Recently returned from a partly "unplanned" trip. Had gone to Northern California to visit family and had begun my return to NM stopping in Bakersfield CA. Upon attempting to bring in the front slides I found them totally un-operative!! After contacting BCS in Bend I learned some extremely frustrating information. It seems that the breaker for the hydraulic system that operates both the front slides and the generator compartment is located in the generator compartment hidden behind a bunch of wires to conceal it! However guess what, you can't get the gen compartment open and even if you were a skinny midget you could not get to the switch with the compartment closed. I fortunately
was able to get a very good RV service person to remove the gen compartment slide rail attachments so that it could be pulled out my hand. He then was able to find the "damn" breaker and reset it. However it kept blowing each time the slide button in the coach was activated.
Obvisouly I am no electrical engineer, but strictly as a lay person (even a female) this has got to be THE STUPIDIST ENGINEERNG FEAT OF ALL TIME---MADE BY MONACO!! Put the breaker in a area that you can't get to when the system goes down, come on, give me a break!!!
I have no idea how many other Beavers that Monaco made that have this set up, but it certainly applies to the 2008 and probably 2009 Contessa coaches. Others Beavers may want to check where their breaker is located in case of trouble.
Making my longer story shorter, after getting the slides in and gen compartment in and reattached, I headed to BCS to have the problem resolved. The resolution I insisted on was to relocate the breaker to a compartment that could be accessed in event of failure, namely the electrical bay on the street side. After this was done for future sanity, we learned that the motor for the hydraulic system that operates the slides and Gen was badly burned and failing. It was replaced and all back to normal (?).
It is my opinion that some advise given me by a RV repair person in Mesa, AZ may have contributed to the failure of this hydraulic motor. That ill advise was to continue to hold the slide switch in the coach for about 10 seconds after each operation in or out. This theory was to allow the hydraulic fluid to "stabilize". BCS techs have never heard of this and seem to concur it may have cause the failure of the motor.
Anyway, I know this is very long, but am sure I'm not the only one that will encounter slide problems so want to give a "HEADsUP" to everyone. FIND OUT WHERE YOUR BREAKER IS LOCATED.
This a small square black box about 2 inches in size with a finger or lever that pops up/out when blown. Mine was on the left fire wall about 4 feet up from ground (behind multiple bunched cables).
Good luck.........Leah
