HELP! Ignition lockout for steps and awning

[DGShaffer]

I washed the RV on Sunday and shortly after noticed the the steps didn't retract when I started the RV. I've been trying to trouble shoot this until today in the rain I had the awning out. When I started the RV to test the steps again, the awning didn't retract as it has in the past either. This is telling me that there is an issue with the ignition lockout. I recently found that with the ignition on I don't have the 12vdc going to the steps as I had in the past. I hoping it's a fuse I can't seem to find.

I have a trip coming up on Friday and do not have an RV place close enough to take it to in this short of time so I need to figure this out myself.

Please help!

[DGShaffer]

Well as hard as I tried, after two days of trying everything I could find as a source of this problem including trying a new controller, no luck. The tech support at Thor, Mike B. was really helpful but after going through the Battery control center with a volt meter top to bottom and every fuse we could think of I still have no power at the plug from the ignition lockout.

I've pulled the clevis pin under the steps and secured them in the tucked away position so that we can take our trip on Friday as planned. When we return it goes to Camping World in Lakewood where they've always treated me fair and have done great work.

I'm sure it'll be something simple for them but for me it was just too much.

[SteveOGilroy]

I had a problem with my steps. I found it was a poor gound. I rerouted the gound to the chassis and the problem seems to have disappeared.

[gto3x2]

I had a step problem,would'nt go up with ignition on,but they would go up with the battery connect on.Had a bad relay,coil inside shorted and blew fuse.Relay was located out front near battery control center.

[DGShaffer]

Now this is interesting. By any chance did this affect the awning retracting when turning on the ignition as well?

[gasser 38]

Could possibly be a bad board on BCC. There is a lug with chassis battery hot that feeds the stairs with ign off it is fed from the hot side of the isolator relay mine is 10 ga red. If that is hot and you have no power out on the stair circut and fuse is good it could be the board. Do the steps work okay when opening and closing the door? because if the door is open with ign on steps wont close.

[DGShaffer]

I'll relay this to the Camping world that has it. They're struggling with it as well. I have 12vdc on the red wire in the chassis plug to the stair but I do not have it on the yellow at the plug with the ignition on which is the safety power to retract the steps. Thor had me run a bunch of tests at the BCC and everything worked as best I could tell. He said it could be a broken wire.

[gasser 38]

OK DG but if there is no power out at the plug on the board there are no wires in between just the printed circut board. Only reason I brought this up is my board went bad and was constantly feeding emergency start circut and killing my chassis battery Let us know how this shakes out.

[DGShaffer]

Well... they found it. According to them, it was just dumb luck that they found it at all.


The book called for 12 volts to the motor which they (and I) found, the problem was up front at a plug that fed power to the steps. One of the wires connecting to a pin in the plug was severely corroded. With the wires being so corroded at the plug, there were only a couple of strands of wire still connected that it allowed 12vdc through but couldn't carry enough amperage to activate the motor. He just happened to pull a connector apart and look inside to see the corrosion and soon found the wire almost falling out. So it wasn't a broken wire, just a 90% broken wire!


Another atta boy for my friends at the Lakewood, NJ Camping world!

[DGShaffer]

I picked it up today and everything is back to normal. That is except for my bank account. Seems they logged 6-1/2 hours trying to pin down the fault at $99.00 an hour.

As upset as I was, I have to keep in mind that issues like this and the cause are very difficult to trace and we're all in business to make money no matter what the unions say!

[wa8yxm]

Steps will NOT retract when you start the engine,

However if you open and close the door AFTER starting the engine THEN they retract.

Bad programming/design in my not very humble opinion.

[gbs2320]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DGShaffer I picked it up today and everything is back to normal. That is except for my bank account. Seems they logged 6-1/2 hours trying to pin down the fault at $99.00 an hour. As upset as I was, I have to keep in mind that issues like this and the cause are very difficult to trace and we're all in business to make money no matter what the unions say!

I would not be happy about paying so much for a relatively simple electronic issue and IMHO your simplistic, factually incorrect, anti Union comment is not relevant to the discussion and is inflammatory and inappropriate for this forum (but it really did not bother me ). Glad you resolved your electronic issue, sorry it was so much $$$.

[DGShaffer]

I was in, under, and around the rig for days and hours. Having done every test that Thor and Kwikee had to offer I finally had to throw in the towel since I could not find any source for what I was seeing. And yes, I checked the ground!

Paying so much was pretty tough to deal with but "It is what it is". Without taking it to a professional repair shop I'm confident I would still be using a step ladder. Perhaps another shop would have looked right at the plug that failed but I'm not going to second guess the guys at Camping world as I'm sure they were close to giving up.

The one thing I've learned after 35 years of working on cars and motorcycles is that if it's an electrical issue, you can be sure it'll be expensive and you're bound to replace a bunch of things that had nothing to do with the problem until you stumble across the one thing that helps.