Seneca 34SS steps\leveling jacks solenoid

[djrokes]

I keep frying my leveling Jack/steps solenoid. It seems to stay engaged whenever the key is in the on position. should my electric steps on/off switch be in the off position while driving? Thanks for your help, dj

[Grumpy]

Shouldn't make any difference. What solenoid? I had an 08 and don't remember any solenoid for the steps.

[Superseneca]

With the switch in the on position the steps will retract each time you close the door. With the switch in the off position the the step will stay out , even when the the door is closed. This switch is overridden when the engine is started. The steps should retract when the door is closed.

[djrokes]

I think I may have found the first problem. My steps on/off switch does not work. Thus, the only way the stairs go in and out is when the key is on. When we park, I turn on the key, open the door, stairs come out, I turn off the key. Thats the first place I am going to focus on. Fixing that, may fix my other problem. Again, my bigger problem is when the key is on (like driving down the road) the solenoid in the coach battery compartment gets so hot, it melts itself. On my last drive (Friday) I unplugged one of the larger wires and taped it off and secured it so it would not touch anything. The detached wire never got hot. The solenoid still got warm, but did not fry and worked fine when I re-hooked the wire. I am pretty mechanically inclined but am terrible at wiring issues.
On a side note, Camping World said they fixed the problem last year with a new solenoid, but it did not correct the underlying issue. Their solenoid was over $125. I found one at NAPA with all the same specs and works fine for $30.
I am going to get a JAYCO professional to look at it. Unfortunately they are 3 hours away.
If anybody has anything else I can try or had this problem, please let me know. Thanks for your input and help, Dj

[Grumpy]

That solenoid! It needs to be a continuous duty solenoid otherwise it will fail. All the ones that I have seen are metal so it shouldn't be melting, but they will get warm.

[Superseneca]

There should be 2 selenoids . One for disconnecting the house batterys from the house. For long term storage. And another the jump start the unit from the house batterys to the chassis batterys.