LED Awning Light Warning

[ADIRKS30]

Dealing with Heartland on it


And just so it's clear. We opened our awning, there was smoke and smoldering embers in our awning. The led light was off. We turned it on after seeing what the damage was to see if the lights worked. The awning had not been open for two weeks.

 

[danemayer]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

Hi ADIRKS30,

Suggest you call Heartland Customer Service at 877-262-8032 / 574-262-8030. Have your VIN # ready. They should be able to help you find a service location near you. Dealers are independent and some will refuse service to people who didn't buy from them. Many on the forum believe that going to an independent servicer is a better choice anyway because service is their entire business - they survive and prosper by doing good work.

 

[Realist]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

Have you talked to Heartland by phone?
Having read your letter to Heartland, it sounds a little barbed.
Remember the fly attractant, it aint vinegar.

Realist

 

[ParkIt]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

Something I went through and found is how its done: if you are trying to get any dealership to accept the unit under warranty work, its best to contact your insurance company first. They will correspond with HL and pre-approve a dealership close to you, at least that is how it worked for me and while frustrating at first, I just reminded myself this has been the process for decades in the RV industry.

Curious: did the dealership you purchase from install the strip? Reason I ask is the one I take mine to won't sell or install them, they have one mounted to the customer desk in the store that looks like yours. They do this because it only takes one metal attachment staple to short it out AND since the quality control isn't very good from the companies that make them (China), it can be hit and miss during the length cutting process which can also cause a short and burn out anywhere along the strip.
I still stick to rope lights with plastic clips. Its old fashioned but I like them better than the strips.

If you still feel like you are bumping into walls, try contacting your insurance company to see if they can help facilitate the process of getting your unit to a reliable dealership close by to check all the issues you are having.

 

[tmcran]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

Have you talked to Heartland by phone?
Having read your letter to Heartland, it sounds a little barbed.
Remember the fly attractant, it aint vinegar.

Realist

Barbed? If that happened to my family and endangered my child barbed would be putting it lightly. If this had happened to a motor vehicle the NTSB and every safety group would be yelling for an investigation as well as halting sales until the cause was found.

 

[ParkIt]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

RIVA is the equivalent of the NTSB and works with them, just in case you'd like to know which Federal Standards are governed and by whom.
Information about who they are and what they do regarding the RV industry: http://www.rvia.org/?ESID=facts

 

[cookie]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

It looks like the lights were on when the awning was rolled up.
I say that because of the repeated burn holes.
Do they have an on/off switch? Or stay on all the time? I am not familiar with that system.

Peace
Dave

 

[tmcran]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

RIVA is the equivalent of the NTSB and works with them, just in case you'd like to know which Federal Standards are governed and by whom.
Information about who they are and what they do regarding the RV industry: http://www.rvia.org/?ESID=facts

Does not RIVA represent RV manufacturer's and the components. Not sure I see where they are at all the same as NTSB.

 

[Mark-Mullin]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

Mine have a switch to turn off or on, if left on rolled up I would expect them to get hot enough to melt plastic. I am not making any judgement but in any case I don't see how Heartland could possibly foresee this happening.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[ADIRKS30]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

Have you talked to Heartland by phone?
Having read your letter to Heartland, it sounds a little barbed.
Remember the fly attractant, it aint vinegar.

Realist

It probably is a little barbed, just a little scary to see the 5th wheel that you and your family sleep in that close to burning.

 

[ADIRKS30]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

It looks like the lights were on when the awning was rolled up.
I say that because of the repeated burn holes.

Do they have an on/off switch? Or stay on all the time? I am not familiar with that system.

