Slide Out Switch Inoperative

[Ready2Retire]

Okay so the last time we used the camper, I could deploy the main slides using both the One Control touch screen (and the phone app) and the switch located under the hutch. This past weekend, we brought it home to clean it from our last trip and the main slides no longer work using the switch (but does using the touch screen). I did some troubleshooting and found the wires in the basement where they go into the Lippert multiplex board. I have continuity all the way to the 16 pin connector on both the deploy and stow wires. I have power to the center pin on the switch and also power on the deploy and stow side of the switch when activated. Here's where it gets goofy... I called Lippert and explained the symptoms, and at first the technician thought it might be a programming issue. He walked me through checking the programming and everything seemed correct except there was a setting for the "Main Slide" that was "Off". He said to turn that to "On". I did and the switch would activate the pump, but it would only stow regardless of which way I operated the switch. He was a little confused, so he put me on hold while he consulted with a co-worker. In the mean time, I went back to the home screen and tried to operate the slides using the touch screen. Now nothing, I could see the icon on the screen change color when I pressed it, but it would not activate the pump in either direction. I went back to the programming screen and changed the "On" to "Off", went back to the home screen, and the slides worked as they should but the manual switch now did nothing again. When the technician came back on the phone, I explained to him what I just did. He was confused and consulted with his co-worker again. Their conclusion is the multiplex board is defective and recommended I replace it. Now here's the scary part. The "Unit E-4 Board" I think they called it , is $844.95 plus tax and shipping! Then, once I get the board, I'll have to go through and program all the inputs and outputs (and there are a lot with all the lights, generator, slides, awnings, monitor panel stuff, etc.) before I can operate the thing. Now I'm wondering if I should even bother messing with the thing and just not use the switch. On the other hand, if the board is defective, what else will stop working (usually at the most inopportune time)? I'm contemplating contacting Grand Design and asking for some assistance. Even though it's out of warranty, maybe they'll help? Who would be a good contact at GD to ask? I doubt the CS rep would be authorized to commit...

What would you do in this situation?

John

[howson]

What would you do in this situation?

Is this what the board looks like?

[Ready2Retire]

Is this what the board looks like?

No, This... The connector in question is the 16 pin connector on the very bottom, right. It has a green wire with a white stripe, and a yellow wire.

[howson]

No, This...

OK, so that's a Unity x4 board according to GD's parts lookup website. (I'm documenting all of this for future reference.)



Part is available here: https://store.lci1.com/unity-x4-assembly-755077.html

As you probably know, this was formerly called the MyRV system. https://support.lci1.com/onecontrol-...-formerly-myrv Unfortunately none of the manuals have a diagram showing the connections on the controller. There's also a Master Owner's Manual Electronics that has a lot of information...but no layout of the controller. Grrr.... https://support.lci1.com/master-owne...al-electronics

So the connector (green arrow pointing at it) is the suspect channel, right? Is the connector with the yellow arrow the same connector? What I'm wondering is if you can swap the connectors, reprogram the controller, and see if it works.

Let me hasten to add I have no experience with this controller myself--just stating what I'd be doing if troubleshooting. I've searched and searched but can't find a schematic for this thing. Might be something to ask Lippert to provide.

If nothing else, consider asking Lippert if they will bench check the controller to see if it is really bad (before buying a new one). Of course, this will take time and the coach will be "dead" in the interim.

Bottom line: before plunking down >$800 I'd want definitive proof the controller was bad.

