Terryallan wrote:
R12RTee wrote:
Your awning appears to be the A&E Dometic Weather Pro. If it is this is how it works.
Left Arm
Your A & E awning is designed to shed water if left out in
light rain. If water builds up on the awning, the left arm will
automatically decrease the awning height approximately 9
inches. When there is no longer the need to shed water it
will return to the normal height.
Have you tried it in the rain yet?
Electric awnings are great and anyone that thinks a manual is better is still in the stone age and seem to really hate changes.
OR we just like things that we can use. An awning that has to be retracted in the rain, ANY rain. Is useless.
Last week at the beach it was raining so hard visibility was nil, and it sounded like thunder on the TT roof. But the manual awning was out, and doing just fine. Doing it's job. Water running off of it like Niagara Falls.
I did however, take it in during the tornado warning. Wind got up some. But you know. Those DeFlappers work wonders
Terry, I thought like you for many years. Loved our manual awning, wanted nothing else. Water won't drain off electric one, blah blah blah, I always thought.
Then, when we moved up to a MH over a year ago, we were forced to go to an electric awning, as that was pretty much the only thing they put on the one we wanted.
I was very skeptical, even thought about pulling it off and spending a bunch of $$ to put on a a manual awning. However, I did not, and now am very glad I didn't do something so foolish. With time I have learned to really appreciate what the electric awning offers over a manual awning.
Ours is like many described here - when the weight of rain on the awning gets too much, one side will automatically lower a few inches to let the water off. Once the water drains off, it goes back to its original height. And, no, it is not anything electrical that does the lowering and raising to release water, its all done with springs, tension arms, etc.
However, if you really, really must lower one side, you can do that easily as well with ours, by loosening the adjust knob, pull the side down where you want it, then tighten the knob to hold it to that height.
Contrary to what some think (and I did as well for many years), electric awnings handle water drain-off very well, actually better than a manual awning, IMO. Of all the pros/cons of manual vs electric awnings, water drain-off is actually an advantage of the electric awning, NOT a disadvantage, since it handles such for you without requiring you to manually lower one side.
The huge, huge advantage an electric awning gives that I've really learned to appreciate, and the reason why I prefer it overall: When a big storm comes up like that tornado warning you had, Terry....I push one button from INSIDE the camper, and the awning rolls itself up in a matter of seconds. I don't even have to step outside if its already raining. Some of them can even be worked by a remote control. Also, when I get to our campsite and am very tired and want some shade, there again, I just push a button and seconds later the awning is out and I have shade. Once you get used to that, you won't want to go back to a manual awning, Terry.
๐All that said, there are some disadvantages to an electric awning - They tend to sit higher up, harder to get to for cleaning. In some cases they do not give quite as much shade area due to their height, angle. And, they come with the risk that one day an electrical malfunction could render it inoperable.
If you don't want/like an electric awning for those reasons, I can definitely understand and respect that. However, don't use rain drain-off as an excuse/reason, as that reasoning really doesn't "hold water" (hahahahaha!) with the way electric awnings are made now.
Will and Cheryl
2021 Newmar Baystar 3014 on F53 (7.3 V8) Chassis ("Brook")
2018 Jeep Wrangler JK ("Wilbur")
