12v motor or 12v supply?

[pnnf]

Hello everyone,

Not solar related this time but a 12v/battery question. I have an awning motor on my fifth wheel that doesn't like to work all the time. The awning will extend the awning fine but retracting the awning will cause it to stop. I have to wait a few minutes before I'm able to retract again. The motor will only retract about 1-2 feet then stop again. I have to keep this pace till the awning is completely retracted.

I thought the battery was going bad so I bought two Interstate SRM-27's and hooked them together to get 12 volts. This solution worked perfectly for the first few times but I'm back to the same situation with the awning motor. I have noticed that the stopping and starting of the awning motor happens if I'm running other 12v volt appliances in the Rv such as the 12v lights. Does it sound like a charging issue? After joining and learning about solar and batteries I'm thinking that maybe its a battery balance issue? Should I try just running one battery to see if the symptoms continue? I have a meter so I can check voltage but I do not know what the correct voltage range should be.

Any help or suggestion are welcome,
Thanks for the help~

 

[Craig]

Sounds to me like a current flow issue. The batteries are not putting out enough current to retract the awning. This could be a bad connection somewhere or too small of wires running the thing. it could be anywhere and this is purely a guess on my part.

 

[MisterSandals]

I have a meter so I can check voltage but I do not know what the correct voltage range should be.

I would check the battery voltage before running the motor and then while the motor is running. If the voltage dips too much it could stall.
If its possible to test voltage closer to the motor that would help too but may not be possible.

 

[HRTKD]

I have a similar problem with the HappiJac bunk bed motor in my trailer. It always works going down, but going up is random, but most of the time it doesn't work. I made an observation at one point that it always worked when on shore power. I subsequently found that my converter was within 12" of the main distribution board where the fuse for the HappiJac wire came in.

When I put in my new solar components, I shortened the distance from the battery to the main distribution board significantly and I upped the gauge of the wire. I thought for sure that it would improve the HappiJac performance. It didn't.

While in the bunkbed, I checked all the connections and just for good measure I whacked the motor a few times with the back of a good sized screwdriver. The motor started working reliably! At least it did for a while. I'm leaning towards something is going bad inside the motor.

 

[Jim Burrow]

Just for a test, is it possible to jumper your car 12v battery to the battery (it sounds like you are connecting 2-6v batteries in series for 12v) that is running the awning? and have your car running while the jumpers are connected. If all works well, then I would suspect your batteries. (note you are connecting the car battery in parallel to the awning batteries and not in series.

As someone else mentioned, you can have a loss wire and not allowing a good flow of current and correct voltage to run the awning.

You might check to see if there is any drag on the awning poles or henges. When the awning is expanding, gravity is helping it. But when retracting, gravity is still there but now working against you with some binding somewhere. Try some "white grease" (not WD-40) from the hardware store and spray where you think it might be binding. Note, WD-40 attracts dirt and dust, white grease does not. Also, note there may be other names for the white grease.

anyway, those are my present thoughts.

Afterthought! - check the terminal posts and all connections for corrosion or oxidation build-up. If possible clean them so you can have good contact. Double-check your battery and cable terminals for good tight connections and that there is no corrosion or acid buildup on the posts/battery terminals. - it's amazing how a little corrosion build-up will damper your current flow.

 

[RonsPlc]

It sounds to me like you have a 12v brushed motor that is approaching its End Of Life.
The brushes break down, and it takes more current for them to work. (Picture the current actually completing through an arc, or spark)

 

[Jim Burrow]

It sounds to me like you have a 12v brushed motor that is approaching its End Of Life.
The brushes break down, and it takes more current for them to work. (Picture the current actually completing through an arc, or spark)

very true. I forgot about that. Had that trouble some years back on my boat engine.

 

[PHoganDive]

Measure current draw going down vs going up. I suspect the motor is drawing much more current going up, either just due to increased load, or maybe the mechanism binding due to misalignment, or lack of lube. This may be causing the motors overload protection to kick in.

 

[pnnf]

Thank you all so very much! I definitely have some work ahead of me to figure this out and I greatly appreciate the advice as to what things to look for. Been really busy so sorry about the late reply looks like I may not be able to get to this for a week or two but I will definitely post back with my findings. I'll try to post pictures of How It's all presently connected with pictures of what I find. Maybe that'll help someone else if they come across this post later. Thanks again for all your help