# day/nite shades



## edelwoj (Aug 28, 2004)

I am in need of instructions on retying day/nite shades in our motorhome. They are in very good shape and can not afford to buy new ones. Hope someone out there can help me. Also need instructions on putting up the center arm on our A&E awning. Model # 930039-500B

Thank You. Sincerely,
Eleanor
edelwoj@localnet.com


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## ARCHER (Aug 28, 2004)

day/nite shades

Welcom to the forum, Eleanor.
First, send A&E an email and ask them to send you a owner's manual (I sent request (gave my model numer) and the sent it to me immediately.  Make sure you tell them you have the center support on it.
Regarding the day/nite shades do you mean the type the kind of fold up like a blind with about three strings (each end and middle) that operate into a single hole, normally on the right side???  If so, all you may need to do to re-tie or replace the string is to remove the holder of the shade/blind by removing 2-3 screws that hold it in place and you will be able to see where the string goes.  Make sure you use good string (nylon type) and that you leave it plenty long until you get it the correct length.  If that is not what your talking about, not sure I can help you...but good luck anyway......         :laugh:


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## edelwoj (Aug 29, 2004)

day/nite shades

Archer,
Thank you for the imput. I will try contacting A&E.   About the day/nite shades. Not sure that is how they are but will take a good look at them to see. They do have little (looks like pullys at the bottom of the window that the strings go around.  We need to get them down first and that is going to be a job in its self.    They are not easy to get at. Do appreciate your info anyway and will try it.
Last but not least! This is a wonderful site. Never been here before and just happen to run across it yesterday. So glad I did. It's very interesting and informational. Great job whom ever started it. :laugh:


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## C Nash (Aug 30, 2004)

day/nite shades

If they are like mine, the little pulley at the bottom is only an anchor. The eye in a couple broke while we were gone and it was a simple fix.  Did have to take the shade down and pull the string back through.  Wraped the string around the back side of the pulley and it,s better than using the hole in the spool. Be sure and get the string tigh enough to hold the shade up.


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## edelwoj (Sep 2, 2004)

day/nite shades

Thank You C.Nash,
Most likely they are like your and will try to see if that will work for me. I did contact Georgie Boy and they called me but was out of town for a few days so called them back today so they hopefully will contact me again tomorrow. Thank you for responding. Appreciate it.


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## rlmurraysr59 (Nov 10, 2004)

day/nite shades

You don't say in your request what type of motorhome you have.  I own a Fleetwood and it is equipped with day night shades made by a company in Indiana called Irvine Shade & Door Inc.  1000 Verdant Dr., Elkhart, IN 46516.  Phone 574-522-1446.  I have had three of my shades break.  One of them was because they oversized one of the guide holes and the nylon bushing cocked causing the string to wear against it. 

From my experience these shades are a pain to re-string.  The string goes up through the day section and then crosses over and goes up through the night section.  If the string broke in the middle of the shade it is hard to feed it back through the holes.  Also, the spools that fasten the string to the wall below the shade were made out of plastic "cheap" and the holes break out easily.  When I sent the shades to Irvine Shade I asked them to send me some new spools and they included a heavier type than Fleetwood used.  Amazing.

I had to pay the shipping and handling, and I think it cost me $14.00 for the restringing.  Got them back with in a couple weeks.  You can call them and find out.  The name of the manufacturer should be on the shade but in my case it was a little hard to locate.  They were nice people to deal with.

Good luck.


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## sepisllib (Nov 12, 2004)

day/nite shades

On our Tourmaster - it has the day/night shades and while they may have a use - we have determined that we really would rather have the option of opening and closing the shades. Our coach has nothing but these shades and we would like the ability to open up and see out once in a while.

We are looking for replacement shades that allow us to do that.

Bill & Judy


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## edelwoj (Nov 13, 2004)

day/nite shades

Our motorhome is a 1995 Cruisemaster. I did get in contact with the Co. and they sent me the stuff to restring the shades. Just have not had the time to get it done. Our next problem is to figure out how to get them off. They have the valance over the top and down the sides of them and the screws are hard to get at. I think it is just a matter of finding the right tool to do it. It must have been very expensive to send the shades back to the company to have them restrung though. Thank you for your information. It was appreciated.


