Community Forums

clyde1949 · 10-06-2018, 05:18 AM

Getting ready to leave and awnings won't retract and you can drive down the road like that, ive had problems with extending and seems to be in the vega touch checked all breakers need help please what is the procedure to reset the firefly i guess what it called that controls the vega touch i hit the retract then it goes to stop but nothing moves any suggestions

brobox · 10-06-2018, 05:51 AM

Not safe to drive down the road with the awning out, they won't even take an afternoon breeze.
Try resetting everything. 12v power off to reset the Vega Touch first, then unplug the two 110-120v awning controllers for the awning. I believe the newer models are on the driver side front compartment.
Do you have an awning remote? Have your tried that? There are also retract switched on the side of the 110-120v awning controllers

Magic-carpet · 10-06-2018, 05:55 AM

In addition to what Chuck stated....

Do you have the coach running or the key in the ACC position? I think there is a lockout of power to the awnings.

Gary.Jones · 10-06-2018, 06:08 AM

Clyde

Just a couple of basic things. What Chuck is telling you is to try rebooting the whole VegaTouch system. You do that by turning off the 12 Volt master switch for 30 sec or so. That is the switch right when you come in the outside door and is right beside the red light on that panel near the steps. Turn the switch beside the red light off and wait 30 seconds or so and then back on. You might have the wife stand next to the VegaTouch panel and see if how the VegaTouch boots up (different screens appear and flash and then comes on normally). Try the awnings and see if they now move.

Second, if that doesnt work, there should be a remote control for your awnings that bypass the VegaTouch system. The remote in my 15 Anthem and now my 19 Cornerstone are in the first passenger side comartment on the front wall of your refrigerator compartment in the basement. That remote control should operate the awnings direct. The control modules are called "turtles" and there are two of them mounted on the back wall of the same compartment as the remote (and refrigerator) and each has a red light. The red lights should be illuminated indicating they are getting power. If they are not getting power, be sure the Cummins if off.... as they are turned off if the motor is running so they cannot deploy going down the road. If they are not on, then try running an extension cord from some other "live" plug to turn them on. If they are on but the remotes dont work, then replace the batteries in the remote and try again. OF course, you can try EC Customer Service too.........

And for heavens sake, come back on here and tell us how you are doing so 50 other people are not trying to help you when you have it all fixed and are driving down the road....

Gary

clyde1949 · 10-06-2018, 06:25 AM

tried the turn off of 12 volt nothing improved remote didn't work i've had problems with the awning and the vega touch before in fact all the time rarely the remote worked when i got here front extended but rear won't on other occasions the rear worked and the front dont now the front is extended and won't retract it goes to stop but nothing moves like the rear now either in or out
ive called dealer and firefly and entegra emergency lines so far no help but here
i will let you know when i solve this all my problems seem to be when i change power source to coach investors, 50 AMp 30AMp and gen last time i ran gen a few min and it worked this time nothing

brobox · 10-06-2018, 06:33 AM

Just a suggestion...when an item starts having problems, that is the time to find out why before it does get stuck. Rarely to MH problems correct themselves. If it is going to finally quit, it will always be on the weekend when nobody can be reached.

Have you put your remote right in awning control compartment to compensate for a weak battery or the antenna not being extended?

Gary.Jones · 10-06-2018, 06:42 AM

Are the lights on the Girard "turtles" illuminated? (back wall, front passenger compartment, should be one red light on each "turtle")

My memory is that there may be an "in" and "out" button on each turtle that let you manually run the awnings. Look for those buttons and see if that is a figment of my imagination or really something there. I think that I remember that there are buttons that you can push (its been 3 or 4 years since I struggled with a similar issue (which was a bad turtle that needed to be replaced by Girard)).

If I'm right and there are button, that will tell you where the problem is .... if the red lights are on and the buttons dont work, then your problem is in the Girard system itself since that eliminates everything else. Let me/us know.

Gary

clyde1949 · 10-06-2018, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

Are the lights on the Girard "turtles" illuminated? (back wall, front passenger compartment, should be one red light on each "turtle")

My memory is that there may be an "in" and "out" button on each turtle that let you manually run the awnings. Look for those buttons and see if that is a figment of my imagination or really something there. I think that I remember that there are buttons that you can push (its been 3 or 4 years since I struggled with a similar issue (which was a bad turtle that needed to be replaced by Girard)).

If I'm right and there are button, that will tell you where the problem is .... if the red lights are on and the buttons dont work, then your problem is in the Girard system itself since that eliminates everything else. Let me/us know.

