I brought the slide in today, but now it will not go back out. It is a hydraulic slide. All connections are tight at the batteries, the panel and the slide motor. At rest, I have 12.79v at the batteries. When I turn on an interior 12v light and press the slide button, the light will go out and the slide motor will click. In a few seconds, the light will come back on. Battery voltage is still 12.79v at the slide motor and I am unplugged from shore power and have my solar turned off. All fuses and breakers are good and tight, each was tested with a meter.
I get the same symptoms even if connected to shore power and the solar turned on. Any ideas?
EDIT: When the slide button is pressed, I lose voltage to the 12v system but after a few seconds it comes back. This is what makes the light go out and the slide motor not engage. The voltage is less than 1v when the click occurs but returns to 12.6v or higher after the few seconds.
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still would not rule out the battery as the culprit. Are you in an area where you can take the battery into Autozone etc. and have them check it under a load?
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Check you pump motor connection and clean them up. Plug into shore power and try again. If it clicks again and does not run your motor has gone south. The motor is pulling full power, that's way the light goes out and then shuts off on the motor overload which is why the voltage comes back to normal.
The circuit breaker at the battery bank is over loading. It may be that the motor for the hydraulic pump has failed in some way and is shorting out. Or it may be that the breaker is "old and tired", but I suspect the pump motor.
If you have a clamp on ammeter check to see if there is a huge draw.
btw I often recommend your site for folks looking at how 12 volt and solar can work well together.
I plugged back in to shore power and turned the solar on and was able to get the slide back out (we are sitting still and need it out). If I flip the slide switch now, all I get is a very rapid clicking at the slide motor. It could be coming from the relay thingy attached to the motor itself with a hose clamp.
The connections at the pump motor are squeaky clean and tight. The motor is located in the storage area under the dinette seat so it is not exposed to to anything. I will do a little more testing to see if I can isolate what the real problem is.
My batteries are Sam's GC2 and are only 2 years old. I'd be upset if they were bad already!
I called Gulf Stream service and they said it was either the relay or the solenoid at the slide motor. However, my testing determined that both were functioning properly so I started looking for a loose power connection in places that you wouldn't expect one to be... and I found it under the motorhome behind that battery compartment. I repaired the connection and the slide runs in and out as smooth as butter.
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