Community Forums

Priherd · 01-30-2023, 08:44 AM

I have recently started having an issue in my 2011 Newmar Canyon Star 3920. When I arrived at my location and turned off the ignition for the RV, my RV radio, rear facing camera remained on and the slides would not go out, and the steps continue to go in and out when the door is opened and closed even though the ignition switch is in the off position and the step switch was off. There were no engine dash lights on. My first reaction was that the ignition switch was in the accessory position but my accessory position has never worked since I bought the RV in 2012, I’m not sure if that’s a common thing on all Canyon Star‘s or if it’s an issue with mine, but it’s never been a problem. And in the 10 years I’ve owned the RV I’ve never had this issue before. The ignition switch is tight in the steering wheel column as it should be, I restarted the RV and shut it off several times, making sure that it was in the off position, but the problem remained. The second time this happened I had arrived at a RV park and I turned off the ignition and the same thing happened, no engine dash lights on, RV radio stayed on, rear facing camera on, slide wouldn’t go out, steps continue to go in and out when the door opened and closed. (step switch in off position) I decided to disconnect the chassis battery to see if the problem would go away and see if the slides would go out, which neither happened after disconnecting the chassis battery. I then disconnected the house batteries and made sure that the inverter was off and I unplugged from the 50A power pedestal. Now there should be absolutely no power in the RV ( except the small solar panel for chassis battery charging which would not put out enough power to run all these items) but the radio and the rear facing camera stayed on, the slide still would not go out and the steps continued to go in and out when opening and closing the door just like the RV ignition was still on which it was not. Scratching my head I wondered where it could be getting its power from. I then realized that my toad umbilical cord was still plugged in to the seven pin receptacle and thought maybe the power was coming from the toad battery. I went back and unplugged the umbilical from the seven pin receptacle on the RV and the problem went away, everything went off as it should, the slides would go out, and the steps would stay in the out position as they were supposed to. I talked to the manufacture of my RV to toad battery charger (RVI) and they swore up-and-down that their equipment would not let power return to the RV from the jeep. I questioned him saying maybe their diode had gone bad, and they quoted there are three diodes to protect it. Not trusting this I have since then purchased a diode to put in the 12 V wire from the RV battery to the seven pin plug BUT I have NOT installed it yet, its still sitting on my dash. This morning I started the RV after setting for a week to see what my gas level was after running the generator for this week, ( I’m in Quartzsite boon-docking ) My generator was running at the time and when I shut off the RV ignition, the radio and rear camera remained on and the steps would go in and out as if the ignition was on. I turned off the generator and the problem once again went away. This problem seems to only happen if there is some kind of external power hooked to the RV in some way or maybe it is all just a coincidence. I don't believe the problem is in the F53 chassis because the radio, rear camera, steps and slide are all wired separately by Newmar to a different fuse boxes.
What the heck is going on? Anyone have an idea?

MrMark52 · 01-30-2023, 10:50 AM

Just my $.01 here -

I don’t think the toad wiring would be adequate enough to power the slide motors, diode or not.
There may be three diodes, but they are not hooked up in series - 1 for left signal, 1 for right signal, and 1 for parking lights.

Am surprised steps are powered from the coach batteries.
Steps on our coach tend to be (in my opinion) buggy in that they don’t always seem to do what I think they should do relative to the step switch. Too many other irons in the fire to worry with it - somehow it starts working right once again after flipping it a few times.

Do you have the coach and chassis wiring diagrams for your coach? If not, might be a good time to track them down.

Priherd · 01-30-2023, 11:11 AM

[QUOTE=MrMark52;6412261]Just my $.01 here -

I don’t think the toad wiring would be adequate enough to power the slide motors, diode or not.
There may be three diodes, but they are not hooked up in series - 1 for left signal, 1 for right signal, and 1 for parking lights.

Am surprised steps are powered from the coach batteries.
Steps on our coach tend to be (in my opinion) buggy in that they don’t always seem to do what I think they should do relative to the step switch. Too many other irons in the fire to worry with it - somehow it starts working right once again after flipping it a few times.

The slide didn't work so no, the toad battery didn't run the slide. The slide is wired to not operate when the ignition on so the power coming in from somewhere made the slide controller think the ignition was on, therefore the slide would not operate. Now the steps did operate, they operate only when the door is opened and when the ignition is on they will always come back in when the door is closed, which they did. I am pretty sure the steps are powered from the coach batteries because when you store the RV and you switch the DC power to the coach off (house batteries) the steps still work so you can get into the coach. But I could be wrong about this.

MrMark52 · 01-30-2023, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Priherd

The slide didn't work so no, the toad battery didn't run the slide. The slide is wired to not operate when the ignition on so the power coming in from somewhere made the slide controller think the ignition was on, therefore the slide would not operate. Now the steps did operate, they operate only when the door is opened and when the ignition is on they will always come back in when the door is closed, which they did. I am pretty sure the steps are powered from the coach batteries because when you store the RV and you switch the DC power to the coach off (house batteries) the steps still work so you can get into the coach. But I could be wrong about this.

Likely a slip up in your next to last statement - if you turn the coach batteries off, and the steps still work, then they are powered from the chassis battery (or the mystical and elusive “flux capacitor” that is the basis of your original question.

Our coach - the dash radio and steps are powered from the chassis battery.
And the slides are interlocked through the ignition so they can’t be moved when the ignition is on - although you can start the engine when the slides are out (go figure?

).
And the steps are interlocked through the ignition as well to close when the ignition is turned on - powered from the chassis battery.

You really need to track down wiring diagrams.

Priherd · 01-30-2023, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMark52

Likely a slip up in your next to last statement - if you turn the coach batteries off, and the steps still work, then they are powered from the chassis battery (or the mystical and elusive “flux capacitor” that is the basis of your original question.

Our coach - the dash radio and steps are powered from the chassis battery.
And the slides are interlocked through the ignition so they can’t be moved when the ignition is on - although you can start the engine when the slides are out (go figure?

).
And the steps are interlocked through the ignition as well to close when the ignition is turned on - powered from the chassis battery.

You really need to track down wiring diagrams.

I'll get the wiring diagram and take a look. The bottom line for me right now is where did the power come from when the coach battery and the house batteries are were disconnected and 50Amp power disconnected. The steps still functioned, the radio stayed on and the rear camera stayed on. One thing I realized now is I have 500Watts of solar panels and I did not pull the fuse on them, that positive cable does go to the positive side of the house batteries which stayed connected to the cables even when disconnected from the positive terminal. I'm not sure if the solar panels alone with out batteries would operate the steps. I'm pretty sure I don't have a flux capacitor since I can't go 88 mile per hour....

I think I saw a wiring diagram on this site somewhere.

Bobby Dowdle · 01-30-2023, 03:53 PM

I would look at the merge/boost solenoids. One of them could stuck in the latched position not allowing the voltage to turn off. As far as disconnecting the batteries, without knowing for sure you made the correct disconnect not going to focus on that. If the chassis staying active with the key off and the chassis battery disconnected, it would have to be a common area. The solenoid. It might be on the fire wall above the engine. Not sure on that year. Might reach out to newmar for the location.