Day/Night Shades, Chinese Crap

[crocus]

Finally got around to replacing one of our day/night shades that just wouldn't stay up. Found out that the assembly person in the factory in China simply didn't bother to string the cords properly. Of course, when they do that, there isn't enough cord to do it the right way, so I will have to go out and buy a roll of cord and redo the whole blind. Luckily, I had a spare so just replaced it. But of course it wasn't quite the same colour!

Earlier this season I had to fix another one, as they buggered up one of the grommets in the blind that is supposed to keep the cords from chaffing, and the cord was cut after only a few uses of the blind.

This makes me wonder if I will eventually have to fix every last one of the blinds? Gotta love that Chinese crap they send over here!

[KyDan]

Ours were always VERY hard to move up and down.
No problem with them not staying up like yours.
Someone posted here well over a year ago that they were a shade repairman and
the most common problem with these shades was the strings were way too tight.
I went out to my trailer and untied all the knots on the string anchors.
In most cases I was able to get a little extra cord just by tying them closer to the
end of the cord.
In a couple cases I had to move the anchor screw up an inch. (Yes it left a small hole.)
It made a HUGE difference in the operation.
They still stay up and now can be operated with one hand in most cases.
We still use two hands to help move them up and down in a level fashion but they
are way easier to operate and string life has got to be improved.

I'm not real fond of them either but at least ours are working for now.

Good luck with yours.

[Herk7769]

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...irs-13444.html

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...hades-987.html

Has the repair and cleaning info.

The whole process takes about an hour per blind. Most of the time is spent taking them down and putting them up.
Easy Peasey.

[Ovair]

Feature wise, I like them.
Function wise, I dislike them. Either too hard to move, or won't stay up. It is difficult to find that middle ground.
I think I'd rather just have a combination of blinds and sheers.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by Ovair

Feature wise, I like them.
Function wise, I dislike them. Either too hard to move, or won't stay up. It is difficult to find that middle ground.
I think I'd rather just have a combination of blinds and sheers.

Check out the links for how to fix em so you like em!

[crocus]

KyDan, you are correct that solving the tension problem is very easy. I had to do the same to a couple of mine. And the minimum tension will help the cords last longer.
What I am unhappy about is the poor quality of assembly from the Chinese. But I guess FR gets them for pennies, so having to replace a few here and there is no big deal for them. The blinds themselves are pretty good, and we really like them. We would never go back to shades or blinds.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by crocus

But I guess FR gets them for pennies, so having to replace a few here and there is no big deal for them.

Having priced replacing one, I can tell you that if FR pays pennies for them; SOMEONE is making a killing selling them.

I realized that repair was my ONLY option without a loan (JK - but not by much since the color I needed was not available and I was looking at all of them).

[Ovair]

Thanks Herk. Nice info at those links.