No power to slide (with solution?)

tinglett · 11-10-2020, 07:38 AM

I feel like such a noob this morning. Wait, I am a noob! I've only had my TT for 1.5 years.

This morning I headed out to the TT to button it up for the winter. I had winterized a while back, and brought the battery inside for the winter only this weekend. The weather in MN has been crazy warm these past week so we had it plugged into shore power with the slide out. Yesterday it rained all day and got colder, and I decided it was time to close it up. Freezing rain is heading here this morning with some already fallen and more on the way. The rain stopped for a bit, so it was time to get the job done.

Ok, with that as background, imagine me turning on the lights since I'm still on shore power, opening the control panel and flipping on the slide power switch. No light. Try the awning switch. Lights up fine. What? You mean this thing NEEDS A BATTERY to operate the slide? I've always thought the jack and slide running direct off the battery was silly. Now I was thinking it was downright stupid. Freezing rain is almost here! So this noob goes into the garage, gets his old FLA battery which is charged up ok, and goes out to jump it. Yep, that works and the slide is in!

So I headed inside to write down this tale of woe and I realize now I wasted my time with the battery. Hmm...I think I'll leave this as a puzzler

Morich · 11-10-2020, 10:03 AM

Not been to where that happens but one thing that trips some is how we think of big things needing 110AC and not thinking of how often the 12VDC battery works the controls! Or worse may be thinking the frig and furnace work on gas but not thinking about the battery for controls like the solenoid or thermostat!
Just a mind bender at times.
It's always something to find wrong! No snow here but I've got to go out and fire up the mower and cut grass!

Old Navy · 11-10-2020, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinglett

So I headed inside to write down this tale of woe and I realize now I wasted my time with the battery. Hmm...I think I'll leave this as a puzzler

Battery disconnect switch...

tinglett · 11-10-2020, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Navy

Battery disconnect switch...

Damn! Yep, I'm sure that was it...unless the charger refuses to produce current if no voltage is detected from the (missing) battery. I'm not thinking the charger is that smart, but next time I hook up shore power I'll verify this is true.

The sad thing is that I even thought about making sure the disconnect was off so the two wires dangling for the battery wouldn't do anything "bad." It didn't occur to me right then that I needed these to be live. Doh! I did smack my forehead about that hard, too!