Todd,
The toggle switch inside your coach works this way: When it is "on" your steps will open & close with the door. With the switch "off" the steps will open & close with the door when the ignition is "on", but open once and stay extended with the ignition "off". Note: I have worked on a friend's step on a '92 Fleetwood that the inside toggle switch would allow you to open or close the step with the ignition off. Kwikee said they manufactured the control box that way for a very short period of time.
I believe the switch that Tom is referring to is the one that recognizes whether the door is open or closed. I'm betting that your steps will work backwards as in 2000 Kwikee changed their door switch polarity. When I got my new steps in 2010 they came with a new door switch. The door switch in my Newell WAS a push button type. The new one is a contact type switch not a toggle switch. When the door is closed the two switch halves meet & make contact. The toggle switch inside my coach now works backwards of how it used to work, but that is not a problem.
Let us know what you find when the batteries are hooked up.
Steve Bare
1999 Newell 2 slide #531
(This post was last modified: 10-14-2012, 04:53 AM by rheavn.)
Let me suggest that you disconnect the power to the steps until the mechanics are done and you can prove them. You don't need any surprises at this stage.
Steve & Patti, Bonnie and Tucker
1982 Newell 38' Classic, DD 6V92
cocktails for as many will fit in the site, dinner for as many can sit at the pick-nick table and sleeps 2 since I fixed the couch
steve and steve are both right. i have a set of new steps sitting ready to install and here is the install kit for them. it has the rocker switch steve r is referring to as well as the magnetic sensor switch to determine if your door is open or closed. it is the same kind of switch used on burgler alarms for windows.
kwikee has a checkout document that using a meter you can quickly determine if you need the newer switch or not.
you will also know if the steps operate in reverse.
i also agree with steve ward that you should probably unplug them for now so they are not doing the funky chicken when the mechanics decide to connect the batteries back up.
i was fortunate on mine in that i had the right polarity of magnetic sensor already in mine so it was just a plug in and it worked. like steve says somewhere around 2000 they changed it so i might not work. but to be honest i only looked at instructions for the series 32 step and controller setup and i looked and dont see step #866 to look at.
Tom I am out of town on business right now but will check to see if I have those same new switches. I think I do. So assuming that I do and need to put this new switch in how do I wire it? Am I disconnecting the old switch and running the new switch wires to the wires the old switch connected to? I read the link that you sent and I just don't get how I wire it up if this is the case.
Todd & Dawn Flickema
Former owners of a Classic 1984 Newell
71 Karmann Ghia
Sioux Falls, South Dakota