How to Close Schwintek Slide with Portable Battery Pack?

[reubenray]

I can't agree with this more. There's so much that can go wrong with the Schwintek slides. When you throw in the complexity of One Control, it just becomes that much more complicated.

I've had two instances where my slide would not retract. The solution I used is much simpler than using a drill battery or removing the motors, although it takes more manpower. I found a way to retract the Schwintek slide in a technical note (TI-169) from Lippert. I tried the manual override at the controller which did not work for me. I thought about pulling the motors, but having done that with a camper in the past and the problems that that presented, I decided against it. I decided to try the instructions in the tech note for manually pushing in the slide room (middle of page 3 in the document). I disconnected the motors from the controller as instructed and attempted to push the slide room in as described. I was able to move it slightly, but no where near able to get it pushed in. Grabbed a friend and tried again - slide room went right in. Reconnected the wiring to the controller and everything was good. When we got home, I went through the troubleshooting procedure and found that the wiring from one of the motors had been pinched. Fixed the broken conductor and it's worked perfectly ever since.

I have seen videos where a battery was used to run the motor directly, but since it's (hopefully) needed so infrequently, I've opted to just use the manual retraction procedure.

I tried this step first, but it would not work even with some extra help. It would not move at all. I think it had to do with the controller had no power, so unplugging the controller would not make the motor release.

 

[Don and Linda]

I'll admit the manual method isn't easy. You have to overcome all of the torque placed on the racks by the gearing, which is significant. I was lucky enough to have a campsite with landscape timbers buried along the edges that I could use to get enough leverage to get the slide moving.

It also depends on the size of your slide. I only have one Schwintek slide and all it contains is a queen size bed. It's not terribly heavy. I could see if you're trying to push in a superslide, it would take a whole bunch of friends.