question on power awnings

Gary, no doubt both yours are higher end units.
Looking at online pics of the OP's model TT, it could go either way, but his discription seems to indicate a trim level closer to my unit.

Wayne, that's exactly what they are. I got them on sale at Home Depot for 15 bucks each. They extend to 9 feet, which is more than I'll ever need them to reach.
I ended up purchasing bimini top mounting hardware from a marine supply to mount them with.
I don't have a photo of them mounted, but here's the hardware. I simply epoxied the mount to the end of each pole, which has worked very well.

wrvond wrote:
Wayne, that's exactly what they are. I got them on sale at Home Depot for 15 bucks each. They extend to 9 feet, which is more than I'll ever need them to reach.
I ended up purchasing bimini top mounting hardware from a marine supply to mount them with.
I don't have a photo of them mounted, but here's the hardware. I simply epoxied the mount to the end of each pole, which has worked very well.

Good idea. In the first picture they seem to have a metal assembly on the end with a retaining pin. What is that?

l may have a weekend project!

That was my original mounting plan. I removed the threaded end from the poles, then drilled a hole straight through the end. This allowed me to use a pin to attach the rod to the brackets, leaving the brackets attached to the awning arm. The drawback is that the holes in the rod are easily deformed. So I shifted to the black nylon fittings from a bimini top. The pole end and the bracket are the same size, so I put the threaded end back on and used two part epoxy to attach it. The last picture shows screws at the hinge point of the bracket, but as soon as I can get to the hardware store, I'll be replacing them with 1/4" round lock pins similar to the ones in the first picture (those pins are too large).
These are not my photos, but much better illustrations of how it works:





Hope this helps!

Perfect! Thanks for sharing. I will be doing this mod soon.

people who rely on wind detectors to automatically roll up their awnings are people who lose their awning.
bumpy

wrvond wrote:
Gary, no doubt both yours are higher end units.
Looking at online pics of the OP's model TT, it could go either way, but his discription seems to indicate a trim level closer to my unit.

Wayne, that's exactly what they are. I got them on sale at Home Depot for 15 bucks each. They extend to 9 feet, which is more than I'll ever need them to reach.
I ended up purchasing bimini top mounting hardware from a marine supply to mount them with.
I don't have a photo of them mounted, but here's the hardware. I simply epoxied the mount to the end of each pole, which has worked very well.

I have found out mine does not have the automatic roll up when the wind picks up, which i'm glad as you just inviting trouble in my opinion. I will just continue to watch my awning and bring it in when the weather threatens. Does anyone tie down these power awnings? My gut tells me NO but that's just me.

dspencer wrote:
Does anyone tie down these power awnings?

That is exactly what you do when you use the awning poles pictured. You extend the poles to act as support struts and then tie the awning down to the using ropes. The awning roller can neither fly up or down or retract.

wmoses wrote:

dspencer wrote:
Does anyone tie down these power awnings?

That is exactly what you do when you use the awning poles pictured. You extend the poles to act as support struts and then tie the awning down to the using ropes. The awning roller can neither fly up or down or retract.

I'm sorry i guess i'm missing something then. The only one picture i see has no awning poles.

wrvond has posted several pictures which l still see , so your browser may have a problem. There is even a picture of the pole attached to the deployed awning arm but does not show the bottom of the pole at the ground, and the awning is not tied down but if you could see the pictures you'd figure it out.

That hook you see in the last couple photos is the tie down strap. When I had the manual awning, I used to wrap the end of a ratchet strap around the awning tube and attach the other end to a corkscrew anchor in the ground.
With the power awning tie down/pole arrangement, it is better to anchor the pole to the ground by hooking the strap to the pole, rather than the awning itself, then hooking the other end to the corkscrew anchor in the ground. The reason for this is that the arms on the power awning are significantly weaker than the arms of a manual awning. Undue pressure exerted by a tie down strap could conceivably deform the metal of the arm.

Different folks have made theirs from a variety of materials. One I know used PVC, another used conduit, and yet another used telescoping boat poles. I used the paint poles because they were on sale, very strong, and I couldn't make the friction lock slip even with all my (not inconsiderable) weight on it.