My awning will not retract electrically (with or without the remote) so I will try to manually raise it tomorrow.
It seems like a pretty straightforward method. The only problem I see is if the spring is not strong enough to roll it up.
Any helpful hints?
Which awning - Girard electric or ZipDee air-operated?
It is a ZippDee air operated.
The procedure I found was to basically dissconnect the dc motor drive shaft from the roller and let the spring tension wind it up.
It sounds easy...which I know it is probably not.
Will be starting after I finish my coffee.
Thanks - I'll update the topic title - the ZipDee air awning is unique to the 2002's, I believe
thanks M...I should have done that....
I have the same awning on my u320. Have you tried to reset the power in the control unit? I;ve had many problems with my awning, but have seemed to solve all of them by calling ZIPDEE and speaking to Jimmy. Good luck on the fix. It's a nice awning WHEN IT Works!
Ralph
We have that awning. There is no spring, that I know of. The problem that we have had is that the front arm (which attaches to the motor) has the wiring inside a plastic sheath. This sheath gets crimped from time to time and the wiring goes bad. ZipDee will sell you a rebuilt arm ... and a competent installer who KNOWS ZipDee can replace it. Then, you ship your old arm back to ZipDee in the box they sent your rebuilt arm, and they rebuild it for someone else! We are in the process of doing this for the second time. We rolled our awning up manually in August, and that was that. We are finally getting around to having the job done before we head out this Spring. In the control box in the bay, there are a sequence of lights that all must be lit for the awning to work ... there is a white reset button that can pop from time to time ... and there is a tiny cartridge fuse that may need to replaced ... but you can trouble shoot these items with ZipDee and their "Yoda" (Jimmy) when you call. If is IS the arm, you can order it from ZipDee yourself and have it shipped to your installer. I was going to have a repair place order the arm for me, until I found out that they were going to DOUBLE the cost of the part as a matter of doing business. They became very indignant when I was not onboard with that plan and told me that I had no idea how a business routinely operated. HA!! I told them a few things, as well.
Old Hippie: who was the previous owner of your coach? I helped a gentleman retract an 02 same color as your coach in Canton Mid South couple years ago. You can open the control box and press two buttons at the same time and it will retract. One is the motor button and the other is retract. Been a while so I am not clear but it can be done. The coach had these small vent looking things down the rear of the coach. Yes, call Jimmy at Zip Dee as Carol suggest. Once he on your call he will get all working. Dan
Thanks guys for the input. I tried the manual close/run switch for the motor and it would not run. I had power at the roller motor. One arm leaks a lot of air so I suspect that is bad also. I ended up unhooking the motor drive shaft from the roller and let it manually close itself. I also removed the two spring loaded rafter arms and put them in the bay.
We were happy, happy, happy to be able to continue with our Arizona trip.
As far as the previous owner goes I do not know who they were.
I did not mention that the awning deployed itself (without any physical activation) while we were having lunch in the coach and would not close after that.
All this happened on Friday the 13th........
I searched "zip dee awnings direct logic 05" and a troubleshooting guide came up. I could not get the pdf link for the guide to show up here. This is what I used to work through my issue.
ETA: Added guide
Old Hippie,
Aren't you glad it deployed while you were eating lunch and not traveling down the interstate? Probably would have been interesting.
Larry
We have awning locks on all of our manual window awnings ... I think I may add one to the AutoAwn. It has not self-deployed ... YET ... but GEEZ LOUISE!!!!!!
Mine has an ignition interlock relay on the controls, so it should not open while driving however my trust has been broken. I will think about this more and figure out what may be the best option; repair or replace with different style or do nothing.
What if you attach the powe leads directly to the wires at the end of the awning. It would bypass a crimped wire if that was the culprit.
I have this awning and everyone on this forums knows I have had a learning process and after replacing one arm I have grown to like the way it operates. Jimmy at ZIPDEE is a jewel in operating these things. Have installed grease to keep the water out but you need to empty any water out of the arms. Have found this will ususally be the reason the air will not push up. Will not deploy with key turned on. DAN
Be sure your batteries are new. The batteries are in the blue box near the control center in a bay. They should be changed out every 2 years if not every year. Low voltage will cause havoc with the awning. Also, make sure you have the proper air pressure to operater the awning. Zip Dee does not like the Foretravel installation. Zip Dee prefers to have their own air source that is not shared.
FYI, we had the AutoAwning on our 02 for 9 of the 10 years that we owned our coach. 8.5 years of the 9 were shear hell. Then we had James Stallings rip the POS off the coach and had a manual Zip Dee installed and life was grand. Just sayin....
Tom & Bill
You hit the nail on the head. Not a fun awning to own.
Jimmy @ Zip DEE is the guru as many have said. We too have the "air" awning and have replaced both arms, the control box and the main recoil spring plus added a dedicated air compressor to provide the 110 min psi that the control box requires to operate. After Jimmy got done with ours it has worked flawlessly for almost two years.
Roger - Have your been able to contact Jimmy yet? He will trouble shoot over the phone and tell you what you need to do.
PS. The black end caps should be loosened every month or so to allow the water to flow out. At that time you should also use some 3 in 1 oil to lube the square tubes. Extend the awning manually form the switch on the control box completely. Careful to be sure the front entry door is closed. The awning will extend so the arms are at a slight downward angle from the attaching point at the coach. DO NOT remove the 4 screws on the end cap as it will cause you problems. Only loosen enough to separate the black plastic cap from the aluminum square tube. PM me if you would like to chat. Jimmy and the owner Jim taught me how to do it when they were working on our awning.
Does anyone have a phone number for Zip Dee? I have done a web search and found nothing so far.
Thank you.
Awnings By Zip Dee, Inc. (awningsbyzipdee.com)
96 Crossen Ave
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
800-338-2378 847-437-0980
Fax 847-437-7064
We spent time at Zip Dee this summer. Jimmy and 2 of his crew spent a great deal of time going over our autoawn. It worked flawlessly at their location. BUT ... as soon as we left it knew. We tried it several days later and it was still wonky and crazy. Zip Dee replaced almost every part and even upgraded old, brittle wiring! Maybe it is just my personal aura that sets the thing off .... I dunno. Their customer service is first rate. Jimmy is like Yoda.
Zip Dee 847-437-0980
Jim
Thank you very much for the contact information. I greatly appreciate your help.
Zip Dee...ask for Jimmy - he knows the most about their awning problems. He and his crew do go to any FMCA and other RV gatherings.
Jim
FYI on the awning....I removed mine and maybe someday I will put on a manual style. For now I kinda like not having it on the roof....I think my old coach looks much cleaner without it. Will be getting the old mounting holes filled at Extreme in Feb.
Maybe it is just my personal aura that sets the thing off .... I dunno.
Carol, the problem is your awning does not know fear....of you. I have discovered that when things fear me they will work. >:D >:D
That certainly sounds like the best fix for the long term.
What should we put on holes like that in the interim to avoid water penetration? I am thinking of things like the ZipDee fittings for the big awning that was replaced with my Girard. There are a couple of fittings for the bottom of the old awning legs, for example.
I was thinking of cleaning the area and maybe epoxying a small fiberglass patch on the inside of the holes, but did not want to do anything that would add significantly to Extreme's future labor cost.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Trent