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1Motorhome · 08-17-2019, 02:40 PM

Our last camping trip setup went fine, but when leaving my living room slide would not come in. I checked battery voltage and it was perfect. I kept trying the switch but no movement in slide. While trying to get it to work I hit the OUT position on the rocker switch and I heard a little bump in the slideout but when I tried the IN toggle NOTHING. I decided I was going to have to manually bring in the slide. I showed my Wife how to hold the rocker switch in the IN position after I had put the other rocker switch in the Manual position. You could hear a click on the motor when I put it in the manual position which indicated the brake had been released. for some reason I decided to try one more time and put the switch back in auto and hit the IN position on the rocker switch...Low and behold it worked and the slide came right in.
After getting back home and unpacking I decided to try the slide again. It went right out as normal but would not retract. I contacted a friend of mine who owns a small RV repair shop and described the problem. He is backed up for 3 weeks and can't take a look at it before then, and since we are leaving this coming Wednesday for another trip I had to find and fix problem myself. His advice was first to check the slide controller. OK where is it located??? He said normally they will be in a cabinet and I may have to pull out some drawers to find it. NOPE not in any of the cabinets!! He said check beneath the refrigerator if there was an access panel, there was but no controller just backside of Furnace. Then he told me to check my electrical panel bay, Nope not there either. I checked the wiring leaving the motor and it went up into the floor but must run beneath the sub floor because I could not find where it came up into the coach. I was at wits end by now but decided to pull the rocker switch panel and check wiring. I got my Multi meter and checked that I had power to switch, yep all good there, then I pushed the OUT lower position on the rocker switch and Yep got power there. When I pushed the IN position...NOTHING DEAD!! So I'm thinking I got a bad switch!! I pulled it out and took it to the local RV dealership thinking this would be a Stock item for such a large dealership, but NOPE. He would have to order it but would have it the next day. This is a 40 amp 5 pin inline slide switch seems to me it would be a stock item!?!?
OK next day it was here and I installed it, fingers crossed and a little Prayer I hit the IN switch and the slide came right in!!

I ran it out and in a couple times and it worked fine. So I'm satisfied it was a bad switch and to CMA I came in looked up part# and ordered 2 more to keep in tool box in case another one goes out.

OK, I'm very happy that it's working but very concerned that I cannot find the controller. I have done some extensive research and everything I have read says somewhere there is a controller, in fact there may be 2 controllers, one for living room and one for Bed room. Or it may be just one double controller for both slides!!! Arggg....OK Where the heck is it??

I also read that at one time one of the slide manufactures did not use a controller the motor was fed directly from the wall switch and reversed polarity depending on which switch position was mashed. The pressure sensor was tied directly to the motor and sensed amp draw to shut it down.

Has anyone out there ever encountered this type situation??? I am completely at the end of my rope on this controller situation.

Skip426 · 08-17-2019, 04:43 PM

JMHO: Given your description , particularly since the switch you describe is way bigger than one necessary to signal a controller , your slide system may not have a controller. Although being five pin is a little confusing , I'd think six would be more common.

Do you have any info on the slide system manufacturer ? Lippert ? Power Gear ? Info could be on the motor itself . ( Lippert bought up Power gear a while back and repair/parts info is now on the Lippert web site. )

1Motorhome · 08-17-2019, 04:56 PM

Yes it is a Power gear system. I have researched many many Power gear web sites and read through at least 15 of their owner manuals. I can not find any info other than the ones that show a controller in the system.
I cannot find any info on the motor itself which would be a big help in my research.

The Auto/manual switch has two wires, one jumps to the 5th pin on the IN/OUT switch and makes up either a Hot or Ground from the 5th pin to the brake release. I'm thinking it is picking up power to activate the brake release.

Have you ever heard of a slide system that doesn't require a controller??

Skip426 · 08-17-2019, 05:27 PM

Some low end slide mechanisms ; mostly TT's do't use a controller , but as I mentioned six wire switch would be the norm for those .

Attached is wiring for a no controller slide switch and a picture of the controller in my coach ( against the outside wall on the opposite side of the coach from my single slide, under the sink

) why the manufacturers figure these components need to be hidden is beyond me.
Have you laid on your back in the basement and looked up at the underside of the coach floor ?

I do have parts and repair info for Power Gear ; but it's too large to post here in the forums , has diagrams showing what their controllers look like . If you'd like it please PM me your e mail and I'll forward it directly.

1Motorhome · 08-17-2019, 06:27 PM

PowerGear Slide System.pdf

I did find this in one of the powergear owners manual. This must be what I have. Note the 5 pin power switch.
What it doesn't show is the AUTO/Manual switch that is wired to the IN/OUT rocker switch.

ThePowells · 08-17-2019, 06:32 PM

Start looking in basement compartments.

1Motorhome · 08-17-2019, 06:43 PM

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1Motorhome · 08-17-2019, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThePowells

Start looking in basement compartments.

Thanks, I have pulled everything out in all compartments and checked every nick and cranny....can not find a controller??!!??

Skip426 · 08-17-2019, 06:46 PM

Interesting pdf . the info I have shows only a three wire switch wired to the controllers.

Also interesting is the " Caution High Voltage " warning.

1Motorhome · 08-17-2019, 06:58 PM

Yeah 12V high voltage from Battery,,,

The positive from the battery goes to center pin, the ground from battery splits to pins left and right of center HOT pin. the outside pins go to motor with a ground to run motor in a right or left polarity (forward or backward) rotation. What is not showing on this schematic is I have another switch double throw, that engages the motor braking system in AUTO position and Disengages the brake in Manual to allow manual retraction of slide. it is a 2 wire switch one being a ground and the other power to release brake.

ThePowells · 08-17-2019, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1Motorhome

Thanks, I have pulled everything out in all compartments and checked every nick and cranny....can not find a controller??!!??

If you haven't yet, look up high in the cabinets and compartments. My controllers are high in a left side basement compartment in the middle between the two motors on our superslide. They are pretty hard to notice unless you are looking for them.

Skip426 · 08-18-2019, 06:38 PM

Going back to the pdf with the wiring for the five wire switch .

To confirm existence of a controller; disconnect the battery and , ohm out the wires from the switch to the motor ; zero ohms = no controller .

1Motorhome · 08-18-2019, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skip426

Going back to the pdf with the wiring for the five wire switch .

To confirm existence of a controller; disconnect the battery and , ohm out the wires from the switch to the motor ; zero ohms = no controller .

Ahha....Great idea !!!!!

1Motorhome · 08-19-2019, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skip426

Going back to the pdf with the wiring for the five wire switch .

To confirm existence of a controller; disconnect the battery and , ohm out the wires from the switch to the motor ; zero ohms = no controller .

OK, I Ohm the wires at switch going to motor on both sides of the switch IN and OUT and got resistance on both. Must be something inline as in a controller... Just can't find the darn thing !!!!

I have looked in every imaginable crook and cranny from stem to stern and can find nothing!! while tracing the bin door limit switches which are tied in a single run, the end of the run goes up into the floor under the slide into a subfloor that is not accessible without cutting into a welded metal underneath protective flooring under the bottom of the coach. Hopefully they didn't install the controller in there and then lay the inside flooring over it!!!
I am soooo mad that I can't locate this controller I could bite nails in to!!

At least the Slides are working now but can't help but be concerned as to how long before I will need to replace that controller!!!