Electric Awning question

DutchmenSport wrote:
Chris Bryant, thank-you for your concern, but my awning will not tip if that arm is bent. It is designed to slide straight if it is to tip. If it is bent, it will never self tip. The purpose for the knob is to tighten it down so it won't slide back into the up position. If it's bent, there's nothing to tighten as the inside part of the bar cannot slide up and down the outside part of the bar.

Your photo is completely correct for the style of awning arm pictured there. There are actual hinged joints in your photos, and looks like nothing slides. In this case, I can certainly understand why extending all the way out would lock up the arm. Mine does not lock. The two halves of the arm slide into each other to cause the tipping to work. If bent, they don't slide at all, which would cause water to pool in the awning, and eventually the weight would break the arms.

You are not using it correctly- the sliding adjustment is only to adjust the pitch of the awning, in order to tilt it. The rain dump has nothing to do with that sliding adjustment. The rain dump is done by the gas spring which holds the awning out- when the weight of the water pooling is more than the gas spring force, the awning will dump, except it must be properly extended, with the "knuckle" slightly bent.

Read the owners manual-
https://www.edometic.com/allusr/pdoc.nsf/pm/C107A29B517EF24F8525796100633574/$FILE/3310%20895%20POWER%20PATIO%20AWNING%20USER'S%20GUIDE.pdf

It is very clear about not hyperextending the awning.

I'm another who favors the manual awning. Only had our electric awning on the GD since November. But in the few times I've used it so far, other than the ease of use, I'm not impressed and would swap it for another manual in a hot minute. No way to install de-flappers, tie it down without poles, etc. I had my manual awning out and secured in some winds that I'm sure would damage the auto one easily whereas the manual never flinched!

Chris Bryant, thank-you for your concern, but my awning will not tip if that arm is bent. It is designed to slide straight if it is to tip. If it is bent, it will never self tip. The purpose for the knob is to tighten it down so it won't slide back into the up position. If it's bent, there's nothing to tighten as the inside part of the bar cannot slide up and down the outside part of the bar.

Your photo is completely correct for the style of awning arm pictured there. There are actual hinged joints in your photos, and looks like nothing slides. In this case, I can certainly understand why extending all the way out would lock up the arm. Mine does not lock. The two halves of the arm slide into each other to cause the tipping to work. If bent, they don't slide at all, which would cause water to pool in the awning, and eventually the weight would break the arms.

laknox wrote:
From everything I've read here and from talking to others, electrics seem to be a =lot= more fragile than manuals. Personally, I'd much rather have a manual awning so I could keep it up during times when an electric needs to be rolled up. Whole idea is to provide shade, which you lose with an electric in even mild breezes.

Lyle

Exactly how I feel. We use our awning rarely but part of the reason is that the slightest breeze causes it to bounce around. We just are afraid something will break or pull loose. The manual may be less convenient, but are more robust. IMO anyway.

DutchmenSport wrote:

I want to point out that the awning pictured is over-extended. The arms should not be straight- they will not always dump correctly that way, and the awning itself will gather more water.










The correct way is to extend it, them retract until the fabric is straight over the tube.

Not sure why the images are not showing- they are now also links, so you can click and see-

If yours is like this, I'm not sure how they function. I don't have any experience with this style. Someone else can jump in and explain how this version works:

From everything I've read here and from talking to others, electrics seem to be a =lot= more fragile than manuals. Personally, I'd much rather have a manual awning so I could keep it up during times when an electric needs to be rolled up. Whole idea is to provide shade, which you lose with an electric in even mild breezes.

Lyle

Don't know exactly what make or model of awning you have.
Here is the manual for ours....electric awning with adjustable pitch and water dump feature.

Carefree Travel-r Awning Manual CLICKY

We as well have two motorized awnings, it takes a little longer than 10 seconds to retract or extend either. Ours has small hydraulic arms attached to the main support arm and when it rains they will dump the water (tilt to one side) automatically at some point. But you can not tilt either of ours manually to one side or the other, they go straight out away from the trailer ...

I will say that I will roll them up if the wind gets over 15mph even thought I have hold downs if i choose to put them on. I sort of miss our old manual awning were I could lower it or tilt it, I guess modern is not always good LOL :)

We enjoy our motorized awning, but sometimes miss the manual one our previous campers had.

They should extend and retract pretty fast (like 10 seconds).

There are 2 types of motorized awnings. Those that tilt and those that do not. It's possible yours may not tilt.

If yours tilts, all you need to do is pull down on one side, or one arm and the arms should slide into itself. Then there is a turn knob to tighten it in place and keep it from slipping back into the upward position.

If yours tilts, it will also automatically dump rain water if you do not have those knobs tightened down. The first time ours dumped, it scared the bee-hee-be-jee-bees out of me! So when raining, keep one end tilted and the knob tight, and the other end loose. Tension keeps it up.

When wind blows, those knobs on both ends need to be tightened down. The keeps the awning from lifting up like a sail in the wind.

Hope this helps.

Edit:

Extended normal:



Extended normal, tighten this knob to keep the arm from moving (in wind), keep it loose to dump rain water.



In down position, one side only here:



Turn knob tight to hold it in down position. Water will run off on it's own. No automatic dumping. I usually keep it set like this in the rain. If it's a bit windy, you can tilt the awning this position also and tighten both arms (knobs) and the wind will not try to lift the awning, but usually will try to push it downward. Works well.