[Ready2Retire]

howson I like the way you think Chief! Must be from all those years fixing airplanes. The yellow connector has multiple inputs already wired in, so I would have to find unused inputs and reconfigure. That may be possible, but I'd have to get with Lippert and try to sort that out. It appears specific inputs can only provide specific outputs. So Pin #1 input only provides pin #2 output. I'm not sure pin #1 input could be configured to alternate pin outputs, if that makes sense. The manuals you linked to were of little help, unfortunately, and I don't see an OEM installation guide for the X4 board. I did look through the X1 guide which seems similar. In simple terms, there are inputs and 2 types of outputs. There are latching outputs for constant power such as lighting, (although there must be a variable function as I can dim some lights and change color on others) and reverse polarity relay outputs like for the slides and the leveling jacks. Seems overwhelming, but if you break each individual function down to it's own configuration, it may not be that complicated. One other take away from the X1 guide is there seems to be a function where the configuration is downloadable to a thumb drive and up-loadable to multiple modules. This may be an answer in that I may be able to download the configuration from the old unit and up-load it to the new one using the USB port on the tablet.

I know where I'm at right now with a possible bad board, but I can make everything work at the present time. This gives me some time to figure out my next move. We're heading out for Thanksgiving weekend, then we'll be done for the season. This provides a window to have a dealer deal with this if necessary, so I have options. I'd still like to reach out to GD and see if they could be of some help. Maybe provide the part and I cover installation? Again, not sure who to reach out to...

John

[howson]

Again, not sure who to reach out to...

Contact Grand Design Customer Service with your request, John. Phone and email info is on the "business card" on this forum's home page (right side).

I also sent an email to contacts I have a Lippert. Hopefully they can dig something up on this board for me. Worth a shot.

[Ready2Retire]

Contact Grand Design Customer Service with your request, John. Phone and email info is on the "business card" on this forum's home page (right side).

I also sent an email to contacts I have a Lippert. Hopefully they can dig something up on this board for me. Worth a shot.

I'd be curious what Lippert comes up with. I'm just going by my conversation with the LCI tech and my understanding of multiplex controllers. Hopefully your contacts will have input...

I sent an email to GD CS with a lengthy explanation, and I'll follow up with a phone call. I was passive in my email, I'm asking, not demanding after all. And I know dodo occurs... You won't know until you try.

John

[howson]

I'd be curious what Lippert comes up with. I'm just going by my conversation with the LCI tech and my understanding of multiplex controllers. Hopefully your contacts will have input...

I sent an email to GD CS with a lengthy explanation, and I'll follow up with a phone call. I was passive in my email, I'm asking, not demanding after all. And I know dodo occurs... You won't know until you try.

John

A rep at Lippert wants to speak with you. I'm sending you contact info by private message. (Actually he thought I was the one with the problem...just send him another email clarifying the issue, so it might take him a second to connect the dots.)

[howson]

Ready2Retire -- a lot of component related issues in an RV are caused by power problems. The four connections with red arrows are power. The yellow is the negative return ("ground"). While one person is trying to activate the slides, I suggest checking the voltages at each +12v connection to negative using a DMM. Note any significant differences.



All of those crimped connectors have me suspicious, too. The problem could easily be a bad crimp. I've had two such problems in my trailer (associated with overhead lighting. But I suggest checking power first and go from there.

[Ready2Retire]

A rep at Lippert wants to speak with you. I'm sending you contact info by private message. (Actually he thought I was the one with the problem...just send him another email clarifying the issue, so it might take him a second to connect the dots.)

PM replied to... Well, shortly. I'll check the power and ground as soon as I have a helper available.

John

[Ready2Retire]

I suggest checking power first and go from there.

Okay, top to right and bottom to right, lets call the top left power #1, and bottom right #4. Battery voltage at the (Isolated batteries as I have 2) is 13.0 v and 13.22 volts. First, I checked the ground lug, (not the wire) to the battery post ground (again, not the wire) from lug to lug I have 0.7 ohms. In automotive, anything less than 10 ohms is considered good, so I have a good ground to the battery.

On all 4 power lugs, I have 13.21 volts (batteries connected in parallel). So a 0.01v voltage drop from batteries to X4 is insignificant. I operated the slides from the basement using the phone app, and voltage on #1, 3, and 4 did not change. Voltage on #2 dropped from 13.21 to 13.0, again insignificant. Edited to add, I also used my amp clamp on the wire to #2 and it showed 4 amps.

