# Power Outage For Slide And Gauges



## wercertifyable (Jun 23, 2005)

Hello!

We just returned from our 1st trip of the season. In the driveway everthing worked fine (isnt that always the case?)









Upon arrival at the Algonac State Park we set up and the slide out worked fine. DW noticed that the gauges for battery/fresh/grey/black tanks were not working, as well as the water pump seemed to be dead.









We also noticed that just before we left the fridge kept going to "check". Once we got to the site and plugged into the 30 amp service we were able to reset it and it worked fine. Once home it acted as though it doens't like me using the 15 amp outlet for the fridge, as it immediately keeps going to "Check", even after resetting it.









When we began to pack up for departure, the slide out was dead. I re-checked all circut breakers as well as 30 and 15 amp fuses ( I had already checked them when we arrived and the gauge/pump issue appeared when the gauges stopped working) and found no issues.

Luckily I had done thorough reading at this site and knew exactly how to manually retract the electric slide out. I thought I read somewhere here about someone having simular issues and it ended up being a fusable link in the harness somewhere.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I would rather fix this myself rather than do the "dealer/service dance" that we love so very much".


----------



## Highlander96 (Mar 1, 2005)

Hello!

Are you having trouble with your slide? Have you checked your breakers?

Is everything else working? Is the unit plugged in?

A few more details and we should be able to get you up and running.

Happy Outbacking!

Tim


----------



## kmcfetters (May 7, 2005)

Hello!


----------



## wercertifyable (Jun 23, 2005)

Highlander96 said:


> Hello!
> 
> Are you having trouble with your slide? Have you checked your breakers?
> 
> ...


Thanks for the speedy reply! Yes I have checked the fuses and the circut breakers. All is well with them.


----------



## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

My answer may not be as helpful as KMCFETTERS but I suggest that you try checking with proffsionl

I think he had almost the same problem ....

sounds like a short in the wiring harnass to me

anyway -- if its still under any type of extended warranty thats the first place i would go ... too many inadvertant things to go wrong in a harnass to fix yourself...


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Sounds like the battery and or converter may be dieing. With everything disconnected what kind of voltage do you have at the battery? Does the battery have high enough electrolyte level.

As for the check light that is related to the fridge trying to go to Propane and not lighting. This can happen when you have low DC voltage.


----------



## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

I experienced the same thing when I hooked up to a 15 amp 50' extention cord. Had the dealer check it out and they could not find anything wrong. What I was experiencing is exactly like what you have, I did have 110V going to camper, Refridge did not cool, battery was dead, and lights quit working. But when I hooked up to the truck, everything worked ok and when I got to the camp site, everything was ok. I finally hooked up a 30 amp service to the house and have no problems. The converter unit must be sensitive to low voltage and amperage, something that would happen with too light of an extention cord. You can get an extra heavy duty extention cord as short as possible to keep the voltage lost low, I would not go longer than 25' for a 14 gauge cord and try that. If you can find it, get a 12 gauge, still as short as possible.

I don't think there is probley anything wrong with the camper besides low voltage and amperage.

Larry


----------



## proffsionl (Feb 19, 2005)

My problem was local to the slide. Something in the slide circuitry managed to short the switch (melting it to the harness) and at the same time, fry the motor. Keystone and the dealer have no idea what happened first, so we do not know a root cause. Keep in mind that the slide is solely on the 12v system, so plugging in will have no effect (unless your batteries are dead).

Good luck...electrical issues are a pain to fix on these things.


----------



## wercertifyable (Jun 23, 2005)

Thanks to the great folks here at Outbackers for the help.

I am going to:

1) check the batteries for low power/dead cell.

2) Did a extensive check ( wow there are lots and lots of pages of tech help here) and discovered some posters commented on "breakers" mounted behind the batteries giving them and thie slide out grief. When I looked at mine it was badly corroded, so thats going to be replaced tomorrow regardless of whether its the problem or not (and pick up a spare).

and if those don't work drop it off at the dealer/service for them to fix (I have a warrenty but would rather exhaust the cheap items before shelling out $100 deductable)

Thanks again!


----------



## proffsionl (Feb 19, 2005)

As for the breakers, on our model they are mounted near the batteries on the A-frame. One is a 50A auto-reset breaker. This is the master for the entire trailer 12v system. You will also see a 30A auto-reset breaker. This will be wired off of the 50A breaker (for power). The 30A is JUST for the slide motor.

My money would be to check the 50A. The breakers look a bit like smallish relays, but the 50A will have power coming to it straight from the battery. FYI, they are very inexpensive parts (the 30A was a $5 part), but they can basically disable your electrical system.

FYI, make sure you disconnect the batteries before trying to monkey with the breakers. If you don't, it will not be pleasant.


----------



## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Ron,

I have had a similar, but not nearly as troublesome, issue as yours. Soemwhere in my system is a ground fault, and it will regularly (but not always) blow a GFI protected 15A circuit. Never an issue with the 30A, or with an unprotected 15A circuit. Something to look in to.

Happy Trails,
Doug


----------



## Gary (Dec 9, 2007)

proffsionl said:


> As for the breakers, on our model they are mounted near the batteries on the A-frame. One is a 50A auto-reset breaker. This is the master for the entire trailer 12v system. You will also see a 30A auto-reset breaker. This will be wired off of the 50A breaker (for power). The 30A is JUST for the slide motor.
> 
> My money would be to check the 50A. The breakers look a bit like smallish relays, but the 50A will have power coming to it straight from the battery. FYI, they are very inexpensive parts (the 30A was a $5 part), but they can basically disable your electrical system.
> 
> FYI, make sure you disconnect the batteries before trying to monkey with the breakers. If you don't, it will not be pleasant.


I had the same problem. The breaker on the frame mounted near the battery had a loose wire. The power would work one second and quit the next.


----------



## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

CamperAndy said:


> Sounds like the battery and or converter may be dieing. With everything disconnected what kind of voltage do you have at the battery? Does the battery have high enough electrolyte level.
> 
> As for the check light that is related to the fridge trying to go to Propane and not lighting. This can happen when you have low DC voltage.


 Noticed this was a 2003 Outback, not that the year has anything to do with it...

But this may be another terminal post deal, (which i can't remember the proper nomenclature for at the moment) which both Andy and I just help another Outbacker with. If you haven't already, go to the frame near your battery box and look for a terminal strip with a red (or maybe black) rubber cover over it. Your positive cable from your battery should be landed here. If the lugs are corroded, disconnect the battery and shore power.

Lift the leads, clean the lugs and posts and replace them as necessary. Reland the leads and re-check your 12 volt system.

This may correct your issue as it sounds like you are losing voltage/current (could be high resistance at these terminals) for your 12 volt system.

Eric


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Just a reminder the OP is from 2006.


----------



## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

CamperAndy said:


> Just a reminder the OP is from 2006.



















Okay so the help was a little late.....


----------

