what if..... (Electric Awning Fails)

[jdesiano1]

We just acquired a ntu hybrid that has an electric awning. Yay right? Well the way my mind works is straight to the bad!!! What happens if it gets stuck out??? Is there a back up for manually putting it up or am I just stuck?

[Denise]

Well the good news... in the near four years of this forums existence, the only real complaint with electric awnings is that the flat pitched can be unreliable in the wind and difficult to clean. The bad news is that because not a lot of motor failure, there isn't a lot of advice to share from previous postings regarding how to roll in a failed motor. Hopefully your luck will be as good as ours... over the past three and half years, we have used our tt and awning about four to six months out of each year. Fortunately, still no problem other than a little rust on one of the pistons that we keep on top of *knock on wood*.

In case your question doesn't get many suggestions, on a really quick search there was one thread on a motor failure that I found though from last year that may be helpful. And, as always be sure to contact Jayco directly for updated info on your current year model electric awning

[Seann45]

On the front leg at the roller there should be 2 metal "buttons" directly apply power to those to roll the awning up or down.. one is pos one is neg.. BUT if the motor or gears fail... then you have to remove the fabric put the frame up and zip tie it in place ... dont ask me how I found this out.... grrrrr

[Denise]

Another thought... there are many rv manufacturers out there that use the same brand electric awnings that Jayco does. Entertain your 'what if' question at rv.net and see what you can find out from a wider audience who have the same awning. Also try contacting the awning company directly to find out what they recommend if the motor fails on your model of their electric awnings. Hope this helps. Other than what's posted here, let us know what your research comes up with

[jdorant]

I always wondered the same thing... My old carefree electric awning, I was never able to figure it out. The Dometic awning on my new white hawk has very easy to follow instructions on how to do it with 2 options. 1) connecting an alternate power source to it 2) and a method using a strap (provided) and removing 2 screws, pulling it in with the strap, and putting the 2 screws back in place. I hope I never have to use either method.

[MrKong]

I thought about buying a spare motor, but there are something like 280.00 give or take. That would be one piece of mind to have on hand. They are not hard to change out if it did fail.