Generator on to extend slides vs shore power

[714Greg]

When we did our walk through our tech told us to run the generator when extending the slide on our 2021 Tiburon. Assuming I have a fully charged battery is being connected to 30 amp shore power good enough? How about 110 V shore power? I'm assuming the slide is using battery power, correct?

[lwmcguire]

Never heard of running the generator

Many require the engine to be running and you do have to have adequate battery voltage regardless

[Bob Denman]

We always hooked up to shorepower; before extending our slides.
It sort of made running the generator seem a bit unnecessary.

[16ACE27]

Your generator supplies no more power than SP to the DC buss. Yes, the slide is run from the DC buss and it really doesn't use that much current; about 10 amps for my full wall slide. So as long as you have a fully charged battery you should be good to go.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by 714Greg

When we did our walk through our tech told us to run the generator when extending the slide on our 2021 Tiburon. Assuming I have a fully charged battery is being connected to 30 amp shore power good enough? How about 110 V shore power? I'm assuming the slide is using battery power, correct?

No gen needed. Shore power just fine IF the battery disconnect is ON.

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by 714Greg

When we did our walk through our tech told us to run the generator when extending the slide on our 2021 Tiburon. Assuming I have a fully charged battery is being connected to 30 amp shore power good enough? How about 110 V shore power? I'm assuming the slide is using battery power, correct?

Fully charged battery voltage is 12.75 volts and will drop to about 12.6 volts when drawing 20 amps from the batteries Generator voltage through the charger is 13.5 volts (assuming float) and shore power is the same and will not drop appreciatively. Low voltage shutoff on the Lippert in-wall slides is 8.0 volts. The controller for the slide's motors uses the Hall effect sensors to decide which motor is running to fast and drops the voltage on that motor, in steps, to keep the slide's motors in sync. The higher the voltage to the motors the less current they draw and the less heat in the motors. When the slide hits the stops the motors draw max wattage for three to five seconds before the controller shuts-off the power to the motors and resets the sync. By letting the converter supply 12 volt power the slide's controller the motors will work most efficiently. As far as the coach is concerned, there is no difference between shore power and generator power, up-to the limits of the generator.

[raffaelli]

Those motors are 12v. It should not matter if you are on shore power, generator or a charged battery.

[Pete'sMH]

Originally Posted by raffaelli

Those motors are 12v. It should not matter if you are on shore power, generator or a charged battery.

But it might anyway. I had an awning that would barely retract and sometimes stop altogether unless I was plugged in, running the engine or on the generator. Apparently the little bit of additional voltage was enough to make the difference. Sold the RV before I figured out why it was so marginal.

[raffaelli]

Originally Posted by Pete'sMH

But it might anyway. I had an awning that would barely retract and sometimes stop altogether unless I was plugged in, running the engine or on the generator. Apparently the little bit of additional voltage was enough to make the difference. Sold the RV before I figured out why it was so marginal.

Sounds like a weak battery.

[Lt Keefer]

I do try to plug in my coach before running out the slide, but it is for my convenience not the coach's. My plug is under the full wall slide on my Hurricane and I hate stooping under it to hook up the power. Otherwise, a 12 volt system doesn't need the generator or shore power to operate.

[TurnerFam]

you'll see that you get a lot of various responses here because, after all, many RVs are different in how you 'do things'... some of us only need to push the Slide OUT button to run the slides out- no electricity nor generator. But, at the same time, the engine CANNOT be 'On', or running. Some others REQUIRE the engine to be running in order to operate the slides. Every one might be different, but if your question is really about the 'power' to run in/out the slides, then no, your batteries should be designed to handle that regardless of generator, shore power, or the engine running.

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by raffaelli

Sounds like a weak battery.

Yeah... I agree.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by raffaelli

Sounds like a weak battery.

Or a poor power connection to the awning.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by 714Greg

When we did our walk through our tech told us to run the generator when extending the slide on our 2021 Tiburon. Assuming I have a fully charged battery is being connected to 30 amp shore power good enough? How about 110 V shore power? I'm assuming the slide is using battery power, correct?

FYI: 30A is 110V, so as long as your other “110V” shore power has enough current capacity to power the converter (battery charger), it makes no difference at all between these two options. And for what it’s worth, even a 15 Amp 110 Volt outlet should power your converter provided you are not running much else.

I don’t have a slide, nor do I want one, but 13.5~14.0 Volts should supply more power than +/- 12V, or even less if battery is weak or not fully charged. I wouldn’t necessarily go by what a “tech” told me, but would read the manual. If not covered in manual, you could always give Thor a quick call.

I personally don't see the harm in trying with just the battery power. If it doesn’t work or moves slowly, I’d try shore power or generator next to compare.

[kwplot34]

It does vary from coach to coach. Our previous coach 2016 31L would extend the slides not hooked up to shore power or if the generator was not running, but would not work if the big engine was running, I would always have the shore power hooked up or generator running before extending or retracting the slides, personal preference.
Now or new coach a 2020 Omni XG32 will not extend or retract the slides unless the big motor is running. Guess Thor has their reasons.

[Glensouth]

Not necessary unless you have low batteries and not hooked to shore power.

[Pholden44]

I boondock all the time and have never needed anything except the battery to extend my 2 slides on my Four Winds Sprinter 24.

[EV2]

Originally Posted by Pholden44

I boondock all the time and have never needed anything except the battery to extend my 2 slides on my Four Winds Sprinter 24.

True, but looking past the obvious, for a new user boondocking, the recommendation may have been to establish a best practice. If staying for any period of time where battery time is a concern, the generator would provide a little extra margin to conserve batteries for night time furnace fan, etc. If not on shore power and boon docking, this would not be a bad practice.

[aaurbanelli@aol.com]

I've only bought 2 RVs new and in both cases the flooded lead acid batteries were damaged while sitting in the dealers lot not being maintained. So the delivery person is ensuring that with the generator running the weak batteries are not evident.

[ducksface]

Originally Posted by aaurbanelli@aol.com

The delivery person is ensuring that with the generator running the weak batteries are not evident.

The logical answer.


It's just insurance.
If the battery starts the generator, life is fine.
If the battery used its last bit to open the slide and then hasn't enough to start the generator OR pull the slide in, life is not fine.

Using the generator alleviates two problems.
The battery gets a fresh kick charge from the generator on both open and closed.
A long sitting mostly dead battery can't leave you with the slide out(because that's all the strength it had)and no way to start the generator because a battery too dead to start the generator can still manage to get the slide out.

NEVER assume you have a fully charged battery. Assume it's dead or dying or plotting its own/your demise.
Be pleasantly surprised every time it isn't dead or plotting such.

(I know about the emergency start button.)

I gos nuttin on the shore power angle of it all.