Slides not sliding .....

[Ruck]

Been in the rain in upstate NY.Been trying to relieve the sag on the toppers by closing slides occasionally to get rid of the rain. This am, tried closing slides and it seemed like there was no power or only a little going to the motors, slide would only move an inch at a time. Hooked to 50 amp, and had been working fine til this am. Flipped batt on and had no prob, in and out. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
Safe travels ....

[dalemac377]

If you had your battery off and just running on converter you may not have enough amperage to power the slide motors. They require a lot of current.

[Ruck]

Guess I don't understand electricity, and don't even profess to!! Battery was off and am hooked to 50amp shore-power. Where does the converter come into play? Don't mean to sound ignorant but I am!
Safe travels

[rock1424]

My best guess would be that the slide motors are powered directly from the battery, not from the converter, so if your battery was switched off and you had been running the slides in and out several times you may have drained it to the point that it didn't have enough juice to run the slides. When you switched the battery back on the converter went into a high amerage charge mode, suppling the battery with voltage requred to power the slides.

Also to answer your question about where the converter comes into play - it converts your AC power (50 amp shore power) to 12v DC to supply 12v DC power to everything that runs on it. Edited by: rock1424

[CygnusSailor]

The converter also charges your battery. It is best if it always "sees" the battery as a load. This accomplishes several things, but most importantly it may actually be bad for the converter if it doesn't see the battery, that would depend on the design of the converter. About the only time the battery should be off is when the camper will sit for a period of time with no source of AC. The battery stores power from the converter that is put into it over a period of time. When you need high amounts of current for short periods, such as running the slides, the battery can provide it. You should not attempt to run the slides with the converter alone.

[Chrisnan23]

Ditto. The battery should only be switched off when the trailer is being stored. Just an FYI the furnace, the Fridge, The A/C, the hot water tank and most of the lights need 12VDC. The control board for the items (hot water, fridge,A/C thermostat, the heater fan and control board) all run on 12VDC.