Electric Awning
Awning always goes out without issue. When retracting, it gets about half way and stops. Let sit for about 30-60 seconds and then will finish closing. It seems that the hydraulic cylinders build up t...
Forum Discussion
I have the CareLess Eclipse awning.
Awning retracting: Battery 12.6V, input to awing switches 10.8V, motor voltage 9.1V (TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY INADEQUATE), 16ga wire for the relay and additional 12ga and 14ga wire for both Monaco and CareLess. Increasing the battery voltage to say 13.4V for float charging helps but still inadequate.
Using some temporary heavy wiring to the switches (a battery or charger would do) the awning worked much better. I then installed 8ga positive and minus wires to the switch input and the voltage was 11.3V to the motor, a 2.2V increase to the motor.
The CareLess relay has long 16 ga wires that could be cut to 1" and spliced or just buy an equivalent relay with terminals to further increase the voltage. It's not rocket science as the relay just reverses the polarity to the awning. ie DC motor run in the opposite direction when the polarity is reversed.
In a nutshell the wiring is inadequate for the job. It appeared possible (but difficult) in my rig to replace the wiring from the switch to the outside wall and on to the CareLess motor.
But IMHO the CareLess Eclipse awning is a marginal design at best as it tends to blow up and down with a small wind. I also had the pot metal end cap strip on an Interstate as it started to unwind. Ropes solved that problem until I could repair it.
Awning retracting: Battery 12.6V, input to awing switches 10.8V, motor voltage 9.1V (TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY INADEQUATE), 16ga wire for the relay and additional 12ga and 14ga wire for both Monaco and CareLess. Increasing the battery voltage to say 13.4V for float charging helps but still inadequate.
Using some temporary heavy wiring to the switches (a battery or charger would do) the awning worked much better. I then installed 8ga positive and minus wires to the switch input and the voltage was 11.3V to the motor, a 2.2V increase to the motor.
The CareLess relay has long 16 ga wires that could be cut to 1" and spliced or just buy an equivalent relay with terminals to further increase the voltage. It's not rocket science as the relay just reverses the polarity to the awning. ie DC motor run in the opposite direction when the polarity is reversed.
In a nutshell the wiring is inadequate for the job. It appeared possible (but difficult) in my rig to replace the wiring from the switch to the outside wall and on to the CareLess motor.
But IMHO the CareLess Eclipse awning is a marginal design at best as it tends to blow up and down with a small wind. I also had the pot metal end cap strip on an Interstate as it started to unwind. Ropes solved that problem until I could repair it.
