Power awning question

[radioadam]

Quick question for you guys.

Just bought a North Trail FX23 with power awning. It works flawlessly. Being the tacky sort (and wanting to join in the tradition), we bought a rope light and the types of hooks that slide into the awning rail to hang the rope light. My problem is...our awning has the grooves, but the end cap on both ends of the awning cover up the entrance to the groove...which is where the hooks would slide in. The clips we bought are fabric, so they could roll up in the awning, but how do I get them on? Can I take one of the end caps off temporarily? I have nightmare images of removing the end cap to access the groove, and springs and various other pieces flying off into the grass.

Thoughts?

[dadmomh]

Agree with your digressing.....why????? The perfect, IMHO, lighting set up is a couple of bug-candles, maybe a light left on inside and stars. Fast, inexpensive and no hassle with put up/take down.

[wmoses]

I agree with dadmomh despite the fact that I have a factory LED strip under my awning and a string of rope lights. The light is very gright and perhaps garish but I like having the option for those rare occasions when I might have to read or do something else under the awning which requires proper lighting. I only use these lights when there is no adjacent camper on my awning side, which is my preference.

One clear advantage when I have the rope lights wound around the awning supports and attached to the awning roll, is that it makes the RV easy to identify when returning from a night walk.

Speaking of light irritants - one thing I really dislike is the use of 'scare lights' or those outside spotlights that are attached to the sides of RVs and which shione outwards. It would appear that some people see the need to turn them on - and leave them on - for hours on end, even overnight even though these "nice people" are no where around or are sleeping! That is worse than bright awning lights, IMO. Anyway I digress.

[dadmomh]

Just a few of the reasons we still prefer our tacky lights from our ROO. We're of the thought that the rope lights give off too much light and, no offense intended to those who like this idea, if they're moved to the ground they seem to look like an airport runway.

We have our little red lanterns, some pumpkins for fall and baseballs/gloves for our annual trek to spring training. After much trial and error with attaching them simply and quickly, we ended up in the office supply section and got some of the 1" binder clips. Fast to put up and if a storm blows in, we can just give them a couple of pulls and they're down. Put the awning up and then round up the lights and stow them. The light is very minimal and soft - we like them. Most of the time, we just use candles or some of the oil-type lights for a bit of extra light and if it's windy, we don't have to deal with the awning.

[radioadam]

I'm still undecided on the location of where to mount it. I see benefits (and cons) of both sides.

Under the awning on the side of the RV:
Pros - Can use whether awning is deployed or not.
Neater appearance

Cons - Lights blinding when walking up to the unit, pointing at you
Short plug in connection dangling when driving


On the awning itself:
Pros - Gives the patio area a glow from afar, rather than seeing actual LED strip.
No chance of it blowing off when going down the highway since it's rolled up

Cons - Not as neat looking with power cord going to it
Awning has to be deployed to use it

I have a few days before my strip arrives to finalize the placement.

[Eyetattoo]

APT wrote:
I used lights that hung from awning for a year before getting something like this LED kit. Way way way way way better. Roll up with the awning. whatever color to match our mood.

I see on the kit you linked to it show a standard 110 plug, did it also come with 12v hookups? Also whitch setup did you get from that seller, I see 4 waterproof ones. Thanks.

[wmoses]

JesLookin wrote:
We mounted our LED strip on the camper just below the awning. Mounting this way the lights can be used any time, independent of the awning. I routed the wires up over the top & down the ladder.

This is how mine are wired from the factory. When the awning is rolled up they are still usable and provide lots of illumination as outside lighting.

[Major_Dad]

JesLookin wrote:
We mounted our LED strip on the camper just below the awning. Mounting this way the lights can be used any time, independent of the awning. I routed the wires up over the top & down the ladder.

I really like this solution to the problem. I have an electric awning with LED lights that can only be used when the awning is deployed. The only problem is that since my awning doesn't tilt, I only have it unfurled for shade and never for rain. There is no need for shade at night, so I really don't want to extend the awning just to use the lights...which means I'll probably never use the LED awning lights.

[JesLookin]

We mounted our LED strip on the camper just below the awning. Mounting this way the lights can be used any time, independent of the awning. I routed the wires up over the top & down the ladder.

[APT]

The only trouble is how to wire them. I mounted to the roller of my awning and run the wires from my battery each trip. Some people mount to the TT wall just under the awning which could be more permanently wired.

[wmoses]

Glad to hear that you have a solution - you will be pleased with the LED strip as I am with mine which came from the factory like that. I too have a rope light as a "spare" now and may throw that one the ground if I need it.

[radioadam]

APT wrote:
I used lights that hung from awning for a year before getting something like this LED kit. Way way way way way better. Roll up with the awning. whatever color to match our mood.

Thanks for the many comments!

I just ordered the LED kit linked in the above post. Thanks!

Anybody wanna buy a rope light? :B

[Majja13]

I would return the rope lights and just go with one not the LED kits like mentioned above and then just attach with 3m adhesive and roll up in the awning.

[Huntindog]

Don't remove the cap!!! On most if not all, that will set the spring free. Bad news, and possibly dangerous.
I had the same issue on my last TT when I needed to replace the fabric.
I read about a tip to make it easy on this forum.
Using a dremel with a cutting tool, and a grinding stone, I simply made the groove in the end cap. It is easier than it seems.

[greende]

hawkhill wrote:
We had the same challenge that you have. We actually went to putting our rope lights on the ground around the patio area for two reasons. One - you are not suppose to tie down a power awning, so to save it in bad weather, we found it is easy to put it in if you don't have to worry about taking off the lights and two, we could not find a secure way to secure the rope lights to the awning. We have talked about having led rope lights permanently installed right under the awning.

This is what we do now that we have a power awning. It gets rolled up much more frequently than our old manual awning.