Schwintek slideouts not working

[cmgutierrez2001]

I have a 2016 Reflection 313RLTS. I have always had problems with my big kitchen slide out going out of sink. Usually the rear end of the trailer slide refuses to go completely out . I would have to go outside and set into override mode to get this slide out and back in. Numerous dealers have worked on this and i am out of options. The dealership I purchased the trailer from has been sold and is now owned by Camping World and they are not Grand Design dealers. I had to purchase a new battery the other day and all of the Schwintek slides refused to work properly after i left the house removing the system from shore power. I went from a Interstate 550 CCA to a Oreilly 425 CCA. System worked again when I got home and back on power. System refused to work on vacation with smaller battery and generator running (Honda 2200). I had to remove motor unit 1 on bedroom slide in order to get the slide to the fully out position. And had to push in manually before we could leave. 2x4 were cut to length in order to keep the slides in place for the 300 mile drive home. Does anyone know the minimum size battery recommendation to run these units? Grand Design has never responded to any tech support request.

[TucsonJim]

I have a 2016 Reflection 313RLTS. I have always had problems with my big kitchen slide out going out of sink. Usually the rear end of the trailer slide refuses to go completely out . I would have to go outside and set into override mode to get this slide out and back in. Numerous dealers have worked on this and i am out of options. The dealership I purchased the trailer from has been sold and is now owned by Camping World and they are not Grand Design dealers. I had to purchase a new battery the other day and all of the Schwintek slides refused to work properly after i left the house removing the system from shore power. I went from a Interstate 550 CCA to a Oreilly 425 CCA. System worked again when I got home and back on power. System refused to work on vacation with smaller battery and generator running (Honda 2200). I had to remove motor unit 1 on bedroom slide in order to get the slide to the fully out position. And had to push in manually before we could leave. 2x4 were cut to length in order to keep the slides in place for the 300 mile drive home. Does anyone know the minimum size battery recommendation to run these units? Grand Design has never responded to any tech support request.

Hi there. Some battery basics for you.

CCA is cold cranking amps. This is used in motor vehicles to determine how many starting amps are available. But it has very little bearing when a battery is used in an RV setting. In the RV community, we use amp hours of capacity. For example, that interstate battery you were using has about 90 amp hours of capacity. To muddy the water even further, you can only use 50% of the capacity of a lead acid battery before you may stress it and possibly damage it. So on that Interstate battery, you can only use about 45 amp hours before it needs recharging. On the Oreilly battery, it is probably even less capacity.

For years, I've been told by Grand Design that the minimum battery should be a Group 27 deep cycle marine/RV battery. That battery you purchased from Oreilly appears to be a starting battery and not a deep cycle RV style battery. It sounds like when you installed the new battery, it wasn't fully charged and had very little capacity. So it wouldn't run your slides. And since it is apparently the wrong type of battery, it would be exhausted very quickly and not power your slides.

So first things first, I'd make sure you have a group 27 (or larger) deep cycle marine/RV battery and fully charge it before trying to operate and trouble-shoot your slides. If you want to spend a little more money, you can purchase a lithium iron phosphate battery with even more capacity.

Jim

[Cate&Rob]

From your description of the issue . . . it seems like the problem is the battery, not the Schwintek slide. Slide motors of all kinds draw a lot of current and need strong battery (and perhaps converter) voltage and current to operate correctly. To diagnose this further, put a voltmeter across the battery terminals and watch what happens when the slide motors are turned on. Voltage will drop slightly but should not go below 12V. Note that the battery should be close to 13V before operating the slide motors, if the battery is in good shape and reasonably well charged. The attached chart shows state of charge vs measured voltage. (This is a chart for an AGM lead/acid battery . . . values for a regular lead/acid battery will be slightly lower)

Rob