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Topic ClosedSlide out Power Requirements? - Event Date: 11 May 2019 - 15 May 2019

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IrishDream View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Calendar Event: Slide out Power Requirements?
    Posted: 12 May 2019 at 6:08pm
Just went to piddle a bit with our brand new Rpod 179 that is currently in temp storage as of just 3 days ago.

Tried to open the slide out to no avail. Would have thought the 12 volt battery would have had sufficient reserve to do so. If that’s not the case, guess I’m not going remote camping anytime soon.

Should the slide out have been able to open using the power supplied by the battery attached to the trailer? The lights and radio worked fine, but the refrigerator gave me an error warning when I tried to see if the battery would operate same.

Or do I need more power, say from a 120 volt electrical supply?

Your comments and suggestions, as always, are greatly appreciated.


Jack
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Tars Tarkas View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 May 2019 at 6:29pm
There are reasons the battery could be low; I'd try plugging in to shore power, which through the converter will bring the available DC to 12, actually 13.8 v, pretty much instantly.  Check the slide then.  If it still doesn't work, check for a blown fuse.

If the battery is low, try to figure out why.  You may not have charged it while driving to your storage space, depending on your TV wiring.  Check the battery itself.  Could be your dealer put an old battery on your Pod.

There are phantom draws on the battery.  The propane detector, the control board for the fridge (the fridge will kill the battery really quickly if you leave it on 12v), the television antenna booster, maybe another thing or two.  It's generally a good idea to leave the Pod plugged in during storage, if possible, or disconnect the battery.  Leaving it plugged in is, in my opinion, the best option.  The onboard converte/charger does a great job of maintaining the battery.

If, and this isn't all that likely, your battery is dead, you probably need to talk to your dealer, but you may want to replace it with two x 6v golfcart batteries if you think you'll be doing a lot of bondocking.

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jato View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 May 2019 at 6:31pm
Jack,
By stating you are receiving an error message on your refer I am led to believe your battery is quite low on power.  By taking a reading with a volt meter you will find this out.  Also, plug your 179 into your house using the heavy duty cord supplied or if that isn't long enough we all have extension cords laying around, use that and see if that will take care of the problem, it should.  Just don't try using any power hungry items while using a cheap extension like your A/C, furnace or microwave.  If battery is low use a good trickle charger (2 amps or so) to bring it back up slowly to full charge.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 May 2019 at 8:36pm
Yep, low battery.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 May 2019 at 8:38pm
How long has the R-pod been in storage? Even 3-4 weeks would be enough to deplete the battery enough to potentially cause problems. If you're not bringing the R-pod home, you might want to pull the battery and bring it home to charge it up. Do check the water level, and when you're sure you have a fully charged battery, take it back to the R-pod and try that slide-out.

FYI, the slide-out runs on 12V, regardless of whether you're plugged into shore power or not. 
bp
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IrishDream View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 May 2019 at 8:26am
The Rpod had been in dry storage for just over 2 days, this following a 4 day stay at a local KOA, where of course we were plugged into shore power.

I’m thinking the battery’s dead.  As indicated above, there’s a good chance the dealer installed an old battery, since nothing was left on the past couple of days.  Also, no problem with TV wiring.

Because we live in a subdivision, we store around the corner from our home. The storage location does not have shore power, but I can get power to it.  Assuming I can get the slide out to operate, I’ll check the battery level and replace if needed.  If that’s needed, I suspect the dealership, as mentioned above, may have installed an old battery. Thereafter, I will pull the battery and keep it charged at home so that it’s ready to go when we are.

Thanks again for all your help!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 May 2019 at 10:38am
While you can simply detach the negative terminal wire, You may want to put in a battery cut-off switch to use when it will be unattended for a few days. That will prevent the parasitic power draws of the LP/CO detector and the TV booster if it is left turned on along with the refrigerator and thermostat. If the battery. Also, if it is a flooded cell battery with caps, check the electrolyte level and add distilled water if needed, then charge. Take the battery to an auto parts place, Sears, Walmart, or Batteries + Bulbs. All of these will test the battery for you.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 May 2019 at 10:46am
Originally posted by StephenH

While you can simply detach the negative terminal wire, You may want to put in a battery cut-off switch to use when it will be unattended for a few days. That will prevent the parasitic power draws of the LP/CO detector and the TV booster if it is left turned on along with the refrigerator and thermostat. If the battery. Also, if it is a flooded cell battery with caps, check the electrolyte level and add distilled water if needed, then charge. Take the battery to an auto parts place, Sears, Walmart, or Batteries + Bulbs. All of these will test the battery for you. I used it recently to verify that my batteries were still OK after inadvertently allowing them to run low on water.


I purchased a load meter for my batteries so that I can know immediately if the batteries are going bad. I use two 6V golf cart batteries in series; the load meter I bought has indicated ranges for 6V and 12V batteries.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AMBOI0/
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Ben Herman View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 May 2019 at 6:04pm
We operate our 179 slideout on battery power all the time - even when boondocking (but we use a solar panel to keep it charged up). Shore power is not necessary to operate the slide with a fully charged battery.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 May 2019 at 8:57pm
I don't know if I gave anyone the impression that I thought the slide works on shore power.  It's pure 12v.  But, if a battery is low or even dead, plugging into shore power will almost certainly and instantly put 12v into and out of the battery (through the converter/charger), allowing the slide to function.

TT
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