slider

[tk0613]

hi all we just purchased a 2000 sunline sr260, Im looking for help on the slide room. the RV has power does the slide room run off the batter

 

[Roger66]

Yes the slide runs off the battery.

 

[tk0613]

i did have a jump pack on the battery for extra juice i pressed the in out button for the slider. i did here the motor at all so that would be there is an issue with the motor is this correct

 

[tk0613]

is there a breaker master reset switch. like a main kill switch for the batter to check.

 

[Roger66]

On mine there is an auto reset circuit breaker located under the bed in the front of the camper in a wooden box.

 

[JohnGB]

Hi TK0613,

Congrats on your new Sunny! Your floor plan is a popular one.

You appear to have issues with your slide system, which cannot extend or retract from the camper. When your year 2000 camper was made, Sunline used at least two brands of slide drive systems: a Barker slide drive and a Dewald slide drive. I cannot say which brand you have, and you may not know yet either, but we can try to help get you going. You may have to post some pictures of things when we get to that stage, so we can see what you have to help better. A prior owner may have modified something from the original, and by seeing what you have, we can get back to what some of the issues may be.

Let's start with the big picture on how the slide drive system gets its power to run the motor.

The slide drive motor is a 12 VDC reversing motor. Due to the heavy power draw of the motor, Sunline would create a separate power circuit direct from the camper battery. The battery is up by the LP gas tank on the trailer tongue and is charged by an onboard power converter "when" the camper is plugged into 120 VAC using the shore power cord. The power converter panel also has 12 volt DC fuses for the DC circuits inside the camper, but not for the slide drive system and 120 VAC circuit breakers inside it.

As Roger stated, your camper should have a wooden junction box with a screwed on wood cover that houses a bunch of connections from the battery, the slide motor drive and the truck 7 wire cable. There are also some fuses in there and an auto-resetting circuit breaker. It is most likely on the front cargo area under the front bedroom floor. Look on the camper's left side (driver side) in the front cargo area for that box.

Here is a picture of what is inside a camper of your era, yours may or may not look like this, but the box with the cover off would be similar.

Please locate that box, remove the cover, and photograph the inside so we can see what you have. That black cube with the four wire posts on it is part of a Dewald slide drive.

We're trying to figure out what you have, and you'll need to know about this box anyway for the future.

These two posts have pictures of the Dewald system. If yours is the Barker system, we need to see the slide drive motor under the camper.
https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f63/right-slide-motor-19581.html

https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f73/t260sr-slide-18935.html#post146151

Now, for the big picture, the battery and/or the onboard power converter provide/create the 12 VDC power to operate the slide. Please tell us if you are plugged into shore power? Do you have a working, fully charged 12 VDC battery on the camper? Do any of the lights inside the camper work? The lights are all 12 VDC, and it helps to know whether they work.

"Some" of the older campers did have a slide drive kill switch that would kill power to the slide drive system. My 2004 camper has one, but I'm unsure if yours does. The 2005 to 2007 Sunlines may not have this switch. You can look for something I will describe, you have a large toggle switch on the wall inside the camper, on your floor plan, maybe it is by the rear entry door. That switch, spring returns to the center when you let go of the button. You press the switch for extend and when you take your finger off the button, the spring returns to the center. Or press to retract and let go and it springs back to center. That is the main slide switch located in the open on a wall or cabinet side, which you press to extend and retract the slide. The slide kill switch will be an on/off switch, a maintained switch, no spring action. This kill switch is usually out of sight in a top cabinet. This only gets turned off for emergencies to shut the motor down or to prevent someone from running the slide in or out. Look to see if yours has a kill switch, it might be turned off.

We are unsure of the next steps to help you because we need your feedback on the above questions. In case this happens, do you have a volt meter that can read DC power or a 12 volt DC test light and know how to use either? We may have to troubleshoot why the slide motor is not moving. If you are unfamiliar with using those electrical tools, do you have a buddy who works on cars? They should have them and can help.

Another question: Did the prior owner have the slide out for you before you bought it and they retracted it? Or has the slide been closed for many months or years, and now you have it? If the slide has not been opened in a long time, it may be stuck mechanically, and the motor does not have enough power to free it. The motor might grunt but may not move. Or the motor may not make only a very faint sound when the slide is stuck.

I hope this gets you started.

John

 

[JohnGB]

In case you need this, here is now to post pictures.

There are 3 ways to add pics.

1. Upload pics to a specific post, attaching them at the end of the post.

2. Link them in from a publicly viewable web photo hosting service you have.

See here for 1 and 2 https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f105/forums-101-posting-accounts-basics-11235.html#post86041

3. You can upload pics to the forum in your own personal photo album. Then link them to anywhere in the text of a post. See here on how to create an album. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f105/forums-101-posting-accounts-basics-11235-2.html#post87945

If you still get stuck, let us know. Pic's go a long way in helping show things you are working on, and we really like seeing Sunline pics!