I also checked voltage from the manual switch to the X4 just to make sure there wasn't a serious voltage drop. I bypassed the switch using a jumper wire since my arms are not long enough. Switch to the 16 pin my voltage was 13.18 from 13.21, not a significant voltage drop.

Bottom line is my voltages and ground are more than sufficient to work.

John

[Ready2Retire]

A rep at Lippert wants to speak with you. I'm sending you contact info by private message. (Actually he thought I was the one with the problem...just send him another email clarifying the issue, so it might take him a second to connect the dots.)

Just to update: The LCI Rep you spoke of was unavailable today, however another Rep called me this morning. He told me he usually does the grunt work for the other guy... We went out to the RV and did some checks, and he is thinking there may be an issue with the pin-out locations. Unfortunately the tablet in the RV (he believes) is an older version and won't show the pin-out. He is sending me a later version of the tablet to install and we'll go from there. He still has a feeling that ultimately the X4 is bad but wants to try this first...

I'll keep y'all posted!

John

[howson]

Okay, top to right and bottom to right, lets call the top left power #1, and bottom right #4. Battery voltage at the (Isolated batteries as I have 2) is 13.0 v and 13.22 volts. First, I checked the ground lug, (not the wire) to the battery post ground (again, not the wire) from lug to lug I have 0.7 ohms. In automotive, anything less than 10 ohms is considered good, so I have a good ground to the battery.

On all 4 power lugs, I have 13.21 volts (batteries connected in parallel). So a 0.01v voltage drop from batteries to X4 is insignificant. I operated the slides from the basement using the phone app, and voltage on #1, 3, and 4 did not change. Voltage on #3 dropped from 13.21 to 13.0, again insignificant. Edited to add, I also used my amp clamp on the wire to #3 and it showed 4 amps.

I also checked voltage from the manual switch to the X4 just to make sure there wasn't a serious voltage drop. I bypassed the switch using a jumper wire since my arms are not long enough. Switch to the 16 pin my voltage was 13.18 from 13.21, not a significant voltage drop.

Bottom line is my voltages and ground are more than sufficient to work.

John

Good news that the voltages are OK...except an issue there would have been (relatively) easy to fix.

Just got a note from LCI Customer Service--the schematic for the controller is on the underside of the lid! To quote LCI, If you took the 4 screws out of the cover on the board the Schematic for the inputs and outputs is on the inside of the cover.

Edited: Just saw your other post.

[Ready2Retire]

Good news that the voltages are OK...except an issue there would have been (relatively) easy to fix.

Agreed! It's never that easy...

Just got a note from LCI Customer Service--the schematic for the controller is on the underside of the lid! To quote LCI, If you took the 4 screws out of the cover on the board the Schematic for the inputs and outputs is on the inside of the cover.

Edited: Just saw your other post.

That's good information, now we know where to look if it comes down to that. Where we're at right now though is:

We know the switch used to work.

We know the controller is getting the input (at least to the male side of the 16 pin connector), and now have no output using the switch.

We know both the switch and the touchscreen use the same output wire, and the slides do work using the touchscreen.

Unfortunately, somewhere between the switch input and the common output there is an issue. Logically it can only be in the controller...

John

[howson]

That's good information, now we know where to look if it comes down to that. Where we're at right now though is:

We know the switch used to work.

We know the controller is getting the input (at least to the male side of the 16 pin connector), and now have no output using the switch.

We know both the switch and the touchscreen use the same output wire, and the slides do work using the touchscreen.

Unfortunately, somewhere between the switch input and the common output there is an issue. Logically it can only be in the controller...

OK, I think I understand.

When you checkedfor continuity from the switch to the connector, were the wires front-to-back in the connector? (Pins "1A" and "1B".) Or were they side-by-side (pins 1 and 2).

Which end of the connector? Using the picture as the frame of reference, the far right or far left? Better yet, what colors.