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Old 10-15-2018, 01:45 PM   #1
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awning wont open or close

we have the legless horizontal style awning

i noticed it was not fully closed and seated in its travel position,
i was going to simply extend it a little and then reverse it to close it

(hoping it would close 100%, since we had traveled with it in the not totally closed position while we drove home the other weekend),

thats how close it was to being closed - it looked normal unless you really looked closely.

anyway, so when i stopped it and hit the close portion or the rocker switch, nothing happened and now it is stuck open,

all buttons are in the proper position, i tried using the generator power , the 30 amp cord , nothing,. fuses look good everything else works, no clicking or any noises from the switches or motors anywhere

i am starting to believe that the wires from the coach to the awning have a short but i am nor qualified to play with that too much,

we took delivery 2 yrs ago and i always thought someone had banged up or monkeyed with that corner with the wires. because it was a very shoddy caulking job on that corner,

any one have any ideas?

im planning on pulling the loose awning closed and tying it to the frame rails

and driving it the 10 miles to the dealer, using the back roads to get there, 35mph like.

thanks

sorry to step on anyones questions, was just excited to see an awning posting!
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Old 10-15-2018, 01:52 PM   #2
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awning wont open or close

just realized also that i have a picture of the suspect corner in my albums,
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Old 10-15-2018, 02:00 PM   #3
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akronite,

It sounds to me like a wire coming from the motor out on the end of the arm has disconnected from another wire that extneds to the side and inside the trailer.

do you have access to a wire(s) that come from the trailer and extend out one of the arms to the motor in the awning?

If you do then trace the wire from the coach side to the awning motor. There may be a splice that connects the two wire(s) (one from the awning end and one from the trailer side) that is loose and does not allow any electric to get to the motor. There has to be wires on one of the arms. Will pushing the rocker switch get someone else to jiggle the connection trying to push it together.

Can you pull out the awning manually until you see the wire splice?
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Old 10-15-2018, 06:30 PM   #4
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great info thank you i will update later
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Old 10-16-2018, 06:33 PM   #5
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awning wont close

so, How does one do it manually, on these fancy dometic units,

ive taken the cover off the end of the front arm there isnt a bolt that you can turn,

there is wiring which i will investigate more tomorrow,

i will make a jumper from one of my quick charger wires. if i find a plug in.

isnt there a simple crank-in type of option?

the only videos ive seen were rather limited and didnt seem to be the same issue that i am having,

like i said i will give it a go in the morning, maybe i missed something.
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Old 10-16-2018, 07:00 PM   #6
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Are you saying that you have the awning open (extended)?
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Old 10-17-2018, 07:11 AM   #7
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yes its out 3 feet, doesnt appear to have any power ( everything else works)
wont go in or out now
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Old 10-17-2018, 11:55 AM   #8
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To see if it is the motor run some wires from your camper battery (move the battery closer if needed) to the motor and see if it goes in or out, if it goes out than reverse the wires and it should go in.
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Old 10-17-2018, 02:54 PM   #9
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Does the motor make any noise when you push the switch? You might have to have someone else push the switch while you are close to the motor end of the awning to tell if it makes any noise. If it makes noise then there is power to the motor.
I will tell you what happened to ours, twice so far. Awning was apparently closed in a wind so it did not close completely. Could not tell unless you looked close. Drove from Yellowstone to Michigan. Both times this happened the awning was a little misaligned. I took the end cap off the roller to access the motor. Removed the motor and put it on the work bench. Used a small 12 volt battery and extra connector to connect the battery to the motor. Nothing but a clunk sound. So I proceeded to disassemble the motor. After taking the motor out of the housing I tried to power it again and it started to work. Really did not do anything other than take it apart. I put it all back together, checking at each step to see if the motor would still work and it did. Put the motor back in the awning and reattached the end cap. It is still working. This is the second time this has happened and I think it has to do with rolling up crooked.
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Old 10-17-2018, 03:10 PM   #10
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Couple of questions...
1. Many of these 'legless" awnings are 120v AC (yes 120v)
Do you know the voltage of yours?

2. What is the make/model of your awning?
Many of the Colorado "legless" awnings I looked at during the R/V show were remote control and the sales guy was explaining things like in/out stop limits and calibration procedures. He also said there was a manual override where you could put a cordless drill.

I don't know what YOU have but give us a make and model and we'll try to help you.
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Old 10-18-2018, 06:56 AM   #11
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awning wont close

ok so yesterday i just finished making up a 'jumper' wire and was getting set to use it, but thought,

"just let me check the button operation one last time",

and dont cha know the awning went completely out then back in, no problem,

so I'm pretty sure there is a short in the wires somewhere,

got it scheduled to go to the dealer and let them run thru it.

put my new jumper wire in the tool box for future use!

thx
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Old 10-18-2018, 07:38 AM   #12
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Quote:
so I'm pretty sure there is a short in the wires somewhere,
I know most people describe a short as anything wrong with an electrical connection...

and not trying to be nit-picky but, a SHORT would blow a fuse. In your situation you have described an OPEN, which is intermittent and causing no power to get to the awning. This could be a faulty connection at the switch, the switch itself, or as I tried to describe above, a BAD connection (usually a crimp connection, which is two wires spliced together) in a wire that connects to the motor.

Describing the situation correctly as an OPEN to someone experienced in electrical troubleshooting will help them greatly!
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Old 10-18-2018, 08:10 AM   #13
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Great that you got it going. And rsdata's advice of proper terminology will help a knowledgeable technician find what could be a problematic, intermittent issue.

When at the dealer. have them explain and show you how to override the system should it fail again. Find out the make and model while there too, then report back here with the findings so others with the same type awning can glean valuable information from your post.
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Old 10-18-2018, 08:33 AM   #14
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rsdata, you beat me to it!
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Old 10-18-2018, 08:42 AM   #15
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rsdata, you beat me to it!
Quote:
from the coach to the awning have a short but i am nor
I was going to jump on his mis-use of SHORT way back after I read his initial post... I could not let the second error usage pass... LOL
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Old 10-18-2018, 08:52 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by akronite View Post
ok so yesterday i just finished making up a 'jumper' wire and was getting set to use it, but thought,

"just let me check the button operation one last time",

and dont cha know the awning went completely out then back in, no problem,

so I'm pretty sure there is a short in the wires somewhere,

got it scheduled to go to the dealer and let them run thru it.

put my new jumper wire in the tool box for future use!

thx
Glad to hear your up and running. Have you had this rig out in the rain just prior to this problem? If so, it is entirely possible that the motor may have gotten wet and there may have not been good conductivity at the armature. Over the course of a few days it may have dried out? Just a thought.

Additionally, I suggest you get your awning model number off of the tag and go to the Dometic website and download the operation/maintenance manuals.
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Old 10-25-2018, 07:13 AM   #17
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all good info, thx.

nothing new to report

due at the dealer in a week or so, will find out more then.

to be continued,,,
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Old 10-25-2018, 07:19 AM   #18
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Water is not an electrical insulator.
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