Thor Forums

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by pokeybait1

maiden voyage of my used Windsport 34J to east coast the electric awning opened up accidentally when getting back on the highway after fueling. I don't know if somehow we hit the button by mistake, I thought it had to be held down until fully opened. Or somehow it malfunctioned . When it opened it hit a highway sign , arms got bent an d fabric rippedo off the side of the motor home. I had to get out my new extension ladder and unbolt it , cut the control wires and left it in the ditch where I removed it. Hope my Good Sam warranty will cover it. Think I will replace it with a manual opening product.

Well, the safety interlock will prevent the patio awning from extending or retracting if the coach's ignition is on. In my coach (also made in plant 750) the awning control switch is beside the use/store switch and awning light switch. The awning switch is momentary direction switch. If it is touched and the ignition switch is off the awning will deploy.
Unfortunately I found out how the patio awning works the hard way. It has been my departing procedure to store everything and disconnect everything but shore power, then start the coach. After checking the tire pressures and engine instruments, I go back out and store the shore power cable and do a final check of the basement doors and dolly and Rampside. On reentering the coach, I noticed the patio awning was deployed, so I hit the in switch and drove off. Fortunately, I was at a famcamp and there was a stop sign at the exit road. At the stop noticed the coach did not want to accelerate away. Fortunately, I got out to see that the stop sign was bent down at a 45 degree angle and lodged under the roller. I managed to get the awning up and tied to the coach and proceeded 700 miles home. With $190 worth of parts from Carefree, I was able to repair the awning and learn just how it works.