Awning Lights Made Easy, Untangling the Mess

[LadyWindrider]

Hello,

After trying to carry a few awning lights around, I got tired of the hassle of untangling the wires, and connecting the lights by all the little clips every time we set up. This also became a problem in case you have you to get your awning down in a hurry for a thunderstorm.

Here is the solution I came up with to make things go a little easier and faster when needed:

Start be setting up your awning, leaving it low enough to attach the awning light holders, I use these:

Next bent some some brazing wire in to "S" hooks, about 5 inches long:

Then did some math. I have a 16 foot awning, so needed 15 feet or so of lightweight tubing. I used EMT, (metal) conduit used to run house wiring in. It is metal, so easy to paint, rigid, yet light weight. I bought 2, 10 foot pieces for less than $5.00. Then I cut them in half. I only needed 15 feet, so three of the pieces is what I used. I drilled a hole in each end, and inserted a 3/16 inch, 3 inch long "eye" bolt, securing with a nut on the inside of the tubing, using "loc-tite" so it wouldn't come off.

Then I "zip tied" 5 of our lights to one piece of conduit, and 5 to the other. Since my light string is only 10 feet long, I bought another set and used 6 lights from it, cutting the wires and insulating the ends properly.
That gives me 16 lights in 16 feet of awning.

Start by hanging the awning hangers, then the brass hooks, then hang the lights by the middle first. The swing the other ends and hook them in to place, making adjustments as needed. Plug them in and enjoy a grilled burger as DW is doing. Hope this helps some, it did us. The pics are us in the yard, and not camping, but we will be soon.

[leencharlotte]

Awesome I got an ocean front campsite Ocean Lakes (myrtle beach) next week and I have been trying to find a solution for this. I have the electric awning which I keep hearing "dont not tie down". I was not looking forward to taking the lights up and down every time a storm came or the ocean breeze picked up.

I will be heading to Lowes this week!!!

[SaskCampers]

Great idea. I will have to do some changes to you deal as we don't have place to store 9' long items out of site so perhaps 4 1/2 ft sections for our 18' awning.

[RubenZ]

We have an electric awning and I'm wondering how on earth I'll get lights on there. Don't want to have to carry around a ladder Nice Idea though

[leencharlotte]

Originally Posted by RubenZ

We have an electric awning and I'm wondering how on earth I'll get lights on there. Don't want to have to carry around a ladder Nice Idea though

You possibly will have black knobs in the middle of your awning arms. You can pull the arms down (like dumping the water off) and tighten the knobs to hold the extended section lower. That is what I do

[RubenZ]

Thanks! We've only been RV'ing for about 1yr and our first RV was a small 16footer with the manual awning. This new RIG is our first with Auto Awning. I did notice the knobs and now remember we can lower it. Thanks for the reminder.

[popbreed]

Do you leave the hangers (pic #1) in the awning slot when you retract the awning? Very neat solution!

[LadyWindrider]

I personally do not leave the hangers in the slot when I retract the awning. The directions that came with theses said you could, and I might in a wind storm, if I had to get the awning down in a hurry. I also don't have them all on one piece of conduit. I have them on three, 4 foot sections of conduit. Two pieces of conduit hold one 10 foot strand of lights. I showed a pic of hanging these, starting in the middle. The other 4 foot section of conduit, holds 6 lights, ct from another strand, with the wires end properly insulated. I just plug the two strands together when they are all up. As for storing, I have 3, 4 foot long pieces of conduit with the lights attached to store. Sorry for any confusion.

[SaskCampers]

Thanks makes sense now, The pieces looked alot longer than 4ft and I was thinking Geeze must be storing those in the garage.