Hope this helps

John

 

[tk0613]

Hey JohnB,

we bought it from a couple that had it winterized and stored at an RV dealer ship. it was stored inside. the couple said when the put the slide out the used the manual crank because there was no switch for the slider. they only used it 2-3 times per year I was looking for the manual and on this website is were I found the info for the slider room. my slider motor is the barker slider. I will put photos up as soon as I can.

 

[JohnGB]

Hi tk0613,

H'mm, something is not adding up. The prior owners manually moved the slide in and out because there was no switch for the slide motor? When you get time to take them, your pictures of the slide drive system will help explain this mystery.

First, if your model number is T-260SR camper, you can confirm that by looking at the year 2000 sale brochure in our files section and the floor plans showing the model number. That size camper had what the RV industry called a "super slide" back in the day. The super slide room is large with a couch and a dinette. Assuming yours is, and you can confirm, the slide drive system would have an electric motor drive to bring in and out. And if it has a motor, there is a control button to run the motor, or was from Sunline.

It may be that the prior owner did not investigate this deeply enough to find where the slide room's control button is, or that some other previous owner changed something. The good news is that if your system is the Barker slide drive, Barker Manufacturing is still in business and an excellent company. I spoke with them about 3 years ago about the slide drives that Sunline bought that used to sell, and while they do not market the drive anymore, they may still have the drawings and can provide parts if needed.

I will also caution you about using a hand crank on a slide drive; you must know which direction to turn the crank handle to extend or retract the slide room. Turning the hand crank the wrong way can damage the system if you turn the crank very far, even a one full revolution in the wrong direction can be a problem in some cases. The gearing ratio is very high/large so that a small 12-volt DC motor can move such a huge load. The gearing allows this to work, but it sacrifices speed in the process. For example, if you want to extend the slide and turn the crank the wrong way, you are jamming the slide even more closed than opening it under extreme pressure. The crank turns so easily due to the gearing that you cannot feel it, not even jamming it close, and something has to give or break.

Since you may be new to this, let us help you sort out the slide motor system so you do not have to use the manual crank. Hand cranking a slide that big in and out is work, and takes a good deal of time, whereas pressing the button is effortless. The system has an overload system built in, but most only work when the motor, and they do not have the overload system with the manual crank.

Hope this helps,

John

 

[tk0613]

On a sunline t280sr when using the manual to open the slider, would it be turn it to the right or turn it to the left?

 

[JohnGB]

On a sunline t280sr when using the manual to open the slider, would it be turn it to the right or turn it to the left?

Hi,

We need to help you get the slide motor drive working on your camper. Cranking a slide that large in and out will get old real quick, and it is safer not to damage the system when using the motor system with an overload system. The hand crank has no overload typically. Please post some pictures of the slide drive system under the camper so we can help you better.

Now, regarding the manual crank, I do not 100% know which direction the Barker system hand crank turns for going in or out, as you stated you had the Barker system. I know the Lippert systems very well, as well as some Dewald systems that followed the Barkers when they stopped supplying them. But we can help you sort this out.

If a fellow member with the same Barker system has ever hand-cranked theirs and sees your post, they may be able to tell you which way to crank the system so you do not accidentally damage it. However, if they have the motor working, they may have never hand-cranked it.

We need pictures of your slide drive system to help us better understand what you are seeing. It does not seem right that Sunline would ship a camper with a slide that big without a motor drive in the year 2000. Yours should have the motor drive unless a prior owner undid something.

Here are some things I found: we can all learn something from you while trying to help you.

This diagram shows what "might" be your Barker slide drive; again, I cannot confirm this until we see your pics. I received this picture from a Barker Manufacturing tech service person on some of the systems they provided to Sunline some 25 to 30 years ago.

Here is a Barker cut sheet on the drive motor system the same tech gave me. It limits the current to protect the motor from damaging the system if it jams. I uploaded it into our FILES section for future member help. You can download this file when you are logged in: https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=5658

In that cut sheet, it states this:

If it becomes necessary to hand crank your slideout one of the motor wires must be disconnected from the motor. When hand cranking is finished reconnect motor wires.

We do not know if your camper has that system, but I "think" I know what they are cautioning about in case your does. The slide drive motor is a DC motor; some DC motors act like a generator and create voltage when you turn the motor by hand. That voltage back feed can potentially damage the current limiter or cause other problems. The way the Barker system is, the hand crank may also turn the motor, creating the voltage effect, and that is why they want you to unwire the motor.

I'm reluctant to tell you what to do next because I don't know what you have in front of you. Please post some pictures, and we can try to help you sort this out.

I hope this helps,

John

 

[JohnGB]

Hi tk0613,

Did you get your slide situation sorted out?

We are here to help; we need to know what your slide drive looks like (meaning to see what someone may have done to it to no longer work with the motor) to help better.

In the worst case, with two people, we can explain how to sort out which way to crank manually to extend /retract the slide. But, still, we can help better if we can see the slide drive system to tell you what not to do that may damage the system or repair it.

I hope this helps.

John