Retrofitting a wind sensor on an awning

what kind of awning you have right now. Like dometic power pro or??

Davidlatham2012 wrote:
what kind of awning you have right now. Like dometic power pro or??

I believe it is a Dometic 9100 but I'd have to check the manual or the awning to be sure.

I dont believe you can retrofit that awning for a rain sensor. The awnings with a rain sensor have a hidden control box inside the coach to control them. Just adding the sensor will not do anything. That part you found is probably just a replacement sensor. I would do a little more research as I dont want to tell you wrong.

RVers who rely on a wind sensor to protect their awning, end up with no awning.
Old chinese saying.
bumpy

Hahah ... nice one, bumpy. :)

I still feel that having a sensor is better than not having one, since listening to the wind manhandle my awning (on the previous RV) was the main reason for a crappy sleep when there is a nice thunderstorm outside. That manual awning had a nice triangular structure since the support brace was connected back to the trailer so it was very strong, and that is why i never go a failure even though the noise was a bit unsettling. With this "kneeling" type arm, it seems that even a slight breeze would cause the awning to "bend at the knees" as it were, and slacken the awning itself. I do know about the awning support poles and tying the supported awning down to the ground, but that is another discussion.

Also, as many have pointed out (elsewhere) one could leave for a side trip in great weather with a good forecast and have the weather change at the trailer without you even knowing. Or even if you routinely do retract the awning every time you leave, you could forget to do so once in a while. Murphy's Law dictates that is when the wind will come up and ruin the awning.

David - I note that you are an RV tech, and it is great to have your input. When you said "I would do a little more research ..." do you mean you (David) would do some research using your professional connections, or do you mean I should do this research?

Looking at the package I got from Forest River - there was not even a photocopied piece of paper for the awning! Whose fault is this I don't know. I have since gone to their website and downloaded a 4-page user manual, 3 pages of which were useless. There is nothing on the wind sensor and where it can be fitted or how it can be fitted. In the link I provided above in my initial reply to you, there is a table that suggests that the 9100 awning could have a wind sensor. If as you say there is a control box, then there must be some 9100 awnings with and without control boxes ...? That said, it does seem improbable that simply plugging in the sensor in-line at the top of the forward awning arm would add this functionality.

Still looking for concrete affirmation of what is needed.

Also looking for feedback - positive or negative - from users with wind sensors in their awnings.

FWIW - our prior rig was a motorhome with a wind sensor. It worked, but the sensor was the first thing that broke off (multiple times) and in the end we did not bother replacing it.

wmoses wrote:
Hahah ... nice one, bumpy. :)

I still feel that having a sensor is better than not having one, since listening to the wind manhandle my awning (on the previous RV) was the main reason for a crappy sleep when there is a nice thunderstorm outside.

Best wind sensor for getting a good nights sleep is to not leave the awning out over night. Leaving the awing out over night only tempts the awning gods. They will eventually destroy your awning if you tempt them enough, law of averages you might say. Seriously, I personally think it's just asking for trouble to leave the awning out over night. The last thing I want to do is get up in the middle of the night and roll up the awning in the rain, manual or electric. JMHO

my awning does not have any sensors on it,, I find it very easy to push the button and roll it up at night or if we go someplace. Even when we had the manual awning, it never stayed up overnight or when we were gone,, needless to say,, have never had our awning get torn in the wind.