garyemunson
Jan 23, 2018Explorer II
Replaced front pull-around curtain with pull-down shades.
Well, after repurposing our front curtain as a front bunk privacy curtain, our MCD shades finally arrived. I was lucky our 2015 Winnebago had flat surfaces on the A-pillar covers so I was able to order a power shade 1/2" inch narrower than the distance between the pillar covers. MCD has several different ordering pages to cover the different ways coach builders make the A-pillars. I was lucky my application did not require any cutting of the pillar cover and all I had to do was add a piece of angle for a shade guide. I ordered a single shade that comes off the roll to the rear of the RV. The MCD shades just need a flat surface (ceiling) to screw the mounting clips to and the shade frame then snaps onto the clips (and can be easily removed from the clips if necessary). The angle on the front windshield means the side shades do not cover the lower front of the side windows. The window frame has a groove in it that you can fit cut angled pieces of coreboard into to assure privacy at night. The power windshield shade was easy to wire..it only requires 3 small wires pulled to it that I was able to conceal behind the passenger side A-pillar and thread down to the underside of the dash. You can choose which side the shade motor is on (it is inside the shade tube). I chose passenger side as it was easier to fish wires thru that side to the center "radio pod"(correct name???). The shade uses very little power so I tapped into the cigarette lighter feed (always hot and we never use it) in the radio pod and put an inline fuse right at the junction. I tucked the fuse holder up just under the pod so I can easily pull it back out if replacing the fuse is necessary. I chose to order two switches and wire them in parallel and mounted them on opposite sides of the pod. The location of the switches lets either the driver or passenger to access a switch by just reaching forward while sitting and still belted in. The driver does not have to take his eyes off the road as the switch on the driver's side stands out black on a light background. The downside to my 2 switch arrangement is that if one switch is pressed for down while the other is pressed for up, the fuse will blow. If this turns out to be a problem, I'll add a relay control that only allows one switch to operate the shade at a time. I used 1 1/2" aluminum angle bolted to the A-pillar cover to serve as a guide for the front shade and keep it from swinging in. Home Depot also had some nice trim wood that I used to make a valance to cover the shade rollers. For the valance I made brackets out of galvanized step flashing that is used on chimney flashing. Strong enough for the purpose (the trim wood is quite light) and thin enough that I was able to slip it between the shade frame and the padded RV ceiling. This made it SO EASY to get the trim lined up as it was held in place by the shade frames until I got the screws in. The flashing was attached to the trim with #6 3/8" screws. I've includes some pix to illustrate what I did. Be glad to answer any question about the install. It went much easier that I was expecting and the results are quite pleasing! I should add the 3 wires are 2 for the motor and 1 for 'ignition sensing' that inhibits downward motion of the shade beyond a programmable position so you can't completely close the windshield shade while driving. I used the radio feed for that circuit. I don't think it uses any appreciable current, just tells the controller the engine is running and not to lower the shade beyond the preset down stop.
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