Gary

still dark here im in Las Vegas i dont know what a turtle it and there is nothing in the first pass compartment but the refer/frezzer and the remote for the awning and that mostly never works
what is a turtle and where else might it be

Victory Blue · 10-06-2018, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clyde1949

still dark here im in Las Vegas i dont know what a turtle it and there is nothing in the first pass compartment but the refer/frezzer and the remote for the awning and that mostly never works
what is a turtle and where else might it be

Look on the bulkhead wall in front of the first pass-through compartment; the compartment with the slide tray. 2 boxes about 4” x 6” in the middle of the wall. Use a flashlight.

clyde1949 · 10-06-2018, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Victory Blue

Look on the bulkhead wall in front of the first pass-through compartment; the compartment with the slide tray. 2 boxes about 4” x 6” in the middle of the wall. Use a flashlight.

nothing there only thing in there is air supply fitting and 2 plug is for refer looks both sides and not boxes anywhere and for sure no lights but the matrix box
i did notice i had a low voltage fault on the aqua hot i reset that but nothing
and still neather awning retracts
when it get lighter and i can get my ladder out im going to try moving the awning up and down and see if the auto retract will bring it in people around me are still sleeping

Gary.Jones · 10-06-2018, 07:37 AM

The turtles are a term that Girard uses (not mine). They are the actual controllers for the awnings and control the main awnings operation. They are small beige plastic units that have a red LED light on their front. On my two coaches, they were mounted on the back vertical wall of the front passenger side compartment up near the top. There are two of them and they are somewhat shaped like a turtle.... rounded top. Each one is maybe the size of a pack of cigarettes. Each one is plugged into a duplex socket right beside them. That duplex socket turns the turtles on and off (indicated by the red LED lights) and are controlled by the Cummins ignition and motor. The duplex is switched off when the Cummins is running so that the awnings cannot move out when you are driving the coach. However, when sitting in an RV park, or with the motor not running, power is applied to the duplex socket and the turtle LEDs illuminate indicating they are ready to control the Girards. You can get to the turtles either by pulling out the refrigerator in that compartment or by opening the second slide basement door and laying or bending into that compartment. I could remove the turtles from their mounted position. They are either held on with screws or maybe even velcro. Remove one of them and see if there is an in and out switch on their side.... that is the part I don't remember clearly.... think there is an in and out switch on the side of them. The turtles control the awning and they are also the units that the remote control communicates with. So they are the brains of the Girard awnings and do all the switching. If the turtles have a switch on the side, that is going to tell you a lot.... those switches will eliminate the remote control and also the VegaTouch as the source of the problem. If there is a switch and the awnings don't work, then the problem is the turtle or the wiring to the awnings or the awning motors.... so it is important to give that a try. Im pretty sure there are an in and out switch on the side of each turtle. One turtle controls the front awning (the turtle more toward the front ) and the turtle more toward the rear controls the rear main awning.

The reason that I have wrestled with all of this is that one of my Girard turtles was defective and intermittent and Girard needed to send me a new one. Once I swapped the new one for the bad one, I had no more problems for 3 years.

Gary

brobox · 10-06-2018, 07:44 AM

As mentioned before, I believe they moved the awning controllers to the DS forward compartment on the new models. The turtle is about 6 inch plastic dome shaped like a "turtle" shell. It will have green light on the front to show it is getting power, they plug into a standard outlet and have a switch on the side for retracting the awning. This is as direct as you can get. If that is not it, the problem is in the awning.

Gary.Jones · 10-06-2018, 07:59 AM

Well, this prompted me to look for the turtles. On my 19, the turtles are not in the front driver side compartment behind my freezer, and to tell you the truth, they are nowhere to be found (in their original shape). I have a feeling that for '19, Girard probably came up with a new configuration. Chuck, I now see a concealed box on the driver side front compartment up near the "ceiling" that has two black wires hanging out of it. I opened that box and I see two white plastic rectangular boxes in there that have an insignia on them that I think is the Girard insignia. If I had to guess, I would guess that Girard had to come up with a new controller to interface with the new VegaTouch system implemented on the 19s. I did not try to remove these rectangular controllers (its cold up here) at this point, but if I had to bet $100, I'd bet that these are the new Girard controllers on the 19s. Without taking them out, I have no idea if there is an in and out switch still on them.... but it would make sense that it still has a manual control switch on them for use in emergencies such as this one.

Now, Clyde has an '18 or 17 and I would would think has the turtles that I had, but Clyde, chime back in here and let us know what you have.... you should definitely have 2 controllers of some shape and form somewhere that control your awnings. Chuck and I have given you the prime locations for them.... what do you see?

Gary

clyde1949 · 10-06-2018, 08:27 AM

Ok i got it to come in the entegra emergency line called me and i told him what i did before to make it go out I ran the gen then shut gen off and it worked
so while he was on the phone i ran the gen unplugged the 50 amps cord still nothing then shut off gen it went on the invertor and then and only then it retracted so i guess going from gen to invertor
made it work its in and i already have had an appointment for service for next thursday for all my other issues entegra told me about how to retract awning
i guess theres a hole in the top of the awning that you put a tool i never received at delivery and it can be hank cranked in Entegra was able to pay for a tech should one be needed but i can travel to my next service appt another of many and i've only had my coach for 3 months dealer and spartan has had it in total for more than a months time and now back again. I took photos of those compartment very poor but nothing there