Awning auto-retracts on windless sunny days

[EngineerMike]

Seems like it may be in the heat of the afternoon. It runs out & stays (while I'm watching it), then later auto-retracts. Anybody else had this?

[EngineerMike]

Seems like it may be in the heat of the afternoon. It runs out & stays (while I'm watching it), then later auto-retracts. Anybody else had this?

[Richard and Cris]

Mine has done it in the slightest breeze and then wont retract in a stiff wind. I have read th sensor reads heat and the wind cools it to trigger the retraction. My observation is the location of the sensor. The wind has to be just the right direction for it to work. Anyone tried raising it up about 4 inches?

[Olive]

A&E has a fancy name for that sensor on the roof but basically it is not a wind sensor but a heat sensor. There is an electric element in it that measures the change in heat across it. When the amount of heat changes a certain value it triggers the awning to close. Supposedly the wind is what cools the sensor but it seems in many cases a change in temp, however slight, is what does it.

I have experienced, and seen other awnings, close with not even a slight breeze and not close in strong winds. I have closed mine on more than one occasion when it was flexing so much I was afraid of damage. These were constant winds, the kind that should have closed it. A&E told me it can flex up to a foot with out harm but I don't trust it to do that constantly.

Also check the top of your sensor to make sure it has silver on top. This was supposed to be a fix for this problem but really doesn't work. I think they said at the Winnie rally the last couple of years have the silver sticker on top. They were giving them out at the rally for those who didn't have them. I and several friends had the dot and have the problem.

[OldForester]

Mike,

We had excellent results with our awning on our '06 the first year. Then earlier this year in Palm Springs it would retract in the slightest wind. We played with the DIP switches in the control box, cleaned the wind sensor, and did everything we knew, and nothing worked for any length of time.

Finally, we took the coach to our dealer who diagnosed it and said both the wind sensor and the control box had to be changed, because they said they were matched and neither was working properly.

They replaced the wind sensor and control box under Dometic's warranty in April of this year and it's been working fine ever since.

For what it's worth -- this worked for us; don't know if it will help you.