Tracing slide power path, located fuse

    I was contacted by a person on a slide out power failure and possible location of fuse. As I didn't know I started looking. Not knowing where fuse was or if there was one realized could be issue.

    I first check all circuits in 12v fuse panel-nope slide is not tied to any fused panel circuit. Then looked under sink which is where battery/ access to most wiring is- just a mess of wires. To help determine which wire might feed the slide I removed the in/out switch to identify size & color of feed wire I might be looking for.

    A white wire feeds the switch-that doesn't help, all the white wires everywhere else in camper are ground wires. Looking into hole behind in/out switch to see if there might be a fuse and/or wire color change is when I saw the lil circuit board behind it. Wow, It feeds the switch, power to it is a blue wire. Going back under sink I found the blue wire & fuse. Though I found fuse I don’t believe factory, its an inline fuse tapped to end of wire that’s tied to battery connection on Perko switch. Doesn’t go through fuse panel. I think I added fuse when I added the Perko switch between battery and camper as main disconnect. I don’t remember though.

    slidepower

    I then go back to in/out switch, removed end of the box over door and pulled out the circuit board. There's an auto reset fuse on it!. Had no idea-less the board was even there. I relayed this information to the fella that contacted me. He did the same, removing end of box, retrieved circuit board. His though similar had a fuse instead of auto-reset breaker.

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    This is the board he found. He replaced fuse and was back in business.

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    Cool- got to help someone else but also my self, if this fuse took a dump I would not have had an idea where to look. Lot easier doing this type of stuff at home.... Took the opportunity to identify my wiring and function of the board.

    As the orange fuse wire is added and the blue wire, which feeds the switch, is too short to reach anywhere I'm thinking possibly it originally might have gone to one of the thermal circuit breakers on floor under sink that feeds jacks. Just a guess at this point. Odd that I don’t remember. But I have a fuse, its currently a 20amp that I'm changing to a 10 or 7.5 since the board relay is 7.5, This fuse only protects the length of hot wire between battery and slide board, 12' or better. I had actually tested all the circuits in converter because I hadn’t remembered doing this. Only after discovering the circuit board and looking for the blue wire that feeds it did I rediscover...(

    As mentioned, Pulling the slide switch when I discovered the circuit board.... with an auto reset relay. Had no clue it was up there. I was looking for wire color when I seen the circuit board. End of box over door allows access.

    slidepower

    Curious on function I traced it out the little board and studied just to gain some understanding how it works. I numbered and labeled the circuit board. Battery ground is #5, Power from battery goes to circuit board terminal #4, power is sent to switch via #1, switch sends back to circuit board either 'in' or 'out' via #2 or #7 to the little black box. The little black box switches polarity of +/- through circuit board traces to motor 'in' or 'out' via # 3 or #6. This was verified-at 1st I thought either #3 or #6 was activated by switch to determine motor direction and motor is chassis grounded, however as there is a ground wire going to the circuit board I looked again. The little box actually just switches polarity of #3 & 6- depending on signal from switch. -The #3 & #6 terminals are positive and negative to motor, switch power goes to little box that changes polarity of #3 & #6.

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    Digging through camper documentation this is all I have on the HJ mechanism. and wiring-I labeled the wire colors for future. See a reference to relay?

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    Just orientation of schematic to board-

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    Just had no idea it was in there...

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    I do recall seeing the HJ schematic-always assumed it was at or on motor. Didn't realize separate circuit board and buried behind switch in a box over door. Just passing it on in case you also were unaware. There is potential for either the relay on board or lil black box or even the traces on board to cause issues. Knowing its there it would be possible to manually hot wire in the event of board failure to move slide in direction you need. With 2 motor leads and 2 battery leads disconnected from board. Connect ground to one of the motor leads, momentarily touch battery hot to other motor lead. If moves in wrong direction reverse connections. Obviously there's no short protection, this would be emergency operation only- once slide where you need isolate the battery hot.

    Which brings up another question- why this convoluted In/Out switch wiring in the first place? The ONLY purpose I could see is if board sensed high load (slide fully in or out) and cut power to motor. I have never experienced that, if your holding the switch slide motor is trying. Board does have a relay,but again if switch rated 15/20 amps really dont see purpose. Fuse or auto reset theraml fuse good idea.

    Given replacement board is about $50 (if you can find) IF I ever had issue with switch or board I would replace with a simple momentary reversing switch.

    DPDT momentary switches can be had in all kinds of shapes, sizes and even more variables in pricing ($5 to $50). Can be had with jumpers already installed, with printed lables But its just a switch... FYI update: While I'm here and for my own documentation, pictures of the slide out motor release lever. This must be released to manually crank in or out the slide if there is an electrical or mechanical problem.

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    This is taken laying on floor. Release handle is the small plastic lever at bottom. At the very top right is cut out in slide out sub floor. When slide out is in the extended position, access as shown is covered by slide-outs skirt. Removing a carpeted board (in front of refer) allows access thru this hole to the motor.

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    This just shows the release lever flipped into the disengaged position.

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