Problems With Newer Powered Awning
2016 Keystone Hideout with what I'm certain is/was the cheapest awning available at the time. It worked okay for a few years and then seemed to be slowing down when retracting. Finally, with plenty of power and from difference sources (battery/generator/shore) it ground to a halt while retracting. I jumped up on the picnic table and "helped" it while DW held the button and it eventually came back in.
So, back at home.... do some research and it seems the most likely culprit is a failing motor. So, I throw down the $83 (30 of which I'm sure goes directly to Bezos) on Amazon for a replacement POS Chinese motor. It works better..... but still is A LOT slower retracting than extending and I feel as though I'm going to be in the same boat again with a stuck awning.
Small aside here... I was initially (and still am, I suppose) annoyed at the power awning. The manual awnings on all of my previous RVs have worked perfectly and I never felt exhausted or injured after rolling them in/out but I digress.
So, with this new (better?) power awning I have one more thing that can break and it apparently has. These powered ones are a bit more simple, I suppose, in that they have no torsion springs and are mechanically very simple. They can just be rolled in/out by hand very easily (do be careful though as once you take out the motor it quickly extends). Anyway, I can feel no resistance when rolling in/out by hand but the motor (old and new) both seem to struggle to retract.
Is anyone else a bit further down this road of awning hell and willing to share some vision?
So, back at home.... do some research and it seems the most likely culprit is a failing motor. So, I throw down the $83 (30 of which I'm sure goes directly to Bezos) on Amazon for a replacement POS Chinese motor. It works better..... but still is A LOT slower retracting than extending and I feel as though I'm going to be in the same boat again with a stuck awning.
Small aside here... I was initially (and still am, I suppose) annoyed at the power awning. The manual awnings on all of my previous RVs have worked perfectly and I never felt exhausted or injured after rolling them in/out but I digress.
So, with this new (better?) power awning I have one more thing that can break and it apparently has. These powered ones are a bit more simple, I suppose, in that they have no torsion springs and are mechanically very simple. They can just be rolled in/out by hand very easily (do be careful though as once you take out the motor it quickly extends). Anyway, I can feel no resistance when rolling in/out by hand but the motor (old and new) both seem to struggle to retract.
Is anyone else a bit further down this road of awning hell and willing to share some vision?