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## edelwoj (Nov 13, 2004)

day/nite shades

I have the ability of opening and closing my shades so I can see out when I want to but not its keeping them up because of the strings breaking. So until we get them fixed my shades won't stay up. I really like the day/nite shades. My husband on the other hand would rather put up just the blinds and I don't like them. To hard to clean.
Had them in the other motorhome and was very unhappy with them. Appreciate hearing from you.


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## C Nash (Nov 29, 2004)

day/nite shades

Eleanor, Mine had phillip head screws behind that were a little hard to get at especially with these old bi-focals and looking up but, did not present a big problem. Once you have done one the next will be easy.  We love our day/night shades.  Worked great in Alaska where it never got dark.


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## edelwoj (Nov 30, 2004)

day/nite shades

Appreciate your help with my shades. We will have the same problem with the bi-focals as well. I did send for the strings and got them so can get at them and see what we can do with them. Thank You. Happy Holidays to everyone!


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## spiderman (Nov 30, 2004)

day/nite shades

Edelwoj -

When we bought our (used) Dolphin LX one of the day/night shades was broken. These are the accordion, pleated style with a semi transparent lower half and a nearly opaque upper half. You pull it down half way for daytime privacy and all the way down for full, nighttime privacy.

I tried the local Dolphin dealer and got a 3 week stall and it was going to cost me $75 to have them fix it. I started calling around to all the various residential window blind and shade companies including the ones who clean them (as opposed to selling me a new one). Check out your Yellow Pages under "Blinds" and "Blinds, Cleaning and Repairing." Most would repair them for a very reasonable price.

Without too much trouble I found a small place that cleaned blinds and the fellow there said he'd fix the blind for $10 a string. Bring it in in the morning and he'd have it ready by closing the next day.

The repair cost me $10. Works like a charm!

Bottom line #1: Don't get caught up in trying to have long distance, expensive repair companies or the manufacturer do a simple job like that. Find a local who'll do it cheap and be thankful for the business to boot.

Bottom line #2: There's always somebody who'll do it for less. You needn't go for the most expensive solution unless you have buckets of money to waste and you enjoy keeping him in his Cadillac!

Bottom line #3: It's okay to learn how to do it yourself, but if you'll only have to do the job once or twice in your lifetime, and it only costs $10, is it really worth the effort? Especially when you can have a guy who does it for a living do the job once and get it done right?

Life's too short to waste on a broken blind.


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## edelwoj (Nov 30, 2004)

day/nite shades

Mr.Schultz,
What good advice and thank you for it. Nice letter and sure did enjoy reading it. Good points too! I will check out the yellow pages right away. No we certainly don't have money to waste or I would have just gotten new ones.Better yet would have bought a new motorhome rather than a used one. I love the one we have and want to keep it for another few years. But also would pay $10 to have someone else do the job that knows what they are doing. Thank you so much for the telling me about the yellow pages and what to look for. Have a great day!


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## C Nash (Nov 30, 2004)

day/nite shades

Eleanor, If you could find someone that will fix for ten bucks that would be great but, it really is not a bad job once you figure it out.  I just like to do my own work so if it's done wrong i can't complain :laugh: .  That ten will buy me 5 more gallons of gas or another nite of camping :approve:


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## spiderman (Dec 1, 2004)

day/nite shades

Chelse -

Sad but true, those are all good points. To each his/her own, I guess. My intention was merely to get people to think out of the box, to re-evaluate their priorities, not necessarily insist they did it my way. Too often, people (like me sometimes) get all caught up in the heat of the moment and forget that there may be other, better alternatives.

Best and all...


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## C Nash (Dec 1, 2004)

day/nite shades

Hi Stan,
Your information was great and I would second your idea of searching for someone to do the work at a reasonable price if time does not allow you do it yourself.  Sometimes forget that all may not like the do-it-yourself route.  Probably cost me more sometmes   Nearly had a disaster returning from Alaska in Calgary.  Toad came loose but no damage done thanks to the brake system on the toad. Tried to go to your web site but it would not go. Maybe its because I have been working on the computer


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## robsouth (Dec 1, 2004)

day/nite shades

Stan, your url is not working for me either.  thanks, rob


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## spiderman (Dec 2, 2004)

day/nite shades

Aaaarrggghhhhh!!!!!!!

There was a period after the "html!"

