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Thursday, January 9, 2014

Problem Solved!

Location: Robertsdale, AL (High 57, Low 45)

When we arrived here this past Monday and went to level the rig, we once again encountered the same issue with our hydraulics. Both of our slides had the same pause in them, which happened three or four times on each side as we brought them out. And our level up system kept shutting itself off during the cycle. We ended up having to level “manually” which resulted in us only being able to level front to back and not side to side.

After we got all set up, we talked it over. We’ve both been assuming that it’s been caused by the cold weather and maybe complicated by the additive we put in last August. But in thinking about it, we were remembering that there were many times when we leveled and brought the slides in and out in cold temperatures without any issues.

So Harry went on the Heartland forum and started doing some research. He ended up finding a thread that detailed the exact same problem. And from the people chiming in, it sounds like it’s a pretty common issue – a weak breaker.

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Today was fix day. On our way through Robertsdale yesterday, we stopped at a NAPA store and picked up a new 12v, 50 amp breaker to replace the faulty one.

 

 

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This morning, Harry shut off the power and disconnected the batteries.

 

 

 

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He had already put a picture of the breakers up on the forum and through discussion with other owners, identified the correct breaker as the second from the right.

 

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He loosened the screws and pulled out the old breaker,

 

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and replaced it with the new one.

 

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Then we put the batteries back in, and I supported the tray while Harry hooked them back up.

 

The whole process took about 30 minutes.

 

Then we pulled the slides in – no pauses!! And started up the auto level system. It worked perfectly!! Yay!!

We are very happy to have this issue fixed.

7 comments:

  1. What's with the breaker in the middle...? Unused, looks like in a pinch you could just move the big red wire over there.... I also have a weak breaker on the air conditioner and a lot of the dash functions on my MH.. But its a complete bear to get at to replace..... I'm waiting for service somewhere to get a repairman that's a lot skinnier than me to wiggle into the electric board... LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. From our talking online to other Heartland owners, we believe that the hydraulic breaker is the only 50 amp one. We didn't take the others out and look at them, so we're not positive. But that's why we just bought a new one and replaced it.

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  2. Nice to find the problem and be able to fix it...amazing how such a little item can cause big headaches!

    Glad to see you are in some nicer weather!

    Have fun!

    Les and Sue

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  3. I know how you feel when you get a successful fix. It's a great feeling. Congratulations Harry! :)

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  4. I am trying to get some assistance on locating where the 50 amp breaker is located on my 2014 Keystone Raptor 5th wheel because we are having the same issue except we can't even manually level our rv right now nor do the slides come out at all any help is greatly appreciated

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    Replies
    1. I don't have any experience with Keystones, but Harry says it will be near your battery box, wherever that is. He also suggested that maybe your breaker has tripped. We had an automatic resetting breaker, but Harry said maybe yours is manual reset.

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    2. Harry just looked at Keystone online, and the breakers are right next to your battery. The one for the slide will be a heavy gauge wire.

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