Electric Awning Newbie

[Go-red-car]

Hi everyone... I have done some searching and found the answer to one of my issues and that is that one arm lags till I give it a tug. I have read that lubrication fixes this issue.

It looks like there is no way to adjust the angle on the awning as it goes straight out and collects water. I have read that some have an auto dump feature. How would I tell if mine has this? I had quite a lot of water accumulate and had to push on it will a broom to get it to drain. Are there any modifications that allow an angle on the awning for drainage?

[Florida Ranger]

Do not depend on the Auto Dump to work unless you are willing to get your awing replaced . Because you can not trust it to work like advertised. Ask on this forum how many people trust them . Most of us tilt our Awnings during a rain no matter light the rain will be. And allways roll up the awning during any type of Wind if you want to keep your awning….

[TWP723]

I agree, one side should be just a bit lower than the other. Doesn't really need to be a lot.

[Yooper906]

Originally Posted by Go-red-car

I have read that some have an auto dump feature. How would I tell if mine has this? I had quite a lot of water accumulate and had to push on it will a broom to get it to drain.

Most awnings using a gas spring are auto-dump. I don't trust them. Not that they never work, it's just that they don't work consistently. I was thinking about trying a lighter gas spring on one end, but never did. If expecting rains, I retract it before leaving the site or going to bed for the night.

[dxrobertson]

Are you sure its not adjustable? Some have pins in the arm mounting that you press the pin and move to another hole. This design works quite well, if you have it.

[Go-red-car]

Originally Posted by dxrobertson

Are you sure its not adjustable? Some have pins in the arm mounting that you press the pin and move to another hole. This design works quite well, if you have it.

Thanks, I will check this out!

[Go-red-car]

I did see a number of posts with wrecked awnings. Thansk for the heads-up to not trust the auto dump.

I didn't know that the awning could be adjusted to be slightly higher on one side. I hope that mine can do this... I will check and let you know. Pouring rain here for the next couple of days... and no I don't have the awning out LOL.

[JFlightRisk]

A couple of pictures of the arms might help us. Ours is a manual awning, but I've seen an electric one that had a sticker on the lower arms to pull it down to angle. There has to be a way on yours. Different brand awnings have different ways.

[norty1]

What brand is it?

My Carefree of Colorado has no adjustment but we often leave it out 3 or 4 ft at night to keep the steps dry.

Most Dometic brands have and adjustment and some CoC's.

[Learjet]

Also, don't go all the way out...it will make a dam at the roller.

You should stop when the fabric is still about a 1/4 of the way wrapped around the roller so the water can easy flow off going over the roller if needed.

Of course this doesn't matter if your awning is flat and doesn't have some angle in it already.

[Go-red-car]

Here are a couple of pics of my awning. I have lubed the joints and it operates smoothly now, but one motor shudders a little on retraction. I see no way to adjust one side higher or lower than the other. When I grab the arm to pull one side down it just pops back up. I also see on way to adjust the pitch. It is pretty much 90 degrees and therefore useless for shedding water or increasing level of shade.

PS - I have no idea if the pics will be visible - I used a link to google pics

OK so google won't work as you have to be signed in - here is a Flickr link
https://www.flickr.com/cameraroll

[dxrobertson]

Originally Posted by Go-red-car

Here are a couple of pics of my awning. I have lubed the joints and it operates smoothly now, but one motor shudders a little on retraction. I see no way to adjust one side higher or lower than the other. When I grab the arm to pull one side down it just pops back up. I also see on way to adjust the pitch. It is pretty much 90 degrees and therefore useless for shedding water or increasing level of shade.

PS - I have no idea if the pics will be visible - I used a link to google pics

OK so google won't work as you have to be signed in - here is a Flickr link
https://www.flickr.com/cameraroll

Have to be logged into Flickr as well.
You can just attach the pics to a post with the attachment function above, or I believe the insert image function as well. Then they will be shown right in the post.

[Go-red-car]

Originally Posted by JFlightRisk

A couple of pictures of the arms might help us. Ours is a manual awning, but I've seen an electric one that had a sticker on the lower arms to pull it down to angle. There has to be a way on yours. Different brand awnings have different ways.

A couple of pics:

[dxrobertson]

Originally Posted by Go-red-car

A couple of pics:

still no pics. are they on your pc hard drive (or whatever- local and not out on the net somewhere), and use the attach function?

[Go-red-car]

Originally Posted by dxrobertson

still no pics. are they on your pc hard drive (or whatever- local and not out on the net somewhere), and use the attach function?

OK... I tried inserting a link from Flickr because that is what the "Insert Image" asks for... here they are as attachments uploaded from my desktop

[dxrobertson]

OK, pics!

Unfortunately, your awning arms do not appear to be adjustable, as you originally suspected. There would be series of silver pins/buttons along the lower arm about where it connects to the RV.

Sorry for so many posts leading to a dead end, back to the advise others provide on auto dump.

[Yooper906]

Originally Posted by Go-red-car

OK... I tried inserting a link from Flickr because that is what the "Insert Image" asks for... here they are as attachments uploaded from my desktop

Same as mine. There is no adjustment. Heavy rain, all you can hope for is the spring shocks will retract from water weight, and dump some water. I posted on this. There isn't even a good slope on these awnings.

[Go-red-car]

Originally Posted by dxrobertson

OK, pics!

Unfortunately, your awning arms do not appear to be adjustable, as you originally suspected. There would be series of silver pins/buttons along the lower arm about where it connects to the RV.

Sorry for so many posts leading to a dead end, back to the advise others provide on auto dump.

Thanks for your efforts to help DX. Very much appreciated. It is a poor design and quite frankly, I’d be happier going back to a manual awning as this is pretty much useless. Even if I could change the pitch that would be a help.

David

[Go-red-car]

Originally Posted by Yooper906

Same as mine. There is no adjustment. Heavy rain, all you can hope for is the spring shocks will retract from water weight, and dump some water. I posted on this. There isn't even a good slope on these awnings.

Yes totally agreed… I was out there with a broom to get the water off the awning. Tech is not always your friend or a step forward. I haven’t given up though I’m going to see if I can relocate the piston arms to get a pitch that will shed water. I’ll post if I come up with something 👍

[Bill Johnson]

I don't like these automatic awnings, a slight wind and it will slam it against the rv. My automatic dump works great every time, but I do drop one end. I'm going to Minnesota and for the first time I'm going to tie it out. I have 2 straps about 12 inches with loops to go around the tube and a couple of straps. It will work on days that not too windy.