Peace
Dave

The lights were off when we unrolled it. We turned them on to see if they worked. The ones came on up to that burnt spot

 

[olcoon]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

Instead of contacting my insurance company, I'd go straight to Heartland like Dan said, & make sure you have your VIN handy, as they'll ask for it. This way you are cutting out the middle man. I've talked to Heartland's service dept. several times, and they are good people & will do all they can to work with you. I'd also suggest when you talk to them to be calm & polite (not saying that you wouldn't), but I think they'll be more cooperative, and won't be put on the defense from the start. I see you are from Jamesport, we are N. of KC, I don't know if you'd want to pull it down here, but, if Heartland would approve it, I know one place that would give you good service. It's Abe Thompson RV Service Center. They are at 510 N. Broadway Oak Grove, MO phone # 816-690-2163. If you were familiar with Nationwide RV before they sold out to Camping World, Abe is part of the family that owned Nationwide, and I can "almost" guarantee 100% that you'll get good work from him. Nationwide had an excellent reputation with all aspects of their business, & Abe was the service manager. From what I understand he may have done some Heartland warranty work in the past & I've heard Heartland is wanting him to become a dealer.

Hope you get your problems resolved with a good solution!

 

[StephenKatSea]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

As Cookie noted, are those repeated holes caused by the heat from the smoked LED? If so, it appears the damage was done when the awning was rolled up. I am not familiar with this system. Can the lights be turned on when in the rolled up position? Or, is there a limit switch to prevent that?

 

[murry135]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

Our LED lights are mounted on coach side of awning frame, not the roller. Who mounted the lights for you? All Heartland products I saw have LED's mounted on frame against coach and not on roller which roll the light strip up inside awning fabric.

 

[olcoon]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

murry135,
I was wondering the same thing, after looking at the photos again, it looks like the were mounted on the part of the awning away from the coach on the outside edge of the awning. Any that I've seen were mounted on the coach under the awning. Also it's puzzling how when rolled up, and turned off they would short out, and burn holes in the awning. Possibly instead of a fuse, there is an automatic breaker, but that wouldn't explain the switch being in the off position. ADIRSK30, you've got an odd issue, hope you can get it taken care of! Let us know what the issue is...inquiring minds need to know.

 

[murry135]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

There have been reports of after market LED strips burning out in sections or spots but they all have be on. Some strips are fused with a too high AMP fuse or they are wired direct into panel at too high fused location. ie: 15amps instead of 3amps.

 

[dave10a]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

Have you talked to Heartland by phone?
Having read your letter to Heartland, it sounds a little barbed.
Remember the fly attractant, it aint vinegar.

Realist

Professional customer support does not concern their selves with "barbs" from customers. If they do it is time to find another service representative. Professionals concern their selves with addressing and solving a problem properly.

 

[ParkIt]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

Our LED lights are mounted on coach side of awning frame, not the roller. Who mounted the lights for you? All Heartland products I saw have LED's mounted on frame against coach and not on roller which roll the light strip up inside awning fabric.

This is why I was curious as to who installed it. Sometimes dealerships (some, not all) don't know where to place them and not wired amperage properly as Murry135 pointed out.
Hopefully HL can help you get this figured out and repaired properly by a knowledgeable dealership.

 

[jbeletti]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

Our LED lights are mounted on coach side of awning frame, not the roller. Who mounted the lights for you? All Heartland products I saw have LED's mounted on frame against coach and not on roller which roll the light strip up inside awning fabric.

The toy hauler line uses Carefree and they have their LED strip on the awning tube.

 

[ADIRKS30]

Re: A message for prospective Heartland RV owners.

The led were on from factory. The lights were off, as I have said in above posts, they were turned on after the awning was out to see if they worked. I had only opened this awning like once, it is the small one at the back and we usually just open the big one. I do think something could be wired incorrectly, the switch to turn the lights on and off was backwards when we got the unit, I thought it was just the little cover plate got put on wrong and turned it around. To explain further, like when you turned the lights on, the switch would say they were off, when you switched them off, the switch would say on. I noticed this as soon as I got the unit so I thought I would just change the cover around but obviously something is still wrong. I have been just leaving the awning out now so we can monitor it. I wonder how I could disconnect all power to the lights until it gets fixed, so I can sleep easier? Anyone have any ideas?