Electric awnings pros and cons please

[KR2011]

Our Redwood will have an electric awning ,this will be our first, we are used to the older manual awnings and we like them very much, wife hangs her wind chimes and lights on it plus a plant or two, I like to pull it out and stake it down some time in march or April depending on the weather, I,ll leave it out until November first or so. I here you can not do this with the electric awnings. Any ideas would helpful like I said this will be our first electric awning.

[UNDRPSI]

We like the older ones too. Great question. Wait to see what everyone has to say about them good or bad.

[Hunter11]

We have never staked our electric awning down but have seen many people that have in different parks. We have some friends that do it all the time with their electric awning. Just like a manual you have to keep an eye on the weather and wind.

[KR2011]

How do they keep the fabric tight we use these little clamps and tie them to the awning rafters to keep the fabric from flipping in a breeze. You can not do this with an electric awning. With the rain shed feature how they stake it tight?

[hoosierguy]

It has been my experience that it is best just to put in the awning when we are away from the campsite. I previously did not use to do that, but, I had awnings damage when storms came up while we were away. The electric awning retracts quickly, so, the best thing to do is just put it in when you are not at the campsite.

[Hunter11]

The folks I am talking about that we have seen stake them down are for a weekend or maybe a week. The March till November deal you are talking about is not going to work with an electric awningbecause you cannot keep the fabric from flapping around in the wind. We usually put ours out during the day but retract it at night in case a storm or winds come up as hoosierguy said. We also never go off from the trailer and leave it out. We also never leave our trailer without turning the water supply off at the hookup. I have read of to many horror stories of people leaving and coming back a few hours later to find a flooded trailer due to a water line busting.

[KR2011]

Well you guys confirmed what I was thinking so I will be installing a a/e 9000 on my redwood. And I always turn the water off when are not home, we have to use the fresh water tank and pump because we do not have full hook ups just electric so if we did have a leak it would only be what's in the tank. Thanks for the info.

[TravelinAnderson]

We stake the power awning down on our 36FL just as we did on our previous unit. We just tie it to to the ends of the roller. We also have a screen we use from time to time and will use the stakes for that to tie the awning down.
I don't think this one has the "rain shed" feature that our other trailer did which is too bad because if water pools in awning, the motor isn't powerful enough to roll the awning in. I have to take the broom and push the awning up to get rid of the water.
As far as using the straps to limit the awning from flapping, there is only one point on the arms that that you might be able to use. We just roll the awning in when we leave for the day or if the wind gets strong. Which is what I have to do right now because of the forecast here in central Florida..
Edited by: TravelinAnderson

[mhs4771]

We have the A&E Dometic power awning on our current Montana and really like it. Can't tell you how many times we ran into the supports on our previous TTs with manual awning. We stake down this awning and have a sun screen that mounts into the roller tube track and gets staked down also. It has withstood some pretty stiff winds here on the Eastern coast of Florida with no problem. But, yes if we plan to be away for an extended period we pull it in.

[Dave&Ginny]

I've staked down my awnings for the last 20 years. I have an a aluminum "C" shaped clamp that is made to fit into the grove of the awning drum. I've left my campsite for a 1 hour trip into town and had the wind kick up. This has saved me many of times even though I always bring in my awning at night if a storm is in the area. At one campground several years ago by a large lake, the wind kicked up and took several awnings but ours survived fine.
With one end dipped down and withit tied down I've sat many of times watching it rain while sitting under it.

[IPull]

Staking down the awning is a good thing but make sure that on
some of the new awnings now have wind & rain sensors so if the wind gets up
it will auto roll up and if water pools they will dump.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

[KR2011]

The carefree awnings that come on the redwoods do not have these features.

[IPull]

Originally Posted by KR2011

The carefree awnings that come on the redwoods do not have these features.

That’s correct but some people ask for different
products </span>and that is something you have
look out for.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />