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Old 07-27-2011, 09:18 PM   #11
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Re: Can e-PH be raised/lowered if power fails?



Backrds, there is no maintenance that I know of.

My first thought would be voltage. Pop a cheap voltmeter in the wall and watch your voltage as you raise and lower the top. When my house batteries were dying my top struggled to get up.

The third thing to do would be to check the voltage and ground for the actuators themselves- since this is more difficult, second I'd recommend:

Put the top up and remove all the screws along both rails. They're in the corners of the upholstery as it goes from a curve to an edge on the top side of the tracks. They're easy to get back in the right place.

Once the screws are out, and you can do this as you go, fold back the upholstery. You'll be able to see the whole mechanism, and visually inspect. Verify first the two pins are in the actuators*, then there is nothing in the track (dropped screw or metal shavings).

If nothing is obvious try lowering and raising the top while watching** to see if you can see a problem... which side is catching, where in the track the moving components are when the catches happen.

My top has always been slow, but I wouldn't describe it as "jerky".


**This should be considered dangerous, the top is very heavy- failure is unlikely, but I'd bring a head sized block of wood up with you in case the worst happens and keep fingers and face away from the mechanism. You can always videotape the action for later review.

*See below, the pin was in the rail getting pushed around and the actuator was just resting end against the moving car... this is dangerous and should be approached with sufficient bracing all around the top before doing anything else.
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Old 06-23-2015, 05:57 PM   #12
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Re: Can e-PH be raised/lowered if power fails?

Obviously an older thread but I just had one of my actuators freeze in the fully extended position. So my top was stuck up and we tried everything to get down. I was at a campground with only so many tools but what got it out was the sawzall the RV repair guy brought. We had to cut the mount off the motor back end. Of course prop up the top first just in case. We lowered the top now I'm searching for a replacement. Peter at SMB west says this is the first time he has heard of one going out. We had to cut since the top was full up the track wouldn't go any further forward and I needed to go forward about 1 inch to clear the U channel mounting point on the front of the actuator.
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Old 06-24-2015, 03:06 PM   #13
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Re: Can e-PH be raised/lowered if power fails?

Interesting... I didn't think the slide plate would max out against something and if it did I'd think whatever it stops at could be removed. So there was no way to push the top up further to relieve pressure at the ram and pull the actuator completely off??? I understand this was a field repair and you were limited on tools. I have never heard of one of these failing like this. It has been a concern of mine that I went over with SMB back in 2006. I had heard of one being stuck in the up position but it was a power issue not the actuator failing. This makes me wonder if there is a better solution to get the top down if something does go wrong rather than cutting the end off.
The track record is very sound with SMB's tops. I've had some of the jerky movement previously mentioned but the top has been up and down hundreds of times and I've yet to have a problem. The bolt connecting the two chrome moly bars has had me more worried than any other part but obviously any part on a vehicle can fail... you were just the unlucky one that gets to post about it first. Thankfully you were able to deal with it.. my hat is off to you.
So do you have any solutions that would have made the job go easier? I've worried about one of the pins bending making it impossible to pull (you can't knock it out) it out but I've never looked real close at the design
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Old 06-24-2015, 04:02 PM   #14
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Can e-PH be raised/lowered if power fails?

No we couldn't relieve the pressure off the motor. There is a bolt at the bottom of the arm and it's in a slotted track on the outside (left if looking forward in Van) and it was as far forward as it would go. If there was a way to remove the bolt then I could get it out. Or you could remove the whole track from front to rear but that looked dangerous with the spring under tension. Even if the brace in the rear of the van that goes from driver to passenger side were removed with the arm fully extended it wouldn't swing far enough to get the bracket out of the U slot in the rear.

In other words it was a pain and cutting it did the trick. Yep I was the unfortunate one and I think the motors and design are sound. I think what did this one in was a week prior my wife unlatched the top and the j hook swung back a recaught the black bracket and she didn't see it and started to put the top up. I was outside and saw half the top part of the way up and the other side down. I think that did damage to the motor because it started acting up and finally failed in the fully extended position.

It is what it is I guess. SMB West did have one in stock and is shipping out today. It's a $450 motor but they are very hard to find online. I found a couple places that listed but had no stock.

As far as any tips or tricks I can't think of anything other than make sure the top is well supported. When we pulled the wood blocks and started lowering the top was a lot heavier than expected and you have to lower at the speed of the motor on the other side.
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Old 06-28-2015, 06:51 PM   #15
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Re: Can e-PH be raised/lowered if power fails?

Hum, I wonder if there is more damage than just the motor? I hope not. Anyway please report back after you get the new one in and tell us if all went well.
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Old 06-28-2015, 08:35 PM   #16
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Re: Can e-PH be raised/lowered if power fails?

I installed the new motor yesterday and works 100%. I don't see any binding or bent parts. I didnt see any damage to any of the mounts or brackets or the roof tracks. I'll keep my eyes on it but I think it's good to go.

The install was real easy though. It took me less than an hour to take all the panels off install then reassembly. Easy day.
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Old 06-29-2015, 12:58 PM   #17
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Re: Can e-PH be raised/lowered if power fails?

Good deal. Were you able to retrofit the install so this can't happen again?
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Old 06-29-2015, 03:34 PM   #18
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Re: Can e-PH be raised/lowered if power fails?

Quote:
Originally Posted by daveb
Good deal. Were you able to retrofit the install so this can't happen again?
I actually didn't think of any type of retrofit for prevention. About the best thing I could think of would be to trim the large black bracket at the very rear of the van. Its steel and it would take some work or removal, which is part of the rail going down the side of the vehicle, so as not to damage anything around it. If you were to modify that then you could work the motor out by removing the sheet metal cross bar if it were at full extension. I might do this when we finish up this trip in a few months. It would need to be done on both sides though for each motor.


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