Nationwide · Options & Automation
The awning that protects itself
A wind sensor watches the weather you are not watching, and retracts your retractable awning before the gust arrives. Set it once, forget it forever.
Prefer text? Text AJ Shades at (909) 325-3110
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Every awning owner knows the scenario: the morning is calm, the awning goes out, and by three o’clock the wind has other plans. You are at work, or at the store, or simply not thinking about the patio, and the gust that matters arrives while nobody is home to retract anything. Wind damage is the most common way retractable awnings get hurt, and it is almost always a story about absence, not negligence.
The wind sensor ends that story. A small sensor mounted with the system monitors wind speed continuously, and when gusts cross the threshold you set, it tells the motor to retract, automatically, in seconds, whether you are home or three states away. It is the closest thing the awning world has to a set-and-forget promise: you enjoy the shade on the calm days, and the system makes the conservative call on the gusty ones.
This is engineered honesty, not magic. The sensor cannot defeat a forecasted storm, for severe weather, the standing guidance is to retract the awning in advance, sensor or not, but the vast majority of wind damage does not come from named storms. It comes from ordinary gusty afternoons, the kind that arrive while the house is empty. That is exactly the threat the sensor is built for, and it handles it without drama.
How it works
Set the threshold, live your life
Continuous monitoring, automatic response
The sensor samples the wind in real time and communicates with the awning’s motor controller. Cross the threshold and the retract command fires immediately, no app to check, no notification to acknowledge, no race home from the office. The awning comes back out with a single tap once conditions settle, so a gusty afternoon costs you shade for an hour, not a repair bill for a season.
Calibrated to your exposure, not a generic number
A courtyard in a dense neighborhood and a ridge-top deck do not experience the same wind, so the trigger threshold is adjustable and your installer sets it for your site on installation day. Sheltered locations get a more permissive setting; exposed sites get a conservative one. You can adjust it later from the control as you learn your microclimate, the sensor adapts to the house, not the other way around.
One platform with the rest of the automation
The sensor lives on the same control platform as the motor, the LED lighting, and the smart-home integration, one system, one remote, one app. That matters because protection works best when it is invisible: no separate hub to maintain, no second app to open, no competing schedules. The awning behaves as a single intelligent product, and the wind response is simply what it does.
The honest framing
What the sensor does, and what it does not
Here is the straight version we give every customer: the wind sensor is your everyday guardian against the unexpected gust, the number-one cause of awning damage. It is not a hurricane plan. When severe weather is forecast, retract the awning beforehand; no sensor overrides the physics of a storm. And a motorized awning needs power to retract, so the sensor is one layer of a sensible approach, not a substitute for judgment.
That honesty is why dealers love specifying it. The sensor conversation is the moment the sale becomes consultative: you are not upselling a gadget, you are protecting the customer’s investment with the same seriousness you would want for your own patio. It is the option that proves you are on their side, and it is the option customers thank you for, the first gusty afternoon they spend somewhere else.
Paired with a full cassette, which seals the fabric and arms inside a protective housing when retracted, the sensor completes the weather strategy: automatic retraction when the wind rises, armored storage when the awning is away. It is the configuration we recommend for every exposed installation, and the one that lets owners in windy corridors buy with total confidence.
Nationwide program
Specified at order, calibrated on install day
The wind sensor is specified with your retractable awning at order time and arrives as part of the system. AJ Shades’ own installation crews serve Southern California, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties, and everywhere else, a trusted local contractor installs your system to our specification and calibrates the sensor threshold to your site’s exposure on installation day.
Every retractable awning and motorized power screen carries our 15-year warranty on frames, hardware, motors, and fabric systems. The sensor is inexpensive protection for that investment, the option most dealers recommend the way they recommend the cassette itself: cheap insurance on a premium purchase. Text (909) 325-3110 or contact us with your project details and your city to talk configuration.
Keep reading: LED lighting, smart controls, retractable awnings nationwide, the nationwide program, the dealer program.
Wind sensor questions, answered
How does a wind sensor actually protect the awning?
Can I adjust how sensitive the sensor is?
What happens if the power goes out during a wind event?
Do wind sensors work with motorized screens too?
Will the sensor trigger falsely on normal breezy days?
Is a wind sensor required, or optional?
How do I order a wind sensor through the nationwide program?
Does the sensor change the 15-year warranty?
Free estimate • No pressure
Let the awning watch the weather.
Tell us about your project and your city, we'll specify the sensor, the cassette, and the calibration your exposure needs.
Text AJ Shades
(909) 325-3110
Built by Family. Designed for Yours.
Owned
Made
on awnings & screens
five-star reviews
CSLB #951583