New Awning Fabric install

PADuramax · 06-25-2022, 04:43 PM

Wondering if anyone here has replaced the awning fabric on a power awning and may be able to help.

I have a 2013 Cougar 327RES. The fabric went bad so I purchased a new one and tried to replace it. I Have the new fabric on, but for some reason when I hit the “extend” switch the awning literally flys open to the point I have to bump the retract button to stop it.

Now that it’s out, it will only partially retract and the motor is whining. When we took it apart, We put a pin in the non motor side, counted the number of revolutions when we took it apart (6 full revolutions) and used that when we put it back together.

After we had the issue, we tried winding the spring the opposite way to see if that helped and it didn’t.

At a loss at this point…seemed like a fairly straightforward project…

**chuckster57** · 06-25-2022, 04:51 PM

I assume you wound it back up in the opposite direction? We use 1 full turn for each foot of awning length.

PADuramax · 06-25-2022, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckster57

I assume you wound it back up in the opposite direction? We use 1 full turn for each foot of awning length.

Chuckster57, so if it’s an 11’ awning we should wind it 11 turns? We thought maybe we wound it backwards so we wound it the opposite direction 6 turns and it did the same thing.

I’m guessing it’s not a motor issue since it worked fine with the old awning.

**chuckster57** · 06-25-2022, 05:10 PM

I would try 12 at least. You want it to have spring tension at all times trying to retract the awning. Clockwise if my brain is engaged.

PADuramax · 06-26-2022, 05:10 AM

Thank you for the information we’ll
Give that a try!

**JRTJH** · 06-26-2022, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PADuramax

Chuckster57, so if it’s an 11’ awning we should wind it 11 turns? We thought maybe we wound it backwards so we wound it the opposite direction 6 turns and it did the same thing.

I’m guessing it’s not a motor issue since it worked fine with the old awning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckster57

I would try 12 at least. You want it to have spring tension at all times trying to retract the awning. Clockwise if my brain is engaged.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PADuramax

Thank you for the information we’ll
Give that a try!

Maybe it's just me, but awning LENGTH (front of awning to rear of awning) as nothing to do with tension on the awning roller. The awning could be 11' long or 22' long, both have no bearing on roller tube tension...

The "important factor" is the awning WIDTH.... For the most part, all awnings extend somewhere between 7' and 8'. So, "one turn per foot" is either 7 turns or 8 turns.... Twisting the roller tube 11 turns for a 11' long awning will make the roller tube "too tight"...

As I said, just a "descriptive difference" but length and width are not the same....

**chuckster57** · 06-26-2022, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Maybe it's just me, but awning LENGTH (front of awning to rear of awning) as nothing to do with tension on the awning roller. The awning could be 11' long or 22' long, both have no bearing on roller tube tension...

The "important factor" is the awning WIDTH.... For the most part, all awnings extend somewhere between 7' and 8'. So, "one turn per foot" is either 7 turns or 8 turns.... Twisting the roller tube 11 turns for a 11' long awning will make the roller tube "too tight"...

As I said, just a "descriptive difference" but length and width are not the same....

Ok, I guess it can be confusing. Pretty much all awnings extend the same amount. I was trained 1 turn for every foot of the roller tube.

PADuramax · 06-26-2022, 08:07 AM

Thanks for the help! From what I’ve seen it needs to be turned counter clockwise as well. I pulled the paperwork, it appears to be a dometic 91660.

Would there be anything with how the motor went back in? We pulled the motor out and it went back in fine, just wasn’t sure if it had to coincide with the springs.

We also have the awning extended at this point because it wouldn’t retract without what seemed like a lot of work on the motor. So for now it’s fully extended

**chuckster57** · 06-26-2022, 08:20 AM

There are slots in the plate of the motor shaft that have to coincide with the 3 channels of the tube interior.

Awning tube turns counterclockwise to extend and clockwise to retract, right? so you need to have tension on the roller tube when its fully retracted and increased tension when its extended. I will admit I get stuck on this pretty much every time since I dont do awnings all day long every day

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