2010 No power to Outside Control Board

[wonderwharf]

It has been 4 years, multiple trips to the dealer & we still cannot use the outside control board on our 2010 Montana 5th wheel at all. The only way to do anything is with the remote, we are really stumped on this one. Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? Any help is appreciated, we are at our wits end on this one.

[K0LCB]

Have you checked to see if control panel is hooked up?

[sambam]

I can't believe no one has suggested this already, but here goes: Try moving the ground wire from the brain to the frame somewhere and see if you get power. I am assuming you're speaking of the landing gear and stabilizer switches. I couldn't get power to mine either, until I relocated the negative wire to the frame. And I've since had to move the positive to another source as well.

[Carl n Susan]

This has been a known problem and a PIA for years. Here is an explanation and solution from an earlier posting (I have lost the source location).


Remote Control Receiver Problems and Fix

Maybe this will help some of you with this problem. The black box located in the forward storage compartment is called a lot of things. I will refer to it as the receiver since it receives the signals from the remote key fob/control to operate the slides awning, landing gear and rear stabilizers. The receiver has + and – 12 volt terminals on the right side to supply power to the receiver. This power is straight off the battery and protected by one of the circuit breaker below it. On the top of the receiver are another pair of + and – 12 volt terminals. These terminals are labeled “manual switches” and they supply 12 volt power to the outside switches for the landing gear, rear stabilizers and inside switches for the slides and awning. The only logic for this wiring set up is that when the remote control is turned on, the receiver disconnects power from the top + and - 12 volt output terminals so the manual switches cannot be used the same time the remote control is being used. Who knows what kind of interference or problems this would cause if they were both used at the same time??
Here is the problem I experienced and my fix which so far has been working OK. After the warranty ran out (naturally) the outside switches for the Landing gear and rear stabilizers quit working. The inside switches for the slides and awning worked OK. After some meter work I found that the switches were getting power and working fine, but were not getting a ground. That is when I found that the top – 12 volt terminal was not providing ground for the switches. I removed the wire from the terminal and attached to chassis ground and shazam everything worked again.
This worked good for a couple months then all of a sudden the outside switches quit working again AND the inside switches for the slides and awning quit working also, but the remote worked OK. Getting the meter out again I found that the upper + 12 volt terminal for the manual switches was dead therefore not providing power to any of the manual switches. So I removed the + wire from the manual switches terminal and connected directly to the + 12 volt terminal for the receiver supply. Now everything works the way it is supposed to again. The only thing I have to remember is make sure both the remote and the manual switches are not used at the same time.
I never tried rebooting the receiver as mentioned in another thread. But from what I read, it only cured the problem temporarily anyway.
Evidently there is a transistor or relay inside the receiver that fails and opens the + and - 12 volt manual switch power supply. Of course the dealer is not going to do this work around, they are just going to order you a new receiver which comes with new switches and remote whether you need them or not and replace the receiver, probably for a nominal $400.00 to $500.00. Chances are that they don’t even know how the system works and just change out the parts. By the way, Lippert who sells this system to Keystone was absolutely no help at all and neither was Keystone.
I hope this is some help to you, especially if your warranty is expired. Let me know if this works for any of you.


Additionally go to this Posting for more information including pictures

[sambam]

Thanks, Carl for posting this. In so many words, this is the process I followed to get my switches working again. Hopefully, this will be the answer the OP is looking for.

[wonderwharf]

I will try the posted fixes this weekend, it seems like it could definitely be the culprit since it is such a weird issue.

[sambam]

Let us know how it works out for you..

[Denny M]

I have a 2009 3665RE and had the same problem. I received no help from Lippert, Keystone or the Manufacture which was located in Crystal Lake,IL I too installed jumpers to the negative which solved the problem for two years. Then it re-occurred! I then jumped the positive and had no problems since!