Sssslloooowww lift motor

[Warfarin]

So a couple questions regarding 2010 Coleman Niagara. First popupSteve mentioned in another thread, that I can’t find, that you shouldn’t raise your top with it plugged in to Shore Power, Why? He also said to disconnect the motor before using the manual lift. How is this accomplished? And finally the title. This thing is agonizingly slow to lift, coming down is fine. Is the motor getting tired? Is there something I can do to speed it up or are they just slow? I didn’t time it but my thumb got sore waiting and I had to change hands. Thanks in advance.

 

[PopUpSteve]

I don't know but it's in the manual for my Somerset E2 and it uses the same lift motor as Coleman PopUps. My guess would be that it makes it run too fast and can burn out the motor. Someone with more electrical knowledge may chime in with a proper answer.

Before I know about this, I did run it off the Shore Power. And yes, it ran a lot faster.

On mine, there is a quick connect at the motor. I always thought that if this was so important, there should be an on/off switch next to the lift motor.

If you are running it off of DC, it can be quite slow depending on the strength of your battery. I've left the TV hooked up and running just to get a quicker lift.

 

[Warfarin]

I ran it up the 1st time on battery and then plugged it in to bring it down. About 1/2 down I reversed and went back up to see if it made a difference (before I read your post) it didn't. Still super slow.

 

[jonkquil]

if you scoot forward to around the 8 minute mark on this video, this guys Niagra takes a full minute to go up. If yours is around 1 minute, I would say that is normal, if it's taking longer than that then you might have a problem.

 

[jonkquil]

I've also read to not be plugged into Shore Power when using your winch. I follow this rule but I can't remember the reason. But it makes sense what popup steve says.

 

[Sjm9911]

Raise roof on shore power?

Without the battery hooked up or do I need to hook it up?

www.popupportal.com

Post 8.

 

[Sjm9911]

My google fu came up strong in this one. Lol.

 

[Warfarin]

Raise roof on shore power?

Without the battery hooked up or do I need to hook it up?

www.popupportal.com

Post 8.

Good find. Read it all. Thank you

 

[Warfarin]

if you scoot forward to around the 8 minute mark on this video, this guys Niagra takes a full minute to go up. If yours is around 1 minute, I would say that is normal, if it's taking longer than that then you might have a problem.

His is a lot faster then mine

 

[Warfarin]

After reading all the replies I am hoping it is the battery. The last time this pup was registered was April 2021 so almost 2 years of non use. It has a solar system so the battery is always topped off but that doesn’t mean it can handle that kind of draw still. Batteries are fairly cheap considering what they do and their importance. So when the time comes to camp I’ll just get a new one and see if that helps speed things up.

 

[Sjm9911]

I would try some maintenance first. Lube the lift system and pullys. Then ( I dont have a lift) do the same with lift system. Usally if stuff moves it needs lubrication.

 

[Sjm9911]

Also, make sure you are level when lifting it. If not it will not go well.

 

[Jwwiff]

Couple of things in addition to the link that was mentioned by Warfarin…
Mid 2000’s Coleman/Fleetwood was experiencing burnout of the control module when hooked to Shore Power. The lift motor does draw quite a bit of current and when the unit is hooked to Shore Power, after a bit the charger may kick in and start charging the battery. This jumps the voltage to the motor and when the limit is hit, it burns out the power circuitry in the module. My N2M ‘07 Bayside records (the guy kept ALL the info and any recalls) said that this one had the fix done to it so Shore Power is OK when lifting.

Battery voltage is proportional to lift speed so keep your battery topped off when lifting. If you lift manually, the motor must be disconnected. The motor/gear train has a brake built into it and if you don’t disconnect for manual lift, you are cranking against the brake. Usually there is connector under the motor to disconnect the controller from the motor.

 

[eprovenzano]

Wow... lots of good info here..

 

[McFlyfi]

I agree with cleaning/lubing the entire system, including (especially) the wiffletree. Voltage loss over undersized wire or corroding scotchlocks could also be a culprit. I bypassed the original wiring by running a separate circuit on 10g landscape wire directly from the dc output on the converter to the current limiter. Easy and cheap upgrade.
Mine takes about a minute to raise.