Quote:
Originally Posted by twindman
I have a question. What is an electic slide (other than a country dance LOL)? I assumed all we have is hydraulic and cable/electric.
Thanks.
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Twindman,
I haven't actually seen anything other than cable or hydraulic but have heard people talking about electric and made an assumption (I know I know a dangerous thing to do) that the industry had decided to use electric actuators on some units. We use 24 volt electric actuators on some of our automation in the oilfield so I am familiar with them and they would probably work in the place of hydraulic. They have the advantage of being easier to install (no pump or high pressure hoses) and less expensive but the disadvantage of not being as powerful or reliable as hydraulics.
Considering that the industry is starting to use electric leveling jacks it isn't a very big leap to see where they might start using electric actuators on the slides. The RV industry is constantly trying to reduce the unit build cost, very often at the expensive of quality and longevity.
I have considerable experience with both hydraulics and electric actuators. My thoughts are: the hydraulics will operate reliably for several years but when they do go down, its going to be an expensive and somewhat time consuming fix. You will likely have issues with electric actuators every couple years under typical use but when there is a problem the fix will be less expensive and fairly easy....