Hi. Thought I would share my awning mod and what went right and what went wrong. Our Carefree awing vinyl de-laminated having spent 4 or so years unprotected in the sun while in storage. Would have thought something meant to shade you from the sun might be able to handle being in the sun but I guess that's another conversation. So I ordered a replacement - got the barrel and spring mechanism as well thinking it would be a simple swap and, having been inspired by Crusty - or perhaps someone else's post I decided to add an LED light strip. Simple right.
I picked up the LED light strip from Ebay for $12 and the awning barrel from Caravans Plus. While the barrel was on the floor I threaded some whipper snipper cord through one side as a pull wire. This was a bit tricky as the seam of the awning was pretty much stuck together so a second person was needed to massage it open while I pushed the cord through. Then I pulled a small figure 8 cable through. I then set the LED strip in the channel of the barrel and drilled a hole for the cable. A small rubber grommet was also siliconed in place to protect the cable. The LED strip and figure 8 cable were soldered together. A quick test with 12 volts to make sure it all fired up then I threaded a whipper snipper cable through the other side to ensure the awning would roll up evenly. So - all is good up to this point.
I then popped a clip into the end of the old awning to hold the spring tension and removed the barrel from the awning legs. With a bit of effort the awning was slid out of the channel - old awing removed. After cleaning up the channel, the new awning was slid into the channel and centred and secured. Popped the barrel onto the legs and removed the spring - ready to go!. I then go to wind the awning in and...it wont close up fully. Turns out that the exact replacement is...not an exact replacement and is in fact 25mm longer.
What to do - move the leg or shorten the barrel. I decided to shorten the barrel and after measuring thrice (so as only to cut once) I made a cutting guide up from some 100mm stormwater pipe to make sure that I cut straight. With the barrel suspended from a ladder I carefully removed the end piece (following the instructions on releasing tension) and secured the guide in place and carefully cut through the barrel. Once reassembled, retensioned and replaced....it worked ! Then I drilled through the van into the back of a cupboard and connected via a switch to 12 volts. Flicked the switch and the lights came on !
What did I learn. 1. Check the measurements of new parts vs old parts carefully. 2. Its really pretty easy to shorten an awning barrel. 3. LED lights in the awning look pretty damn schmick!





I picked up the LED light strip from Ebay for $12 and the awning barrel from Caravans Plus. While the barrel was on the floor I threaded some whipper snipper cord through one side as a pull wire. This was a bit tricky as the seam of the awning was pretty much stuck together so a second person was needed to massage it open while I pushed the cord through. Then I pulled a small figure 8 cable through. I then set the LED strip in the channel of the barrel and drilled a hole for the cable. A small rubber grommet was also siliconed in place to protect the cable. The LED strip and figure 8 cable were soldered together. A quick test with 12 volts to make sure it all fired up then I threaded a whipper snipper cable through the other side to ensure the awning would roll up evenly. So - all is good up to this point.
I then popped a clip into the end of the old awning to hold the spring tension and removed the barrel from the awning legs. With a bit of effort the awning was slid out of the channel - old awing removed. After cleaning up the channel, the new awning was slid into the channel and centred and secured. Popped the barrel onto the legs and removed the spring - ready to go!. I then go to wind the awning in and...it wont close up fully. Turns out that the exact replacement is...not an exact replacement and is in fact 25mm longer.
What to do - move the leg or shorten the barrel. I decided to shorten the barrel and after measuring thrice (so as only to cut once) I made a cutting guide up from some 100mm stormwater pipe to make sure that I cut straight. With the barrel suspended from a ladder I carefully removed the end piece (following the instructions on releasing tension) and secured the guide in place and carefully cut through the barrel. Once reassembled, retensioned and replaced....it worked ! Then I drilled through the van into the back of a cupboard and connected via a switch to 12 volts. Flicked the switch and the lights came on !
What did I learn. 1. Check the measurements of new parts vs old parts carefully. 2. Its really pretty easy to shorten an awning barrel. 3. LED lights in the awning look pretty damn schmick!




