Wind sense awning – worthwhile?

[CVD]

What’s the consensus on a wind sensing awning? Do they work? Reliable?

My thinking is I’d use the awning more if it had an automatic retracting feature. I camp in the desert frequently and am afraid to leave the RV for the day with the awning out, in fear of heavy wind popping up and destroying the awning.

BTW - I’m in very early phases of shopping for a newer rig. The Newmar Ventana (4038) has about every feature on my wish list, except a wind sensing awning. The Dutch Star does have it, for an extra $40 - 50k.

[Ivylog]

The wind sensor on a Girrard awning is OEM and it's adjustable. I had to adjust mine last week because I lost the propeller and the new one was not the same size. Takes a windy day and some trial and error to get it adjusted correctly. A lateral arm awning is much better about staying put and not going over the top of the motorhome but I still bring it most of the way in when we're not at the motorhome.

I would not pay extra for a wind sensor on a roll up awning as you need to put it in when not using.

[the_silverback]

I have one. It is turned off. Enough said.

[C20]

We have on and it works ok. We were in Sturgis at the rally and hosting a margarita night when a storm came up and and before the sensor or us could get it in, the awning blew almost over the motorhome. No damage but I guess the lesson is that they might not work fast enough all the time.

Like the guy said in our orientation on rain sensing fans, the have to get rain in them first, so your floor is going to get wet. His other advice was never leave the awning out if you leave, go to sleep etc. That was the number one reason they replaced awnings!

Good adivce.

[1971duster340]

It's hard to know how many times the sensor has saved us. I would never leave the awning fully extended in our absence, but partially? sure. If you are home or absent and there's a wind, a power awning will retract at the same speed whether the sensor or person is at the controls.
It's not so much the sensor keeping an eye on the wind, it's water accumulation that worries me and has created damage. Also, our awning can't be easily dipped to speed the runoff rate.
We have a Carefree of CO Mirage and at first it seemed flimsy, but once I came home to a hundred+ gal. of water and no damage. On another instance there was damage, but I suspect the weight of the water caused the support arm to punch thru the fabric.

[CVD]

Thanks for the feedback. I hadn’t thought about how much easier an electric awning will be. Sounds like that will be a better solution for me (I’ll just push the button whenever I leave).

The Dutch Star has a number of enhancements over the Ventana, but the awning won’t be a “decider” for me.

[chuckftboy]

I had a wind sensor on my last coach but it never seamed to work correctly. The good thing was, it would retract when the outdoor temp dropped to 32 degrees. Guess that was to prevent ice build up. Anyway my current coach doesn't have a wind sensor but that's okay because when we leave, I just push a button and roll it in.
Personally, I would spend an extra $100 for a wind sensor but no more than that.

[discovery4us]

Everyone in our group that has the wind sensor has them turned off. Those that have power in and out with the touch of a button use their awnings more than the one's that have manual awnings and I haven't bothered to replace mine after the wind tried to reinstall the awning on the wrong side of the MH.

I like the power awning but would not pay for the wind sensor.

[aerbus32]

We thought ours had it, doesn't. Probably a good thing. It seems like, unless you have a Gerard set-up (we don't) the awning angle over a front room slide is real susceptible to wind. I suspect ours would automatically retract from a good sneeze. Manually, I bring it in at even the slightest breeze. It's pretty useless. A fantastic Newmar dealer in Moorpark (from Corona it is worth your drive) warned us that you can't just put the awning out & forget it. Wind gusts are the real culprit. Case in point. Sitting in a high end park about a year ago in No Cal. Guy pulls in with a 45' Zephyr towing a brand new Cadillac SUV. We start talking. He mentions his Gerard's had failed to retract during a heavy rain/wind storm at their last site. They were severely damaged. A mobile repair unit had to come in & fix them. He was a great guy, but actually had a mobile RV wash clean his coach because there were too many bugs on the front of it. I suspect he just put the awnings out & relied totally on the sensors.
FYI. Our next coach will be a DS. We're in Murrieta. The dealership in Moorpark would be our first choice. Northern Oregon second.

[Bumpyroad]

never owned one. never wanted one.
bumpy

[wallynm]

We retrofitted ours with one several years ago. Has a remote fob also. my only gripe is that wind sensor is very sensitive and it will retract in very little wind. Sometimes I turn off the wind sensor feature when we are sitting under the awning in a lit breeze. We never leave the awning down when we are not in or around the RV. Works great.

CVD wrote:
What’s the consensus on a wind sensing awning? Do they work? Reliable?

My thinking is I’d use the awning more if it had an automatic retracting feature. I camp in the desert frequently and am afraid to leave the RV for the day with the awning out, in fear of heavy wind popping up and destroying the awning.

BTW - I’m in very early phases of shopping for a newer rig. The Newmar Ventana (4038) has about every feature on my wish list, except a wind sensing awning. The Dutch Star does have it, for an extra $40 - 50k.

[Effy]

If you've ever seen an awning retract it's easy to conclude that it would never retract in time before damage is done if the gust is strong enough. I am not sure I understand the logic behind self retracting awnings for this very reason. Any manual tells you anyway to never leave it out and unattended. We always pull ours in if we leave for any length of time. I've seen a few awnings with bent arms.

[jwolf55]

Never owned one but I have seen two at campgrounds wrapped over the top of coaches due to a sudden wind burst. So if the wind give the awning a coupe of easy warning gust it will retract but it it is just hit with one big gust it is over your roof before it has time to sense it and retract it.
Same with a manual, if the wind give you warning gust you can put it in, if not it can be over your roof before you think about it. I have an old fashioned manual on with down supports that I think take wind better than the scissor ones with no downward support. But then are a lot more work to open and close. But I would not leave for the day with any large patio awning out. I leave my window awning out.