Electric/Air Awning

YIKES..While driving thru Nevada West on the I-80, a cross wind RIPPED my awning right off the Coach.:eek: Nothing left but bent poles. I was Lucky to have my wife with me as I did not have a ladder. She figured out a way for me to get up on the top of the Coach so I could remove the arms and hanging poles. I was traveling about 65 MPH with a cross wind of about 45MPH.
The Awning ,with the motor drum and part of one Arm was just gone!
Traffic was too fast and we were pulled off on a dirt shoulder with a bridge overpass right behind us so we were forced to not look for it. I doubtI could have retrived it and gotten it inside the Coach anyway.
Now I am wondering wether I should repalce it (Zip Dee) or wait and have a update to the roof with the top mounted units. I certainly don't want to go thru this again.:mad: :mad: :(

Yikes is right. Iv'e never heard of that happining before, didn't think it was possible.

Gary,

We had the same thing happen to us. We went right to Zip Dee in the Chicago area and had them install new ones to their standard. Since then we do not travel without locks on each end, the center hook, and Velcro wraps on the end arms to keep the arms from opening. With all five methods holding the awning we've been OK ever since. Returning from Santa Fe last October on I40 east of Little Rock there were numerous motorhomes on the side of the road with awning problems. Despite the horrible winds we never had a problem.

I am not sure the newer powered awnings can be fitted with additional holding devices but they need to be because winds can unroll any awning.

Gary, that's to bad. A person that drives such a nice coach as a Prevost shouldn't have to deal with a awning coming out on the road.

That happened to us back in 98 when we first bought our coach. We were headed from Tustin CA, where we bought our coach and taking it to Winona, MN to have it painted. In Nebraska with a high cross wind, it pulled the zip dee right out and over the top of the bus. It was on the interstate, so trafic was busy. Then it happened again about 20 miles later.

The painter was told to take all the awnings off. I never wanted to go through that again.

We use a market umbrella when we need shade.

Gary,

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. The same thing happened to me in northern Texas during bad weather. We were experiencing wind of about 30 mph and the driver's side Zip Dee opened up (while driving 65) and then recoiled back shut. I stopped and investigated, the center locking clip was not latched (we had just bought the coach). I latched it down and no more problems. The Girard awning never did "open up" only the Zip Dee that was not latched.

Guess I was just lucky.

When you replace the awnings, strongly consider the Girard. I have used it for about 2 years and no problems. It is so nice; just push a button and it opens. Another advantage is the wind sensor; it will close the awning automatically when the wind is excessive. We love it.:)

Not so fast Tuga...the Girrard does need to have power to operate as you speak. As I'm sure you
know things are nice when everything is working nice.

When we were in Nashville a couple of weeks ago, there was a 05 Prevost Royal with its Girrard just
flapping in the wind, looked like it was just about to collapse over on top. We had stopped and ask
why didn't the awning go in automatically, The guy could have shot us. He said it has lost power
somehow, imagine that!

Hold on Harley, Photog, I've got a Kenedyesgue compound Boy.

I have Girard and it comes with a handy-dandy pole to let you manually retract the awning in case of a power failure.

Side note:

As I was camping at the JDUB International Airport in Northern Houston I had the Girard out and the wind had started to pickup up. So I'm telling JDUB about the neat windsor that's going to automatically retract the awning. The wind gets stronger and stronger but no retraction. Upon closer examination it's been determined that the wind sensor was "removed" by some low hanging tree branch (you gotta love the height on those H3's). $65 later we were back in business with a new sensor.

Mike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dalej

Not so fast Tuga...the Girrard does need to have power to operate as you speak. As I'm sure you
know things are nice when everything is working nice.

When we were in Nashville a couple of weeks ago, there was a 05 Prevost Royal with its Girrard just
flapping in the wind, looked like it was just about to collapse over on top. We had stopped and ask
why didn't the awning go in automatically, The guy could have shot us. He said it has lost power
somehow, imagine that!

---

Dale,

The Girard awning on my coach operates on 120v thru the inverter, the wind sensor operates on 12v. Do you know how your friend's awning was wired?
It must have been wired directly to the 120v electrical system or he could have had a bad switch. Did he know that he could manually close it?

But you are correct, like so many of the accessories on these coaches any accessory can and will fail.

Tuga, this coach was for sale on a dealers lot right next to the Yogi Bear RV park. When we were driving in and out it just looked terrible to have this nice coach with a flapping to near breaking awning. After the guy that was trying to get it in gave me that look, I was gone.

I been thinking about Garys misfortune. What holds an electric awning closed. Is it an electric brake attatched to the motor?

I have an electric tarp and it is so equiped. If the motor had no brake the tarp would not stay tightly retracted, also when the electric brake is malfunctioning the thing would slowly unroll and open up and begin to catch air. This could be happining on these awnings if so equiped.

Never had one but I think something on Garys awning failed and broke, I don't think it would have happened if not.

Just a guess, great topic, great potential seminar those auto tarps.

The two diagonal poles are designed to push the awning out by spring pressure, and the motor aids the opening. When closing, the motor does all the work to roll the awning closed. As far as I can tell, there is only the motor which holds the awning closed. There is also air assist to extend the two verticle wall poles out an additional approx. 3 feet.
I thought the design was better than the typical manual or electric awnings. I guess not.
Mine has wind sensors as well for closing in highwinds while extended.
On my previous Country Coach Lexa, the GFI Breaker tripped which powered the Gerard Awnings which disabled the entire system. The Breaker was defective and I had to Jump the circuit to an adjoining breaker. So, don't count on Wind Sensors! Close your awnings at night and when your not at you Coach!
Jon- The Gerard roof units are enclosed in a aluminum Box, so I do not think they would un- roll while driving down the road.

Gary the electric brake on my tarp motor is very streamline if you did not know what you were looking at you might not see it. It is no more than a larger end cap on the motor mabye 1 or 2 inches thick with an additional 2 smaller guage wires going to it.

When current is put to the motor it simoltaniously releases the brake. Originally there was a 12 volt motor and a 12 volt brake but what was happining was the motor was pulling the lions share of the juice and starving the brake causing it to drag and prematurly wear out and then it would begin to fail and drift when not in use. Sure-Lock the manufacturer replaced all the 12 volt brakes with 9 volt brakes to compinsate for the low voltage situation and that was the ticket.

Once again sorry about your luck, these are costly features, and we would all do ourselves good to learn more about there opporation.

tootles

My wife and I were returning from Ft Myers in April and the awnings on the starboard side decided to deploy on their own. Luckily we were on a 2 lane road and were able to do an agressive side manuver to the shoulder. we had about a 4 inch rip. I compare it to having an airplane door come open at 1500 feet. I spoke to zipdee and they told me that sometimes the awning base plates aren't installed exactly square and problems occur. Anyway we had Liberty adjust and so far no problems but I always prod the awning caps with a pole just to see if I can get any movement. Isn't it interesting how the same problems occur with all of us?

steve

As a follow up, I spoke with Liberty and Zip Dee today. They said it should not have happened. So, I have to think there was something wrong with the brake, or locking mechanism. I have ordered a new one and they will send it out to California in a couple of weeks. Apparently, they have all my information on their computer regarding my Coach.