Looking For Replacement Momentary DPDT On/Off/On Switch For Awning

Updated 04/15/2026 | Published 04/10/2026

Question:

My awning stopped working and it seems there is a break in the line somewhere. I can extend/retract coming straight off the battery so I was going to run a new switch. My awing switch has three wires common-yellow, extend-gray, retract - brown. Most of the switches I see have two wires minus the power and ground wires. How would I wire the white and blue wires off your switch to my yellow, gray, and brown? At the motor there is a control box with the power and ground on one side. And then on the other side of the control box is the power, ground, common, extend, retract wires.

asked by: Jamie F

Awning Switch
(click to enlarge)

Expert Reply:

Hello Jamie, thanks for reaching out. What you’re running into is your awning uses a 3-wire, polarity-reversing switch, not a simple on/off setup. That yellow wire is your common power, and the switch sends power out to either the gray or brown wire to extend or retract by flipping polarity to the motor.

The two-wire switch you’re looking at isn’t built to do that, so there’s no clean way to wire it in and get both directions. It’ll either only work one way or not at all. You’ll want a momentary DPDT on/off/on switch like part # 37212835 so it can properly send power to extend and retract like your original.

expert reply by: Jesse M