Proving an in-wall motor and its wiring
Before you buy a motor, prove whether the fault is the motor, the harness in the wall or the controller. The green LED names the motor, a plug swap shows whether the fault follows, and a drill battery on red and black proves the motor turns.
The short version
- Green LED names the motor port. Codes 6, 8 and 9 are motor-circuit faults.
- Swap the Motor 1 and Motor 2 plugs at the board: fault follows the plug, it's out in the wall; stays on the port, suspect the board.
- Harness colors: red and black run the motor, brown is hall power, green hall ground, blue hall signal, purple not used.
- Lippert's direct drive: a 3 ft jumper cut from a spare harness, red and black touched to a cordless drill battery.
- Most code 8s are a pinched or broken harness or pigtail, or a motor that's unplugged.
What the motor harness carries
Each motor gets a six-wire harness from the controller. Two wires run the motor, and polarity on them sets direction. Three run the hall-effect encoder that the controller counts. One isn't used.
- Blue open or not reaching the board: code 8
- Brown shorted to ground: code 9
- Red or black shorted, or a shorted motor: code 6
- Connector seated right: the rib on the motor connector lines up with the notch in the harness connector, and colors match black to black, red to red
| Wire | Job |
|---|---|
| Black | Motor power (polarity sets direction) |
| Red | Motor power (polarity sets direction) |
| Purple | Not used |
| Brown | Hall effect power |
| Green | Hall effect ground |
| Blue | Hall effect signal |
The swap test at the controller
The board reports faults by port, so moving a motor to the other port tells you whether the fault lives on the board or out in the wall. Lippert notes that on C2-style harnesses it doesn't matter which motor is plugged in as 1 or 2, which makes the swap clean.
- Record the code and the green count.
- Pull the feed fuse or breaker, then swap the Motor 1 and Motor 2 plugs at the board.
- Restore power, run the room a short distance, and read the LEDs again.
- The green count changed (the fault moved to the other port): the fault is in that harness or motor.
- Same port faults with the other motor on it: suspect the controller.
- On boards with motor direction switches, if a swapped side runs the wrong way, that's the switch setting, not a new fault.
Driving the motor direct
Lippert's column-removal procedure drives one motor without the controller, and it doubles as your motor test. Cut a 3 ft length from a spare harness with the motor connector still on it, strip the red and black, plug it onto the motor, and touch the red and black to a cordless drill battery. Swap them to reverse direction.
If the motor runs both ways and moves that side, its power side and gearbox are good. This doesn't test the encoder. A motor that runs on the jumper but still gives code 8 with a good harness, and the code followed it in the swap, has a bad encoder, and the encoder comes with the motor.
If you have Lippert's test harness, connect it from the controller straight to the motor and run the room with the normal switch. If the room works on the test harness, the coach harness is the problem. With no test harness, Lippert says to ohm the harness.
Careful: On the jumper there's no sync and no stall protection. Move that side an inch or two only, and keep hands out of the racks while it turns.
The harness in the wall and the connectors
The harness runs from the controller, through the coach, to the top of each column, where it plugs into the motor pigtail under the wipe seal. Lippert lists a pinched or broken harness or motor pigtail, and a disconnected or faulty motor, as the causes of code 8. Look at every exposed run for pinching, especially where the harness enters the column and anywhere a cabinet or slide fascia can catch it.
If one side runs out while the other runs in, Lippert calls that a wiring problem. On boards with motor direction switches, the left switch is Motor 2 and the right is Motor 1, and flipping the one for the wrong-way motor corrects it.
One side moves 2 to 4 inches and stops
That's Lippert's classic broken-side symptom. Work through it in their order: have a helper push the stuck side in the direction of travel while you run the switch, then try pushing that side by hand. If it slides several inches by hand, a motor shaft may be broken.
Next, disengage the motor on that side and try moving the room by hand. Free with the motor out means the motor or coupler. Still stuck with the motor out means something mechanical: check the racks for debris, then the drive parts in that column.
On the job
- Read and record the green and red counts.
- Check the motor connector at the top of the column: seated, rib in the notch, colors matched.
- Swap the Motor 1 and Motor 2 plugs at the board and rerun. Note whether the fault moves.
- Fault moved: test with a test harness straight to the motor, or ohm the coach harness end to end and wire to wire.
- Harness good: jumper the motor's red and black to a drill battery. Dead: replace the motor. Runs, but the code follows it: replace the motor.
- Fault stays on one port with a known-good motor and harness: replace the controller.
- Resync after any motor or harness work.
Numbers
- Motor harness: 6 conductors: black, red, purple (unused), brown, green, blue
- Direct-drive jumper: 3 ft cut from a spare harness, red and black stripped (Lippert TI-177)
- Controller-to-motor harness lengths: 238744 5 ft, 238990 10 ft, 247768 15 ft, 229755 20 ft, 238991 25 ft, 229756 30 ft, 238992 35 ft
- Broken-side symptom: one side moves 2 to 4 in and stops
Shop tip
Before you pull a wipe seal, have a helper hold the switch while you flex the harness at the top of each column. A code that comes and goes as you move it tells you exactly where the break is.
Where this comes from
- Lippert, In-Wall Slide-out Service Manual, Rev 06.14.2016, pp. 8, 12, 13, 25: harness check, direction switches, harness wire colors, harness part numbers
- Lippert TI-177, CCD-0002078, Rev 08.28.18, pp. 1 to 3: code 8 causes, one side moving, jumper wire
- Lippert, Schwintek In-Wall Slideout System Troubleshooting Guide, Rev 01.30.2015, p. 4: test harness, ohm test
- Lippert, 13398-C1/C2 Operation and Service Manual, pp. 2, 3, 6: C2 harness note, connector rib and notch, direction switches
- Lippert TI-169, CCD-0002071, Rev 08.28.18: one side moving flow
Try it on a service call
Put the lesson to work on a hands-on troubleshooting case.