Couple of issues with 2002 Chieftain 36

[Timo1]

I have 2002 chieftain 36. 1st a few days ago we had a wet snow come thru. The power went out for a second. Now the amp monitor reads 0 or 1 amp being used. I know I’m pulling anywhere from 1-18 amps depending on what I’ve got on in here. I started my generator for its monthly run and the read stays the same. I’m plugged in 20amp service right now. Later fall while plugged into 50amp service after a power outage the monitor would only read out in the 20 or 30 amp options now matter what I had selected.
2nd issue on Friday I was to drive to the dump station so I raise my jacks and retracted my bedroom slide(backwards I know but I thought my jacks might be froze to the ground)my living room slide wouldn’t move more then an inch. Thinking the seal was froze to the frame I tried to rock it by moving it in and out a few times. I stopped to check the seal and when I tried again I had no power when I pushed the switch. Now’s the bedroom slide switch does nothing and the jacks buttons just make a clicking sound. Manual says check fuses and they are good. My camper fix it guy says he thinks the battery is low. I’ve had the rv running for an hour to charge the battery and nothing changed. I’ve been told maybe relays maybe battery low fluid. My chassis battery is showing 12.4 right now. I keeps battery tender on it.
Any one have any ideas on these issues.
They are unrelated issues.
TIA.

[Ray,IN]

Usually the slide motor is connected to the house battery bank not the chassis bank. I would use a stand-alone battery charger on the house bank until they are fully-charged.
BTW, HWH leveling system recommends being on shore, genset, or engine running when activating the hydraulic motor.
That's the best I can offer without knowing the brand and model of your leveling and slide systems.

[Morich]

It sounds like several mistakes were made that started with the batteries. If we use some form of charging, either a stand alone charger or the charging from a converter plugged in all the time, the water needs to be watches as letting it get low is a sure way to kill the battery.
But then the way you operate can have a large effect on the results. When dealing with coler weather, things take more power to get them moving at the same time that the batteries are less effective.
Keeping the batteries in good shape is one but starting the engine when using any of the high power things like moving jacks or slides or starting the generator is really important to getting the best result.
We can get by without starting the engine but why press our luck when starting the engine can be som simple to get the best power? If you have a special issue and can't start the engine, then we may need to take the risk but often we just fail to do the right thing!
The reason the engine can help so much is that we cget both start and coach batteries connected together as well as the engine alternator is kicking out big power to make three sources of power. Having good voltage means current flow is lower and that is what may be the current problem.
I think both slides and jacks require the hydraulic pump. If the engine were not running, repeated use of either slide or jacks is sure to run the voltage low and that low voltage makes for higher current to do the job. After repeated tries, the brekaer or fuse is getting too warm and kicks out. There may be more than one fuse or breaker that needs checking.

Just as a point to keep in mind? The slides seal or the jacks may be frozen but if they are hydraulic, it has enough power to rip the seals off or crush ice!
If it can lift the RV, it can move ice! If they are frozen down and use springs to come up, Try running them down first to break the ice before retracting!

[Timo1]

I guess I didn't state, but I thought it would be obvious I had the rv running during this entire process.

[Morich]

Okay this gets deeper as the battery at full charge should be near 12.7 and with the alternator charge getting to both battery sets, the voltage from the alternator should read 13 or more to around 14 if the engine is revved a bit.
So if you have the Rv plugged in and the converter charging, that should be in the 13 volt range so it really begins to sound more like dirty corroded battery cables not letting either charge get to the batteries and the slide or jacks are not getting good power.

When not getting high enough voltage, it may cause too much currect flow and fuses or breakers trip.
Suggest first checking why the converter is not getting to the battery and second why the alternator charge is not as well.

Some things to take a "first look" might be that the cables are good at the batteries. When the engine is running all the voltage of all the batteries should be near the same as they are connected together and when the engine is revved, that voltage should jump up to near 14 volts in time with the engine RPM.
Use care when testing to make sure you get the same reading on the post as the battery clamp as a way to tell if that cable needs work. Keep in mind that voltage readings on batteries can confuse us as when we look at the voltage it may only be the charging that we are reading and that doesn't mean the battery is taking and holding that charge.
But even if the battery is somewhat weak, there should be plenty of power to operate the jacks and slide but at this point there is likely to be a fuse or breaker problem.
My personal method would be to chase the charge question first and then when I knew I had good charged batteries, I would move to the other problems.

[Ray,IN]

Which HWH model leveling system do you have? This will help identify it: First off, the system requires a solid clean tight ground to function properly. You indicated the MH sat a lot so a poor ground is quite possible.

I had forgotten about the solenoids on the hydraulic motor, if any of the 3 fail, that part will not work. It has a master solenoid, fed by 2 slave solenoids (1 for leveling and 1 for slides).
That does not however explain the monitor readings.


This is a shot in the dark since I don't know your HWH system, but this might be helpful:
Winnebags specific HWH 310-610 service manual.

[Morich]

In thinking this peoblem, I now have to question what I first thought as my idea of the battery making the starter run backwards reallly gets less credit than I first thought!
Easy to fool myself when thinking too hard??

So if we say the starter motor WOULD turn backwards if wired in reverse? Not sure of that but if w e say it did?
Has the newer starter been changed from when the old bendix used the turning of the starter to make it slide forward to make contact with the ring gear?
If it is what I last looked at on starters, the rotation of the motor made the bendix slide forward. So if we are going with the plan of the starter running backward, doesn't that make the bendix move TOWARD the starter in stead of forward to engage the gears?

Or was I sleeping while they totally changed the way a starter works?

I'm now thinking there are lots more pieces of this puzzle left somewhere back in the box where we can't see th ebig picture!
A ground cable that gets hot to touch but the engine still starts and runs? I would expect some major damage and lots of smoke!

[Timo1]

Ok i think you're reading more into this then there is. Everything worked fine jacks and bedroom slide. Living room slide would only move a inch at most. I pushed the button in and out a few times thinking the seal was frozen to the frame work. I stopped to look at the fat end of the slide to see if it was frozen. When tried the button again nothing worked jacks or slides. That's why I thought it was a fuse. Engine was running during the entire process. I've got my camper fix it guy conning this weekend when it warms up. Thanks for the help.

[Morich]

Okay, sounds like time to start over and not worry the battery question.
Big thing on the batteries is that once we have the engine started, both sets of batteries are connected together and the engine alternator should have been giving plenty of power to move things. The batteries may need some looking to make sure they are in good shape but that is a second question.
If the big one is that neither the slides nor the jacks move, that likely puts it into a common problem of the hydraulic pump that moves both is not getting power.

One first stop is to check that the park brake is set as it is a first stop for gettiing the power.

Moving from that, if it did not get taken off in the middle of trying, there are likely to be fuses on the HWH pump itself as shown in the drawing Ray, In gave above.
It may not be the exact model but may be "close enough" to find the fuses to check?

They do appear to be down at teh pump, though!

This manual on page four has a troubleshooting section that also shows the fuses, so may be a good place to start as it gets into the hWH wiring and it pays to go to the builder of things to get the best info!

https://hwhcorp.com/ml23521.pdf

Again, this may/may not be the exact correct manual and depends on what model HWH you have.

Sorry for jumping way too far in the wrong direction! This communications stuff is harder than it looks at times!