Sailing the Mountain Aire!

[TJ&LadyDi]

We were “under sail” today with the MADP. Pulling into a TA in Oregon this morning, we were followed by a trucker frantically waving out his window and blowing his air horn. Our Girard awning had deployed at speed and when we pulled in, it brushed one of the canopy supports and started to fold up. Luckily, we were moving slowly and there is no visible damage, It retracted fully, so hope it is OK.

Scary moment! I have pulled power to the awning per Erika at Newmar, so we are back on the road. From now on, I will ALWAYS pull power to it when we move the coach.

TJ

 

[Neal]

WOW! Very nice of that trucker and hopefully saved your Girard. I can imagine who I'd be calling if I was you and giving a piece of your mind. I believe others such as @CaptainGizmo are pulling power whenever they travel. That is just insane! Glad you saved it!

 

[Neemer]

Ok, that’s hosed up. I don’t understand how that awning isn’t shredded. Is this a reported problem with Girards? By pulling power, are you talking about throwing a breaker?

 

[J&JD]

I actually added switched sockets to the plugs where the Girards plug in in the third bay p/s. This makes it easy to switch the sockets live when I want to deploy the awnings. I did this several months ago after reading about several instances of awnings being deployed while moving. The thread was on irv2 quite some time ago. One person, if I recall, installed smart sockets so he could turn them on with his iPhone.

Cable Matters 3 Pack Grounded Outlet with ON Off Switch, Single Outlet with Switch in Black: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Cable Matters 3 Pack Grounded Outlet with ON Off Switch, Single Outlet with Switch in Black: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

I actually added switched sockets to the plugs where the Girards plug in in the third bay p/s. This makes it easy to switch the sockets live when I want to deploy the awnings. I did this several months ago after reading about several instances of awnings being deployed while moving. The thread was on irv2 quite some time ago. One person, if I recall, installed smart sockets so he could turn them on with his iPhone.

Cable Matters 3 Pack Grounded Outlet with ON Off Switch, Single Outlet with Switch in Black: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Cable Matters 3 Pack Grounded Outlet with ON Off Switch, Single Outlet with Switch in Black: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

That is a mod we are definitely going to make!!!

TJ

 

[NWIP]

Glad to hear no damage. Scary.

I have been pulling the plug on the controllers for over a year, after I passed a Dutch Star on the side of I–15 by Cedar City, UT with the rear awning deployed and hanging to the ground.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Ok, that’s hosed up. I don’t understand how that awning isn’t shredded. Is this a reported problem with Girards? By pulling power, are you talking about throwing a breaker?

We haven’t yet been able to fully check the awning out, but it appears to be OK. At least, it fully retracted and has stayed there for 250 miles.

To remove power, we were advised to pull a plug from a standard 120V receptacle in a cargo bay. The red LED on the control box went out, indicating that power had been turned off.

TJ

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Glad to hear no damage. Scary.

I have been pulling the plug on the controllers for over a year, after I passed a Dutch Star on the side of I–15 by Cedar City, UT with the rear awning deployed and hanging to the ground.

Hi, Bill. Where are you folks these days? Any chance of a Polson visit?

TJ

 

[NWIP]

We are in Livingston, MT for May, then to St Regis and then need to headed back to California late June. Unfortunately I don’t think we will make it to Polson this year. Hope you have a good stay this year without any further issues.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

You and Lisa will be missed in Polson! How long will you be at St. Regis? We have friends that live not too far from St. Regis...Superior.

TJ

 

[NWIP]

We will be there for 6 days, going to do some bike riding in the area. Having to go to California in the middle of summer was not in my plan but need to take care of some family business. Good news son and family from CT will be there for a week.
We will miss being at Polson as we do enjoy the park and visiting you and Lady Di

 

[Neal]

Please report this, loudly to Girard (and Newmar) as this needs to be fixed for those that don't know how to avoid this situation "yet". It's one thing to mitigate it but Girard must find the cause and fix this. Wonder if this is NHTSA or recall worthy?

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Please report this, loudly to Girard (and Newmar) as this needs to be fixed for those that don't know how to avoid this situation "yet". It's one thing to mitigate it but Girard must find the cause and fix this. Wonder if this is NHTSA or recall worthy?

Oh yes, it will be LOUDLY reported to both Girard and Newmar. Actually, they both already know about it because Erica at Newmar helped me with disconnecting the power while she also had Girard on the line providing information.

That said, I will be filing a formal complaint with both corporations, and with the NHTSA. In my opinion, this issue is worthy of a recall and a mandated fix because the flying hardware from one of those awnings destroying itself at highway speed could be lethal to some innocent third party.

TJ

 

[MapNerd]

@TJ&LadyDi were you just trying to shorten the trip a bit by trying to see if you could get a little air? It’s okay. We won’t judge you. This is a safe space.

in all seriousness, glad you and lady di are okay and that there was no discernable damage. Thanks so much for sharing. You hear about it every once in a while from someone on a forum but when I hear about it happening from someone I regularly agree with a d know is almost certainly doing everything by the book, that drives it a little closer to home.

I will definitely be making the same mod - no iPhone. Last thing I need is a butt dialed awning deployment.

 

[RKins]

I remember the national president of NKK was at the Tampa Supershow 2 or 3 years ago in his beautiful MA. His passenger side front awning was all wrapped and bungy corded up, so I guess the problem was around back then.
If I had one of those awnings I think I would wire a relay into the ignition that turned off those outlets when the key is in the ON position.

 

[Webz]

My rear awning deployed by itself pulling out of a park. Luckily I saw it in the mirror. Retracted it and unplugged both. Just ordered the switches as suggested above.

 

[Neal]

If Newmar can put an ignition cutout on the front TV and for my coach the slides then do so on awnings!!

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Finally got a chance to check out the awning today. I didn’t want to mess with it until we were settled in Polson for a while in case I needed to get a mobile tech to come in and do some work on it.

Amazingly, once I plugged it back in, it worked just fine and there is no visible damage. Our wash/detail guy will be here tomorrow and I’ll have him take a closer look from the ladder. I cycled the awning out and back in twice with the remote, and it worked fine. I guess we were just really lucky.

TJ

 

[redbaron]

This is my solution

Girard Nova Awning Protection Switch

There have been numerous reports of the Girard Nova Awnings deploying on their own. I have never experienced this in the limited time I have owned my 2019 Newmar Dutch Star, but I did receive a cal…

newmarhoots.com

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Yes, @redbaron, that is an elegant solution!

Our recent experience, however, has made us a bit nervous about electrical solutions; relays etc. There is already supposed to be an ignition lock-out circuit (relay) to prevent undesired deployment, along with some electronic safeguards in the control box. And, we saw first-hand how well they worked.

I think we are going to rely on “visual verification;” the plug being physically disconnected from a power source and the electrical disconnection being visible to the naked eye. I feel a little more confident in that solution at this point.

TJ