Awning Motor "Dragging"...

[RoadJunkie]

So, I called Carefree and described my concern about my awning motor dragging, sluggish movement, when I raised my awning; it must be a seventeen foot--or so--awning. Naturally, my symptoms were unique and never before experienced throughout the entire history of the company. Does anyone else have this symptom? The motor sounds labored and movement slows to where it is close to actually stopping when raising the awning. There is no change in the battery voltage during the raising process so I believe power to the motor is sufficient.

 

[jbeletti]

So what did Carefree say, other than it's the first time they heard of it? Did they say it sounded abnormal and give you any ideas on what to do?

 

[RoadJunkie]

Nope, they did not admit to any previous complaints with similar symptoms. They did not say it was, or was not, abnormal, but indicated the unit was out of warranty and passed the decision on to us as to whether we wanted to pursue repair at a authorized dealer. I asked if there were any maintenance procedures that would reduce the perceived load to the motor (lubrication), but they replied there was not. I just don't want to dive into this with an approach of replacing parts, e.g. motor, without some certainty that the problem would be resolved. The awning goes down with no problem, which leads me to believe there is no binding at the axles.

 

[Toy1Ton]

I had the same thing with my A&E awning and wound up the tengin spring to one turn tighter and all is good

 

[TedS]

One of the, what they call, gas shocks, they are gas springs, may be bad and is not assisting the motor to retract.

 

[jbeletti]

I had the same thing with my A&E awning and wound up the tengin spring to one turn tighter and all is good

I was thinking the same thing as a potential fix. Before doing this, download the manual on replacing fabric where the tensioning instructions may be included.

 

[Duramax1]

I had the same thing with my A&E awning and wound up the tengin spring to one turn tighter and all is good

I had the same experience.

My unit was still under warranty and the dealer wound up the spring to remedy the problem.

 

[RoadJunkie]

Good idea, I will look up this procedure. This solution would indicate the springs loose some of their "memory" and need to be re tensioned. Thanks guys!

 

[Duramax1]

Just be very careful when retightening the spring.

 

[RoadJunkie]

Just be very careful when retightening the spring.

Oh my gosh...why? Does an overtightened spring cause hair loss? Don't leave me hanging!

Seriously, what do I need to be cautious about? Is there that much energy in the wound up spring?

 

[jbeletti]

...Is there that much energy in the wound up spring?

Yes.

 

[jmgratz]

Mine drags so much it will stop. Then if I wait about a minute it will move again. Guess there must be a thermal cutout in it. It happened to me before and they replaced the main board and that corrected the problem. Guess I need to get it taken care of again while my extended warranty is still valid.