Your Tales Please Automatic Awning vs Manual
Hi there found a smaller Class C we decided to buy. Manual Operation Awning with new fabric. We have had lots of huge Class A Wind Sensor Awnings that we loved for the most part, however we never rea...
Forum Discussion
We have owned both. Our current Motorhome has an 11' Carefree Electric Awning. It is great. Ours does not have wind sensors, but that's fine. I would most likely turn them off or take them off if it did. Our awning is pitched enough to shed water. If when it is not pitched, it has an auto-dump feature. The only thing I'd like with our awning would be that it retracted a little faster.
Where we camp seasonally, it is right across from a farm. It is constantly windy, from a light breeze to 15 mph winds. We have awning tie downs from Camco with springs that attach to the anchor. The springs are really important and allow the awning to gently move with high winds. Or safely move with really high winds. Our awning survived a storm with 80 mph gusts. The National Weather Service was calling for a T-Storm with winds of 20 - 25 mph, but we got a much different storm. The 7" springs were completely destroyed. They expanded to over 2 feet long and were unusable, but the awning survived and still works fine.
All that being said, if it is really windy and I need to bring the awning in, it is a 2 or 3 person job. When wind moves the awning, it doesn't move symmetrically so there needs to be 2 people holding down the tie downs while the awning slowly retracts. It would be nice if it retracted faster. With a manual awning, it really only takes one person to retract the awning, even in high winds - assuming the rod can be held steady enough to flip the lever to retract the awning.
-Michael
Where we camp seasonally, it is right across from a farm. It is constantly windy, from a light breeze to 15 mph winds. We have awning tie downs from Camco with springs that attach to the anchor. The springs are really important and allow the awning to gently move with high winds. Or safely move with really high winds. Our awning survived a storm with 80 mph gusts. The National Weather Service was calling for a T-Storm with winds of 20 - 25 mph, but we got a much different storm. The 7" springs were completely destroyed. They expanded to over 2 feet long and were unusable, but the awning survived and still works fine.
All that being said, if it is really windy and I need to bring the awning in, it is a 2 or 3 person job. When wind moves the awning, it doesn't move symmetrically so there needs to be 2 people holding down the tie downs while the awning slowly retracts. It would be nice if it retracted faster. With a manual awning, it really only takes one person to retract the awning, even in high winds - assuming the rod can be held steady enough to flip the lever to retract the awning.
-Michael
