Dometic A&E Awnings

[David and Fran]

Our coach has a Dometic A&E Power Awning over our "patio" are. We were told by our service rep that one should never partially deploy the awning. His explaination was that it would interfere with the rain dumping capability as well as the billow effect in low winds. He also said that it was "hard" on the motor. That said, we have seen many with them out a few feet beyond the slide. So what's the true, real deal on this?

[Easyrider]

I guess I don't know why you wouldn't either have it all the way out or not extended at all? What's the advantage of extending it only part way out? Not sure about the motor comment, I don't think it would hurt the motor either way. We put ours all the way out or not at all.

[Captain Morgan]

I have a Dometic A&E Power Awning on my 2003 Pace Arrow and wish I had the old mechanical style instead. As for the rain dumping feature, it really doesn’t work that well. More often than not, the rain pools in the center of the awning and will not allow the arms to bend and dump the rain. Once that happens, you can’t retract it either as the motor doesn’t have enough power to retract the awning at that point. It sure would have been nice if they designed it so that you can tilt it, either forward or to one side, and allow water to run off more easily.

[Bob (WA0MQE)]

Just what Captain Morgan said about designing it so it could be tipped on one end is exactly why I'm going to upgrade to a Carefree electric awning. Their's does just that. It can be angled differently as well as dropped on one end like you can a mechanical awning.

[tmitchell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Easyrider I guess I don't know why you wouldn't either have it all the way out or not extended at all? What's the advantage of extending it only part way out? Not sure about the motor comment, I don't think it would hurt the motor either way. We put ours all the way out or not at all.

I have been at certain CG sites where you can only open the awning part way or it will hit a tree.
I don't trust the A&E Weather Pro awning in rain or windy conditions, so I bring it in when they occur.
Tom

[David and Fran]

Easyrider, obstructions to full extension would be one reason to not go all the way out but the other reason might be to just go enough to shade the side without creating a patio area. We were just wondering if there is any real reason other than the built in features of dumping and billowing...

[cvrvr]

Our coach has a manual awning, but the motor (me) is about worn out.

George

[FLYTYER]

I just purchased the 9100 awning. While reviewing the information at Camping World, I found out that depending on the age of the awning, Dometic A&E offers a Rainstrut Kit for older 9100 and other awnings. The Part Number is 3312508.17B This strut apparently allows for rain dumping and adjustment of the tilt angle.

The kit was and may still be free, but check with a dealer or installer on availability.

[skigramp]

Quite often we only put our patio awning out part way ... we extend it far enough so the shadow it casts covers the sidewall to reduce the effect of the sun shining on the side of the coach ... and it still lets in lots of light ....

PS: We NEVER go away and leave our awning out.

[wa8yxm]

Rain dumping is a function of the rear (normally) arm being spring loaded. Though I have a feeling that the system works best if either fully deployed or retracted. I don't see any reason it should be "hard on it" to be partially out. Now with a manual awning, yes, partial deployment could cause issues, but with full out... I don't think so.. NOTE: A&E has two different auto-retract systems. one is a "lighthouse" on the roof of the motor home.. My comments so far are specific to this model

The other, newer, ones, use a motion sensor in the end of the awning arm (likely in the motor assembly) and THESE, may well not retract properly if the wind picks up when they are only partially deployed.. I do not know. but on the newer ones.. It MIGHT, and I stress MIGHT be an issue in wind.

[Easyrider]

I didn't think about the tree thing, we always look for campsites with lots of open space. But I can understand now why you might want to only extend it part way. I don't think the rain feature would work with it only part way out. I am a strong believer in rolling the awning up if we aren't going to be there at the campsite.

[Captain Morgan]

Called my local Camping World today about the Rain Strut Kit and they didn't know anything about it. They're going to call Dometic with the information and then call me back. Hopefully they still offer the kit.