Day/Night Shade repairs...

[Vern]

I recently re-strung two of our day/night shades by following the instructions found on this forum and on various YouTube videos regarding the restringing process. The restringing itself was tedious but not difficult, as has been stated on here many times. However, I ran into a problem which I have not found others to mention here; namely, that I broke every end cap from the top, middle and bottom rails of the blinds in the process of "removing them carefully". Am I the only one who has broken these caps into pieces? Despite my effort to gently remove them, literally all six caps on both blinds were broken, most badly, and were not fit for re-use when I was finished.

[Timex]

I'm not about to give any advice on this. I can't even hook a battery up correctly! If my day/night shades ever fail, I am not even going to attempt restringing. I'll probably go with those type of blinds that roll down. Kind of like the old roll shade but with a modern twist.

[jkvoc417]

You can purchase end cap at fixmyblinds.com

[Vern]

Originally Posted by jkvoc417

You can purchase end cap at fixmyblinds.com

The end caps were so tightly installed at the blind factory (in Taiwan) that I literally could not remove them without breaking them (11 of 12). Once broken, they were virtually useless and need replaced. I will have to get a stock of these, as it is clear we will be needing them, since the strings in these shades are very prone to breaking under normal use. My real concern is that the design of the blind ends seems to leave little (and very irregular) room to re-insert the caps, even if I had a supply. Total replacement of the window coverings should not be necessary on a 2 year old unit which has been used with great care. Seems these ought not be a "disposable" item, but maybe they are.

[Timex]

There you go!

[Vern]

Originally Posted by Timex

I'm not about to give any advice on this. I can't even hook a battery up correctly! If my day/night shades ever fail, I am not even going to attempt restringing. I'll probably go with those type of blinds that roll down. Kind of like the old roll shade but with a modern twist.

OK, Timex, you may be right, the money may be better spent replacing with something else. Thanks. However, I hate being the guinea pig. Have you seen these in person or operated them? I see there is a day/night version of roller shades are sold on Camping World. Have you identified a source for these with which anyone has reportedly had any success? Hey, I have an idea...maybe you could go ahead and replace yours and let me know how that goes?

[KyDan]

It's a shame you had to re-string them so soon!
When we got our trailer all the shades had the strings so tight it was
very difficult to move them.
Someone here on FRF said they repaired shades and the #1 reason for
failure was strings too tight.
I loosened all the strings- some a little and some a lot- and we've not
had any trouble in over 6 years. My wife raises and lowers them all every
day when we're camping.
I hope we can get this good use out of our next rig (if we have a next one!).
It is stored in a shelter with sides so they are more or less in the dark when
not in use. Maybe the UV is killing your strings and not mine?

[Timex]

Originally Posted by Vern

OK, Timex, you may be right, the money may be better spent replacing with something else. Thanks. However, I hate being the guinea pig. Have you seen these in person or operated them? I see there is a day/night version of roller shades are sold on Camping World. Have you identified a source for these with which anyone has reportedly had any success? Hey, I have an idea...maybe you could go ahead and replace yours and let me know how that goes?

Whoa now Vern, I was trying to be a blessing to you!

I've seen these roller shades(for lack of a better term) in stores(Lowes, etc) but I don't have any experience or know if they would be appropriate for use in a RV. I hold my breath every time we raise or lower the day/night shades hoping I don't heard that sound of a string breaking or end up holding the whole shade in my hands. Wish I could be of more assistance to Ya. Sounds like you're in a quandary of should I/shouldn't I.
Let us hear what you decide.

[Vern]

OK, KyDan, that makes sense to me. I would rather try loosening the strings and hope for similar results to yours than to jump into buying replacements, especially now that I have had these apart and know how to fix them. Now to order a supply of end caps to cover my tracks to date. Thanks, guys.

[Timex]

Duct tape comes in a multitude of colors!

[Vern]

Originally Posted by Timex

Duct tape comes in a multitude of colors!

