2009 Carriage Cameo 37

Bob,

the usual culprit in the situation is the polarity reversing switch.  Easiest test of the switch is to reverse the two battery leads on the switch and see if there is movement in the same “only out” direction.  If making that change created an “only in’ motor- the switch is the problem.  DO THIS TEST WITH THE WALL HALFWAY OUT OR YOU CAN CRUSH THE SLIDE TRIM!

not likely you bought a bad switch, but worth a try since you know the motor goes in both directions if you swap wires at the motor.

before I go further, is this trailer new to you and the slide never worked properly, or was it working fine and the quit?  If it never worked properly, the previous owner may have had the switch out and reconnected the wires incorrectly.  If this is the case, you need to correct the wiring at the switch.  Identifying the hot from the battery is easy – it is the ground from the battery that is tough to find.  To find it, disconnect both wires at the motor.  See which wire at the switch completes the circuit – that is your battery ground – unless there is a relay somewhere in the line and that too is incorrectly wired.

reconnect the motor wires at the motor.  Assuming there is no relay, you can physically connect the battery leads one way to the motor leads at the switch, and the motor will run one way.  Swap those leads  it will run the other way.  If that does not work, you need to find the relay

2009 would not have a relay from the factory.  Many owners have installed them and much heavier wires from the battery to solve the slow moving slide issue caused by the factory installing too small of a gauge wiring.

the usual place to put the relay is very close to the motor.  You may need to move a bit more insulation around in order to find it.  If the relay not

However on the door side (kitchenette) side, installing the relay near the motor on the dinette slide requires fishing the heavier gauge wires through the underfloor interstitial space – not an easy or fun task.  An owner or tech may have taken a short cut and only installed the relay and wires half way to the motor. Better than oem, but you now need to find the relay.  The second logical spot is behind the (black?) rear wall in the main storage.  To get there you need to remove at least one and loosen or remove one or more of the black panels.  Do not mix up the screws – the holding tank is directly below the flooring.  You should find the wires to and from the slide switch directly below the spot where switches are in the living space.  There are wires for two or more slide switches and maybe others.  The wire to the dinette motor should be obvious because of the direction it takes towards the rear unless you have a rear awning and that awning switch is close to the slide switch (mine is not).

This area below the living space float is the only other logical place to put a relay and is a much easier run for heavy gauge wires from the battery.  If you don’t see the relay, but do see significantly larger wire or wires than 10 gauge, follow those wires to the relay. If not there, I am out of ideas.  Except, you can run all new wire since you have it apart.

the front awning switch may give you an idea about color coding of wires from the battery versus the reversible motor in the awning and their proper position on the switch.  If there is an extra set of wires for the rear awning in close proximity to the front awning switch, those go to the rear awning outlet on the dinette slide.  If you were to add a second awning, you add another switch and would tap the battery wires on the front awning switch, then connect thos rear awning wires.

hope this helps.

Bob,

Jack Ramsey is posting about wiring a new heavy draw 12 volt refrigerator in a Carriage and shows photos of several oem 12 volt connectors near it.

I find it hard to believe they ran wires for the dinette slide through the slide on the opposite side, but real prior experience by others has shown that the factory workers did some strange things.

along that same line of thought, if the problem is a disconnected wire anywhere, I would think the slide would not work in either direction.

good luck in your hunt, and please report back.

I forgot that Carriage had both slide switches above the door. My 2010 has them in the flat wall area just past the curved wall behind the shower just as you go up the stairs.

Bob has 2009 Cameo, but not certain of model so do not know location of stair/shower/slide switches.

Bob, Jack has a Carriage FWS. The the solid wire Jack is pointing to is under the garbage can located in the counter’s peninsula area.

Bob, I am sending you a pm with my contact info.