Lights in camper go dim and blink while opening slide out

[B&D Happy Campers]

Hello everyone, this is my first post on the forum. I have a 2022 grand design imagine 2670 MK. Whenever I attempt to open my kitchen side, slide out the one with the Schwintex. I experienced a problem with the motors for the slide out dragging, seeming like they are working extra hard. Well this is happening. The lights inside of the camper are blinking as well as the Compass Connect panel starts blinking rapidly and then goes completely blank. I also experience electrical issues with the LED lights around the burner knobs on the range. They seem to fluctuate from brightness. Just wondering if anybody else has had any other issues that are similar to this and if so, what the fix was to me it sounds like some type of electrical issue, but I am not quite sure I have had the H track and the whole Schwintek tech slide mechanism replaced and this problem was happening before the replacement as well as now after the replacement.

 

[LanerC]

I dont know about your camper but on my camper the batteries have to be good, and charged in order to run the slides, even if im plugged in. maybe you just have a questionable battery or battery connection. you might check the battery voltage at the same time you try to run the slide and see if the voltage goes much below 12 volts.

 

[SolarPoweredRV]

Hello everyone, this is my first post on the forum. I have a 2022 grand design imagine 2670 MK. Whenever I attempt to open my kitchen side, slide out the one with the Schwintex. I experienced a problem with the motors for the slide out dragging, seeming like they are working extra hard. Well this is happening. The lights inside of the camper are blinking as well as the Compass Connect panel starts blinking rapidly and then goes completely blank. I also experience electrical issues with the LED lights around the burner knobs on the range. They seem to fluctuate from brightness. Just wondering if anybody else has had any other issues that are similar to this and if so, what the fix was to me it sounds like some type of electrical issue, but I am not quite sure I have had the H track and the whole Schwintek tech slide mechanism replaced and this problem was happening before the replacement as well as now after the replacement.

Your problem is that the battery voltage is dropping too much when you are operating the slides. The slides take a whole lot of juice to operate and your batteries are not supplying enough power. I would recommend upgrading to a pair of 100ah Lithium batteries. Lithium batteries can supply a lot more power at a (constant) higher voltage than Lead Acid batteries can.

In the meantime, make sure that you are plugged into shore power or your Tow Vehicle to give your batteries a bit of assistance when operating your slides.

PS: having low voltage when operating your slides can harm your motors and cause them to fail prematurely.

 

[B&D Happy Campers]

Thank you both for your comments and ideas. Unfortunately, a couple of lithium batteries are not in the budget right now, but I am planning on getting another battery and hook them parallel.
I believe I might have some water damage to a contactor that I am trying to figure out what it is called so I can get a new one. Does anyone have an idea?

 

[Riverbug]

Thank you both for your comments and ideas. Unfortunately, a couple of lithium batteries are not in the budget right now, but I am planning on getting another battery and hook them parallel.
I believe I might have some water damage to a contactor that I am trying to figure out what it is called so I can get a new one. Does anyone have an idea?

Do you have solar on your unit? That looks to be the shunt for the battery monitor. All negative 12V power runs through that. I can't quite see any issue with it.

Does your battery monitor still work? I would move the shunt off the floor for sure since it is under the water line and pump. But I cannot see a specific issue from looking at the picture.

Do you happen to have a clamp meter? Or, multimeter to see what your voltage is at the battery without a load, and then what it drops to with the load of the slide moving?

Give that extra battery some thought first. For lead acid, when you want to add a battery, you really want to get two new batteries of the same age, brand, model, etc. If you add a new one and your old one is worn, it's just going to suck the life out of the new one.

Personally, I would start checking all the connections behind the power center. They often use twist on wire nuts for the main connections and it is possible something is loose back there. Shut the power off, grab a screwdriver and start tightening all the connections on the back of the panel, the buss bars on the floor, wire nuts, etc. Without plugging in to 120V, see if moving wires back there cause lights or anything to flicker. Sounds like there is something up in the wiring - assuming it isn't just a bad battery of course.

Hope you can figure this out. That's the stuff that can cause frustration. Sorry for the long response.

 

[sande005]

What make, model and size is the current battery? If the one that was original with the camper, many dealers put the smallest, cheapest they can get away with. A few years of use, and it is probably done for. Hence the struggle and the flickering.

IF you are plugging in at every campsite, then one larger new battery should do the trick. When shopping for lead acids, look for the "RC (Reserve Capacity)" number. Higher means the battery has more reserve to supply power. If a battery advertises CCA (Cold Cranking Amps), stay away - that means it can supply a lot of power for a short period. Good for starting cars/trucks, but a high rating there means a lower RC - which is what you really want. Avoid anything that mentions starting or dual purpose.
RC is roughly the same kind of measure as Amp Hours, which many are starting to list. While an apples to oranges comparison measure, higher amounts of one or the other are better than lower. This may mean going to a larger, heavier battery, and may mean a larger box on the tongue to put it in.