That's exactly what the DW said!

[Vern]

KyDan, I have loosened the strings on my blinds and they seem to work much easier, but it is sort of a fine line between falling and working easy. I think we are getting better at adjustments, though. I am hoping maybe we have extended the life of each stringing by "de-stressing" them.

You raised the possibility that UV exposure may play a role, and I think that could present a valid concern in my case, too, since my port/OD side (where most of the windows are found on my rig with the atrium feature) certainly takes a lot of sun when in the drive at home. Time will tell.

Most importantly, like most things rv, my concern over this has fallen off several decibels after a successful camping trip last weekend where my repairs (and adjustments) seemed to work. I guess both my blind strings and I have been de-stressed.

I have not yet purchased those replacement end caps (or the color-coordinated duct tape), but will eventually get a supply to tidy up those I mangled.

Thanks, everyone.

[Timex]

[QUOTE=Vern;665481]
I have not yet purchased those replacement end caps (or the color-coordinated duct tape), but will eventually get a supply to tidy up those I mangled.

Now you're catching on!

[billrinaldi]

How did you loosen the strings? Mine are so tight I can hardly move them.


Sent from my iPad using Forest River Forums

[danno2u]

Originally Posted by billrinaldi

How did you loosen the strings? Mine are so tight I can hardly move them.

I have re-strung four of my shades so far. It's not hard. And yes, a couple of the end caps broke their little tabs but not so bad that I couldn't reuse them.

You loosen the strings by unwinding them one loop at a time from the little device screwed in at the bottom left and bottom right of the shade. I suggest you try the shade each time you loosen one loop so you don't get them too loose.

If there are no loops on the screw device to loosen, you can untie the knot below the device and let more cord in to loosen.

[Vern]

billrinaldi - As danno2u correctly states above, the adjustment involves the loosening of the strings at their terminus, the wall anchor. My wall anchors are just little discs held to to the wall by a single screw (one at both the lower right and left of each window). I also agree that adjustments should be made in small increments.

The only way this cannot be done is if there is not extra string after the "knot" at this anchor. I had one which was like that, but it was mounted several inches down the wall beyond the window, so I still was able to shorten it by removing, then screwing the disc back into the wall just about 3/4" higher up the wall (rather than loosening the string and reattaching using the same hole). Good luck!

[bubbles]

If you want the pull shades check www.mcdinnovations.com. These are the ones specifically for rv's.

[deartruc]

I had (until 5 hours ago) a 2010 StarCraft 217rbss which have the same shades as my new (about 5 hours ago) Roo 23ikss. I had the largest shade come completely unstrung after about a year. Spent many hours with it and several four letter words and got it back together. Though I never had another issue for 5 years, I thought the Great Walmart has a fine egg crate shade selection if it ever happened again.

[Vern]

Originally Posted by deartruc

I had (until 5 hours ago) a 2010 StarCraft 217rbss which have the same shades as my new (about 5 hours ago) Roo 23ikss. I had the largest shade come completely unstrung after about a year. Spent many hours with it and several four letter words and got it back together. Though I never had another issue for 5 years, I thought the Great Walmart has a fine egg crate shade selection if it ever happened again.

How the shades are installed and adjusted is the key. The factory has a tendency to get these too tight, which over-stresses the strings and causes them to fray, then break. If I'd known at purchase, I would have just adjusted (loosened) them and avoided a bunch of hassles.

So far...One little D/N shade by our bed broke and was repaired or replaced by my dealer during the first year. I have now restrung three of my smaller (23" x 52") atrium D/N shades, all of which broke in this, our third summer. After restringing, re-installing, and adjusting the tension, they seem better than new. I'm getting reasonably good at the stringing process on these little ones. If either of the big boys (on the two wider windows, with FOUR strings each instead of two) breaks, I will probably try restringing it.

However, if ANY of them breaks again, I may start shopping!

[billrinaldi]

Thank you for letting me know how to adjust the strings.