Awning Problem on the Road

[chasdvorak]

So....we're out on the road for one of our first semi-retired trips and I'm having a problem with my awning. We are at a campground in St. Augustine, FL and I tried to roll out the awning. It went about 2-3 ft and hit a hard stop. I let up on the switch so I didn't pop a breaker, but then tried to roll it back in. It rolled in about a foot and then hit the same hard stop. You can actually hear it....like it's hitting metal. I checked the twist locks which were loose, pistons seemed fine, arms move freely so I'm not sure what is causing it to stop. I manually pulled down the fabric and the awning moved back towards the roof with no binding so I'm fairly confident that it was not the piston or arms. I did notice a gap between the arm which is closest to the coach entrance door and the awning. The arm at the fron of the coach does not have this gap.

After I pulled on the fabric, I was able to retract the awning. Being one to tempt fate, I rolled it back out and it worked fine....retracted it and it worked fine. We are going to be on the road for the next few weeks and I'd like to be able to use the awning, but was hoping to find a cause/solution. Any ideas???? I've posted pictures below of the gap on the awning arm and the arm without the gap...which may be a normal condition...or not? Thanks in advance.



Sorry about out the sideways pictures....not sure why it posted like that.

as always....Thanks in advance for the help.

chuck

 

[Roller4tan]

I have the same awning. If I actually release the switch, it makes that hard stop sound, this leads me to believe that your switch may be loosing contact. I'd check out the switch for good continuity while operating it. The motor is on the front strut of the awning tube. Mine have the same space difference as yours. My observation, anyway.
I also spray some lubricant in both ends occasionally.

 

[RoadJunkie]

My awning looks pretty much like yours. Mine is 18' and barely has enough umph to retract, even bought new motor assembly to see if that helped. It didn't. I agree with the switch, since your cinch knobs were loose.

 

[RAHanock]

I have found that mine acts this way when on battery power only. The motors appear to draw a fair amount of current when operating. When the FW is plugged into AC power I don't have this behavior. It could be just my set up, but something to consider.