Troubleshooting Kwikee Series 32 Steps that Operate in Reverse

Updated 07/16/2021 | Published 09/05/2017

Question:

I installed the conversion kit .#379145 My original step quit working. Now everything plugged in is reversed from original. Step goes in when door opens. Same with the light. Any advice?

asked by: Jay

Expert Reply:

It sounds like you have a couple wires run backwards on your Lippert powered steps. Its hard to say exactly which wires are wrong but most likely a power wire and ground is backwards. The best recommendation I can give would be for you to go over the wiring and verify everything is connected correctly.

The green wire gets grounded to the chassis.
The white wire gets connected to the power switch which then goes to the positive battery post.
The yellow wire gets run to the a keyed power source, power only with ignition on.
The red wire connects to the positive battery post for the motor.
The brown wire gets connected to door switch.

I attached a diagram that shows how all of the connections should be made also.

expert reply by: Jameson C

click to enlarge

Lee T.

4/4/2020

my steps have reverse polarity after replaceing motor wires are corect all are color coated cant go wrong helppppp. open door it closes close the door it retracks

Chris R.

4/6/2020

Just because the colors match up doesn't necessarily mean the functions do. Have you tried reversing the wires to see if it resolves the issue? Other than a short bridging the two circuits together, I'm not sure what else could cause this.

Mark P.

4/11/2021

@ChrisR I just had this exact problem after taking apart the step motor and reassembling it. I tried several solutions posted on forums and none worked. I haven’t yet seen what turns out to be the right answer. Here it is: when you disassemble the motor, the armature goes through a brush assembly into the motor case which contains two permanent magnets. THE ORIENTATION OF THE MOTOR CASE IS NOT RANDOM. IF IT IS TURNED 180 DEGREES, THE STEPS WILL RUN BACKWARDS. I suspect that one magnet is N and the other S. You don’t need to switch the wires to the motor I’d you have the problem; just take apart the motor again and rotate the motor case by 180 degrees.

Elmer

7/16/2021

@MarkP After several hours of trying everything I saw your post about turning the motor case 180° which is what I did and it finally worked right, before it ran opposite, thanks for saving the day