I picked up this awesome set of support poles for my electric awning at a small shop in Donna Tx. They are made from extending aluminum poles and have a saddle on top that cradles the roller tube. They fully extend out to almost 12 ft and contract down to about 55" and weight about 8lbs. So far I love them. would they handle extreme winds fully extended, probably not but that wouldn't be smart to leave them out then anyway. I can try to get some pictures if anyone is interested. I know they ship and I have gotten rv awning screens from them and solar screens for the windows and misc other stuff over the years. Great little shop. Been in business 20 years. Ask for Tracy. Here is the shop info: The Shade Shoppe 956-461-5641   shadeshoppe@hotmail.com.  https://www.facebook.com/shadeshoppe/?ref=bookmarks

   WHY?  The automatic CAREFREE awning on our 2010 Phaeton works well without the obstruction of having poles.  We would never leave our awning deployed when we are not at home or overnight.  We live on a particularly windy corner at the Jojoba Hills SKP resort. We love the freedom of full-timing of over 11 years now. Join us this winter for a barbecue on the patio. As always,  Orv 

I'm confused too. We have had an electric awning for 16 years of fulltiming. And it is original. It does just fine without support. We never leave with it rolled out. And if it does get windy we bring it in. It does have a wind sensor on it which is totally worthless. Tiny Tee, if yours has a wind sensor on it what happens if it starts to roll in with the support poles engaged?

a solution in search of a problem?

i have never used or owned a “auto” style awning. but at times have used a string on mine as a light wind “support” 

ends of the tubing down to the heavy weight on the ground. also help to stop head bumps.

Many of us who stay in one place for months on end like to keep our awnings down and create rooms under them. rolling them in and out constantly is a big pain. With the support poles we can tie our awning down with ratchet straps just like the manual awnings can be. then we can put our shade screen up and leave our awning out except when severe storms are forecasted. wind sensors can be shut off.

  On 12/7/2019 at 7:54 AM, TinyTee said:

Many of us who stay in one place for months on end like to keep our awnings down and create rooms under them. rolling them in and out constantly is a big pain. With the support poles we can tie our awning down with ratchet straps just like the manual awnings can be. then we can put our shade screen up and leave our awning out except when severe storms are forecasted. wind sensors can be shut off.

There is no difference between an electric awning and a manual awning, except convenience. I can tie down my electric awning in the same way I did a manual awning, no need for support poles.

Interesting.....

  On 12/7/2019 at 10:11 PM, SWharton said:

There is no difference between an electric awning and a manual awning, except convenience. I can tie down my electric awning in the same way I did a manual awning, no need for support poles.

You can tie it down the same, but the support poles allow you to tie it up also.  Without the support poles, a wind pushing downward on the awning can do damage.  A manual awning has support poles built in.

On our TT we often moved the support poles from connecting to the side of trailer to vertical on the ground and tied down.  I was wondering if the same could be done to the fancy awnings.  We enjoy sitting under the awning and watching a nice rain.

Thanks for posting.

Yes you can tie down an electric awning without support poles but it is not good for the awning. Its put a tremendous pressure on the arms. especially if you are in a breezy/windy area and want to keep your awning out. the wind is constantly pushing it up and down. With the support poles that pressure both up and down is regulated to the poles and ratchet straps. I should have mine set up in a few days and will post pictures.

Fair warning, I had a set of the those poles that I got at the flea market there in the RGV and even with them installed properly a sudden gust of high wind still damaged one of the awning arms. 

The cost of that repair made me realize that the poles simply were not worth it. I have not considered tying down my awning since.