Community Forums

TerraTraveler · 10-03-2010, 03:50 PM

Has anyone upgraded the arms on the awning to power. If so, have you been happy with the quality of the product. I do not really care about the power function, but would like the additional headroom from under the arms...

I may be adding the 12V Traveler arm kit to our Terra 32K. Just looking to see if this is the right choice.

dsbike · 10-03-2010, 04:15 PM

I was researching this back in June. We had our awning damaged in a storm and I thought I would upgrade to power. Every dealer & most everyone who answered here on the forum convinced me not to. The reason was mostly due to auto retract & cost versus ease of use. The manual awning is just too easy to put in & out to justify the cost. I wanted to do this for my wife. She is at the rv almost continously as I am only there for a few days every couple of weeks. She was very reluctant to open or close the awning. When it broke she was under it & it bruised her pretty bad. She has since tackled & mastered it.

AFChap · 10-03-2010, 04:54 PM

We had our original power awning arms damaged by wind last Spring, and replaced the arms with Carefree Eclipse power arms. It is my understanding that the Eclipse power arm kit will fit most awnings, regardless of brand.

We DID NOT get auto-retract ...that is an add-on option that you only get if you want to pay more to get it. As for easy to operate, the Eclipse couldn't be easer ...it beats the heck out of a manual awning. A few of those had tried to hurt me over the years!!

The Eclipse arms kit comes with a switch on the base of one arm outside, and the normal inside switch. We like the Eclipse scissor type arms much better than the original elbow type ...they are higher and not prone to head bumping, and they take gusty winds must better (simply flexing in and out much like a shock absorber). And having that switch outside is great (there is a master power switch inside so you can dis-able the outside switch if you want). We were not crazy about the Eclipse arms at first as many we have seen put the awning nearly straight out, very high and with little downward pitch. However, we found it is adjustable and apparently those we had seen were on the highest level.

The Eclipse arms kit is pricey, but we like it better than we did the original OneTouch awning. Our cost was $1,328.95 + tax for the arms kit (special color to match our full body paint), and $75 shipping to East TX. We paid a Tyler TX RV dealer 6 hours labor to install the kit. I took them the original cloth and roller tube, and had totally removed the original arms except for the upper brackets. With a couple of tall step ladders and some good help, an ambitious handy guy would be able to install the new power arms. I'm pretty handy, but I am lacking the required ambition and good help nowadays!!

dsbike · 10-03-2010, 05:53 PM

AFChap, where were you when I needed to replace mine? You put more positive info in that post than I got from 3 dealers & several posts. Although I would have needed to replace everything on mine. I think about $1900.

pcurt23 · 10-03-2010, 05:54 PM

My 38V has a power awning that I would not trade for anything. There is something to be said for retracting the awning while watching tv. Or having it retract auto during windy weather. My last two were manual and this is better.

pcurt

AFChap · 10-03-2010, 06:09 PM

Quote:

where were you when I needed to replace mine?

Sorry you missed my learning experience.

Looks like I was here http://www.irv2.com/forums/f84/caref...ing-64635.html on the "MH-Problems, Solutions & After Market" area. If you do a search there you will find a guy telling about a manual to powered conversion a few months before my experience ... http://www.irv2.com/forums/f84/conve...ric-53229.html There are mentions in that discussion of using both Eclipse and Traveler arms

FreshAir · 10-03-2010, 10:27 PM

I tried to get the manual awning when I ordered my coach but couldn't because I had a kitchen slide on passenger side. I never thought I'd say this but I do like the auto awning. I'm sure there are better ones than the A&E that I have and I miss not being able to adjust the angle. However, the ease of it and the wife loveing it makes the auto the way to go for us.
Ps. three wind sensors, all on warranty, and I wouldn't trust the A&E any further than I can toss the motor home.
Pat

TerraTraveler · 10-06-2010, 09:28 PM

I might just order the eclipse arms as I cannot use the steep pitch Traveler arms ( only have 12.5 inches from the top of the door to the rail )

With the Eclipse arms and only 12.5 of clearance above the door, with the door hit the awning if i have the awning adjusted down ?

goldwingerx2 · 10-06-2010, 10:30 PM

This last weekend a friend and I replaced the Two Step arms with the Eclipse power arms with Direct Response. So far I like it very much. I was concerned about the kitchen slide interfering but it does not seem to bother it with some pitch on it. I was concerned because you cannot tie it down like the older style with the angle arms. It will also save my head I KNOW.
It took us about 10 hours to do. Our MH has 3 slides so the awning goes over the kitchen slide, the new arms have several angle adjustments. I have the front all the way up and the rear set 2 down, gives it some slope.

Luv2go · 10-06-2010, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Ps. three wind sensors, all on warranty, and I wouldn't trust the A&E any further than I can toss the motor home.

A&E is doing a little better with their newer wind sensors which are located on the arm, as opposed to the older style with the sensor on the roof of the MH. Ours is the newer style and has been going for over two years with no failures, knock on wood

.