OEM Manual Awning to a 12v Power Awning

[Richard 34A]

My Sightseer has the standard, OEM manual A&E awning that can't be opened or closed with the kitchen slide out. I would like to go to the A&E Power Awning, which allows opening & closing at the push of a button and I wouldn't have to close the kitchen slide.

Has anyone done this type of upgrade and are you happy with the end result?

Thank you,

[Richard 34A]

My Sightseer has the standard, OEM manual A&E awning that can't be opened or closed with the kitchen slide out. I would like to go to the A&E Power Awning, which allows opening & closing at the push of a button and I wouldn't have to close the kitchen slide.

Has anyone done this type of upgrade and are you happy with the end result?

Thank you,

[RJK]

Richard, I have not done an upgrade nor do I have a kitchen slide. I do have the A&E power awning and I will never own another one. Do a search/find on the A&E power awning and you should find alot of info on it. Mine is on a 2004 and when I first start having problems I read of many others having trouble also. One thing I do remember is that the larger units with kitchen slides had two different size awning (width not length).The wide one would go out and come down on and rub the top edge of the slide the narrow one would go out to straight and give very little shade. Another complaint was the awning not dumping the rain water, the weight of the water is to drop one end 9 deg. and dump the water. Some did some didn't. The wind sensor also came into question, some were bad and I think I read the newer ones could now be adjusted. I read that when people would call A&E they were told some of them the awning was mainly for shade, that was the answer for the water problem.

[John_Canfield]

Hahaha... we have been thinking about going to a manual awning from our electric WeatherPro

Our awning was replaced this summer and the motor went bad (according to the diagnosis) after about 10 operational cycles. The extremely good news is the durn thing now dumps water.

Maybe with a new motor, we will finally have a few years of good awning performance. I can dream...

[FrontRangeRVer]

On my last 10 RV's, we have had the manual awning....on this one we have the electric automatic one.....we wish we had the old style manual one, but with our kitchen slide, it would almost be impossible.

be careful what you wish for!!

[John Mc]

We also have the A&E Weather Pro automatic awning and would never own another one. It does go in and out with the push of a button, it just doesn't keep off the sun or the rain. It was a bit windy this weekend, and while all of the other people in our group sat in the shade under their manual awnings, ours couldn't stand the breeze and stayed rolled up. Useless piece of junk.

[Richard 34A]

Ouch! Five responses and no one seems too happy with the A&E Power Awning... there are a few 'reviews' posted on Camping World Dot Com, some good, some not so good.

Guess I need to rethink this purchase... not sure what the total cost is but looks like something in the neighborhood of $1,500 installed and sales tax. Sounds like it might be a waste of money, so I'm surprised how popular they are on new MH's. This last weekend I went to a local RV dealer to see the awning and every MH that was priced $125,000 or more had the Power Awning installed.

Thanks everyone for the information...

[John_Canfield]

My dream awning is one of those lateral arm awnings where the angle can be adjusted. There are a couple of companies making that type and you see those on very high-end coaches.

A&E has come out with what is probably a minor enhancement to the venerable WeatherPro. It now has a sun flap that can be left on and it will roll it up and down. Sounds like a good idea if it works.

I have seen WeatherPros on coaches with no curb-side slide and the awning has a nice down angle. I suspect with the popularity of LR slides now, the coach builders just made them fit even though they stick almost straight out because everybody expects an awning. A much better solution would be the awning mounted on the top of the slide itself - it could then have an appropriate angle.

My brother-in-law has a 2007 Dutch Star with the WeatherPro and Newmar left off the slide topper. I suppose they a) saved money, and b) gained a little more clearance.

If I didn't have the electric WeatherPro, I certainly wouldn't add one.

[kellysrv]

Many rigs with curb side slideouts aren't very suitable for A&E awnings unless the awning is mounted on the slideout wall. If mounted above the slide they are often less effective in providng shade and/or dumping rainwater. Having had both manual and electic A & E awinings, I didn't like the Weather Pro automatic at first because of the sensitivity of the wind sensor alway winding up the awning at the slightest breeze. I have since adjusted the dip switches in the control box to make it less sensitive and if parked for any length of time (more than a day or two) I shut off the wind sendor control and stake down the awning tube ends to the ground. I have left it that way for weeks at a time only winding it up when winds are forecast to be in excess of 35-40 mph. For me the benefits of the electric awning are these: 1)Quick roll up in the event of "weather" (just release the tie down straps if staked down and push the "button"). 2)Automatic rollup when using the wind sensor. 3)No more bumped heads on the support bars as they are much higher above the ground than the manual awning. 4)No problems with unfurling while driving in severe crosswinds. My rig doesn't have a curb side slide out so those issues don't apply.

[SCVJeff]

Make that 6! Now that I've had a power awning I won't do it a second time. They're way less robust than a good ol' manual roll out and take significantly harder weather. You can pretty much thank A&E for the bad rap.

[DSouthw524]

Carefree had and may still have a modofocation one can use to electrify your current awning. It was advertised to do was replace your roller with one that contained a motor. They claimed it would work with any/most manufacturers awnings.

I have not as yet found anyone that made the swap and have waited for someone to tell me how well it works. However, if it works it should provide the best of both worlds.

[PaulC]

I just have to ring in here and add my two cents worth. Our Adventurer has an electric awning. If there was a way to easily change it back to a regular old manual awning I would do it in a minute. I think switching from an electric awning to a manual awning would involve some repair to the fiberglass to hide the holes from the electric awning brackets. I wish it was an easier project. I sure don't want another electric awning.

[Richard 34A]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by PaulC:
I just have to ring in here and add my two cents worth. Our Adventurer has an electric awning. If there was a way to easily change it back to a regular old manual awning I would do it in a minute. I think switching from an electric awning to a manual awning would involve some repair to the fiberglass to hide the holes from the electric awning brackets. I wish it was an easier project. I sure don't want another electric awning. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Probably depends on the brand that is installed on your MH; mine is a Dometic A&E and I believe if I want to go 12v electric, the existing Two-Step awning hardware is still used. Only the roller tube and awning fabric is replaced, with the electric motor being self-contained. At least, that's what I have been told so far. I have yet to take the MH in for an estimate; with the replies here so far, I guess I'm going to skip changing mine out. (They sure look and work cool on a brand-new MH that I looked at over the weekend.)

It would seem that if they can change mine from manual to electric, the same thing should be able to be reversed, using the same hardware and arms already attatched to your MH.