Steps extend and won't retract w/ coach battery off

[DiamondDan]

I think i've tried every combination of door open/closed; master switch on/off; etc, and I can't get the steps on my Astoria to stay in when I park the RV in storage. If I put the battery switch in "Store" position to shut off the coach power, when I open the door to get out, the steps extend and won't retract when I close the door. Two crude-but-effective solutions might be to pull the fuse or pull the cotter pin on the drive for the steps, but is there a better way?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.
-dan

[DiamondDan]

I think i've tried every combination of door open/closed; master switch on/off; etc, and I can't get the steps on my Astoria to stay in when I park the RV in storage. If I put the battery switch in "Store" position to shut off the coach power, when I open the door to get out, the steps extend and won't retract when I close the door. Two crude-but-effective solutions might be to pull the fuse or pull the cotter pin on the drive for the steps, but is there a better way?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.
-dan

[Bill & Luz]

Dan,

Your steps are still getting DC power from some where. I disconnect the negative cable on my chassis battery and my steps stay in the position they were in when I disconnected the battery.

[Chandler]

Dan, I just tried mine and they too, come out with the disconnect switch off. My guess is that's a legal thing so you don't fall out and sue :-) If you have a wiring diagram, you'll see that there are two power wires. You need to find the one that remains live after the disconnect switch is off and see if you can add a switch, or even a plug.

Chandler

[JARS]

I have a 2008 Astoria PE and mine works fine. This is the sequence I use. First close the door with the step switch on (steps retract). Then turn steps off, (make sure key is not in the ignition) shut off all power in coach with the "store" button. Wait approx. 30 sec to one minute. After the wait time you should be able to open door and the steps should stay retracted. If you open the door immediately, the steps will extend as if they still have power. The only thing I can think of is there must be a "delay" before all power is shut down. Hope this helps, mine works fine in this manner.

[John-D]

I don't know about a delay in shutting down power (Suspect not) but on my coach I have noticed two things.....

1: If I try to operate senistive 12 volt hardware with the house batteries in "Disconnected" (Store mode) the hardware works very very well indeed, no evidence of any power issues so long as the converter has power.. Of course MY converter is an PD-9180 (With charge wizard) and the radio is fused at 25 amps)

I also noticed when I physically disconnect the batteries it is some time before lights and such stop working.. Like 30 seconds to a minute. And I can SEE the gap between the battery and the cable!!!!

My thinking is that there is some serious filtering either in the converter itself or somewhere I have yet to find.

But I mean there is absolutly NO sign of anything but pure flat line DC on that radio when running off the converter only.

[DiamondDan]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will try Richard and Annie's waiting game. In the meantime I took another look and came up with this brilliant solution:

Coach batteries on; exit coach and close screen door; reach through screen door and turn coach batteries to "store;" Close and lock door.

Goofy, but it works...