Electrical cord for shore power won't wind up.

[sharon w]

We have a 2016 Jayco Pinnacle 36TSFB with the automatic wind up mechanism for our shore power cord. The motor to wind up the cord is completely dead. Never really rolled up the power cord efficiently in the first place. Is there anyone who has the same issue? Would like to splice the cord, and attach a plug that would connect to the power cord so that we can bypass the wind up reel completely so we can attach and detach the power cord from the camper as we did in our old 2001 Jayco Designer Legacy. The wind up reel is a good idea in theory, but is underpowered and worthless in my book. Any ideas?

[Flyrotor]

Originally Posted by sharon w

We have a 2016 Jayco Pinnacle 36TSFB with the automatic wind up mechanism for our shore power cord. The motor to wind up the cord is completely dead. Never really rolled up the power cord efficiently in the first place. Is there anyone who has the same issue? Would like to splice the cord, and attach a plug that would connect to the power cord so that we can bypass the wind up reel completely so we can attach and detach the power cord from the camper as we did in our old 2001 Jayco Designer Legacy. The wind up reel is a good idea in theory, but is underpowered and worthless in my book. Any ideas?

You can convert your power cord to bypass the retractable reel by using one of these, google the following “Park Power 30 Amp RV Detachable Power Conversion Kit”

The one I found was on dyers online, listed around $90

They also have 50 amp kits I think were around $170

[jasum]

Originally Posted by sharon w

We have a 2016 Jayco Pinnacle 36TSFB with the automatic wind up mechanism for our shore power cord. The motor to wind up the cord is completely dead. Never really rolled up the power cord efficiently in the first place. Is there anyone who has the same issue? Would like to splice the cord, and attach a plug that would connect to the power cord so that we can bypass the wind up reel completely so we can attach and detach the power cord from the camper as we did in our old 2001 Jayco Designer Legacy. The wind up reel is a good idea in theory, but is underpowered and worthless in my book. Any ideas?

If you are still under warranty call Jayco. Mine was like yours and was replaced.
So far a big improvement over the original one.

[RedHorse1]

I added a manual power cord reel after wrestling the 50A cord a few times. I think it’s one of the top 3 mods I’ve done. I quickly discounted the power reel cause I didn’t want to run electrical for it and figured it’s one less thing that will eventually fail.
I love my manual winder.

[Skidawg]

Sharon W. I always carry a 20ft extension 50 AMP cord. It allows me the option of un-reeling or not reeling my powered shore cord. Just a thought going forward. Either way you decide to fix your problem will involve cost if not under warranty. I just thought I would get around the problem before it existed. Happy Camping, SKIDAWG

[kliney1016]

I have a 2017 Pinnacle 36FBTS and the 50amp power cord reel will not extend or retract. The motor runs but is not engaging. Anyone have this issue. Assume I need to replace it.

[sharon w]

Hi:
I posted the original thread in Jan. re: defective motor/underpowered motor of the cord reel. Of course, the warranty no longer is in effect. After talking to Jayco and finding out the replacement motor is around $750.00, I decided to eliminate it entirely. I had a Jayco certified mechanic completely remove the access to the power cord reel, drill and seal a new outlet next to the power reel and went back to the old detachable cord that plugs separately into the new outlet (just like our old Jayco Designer 2001 - which NEVER had a problem). Yes, will have to lug the power cord and place it in a box for storage, but sure beats the run around we received from Jayco and the amount to place a new cord outlet was much less than dealing with the replaced, underpowered, inadequate reel. No more issues. BTW we had the new outlet put in at our campsite in Sarasota, Fla. No having to return to a Jayco dealer.
Sharon W
PS If any of you have your campers near Sarasota, I can recommend two EXCELLENT Jayco certified mechanics that come to the campsite. Between the two of them, we had our furnace fixed (another Jayco issue) and the Schwintek slide system which is a whole other nightmare (another Jayco issue).

[Vicr]

What exactly is a "Jayco Certified Mechanic"? Where/ how do they obtain their certification?

[sharon w]

The mechanics that are certified attend an RV school, receive a certificate, and in the case of the mechanics I worked with, they attended a Jayco RV school.

[jasum]

Originally Posted by kliney1016

I have a 2017 Pinnacle 36FBTS and the 50amp power cord reel will not extend or retract. The motor runs but is not engaging. Anyone have this issue. Assume I need to replace it.

Someone on here replaced just the motor on his. Don’t remember who it was, if you do a search maybe you can find it.

When mine was replaced, it was a new reel with a new power cord. Probably the reason they are pricey.

[LisaAnneD]

Our power cord retractor motor is shot. We are selling this thing but would like to reinstall the correct motor for the new owners. Should we bother with the original motor or should we do something less apt to fail for the new owners?
Any and all help would be really really appreciate it! Even if I order the part myself and save myself a few bucks. Has anyone installed a new one before? My boyfriend is very handy but I have a repair guy that I trust as well.

[LisaAnneD]

My gosh! You have described our RV completely! I’m actually in Arcadia Florida right now and need the solution as quick as possible as we are trying to sell this thing. Can you give me some more information?

[ALJO]

If there's a electrical motor rewind shop, which is another option.
Most of the motors fail because of the armature, they crimp instead of soldering the wire on the collector (china). I have repaired failed motors by soldering all the wires on the collector, it takes a couple of hours on a small motor. So me your handy man can do this.

[sharon w]

Hi Lisa: We are in Sarasota and have our work done by Jayco certified mobile repair people - Smitty's RV Mobile Repair and Kirk Farley's RV Mobile Repair here in Sarasota. Don't know anyone up your way. We bought the camper in Ill but haven't had the camper back there since we purchased it. Our electric cord motor which died, was detached from the dead motor and Kirk made a new hole in the camper with a special kit that can be purchased on Amazon, and reattached it directly to the camper's electrical system, bypassing the defunct wind up motor. It it works just like any other electrical detachable cord on most other campers. Problem fixed. We have had problems with the heater and the Schwintek slide (with the frig, microwave, stove and TV has been nothing but a nightmare. Of course all the problems began AFTER the warranty expired. We have had both mobile repair companies mentioned earlier to our camper but the fix is only temporary. We will have to take it to a Jayco dealership here in Sarasota who may or may not be able to fix it - they don't have the capacity to actually remove the slide. Additionally, our frig died - there was a leak in the wall of the frig which could not be fixed. To a tune of $850 to remove the old one and another $900 to install a smaller one (of course couldn't get an exact one to replace the old one) plus having to remove the door, doorframe, trim, etc. to take the old one out and put the new one in, we have decided to sell this lemon as is. We should never have traded in our 2001 Jayco Designer - never gave us any problems - for this piece of garbage. Anyway, the Schwintek system is the worst piece of garbage for slides - underpowered and constantly has to be resinked. Crappy design and if the engineers who designed this had a brain, you wouldn't put so many heavy items on one slide with an underpowered system. Anyway, good luck with your lemon. Sell it asap.