Power steps not staying out

[xraymiller]

I just brought my RV home form being serviced. For some reason the power steps are not staying out. I flipped the "Power Step" switch both ways and when the door closes the steps retract.

If I try to Google "power step not staying out" all I get is 'power step not working.' Of course, the engine is not running, the keys are out of the ignition and I switched the master power switch back on.

My mother is afraid she's going to step out of the RV before the steps have deployed. Any idea what's going on?

[Barkie123]

Check out this website.
https://www.thervgeeks.com/rv-electric-steps/
It gives you ideas how to trouble shoot the issue.

[xraymiller]

Thanks. That was good info at that link; however, it doesn't cover my specific problem.

[Grumpy]

Sounds like they are still getting ignition power to the control board or the board has gone bad. The door is designed to auto retract as soon as the ignition is activated. i would also remove the switch and check continuity, as it may have gone bad..

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by xraymiller

I just brought my RV home form being serviced. For some reason the power steps are not staying out. I flipped the "Power Step" switch both ways and when the door closes the steps retract.

If I try to Google "power step not staying out" all I get is 'power step not working.' Of course, the engine is not running, the keys are out of the ignition and I switched the master power switch back on.

My mother is afraid she's going to step out of the RV before the steps have deployed. Any idea what's going on?

I'm in the middle of debugging mine - it's a combination of 12V and Ground signals that control the steps being in and out.

If the Step Override switch doesn't work - if they always retract when the door is closed, then we're in the same boat. I haven't fixed mine yet, but I think it's the lack of a 12V signal going to the Yellow wire on the controller.

There's a fuse in the mix somewhere. As soon as I find mine and determine that's the cause, I'll report back.

But yeah, applying a 12V signal to that wire, as a test, worked for me. They stayed out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AzkvylZH7Y

[xraymiller]

I will check that tomorrow. I bought a new switch as well just in case it does turn out bad.

[xraymiller]

Fantastic. I plan to check the continuity of the switch tomorrow as Grumpy mentioned, and I ordered a pigtail so I can do these checks. I noticed the controller is $141 on Amazon, so I hope it's not that.

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by xraymiller

Fantastic. I plan to check the continuity of the switch tomorrow as Grumpy mentioned, and I ordered a pigtail so I can do these checks. I noticed the controller is $141 on Amazon, so I hope it's not that.

I bought the pigtail from eBay I think. It's handy but the leads are short and I just made them longer. I bought a controller from Amazon too, but the pigtail testing showed me the controller was OK so I just returned it.


My switch tested OK. So it's a case (I think) of 12V not making it thru the override switch and down to the controller. I ran out of time and put the RV back in storage before I got farther.

[xraymiller]

I got the pigtail and all my gear ready for testing. I went up under the RV and I see a wire hanging down with a crimp connector and no wire attached to the other side. Corrosion dust fell out of the crimp connector. That was an easy fix. I used heat shrinkable crimp connectors for the repair. I did notice an inline fuse connected to that wire.

Hopefully this helps someone else in the future.