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Carefree mirage awning
When I bought my ‘04 Imperial in 2007, the awning motor was dead and the seller (Tom Raper in Indiana) agreed to replace the motor. For one reason or another, they finally sent me a new motor and I installed it myself. That motor failed after a couple of years and I contacted Carefree of Colorado and visited the factory, they helped me out with a motor that had been returned under warranty but checked out as good. I installed that motor and all was working until a couple of months ago when it wouldn’t move. I went through the recommendations in the manual, and the conclusion was “motor dead, replace it.” Fine, but the website shows a price of $1800 and up. Since I almost never use the awning, and have opened it up no more than a few times in the 16 years I have owned the coach, I’m reluctant to fix it again.
The motor is a 120 volt unit with internal limit switches to set the in and out positions. There are 3 whites to the motor, one for in, one for out, and a neutral. I’m suspecting that both limit switches have failed in the open state. I believe that when a limit switch opens up, it disconnects the power so that direction no longer works. The reverse direction limit switch in still closed, so the reverse direction still should work. However, I have powered the motor in both directions and nothing moves.
Getting the motor out for further analysis requires a manual override using a 7mm hex key through a hole in the plastic end cap to the awning case. 7mm hex keys are not included in the Allen wrench sets I’ve seen. They seem to go from 6 to 8 with no 7, so I’ve tried to modify an 8 to a 7 by grinding. I think I may have rounded the 7mm socket in the motor housing so it no longer works. The only way to get the endcap off the awning of surgical as the fasteners are only accessible when the awning is open.
Any comments or experiences are welcome.
Dick L. ‘04 Imperial
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Linear Mode
