Dear Dave,
My slides will only work when plugged into my vehicle. They will not work with shore power or battery. Is there a switch I’m missing somewhere? Thanks in advance. —Richard, 2015 Wildwood 32KQBTS
Dear Richard,
From what information I can find online, your 2015 Wildwood 32KQBTS has three slide outs: the main living room slide with the couch and dinette, and two in the back bedroom with bunks on each side.
I cannot tell what type of slide mechanism it has. However, the photos that I see do not show any gears on the side. Therefore, I would believe they are not Schwintek, but rather a Power Gear® or Lippert.
Questions to help isolate issue
I do have a few questions. The first is, when you are plugged into your vehicle, is the engine running? That would be providing 12-volt power from the alternator through the #4 pin back to the battery. Your house battery on the tongue of your rig supplies the power for the slide mechanism whether it is hydraulic or electric. With a smaller trailer and no hydraulic jacks, I would assume all the slides are electric.
Next question: Does anything else powered by the 12-volt house batteries work when you are not plugged into the vehicle? Inside your rig, the ceiling lights, water pump, and vent fans all run off the house battery.
Let’s look at how the 12-volt system should work. Your house battery or batteries are deep cycle and most likely flooded lead acid (FLA). They provide 12-volt power to the distribution center. The distribution center has 120-volt circuit breakers for the roof air conditioner, refrigerator, and all other outlets. It also has a converter, which is the battery charger.
When you are connected to 120-volt power such as the campground source or portable generator, 120-volt power goes to the distribution center. That also powers the converter and provides a charge to the house battery. That, in turn, provides 12-volt power to the automotive fuses and to the lights, vents, and all appliances that run on propane.
What to look at
Two things I would look at. One is the circuit breaker for the converter, which would be in the distribution center. It could have tripped and is not charging the battery. However, if the house battery was drained dead, none of the other 12-volt components would work either. The second switch to look at is the battery disconnect switch, typically located inside the entrance step on the side. This is designed to disconnect the battery during storage so nothing drains the battery down. Once again, if this switch is activated, none of the 12-volt components would work.
So, theoretically, the slide rooms are getting power from the distribution center whether you are plugged into shoreline power or with the vehicle plugged in. However I have learned to “never say always or never say never” when it comes to RVs. First, use a multi-meter and with everything unplugged, check your battery voltage. It should be 12.6 volts. My guess is they are much lower and most likely shot.
Plug the shoreline cord in and test the house batteries again. If the battery tested 12.6 volts, the reading should be 13.2 volts. However, if it was lower, the converter would adjust to charge mode and it should be 13.6 volts. If not, your converter is bad, which could be why your batteries are bad. It is also possible the wiring from the converter to the battery has an inline fuse that is blown, or the wiring has developed an open circuit—either having broken or disconnected from the battery. However, this would also mean other 12-volt components would not work.
Let me know what readings you get and we can dive further.
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Why doesn’t RV’s slide out work when plugged into house power?
Dear Dave,
I’ve had the RV plugged in during the winter on house power, starting it about once a week. All of a sudden the RV’s slide out and rollout canopy stopped working. I have not checked the fuses, but it keeps blowing the house power, also. Do you have any insight, please?—Richard, 2021 27-foot Thor Freedom Elite
Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and the author of the “RV Handbook.”
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Other thing to look at, if the battery is NOT charging but everything else seems fine, are the two reverse polarity fuses. I’ve had to replace those for clients who accidentally hooked their wires back up to a replaced battery backwards.
It was one of those “Wiring Colors and the Nightmare of Confusion” concepts. They had white and black wires to the battery, made the incorrect assumption black wire goes on negative since most red/black combos black goes to negative pole.
Thanks Dave! I can’t wait to hear the follow up on this one! I keep a e-file of yours on my computer for reference later. Keep up the good work!
Perhaps the trailer has the dreaded WFCO converter and the 12 volt charging side has failed. I had several of these WFCO units fail and after replacing the innards with a better 12 volt charger they have worked flawlessly.
Thank you, Dave! 🙂 Safe travels!
It’s possible the slide outs are powered directly from the battery and not necessarily going through the distribution center. My Forest River MicroLite has some circuit breakers under the front end, electrically between the battery and the distribution center. Because of something I foolishly did one of these breakers, which are supposed to trip from an overload and then reset itself, had burned out, leaving me with no power from the battery. However, when I plugged into the truck all 12 volt systems worked. Once I replaced that $10 breaker everything went back to normal. There was nothing in the owners manual about that.
Sometimes slide rooms and electric awnings are electrically locked out when the vehicle ignition is on for motor homes. This would prevent someone from extending an item while the RV is driven on the road. Trailers would typically not be wired or protected in such a way, although despite passengers not riding in a most towed trailers, electrically locking out rooms and awnings while traveling would still provide a bit of extra security. Perhaps if the protection circuit is present, it was wired incorrectly or part of it became damaged. Though not likely present for a trailer.