enblethen wrote: Doug:
Neighbors Fleetwood Discovery has an auto close on door step. When the step retracts, awning closes.
Thanks, but I do not see the value to having that. I have YET to have any customer come in with a destroyed or damaged Door awning caused by driving off with it extended. Doug
Sure sounds like relays in that box to me. If the relays on that board are of a common make you could remove the circuit board, buy the relays and take to a repair/TV shop and have them install the new relays for you, unless your real good with a solder iron and have soldered on PCB's. This probably would be way cheaper than buying a new control board.
I have a electronics background and if this were me......
I would get my dremel tool out and cut off the black shell on those relays. Inside you will then see contacts and odds are they are very dirty. Clean them up with some contact cleaner and maybe fine sandpaper and I bet the awning works again.
zman-az wrote: Sure sounds like relays in that box to me. If the relays on that board are of a common make you could remove the circuit board, buy the relays and take to a repair/TV shop and have them install the new relays for you, unless your real good with a solder iron and have soldered on PCB's. This probably would be way cheaper than buying a new control board.
I have a electronics background and if this were me......
I would get my dremel tool out and cut off the black shell on those relays. Inside you will then see contacts and odds are they are very dirty. Clean them up with some contact cleaner and maybe fine sandpaper and I bet the awning works again.
zman-az,
Thanks for your input here. I'm going to get some pictures of those relays and post them for you and others (who have inquired about them) to see. They are, for the most part, around 3/4" long by, around 9/16" wide and about 9/16 deep. So, trying to get inside them and play with whatever contacts I'd find, might be like surgery. And yes, I'd done soldering on P/C boards before and yep, you got to be a bit delicate with the operation but, it's doable.
But, I don't know if you've read all of my posts on this thread but, the awning DOES WORK. And, when it's working, it's working flawless. It's only when I'm playing with it that it tends to "Hick-up".
And, unlike me, who in their right mind stands there and opens and closes their over the door awning that many times in a row, until it finally says "Kiss my a... I'm not going in and out for a while" because you overworked me".
But, all joking aside, the whole thing that started this is the fact that we were camping a few weeks ago at our local desert in Borrego and were packing up to come home and the door awning was out. The D/W went to went to pull it in and it wouldn't come in. I'd had it happen once or twice before and all I did was "Pre-kink" the arms so the motor didn't have to over come that portion of the retraction process and vualllllla, in comes the awning.
But, I hadn't worked it in and out several times like I've done lately to forcibly cause the problem. And, as stated before, there are so many switches, relays etc that are in line with this system and, coupled with the fact that there's most likely 10' of extra wire in the loom alone that's right next to the switch bank that, the voltage drop is, like some say here, inevitable. When that happens, the little motor on the awning says, "nope" I ain't working" for now.
Hence, when it quits, and I'm in the process of doing tests, I immediately hook up an outside battery directly to the motor and zap, the awning springs right back into action, with ZERO effort!
Thanks again for your thoughts here. Very much appreciated.
Scott
Scott and Karla SDFD RETIRED
2004 Itasca Horizon, 36GD Slate Blue 330 CAT
2011 White Honda CRV EX-L,4WD w/NAV Toad 2008 Caliente Red LVL II GL 1800 Goldwing KI60ND
"Hence, when it quits, and I'm in the process of doing tests, I immediately hook up an outside battery directly to the motor and zap, the awning springs right back into action, with ZERO effort"
That shows the motor is not to specs. It is pulling more amps than the control box is rated for. Dometic Weatherpro control boxes will kick out when the motor (patio or Door) pulls more than the specified amps. I do not know what the motor amp threshold is. You could install a DTDP switch just for the door awning and bypass the Weatherpro control box. Since direct power operates correctly, then that would save buying a new motor or attempting to rebuild the relay's in the control box. The problem may also be the fact that you have a non approved Awning(Carefree) on the Dometic control system. The Carefree may pull slightly higher amps and after a few years it is pulling more than when new due to age. Doug
dougrainer,
I'm sorry for not replying to your answer to my issues on the door awning. I've been out of town for a while camping and getting away from working on this rig to using it. Man, was it nice. Anyway, it is possible you're correct on this. ANYTIME I use outside power, i.e. an large 12V Battery sitting right beside me when doing the tests, that awning will extend and retract, in and out, as many times as I want it to, full extend and arms in the "Locked open" position, each and every time. It, the motor. does not care, it just opens and closes that awning without any issues at all.
But, when using normal operating system, it will, after about 5-6 full cycles of all the way out(almost) and all the way back in, just slow down rapidly and quit. Hmmmmmm
So, for now, it's status quo. I'll keep plugging away on it.
Scott
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