[pestes]

Trying to get on the road this morning and the rear slide won't retract.

The front slide came in just fine, no issues.

E-Brake is on and the E-Brake indicator is lit.
The slide seal properly deflates and the yellow/orange light comes on.
The lock pins on top retract successfully (verified visually).
The hydraulic pump motor runs when we hit Retract but no evidence of motion on the slide.

I'm about to test voltage at the Retract solenoid or not, but looking for other ideas.

I was also wondering -- on the hydraulic solenoids, there is a T-Handle on the back of each one. Can that be used to manually operate the valve in some fashion?

[pestes]

So this seems very strange...

Went to test voltage on the connector labelled "Retract". Disconnected it, hooked up my voltmeter to the coach side of the connector and had Kelly try to retract the slide.

I didn't see any voltage on the connector (checked AC and DC -- I assume it's a 12VDC solenoid but checked AC to be sure).

But the really weird part -- with the Retract connector disconnected, the slide came half way in when Kelly hit Retract. But then it stopped and didn't go further.

At that point, we were able to Retract half way as long as the connector was disconnected. When I connected it again, it would not retract. Disconnect it and it would - half way. That worked about 3 times and then it stopped retracting at all, even with the connector disconnected.

At no point have I been able to see any voltage at the connector though.

[pestes]

Hmmm, seems like it may be the lock pin sensors. We were able to get the slide in, more later as we need to get out of this site and get moving.

[rheavn]

Paul,
The "T" handles on the solenoids is to take pressure off the system.  You turn the handle 3-5 turns ccw. With the handle backed off you can remove the solenoid. As a troubleshooting hint, sometimes exchanging two solenoids from one position to another will identify whether a solenoid is functioning.

[folivier]

Have you check the hydraulic fluid level in the tank? Maybe it is low?

[RussWhite]

To add a little to what Steve said.
A solenoid is just an electrically operated valve. It is either open or closed In the case of our HWH solenoid valves, they are NC or normally closed. The "T" handles provides a way to open them without the use of current through the solenoid winding. HWH suggests the "T" handle needs to be turned about 6 turns to open the valve completely. This does not necessarily "take pressure off the system", it just opens the valve. If there is no pressure on one side, once the valve is open the pressure will be equalized as determine by the volume of the cavities on each side of the valve. Just think open and closed!

[pestes]

So, just to close the story a bit...

It still does not make sense to me why the slide came half way in a few times.

What I did seem to find is that even though the lock pins were disengaging, I found that there was still voltage on the Unlock connector. The system is not sensing that the pins are being pulled.

To bring the slide in, I connected the Retract solenoid to the Unlock connector and it came right in.

When we put the slide back out at the next campsite, Kelly said that it made a clunking noise and jerked at the end of the extension. I'm going to try to spend some time looking at it again today to see what's going on.

Am I correct that the pin sensors are just hall effect sensors? Are there magnets on the ends of the pins? Does anyone know if there is a test point in the control panel where I can see the state of the sensor? Inside the controller, there is a molex type connector, from memory it was probably 9 pins, labelled "Rear Slide" or "Rear Room" that went into a cable bundle (ie not to the solenoids).

[folivier]

Do you have a slide topper over that slide out?
Happened to me once the spring on the topper froze up and caused the slide out to jerk and clunk. I drilled a hole in the casing and sprayed it with lubricant.

[encantotom]

there are two different mechanisms to determine if the slide is in enough to push the pins down. one is a microswitch somewhere. the other is like i have. a dime sized magnet glued to the top of the slide near the hole for the slide pins. when the hall effect sensor detects the magnet, it says that slide is in far enough. when the magnet comes unglued and comes off, it will not put the pins down. if you get a loose magnet near the sensor when playing with the slide, the hydraulic pins will go down and easily punch nice round holes in the top of the slide. dont ask how i know.

i was having some problems with my bedroom slide pins engaging and i moved the magnets and it worked fine.

tom

[pestes]

So the good news: There are no holes punched into the top of the slide! Yay, happy dance!

I don't appear to have any external magnets. The sensor/switch for both locked and unlocked is entirely within the hydraulic pin assembly. And they appear to be working exactly as expected. When the pin is retracted, there is continuity at the appropriate connector. Same with when the pin is extended. And the same for both sides. Which is good on one hand, but unfortunately it eliminated the easy answer.

And the bad news: I have found the wires for these switches back up at the control panel. And they indicate appropriate status as I extend and retract the lock pins. So it seems like it is likely an issue on the control board. Unless there's a fuse I can't see on the back side of one of the boards mounted on standoffs.