Two 6v golf cart batteries will give a lot more capacity. But there will have to be some new cables and dual boxes to install. Even the ones from Costco will give outstanding performance.

Then finally, there is going lithium - but since you noted that was not currently in the cards, we'll say no more....

 

[SolarPoweredRV]

Thank you both for your comments and ideas. Unfortunately, a couple of lithium batteries are not in the budget right now, but I am planning on getting another battery and hook them parallel.
I believe I might have some water damage to a contactor that I am trying to figure out what it is called so I can get a new one. Does anyone have an idea?

I would recommend replacing your existing battery with a single Lithium battery. The price difference between a proper deep cycle battery with ~ 100ah (Amp Hours) and a Lithium battery is minimal and you will get better results with the Lithium battery than you would with two mismatched Lead Acid batteries.

Sande005 is correct that you don’t want to mix Lead Acid batteries of different ages together because the old battery will pull the new battery down to it's capacity and performance level. Due to all Lithium batteries having a Battery Management System internally (BMS), you can mix different age Lithium batteries together without the old battery effecting the performance of the new battery.

You will want to investigate whether your Converter is "Lithium Capable" or not, but even if your Converter is not Lithium Capable you will get better battery performance from a single Lithium battery than you would by adding a new battery to your existing battery.

You can eventually upgrade your Converter and add a second Lithium battery if you feel the need later on down the road.

Check out several posts on the benefits of Lithium batteries and how their costs have dropped over the past few years. One post is titled "Lithium over Lead Acid..." that compares prices and benefits of Lithium over Lead Acid batteries (note: the prices in that post are a couple of years old, so, you will need to make fresh price comparisons).

 

[B&D Happy Campers]

Thank you all so very much for your input. It has been most informative and I appreciate the time that you have taken to respond to my post.
I’m going to bite the bullet and get a 100ah lithium battery ( actually it is not much more than the battery that I was looking at to purchase originally) hopefully that will solve my problem. In regards to the battery monitor shunt it does have some corrosion on it so that will be something that I will be replacing and elevating as well.
Any idea where I can get the replacement for the battery monitor shunt?

 

[SolarPoweredRV]

Thank you all so very much for your input. It has been most informative and I appreciate the time that you have taken to respond to my post.
I’m going to bite the bullet and get a 100ah lithium battery ( actually it is not much more than the battery that I was looking at to purchase originally) hopefully that will solve my problem. In regards to the battery monitor shunt it does have some corrosion on it so that will be something that I will be replacing and elevating as well.
Any idea where I can get the replacement for the battery monitor shunt?

Good call on the new Lithium battery.

Replacing the battery monitor shunt alone is probably not possible, you would most likely need to purchase the whole unit.

If you are going to replace the shunt, my only recommendation is to upgrade to Victron. It is the brand that most people use and you can get it with Bluetooth so you can access it with your phone.

 

[Riverbug]

I do agree with @SolarPoweredRV that a Victron shunt is what I would go with these days but I know budget was a concern related to the lithium battery. Since you don't need to integrate data with other Victron equipment at this point, here's a cheaper alternative...

I have been using two of these in my boat for 5 years now and they are both still working fine. They do not have bluetooth which really is a nice feature, but for straight up battery monitoring these are just fine. And they have taken a beating in my boat over the years.

Amazon.com

 

[B&D Happy Campers]

I would recommend replacing your existing battery with a single Lithium battery. The price difference between a proper deep cycle battery with ~ 100ah (Amp Hours) and a Lithium battery is minimal and you will get better results with the Lithium battery than you would with two mismatched Lead Acid batteries.

Sande005 is correct that you don’t want to mix Lead Acid batteries of different ages together because the old battery will pull the new battery down to it's capacity and performance level. Due to all Lithium batteries having a Battery Management System internally (BMS), you can mix different age Lithium batteries together without the old battery effecting the performance of the new battery.

You will want to investigate whether your Converter is "Lithium Capable" or not, but even if your Converter is not Lithium Capable you will get better battery performance from a single Lithium battery than you would by adding a new battery to your existing battery.

You can eventually upgrade your Converter and add a second Lithium battery if you feel the need later on down the road.

Check out several posts on the benefits of Lithium batteries and how their costs have dropped over the past few years. One post is titled "Lithium over Lead Acid..." that compares prices and benefits of Lithium over Lead Acid batteries (note: the prices in that post are a couple of years old, so, you will need to make fresh price comparisons).

How can I tell if my converter is lithium capable?

 

[Riverbug]

How can I tell if my converter is lithium capable?

First it has an AD after the model. That refers to auto-detect for lithium. A standard converter/charger does not have an AD after the model. Second, the stated charge rate is 13.6 for LA (lead acid) and 14.6 for LI (LiFePO4).

Now, you should read the manual to verify how it auto detects the lithium battery. If I recall from what I've read elsewhere, you have to unplug from shore power (and solar) and completely discharge the battery. When you plug back in the charger is supposed to recognize that it is lithium. But I could be wrong there, so grab your manual or look up the manual for that specific model number and double check.