D**n !#@$#$^%! computers!

Sorry for the problem. I'm going to test drive this one to make sure it works. If it doesn't, try http://www.uclgary.ca/~schultz (no period!)

Then click the "retirement home" link.

Sorry, again.


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## pathfinderxlt (Jan 21, 2005)

day/nite shades

quote:_Originally posted by edelwoj_

I am in need of instructions on retying day/nite shades in our motorhome. They are in very good shape and can not afford to buy new ones. Hope someone out there can help me. Also need instructions on putting up the center arm on our A&E awning. Model # 930039-500B

Thank You. Sincerely,
Eleanor
edelwoj@localnet.com


Try here http://www.rversonline.org/DayNight.html hope it helps Rich B.


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## nuts4fords (Apr 16, 2008)

RE: day/nite shades

 I just talked to the Irvine company today.  They were very helpfull to me.  If you need to call them for instructions, their phone number is 574-522-1446.  They can probably email you instructions.  Hope this helps!


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## oldguybc (Sep 25, 2009)

Re: day/nite shades

Am taking my Irvine Day/Nite shades in for cleaning and have some info fow whoever is interested.  Have a 1999 Thor Komfort 26F with nine shades of various sizes and am doing the whole thing at once.  Some points I have learned: 
1- All the screws on my valances are US#2 which makes it somewhat easy to get out with a Skil driver and extension bit, had no problem here.
2- Once the valances have been removed the best (make that the ONLY) way of getting the blind racks off the window is to loosen (unhook)the spools from the wall and bend the rack up in front, they pop right off the clamps.  (WARNING: DO NOT try to take them off without loosening the spools, the clamps will break before the racks pop).  
3- I found the best way of holding the blinds up was by putting rubber bands around them, does a real good job.  UNTIE the string ends from the spools and try to maintain the same lengths on both ends, it will save grief when you reinstall them.  
4- The best place to get them cleaned is thru either private service or dirtyblindman.com recommendations.  The best price we got was a flat $12.50 a drape and it is taking about five days, total cost was around $130.00 which included repair on two of the blinds.  
6- We are reinstalled the blinds ourselves after contacting Irvine Blind and getting six of those plastic spools along with a dozen of the end plugs, they came off and were somehow lost.  Irvine is also sending us instructions on re- threading along with a quantity of thread they included, all at no cost!    
7- This is a ton cheaper than taking them in to an RV repair facility, best price we got there was $420 for all nine drapes.


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## TexasClodhopper (Sep 25, 2009)

Re: day/nite shades

Many thanks for the post of your experiences.

These blinds are not all that easy to restring, but one thing I know ... use plenty of string.


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## dennis1949 (Sep 29, 2009)

Re: day/nite shades

I fixed my problems with the day/night shades. I replaced them with blinds


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## DL Rupper (Sep 29, 2009)

Re: day/nite shades

Just broke one yesterday. @#$%&*.   We usually RV along until we come across a company that will fix them.  We have found 2 in CA, 1 in TX, 1 in OR, 1 in OH,.  As you can see we have broken many of the strings over the 14 years we have full-timed.  It usually costs about $50 to have them re-strung.  Well worth it.  I have some instructions in my computer on how to repair and will see if the Web site is referenced.  It looked to complicated for me to attempt. :laugh:


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## Kirk (Oct 2, 2009)

Re: day/nite shades

We have solved the blinds in our bedroom in the same way as Dennis. We can actually get air with the blinds down now! The ones in living quarters are next!


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## big bilko (Oct 3, 2009)

Re: day/nite shades

Finally I can post on a subject that I know something about. We have the day night shades and will be replacing them with slimline venetians which I manufacture.If you are ordering these go straight to a manufacturer and cut out the middle mans profit.  With the drop of your blind you will be paying for a minimum drop and most RV windows are only short.Get the factory to put 10 extra slats in the bottom ladder of each blind to use as spares in case of accidental damage.They should not charge you or if they do it should be only minimal as the cost of a slat is only a couple of cents.Make sure they give you hold down brackets with them to prevent movement.Shorten the plastic wand and cords after you instal to get the correct lengths. Most bent slats occur with cleaning or by pets so if you have damage you only need to undo the knotted cord and slip out the bad slats and move up the spares.  Regards from DOWN UNDER . BIG BILKO


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