be large enough to handle up to 20A at 12V. I believe a 12 AWG would be adequate, but a 10 AWG would be better.
3) If a slide goes out instead of in, reverse the jumpering listed above.
4) Make sure the slide is clear of all obstructions before trying to move it by bypassing the controller.
5) A slide may not stop when it reaches the end of travel. Be prepared to remove the jumpers quickly.

canuckdave · 03-20-2018, 11:13 PM

Mark, I hired a mobile RV tech to work on my problem. He and his wife came out today and they think it may be a faulty relay, or maybe the controller board itself. They are going to troubleshoot more tomorrow while talking to Monaco Tech Support. I have forwarded your findings to the tech (Five Star Repairs). Thanks for the input.

windsorbill · 03-21-2018, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by canuckdave

Mark, I hired a mobile RV tech to work on my problem. He and his wife came out today and they think it may be a faulty relay, or maybe the controller board itself. They are going to troubleshoot more tomorrow while talking to Monaco Tech Support. I have forwarded your findings to the tech (Five Star Repairs). Thanks for the input.

Keep us posted on the findings. I think those boards are hard to find.

canuckdave · 03-22-2018, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by windsorbill

Keep us posted on the findings. I think those boards are hard to find.

Just to update what happened here, the previous slide out control board is no longer manufactured by IDS. In it's place, are 4 individual boards manufactured by Lippert for $129 each. They are not "plug and play" so they would have to be wired in by someone smarter than me. I searched for a used board but none are available. The second time the tech came out, we learned how to run the slides using jumper wires, bypassing the board. This morning, I met the tech again in Yuma and were trying to get a hold of Monaco tech support when I mentioned having worked on trying to get my new (used) entry step to work but having problems getting the electrical connected at around the same time as the slide issue. We then discovered by disconnecting the step, THE SLIDES WORKED!

So, the "last man out" feature on the step is someone connected to the engine disable relay on the slides. Moral of the story....sometimes buying used parts (in this case the step) to save a few bucks can come back to bite you.