2020 Palomino Puma 32rbfq awning

[Myhaven2]

Hello all. New to this adventure. Just purchased this trailer. Have no idea what type awning or motor, so that is a moot point. When trying to extend awning, I hear a click up where motor located, but no motor running sound. I checked for pinched wires but see none. All other electric is working in trailer… I can extend all 3 slides, refrigerator running, lights, etc. Fireplace is only thing I see that will not come on. I have no manual. No idea what fuse goes to awning. Just a quite capable woman who needs pointed in right direction 🤣

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Myhaven2

Hello all. New to this adventure. Just purchased this trailer. Have no idea what type awning or motor, so that is a moot point. When trying to extend awning, I hear a click up where motor located, but no motor running sound. I checked for pinched wires but see none. All other electric is working in trailer… I can extend all 3 slides, refrigerator running, lights, etc. Fireplace is only thing I see that will not come on. I have no manual. No idea what fuse goes to awning. Just a quite capable woman who needs pointed in right direction 🤣

I'm not familiar with that unit at all, just a dumb question.

The awning switch may be one of those with a center-off state. With these, you would press one end to extend the awning and the other end to retract it. Here is the dumb question: Have you tried pressing each end of the switch?

[Myhaven2]

It’s 36’, 3 slide outs, 2 queen bed trailer
I’m not really understanding your explanation of pushing both ends of awning in. It’s motorized with ret/ext switch right inside door. I hear a click when depressed to ext.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Myhaven2

It’s 36’, 3 slide outs, 2 queen bed trailer
I’m not really understanding your explanation of pushing both ends of awning in. It’s motorized with ret/ext switch right inside door. I hear a click when depressed to ext.

I was really just asking whether you were pushing the switch in the right direction. (It was a dumb question, after all.) There's a chance the switch was wired backwards. Have you tried the ret direction?

If that doesn't help, and since you hear a click, it's likely that the switch is working properly but the wiring downstream from the relay is not.

Inspect the wiring to the awning motor. It often runs up one of the awning supports. Make sure it's not unplugged or pinched. It may have an inline fuse. Check it to see if it's good. If there's an accessible connector, measure to see if there's voltage at the connector while someone depresses the switch.

[jimmoore13]

A hairbrained option:

My awning was giving me trouble. I thought the wire between the switch and motor was buggered, so I bought new wire in anticipation of replacing the original.

In the meantime, the awning would work in fits and starts...often stopping partway through its travel.


So I removed the cover (several screws) on the motor end, and I used my cordless drill and a socket adapter with an appropriately sized socket (probably 3/8"), and I ran the awning in and out with the manual override drive on the motor...obvious when the cover is off. You'll need a step ladder, but you need one in your rig anyway.

Now to the good surprise. I did this a few times, once in pouring rain, and low and behold, the awning has worked without a hitch ever since!
Better lucky than good.

No guarantees, but the process of "kicking it in just the right spot" works now and then. My cordless drill, on the highest speed, runs the awning in and out quite a bit more quickly than the motor does. My hunch is that there may have been crud in the motor windings, and overriding the motor with the drill motor blew out the cobwebs. How's that for a scientific explanation?

Give it a try. You have nothing to lose. If the motor is shot, you must remove that cover anyway, so no harm. As for replacing the motor, it's not a difficult job, and it's very likely that your awning is out of warranty, so you risk nothing by doing this...except falling off the ladder. (Ask me how I know.)

[Myhaven2]

I have examined every fuse, but in lines (will be in awning arms. Can’t get to till awning out). I believe I’m going to try this method using drill to extend. Just need to figure out taking off motor cover. Thanks for advice

[jimmoore13]

Originally Posted by Myhaven2

I have examined every fuse, but in lines (will be in awning arms. Can’t get to till awning out). I believe I’m going to try this method using drill to extend. Just need to figure out taking off motor cover. Thanks for advice

SEE BELOW FOR ANOTHER HUNCH...BUT FIRST...

Removing the cover is a piece of cake. Each awning brand is different, but the awning motor is housed in a two-piece plastic shell. Half of the shell comes off with, typically, 4 screws. The removable half of the plastic shell should be on the exposed side of the motor housing, so you can tend to the motor if it fails. The manual override on the motor is just an extension to the motor shaft that sticks out above the motor and terminates in a hex head like a bolt. All super easy.

I boondock a lot, and I lost the removable half of the motor housing years ago. I have a suspicion that there's a removable plug in the top of the motor housing to allow you to do the manual override without removing half of the motor housing. But, given the ladder required and the height of the awning (roof level) when closed, it's a lot easier to do all this with the removable half of the housing off.

You DON'T need to extend the awning all the way, but if you do, you'll need to move the stepladder at least once.

ANOTHER HUNCH: One can retract the awning by first extending it all the way and then, by pushing the "extend" rather than "retract" button, the awning drum will continue to spin in the "extend" direction but simply roll up the awning the "wrong" way. As someone else mentioned, FIRST press the "retract" side of the switch and see what happens.

If you roll up the awning "backwards", pressing "extend" will simply attempt to roll it up tighter. If it's rolled backwards, you must press the "retract" side of the switch to extend the awning.

I've done this a couple of times. It's a bad idea to do this and leave it this way, because the "underside" of the awning ends up exposed to the sun and weather, and the underside of the fabric is not treated to resist UV and other elements.

Try pushing the "retract" side of the button to see what happens.

[jimmoore13]

One more vaguely related tidbit.
The manual override on the awning motor, using a drill, is echoed all through your rig. There's a similar drill-driven manual override on your tongue jack, for motorized lifts on pop-ups, for your slide (perhaps a hand crank in this case), and for motorized stab jacks. Every one of these motorized systems can be manually driven with a hand crank or drill with the right attachment.

Look at the top of your tongue jack. I guarantee you that there's a removable plug in the top of the motor housing. Remove the plug, get your drill with a drill-chuck-to-3/8"-square-drive-socket driver, add an extension, add a 3/8" socket (typically), and you can operate the tongue jack with a cordless drill.

Typically all plastic housings on any of these devices can be removed easily with just a few screws. And, believe me that you'll need to open the housing on the tongue jack, because, sure as sunrise, you'll drop at least one socket into the housing when trying to retract that Rube Goldberg contraption on your drill. Ask me how I know.