Forum Discussion

firedog's avatar
firedog
Explorer
Jul 30, 2013

windshield electric shade

I have an electric sun block shade and a privacy shade on the windshield, sometimes they go up and sometimes they don't. Afraid of getting stuck with one of them down. I assume it may be the toggle switches. pulled them out checked and made sure they were all connected tightly. Any advice would be appreciated. I'm pretty handy, but electrical issues throw me.

Thanks to all in advance
Firedog
  • There are 2 shades. MCD and Automotion. When you have a shade that intermittently fails to retract but fiddling with the button it does, you have a bad motor. This problem has nothing to do with resetting or telling the motor what the Ignition stop is. VERY common with Automotion front windshield shades. You can get a new motor for Automotion shades. Doug
  • We had the same problem. Coach sat for a while with the shades down. Keep pushing the button, it might move a small amount, but just push again and again. Ours finally broke loose and worked fine, until it was parked for a long period - same procedure. It looked to be a bear to take down.
  • Mine is constantly going out of adjustment. You’ll get real good at resetting it.
  • This adjustment is for ignition ON so be sure you set your lower limit above your eye level. This is a safety feature and the shade should NOT go all the way to the dash with the ignition key switch on. The lower limit must not block your view of the road on either the day or night shade.
  • JoeH wrote:
    I had similar issues last week... contacted MCD and they gave me the following instructions. I followed the instructions and all is well.
    Basically, you are reprogramming the motor to tell it where to stop.
    For the windshield, you program it once "on" and set the stops so the shades don't fall into your field of vision while driving, then you do it in ignition "off" so you can set it for full down positions.



    MCD Windshield Shade Upper and Lower Limit Adjustment Simplified

    NOTE: Please Read the Directions in its Entirety Before Performing the Adjustments


    1) Locate the learning button for the shade you want to set the limits for. The button will be on the motor side of the shade where the power wires go into the unit. The button is attached to a small gray wire. Turn your ignition key switch on. You will now set the upper limit and middle limit of the shade, above your eye level.


    Note: You may need two people to perform this adjustment depending on where the buttons and switches are located.


    2) Push the learning button ON and, at the same time, push the shade dash mounted rocker switch you use to put that shade up or down. Push the button so the shade travels “up” if it is in the down position or “down” if the shade is in the up position. Release both buttons when the beeping starts. You are now in the learning mode.


    Note: Sometimes the programming buttons will become lost or disconnected from the gray learning wire at the motor end of the shade. If that is the case, you can perform this shade adjustment by touching the metal tips of the two ends of the gray wires together. This will simulate pushing the learning button on.


    3) Press the same dash button in the same direction you were just going (either up or down) and hold it until it gets close to the upper or lower limit you want the shade to be set at. Release the dash button. You can now “bump” the shade button in the same direction of travel by repeatedly pushing it until you get it to the limit position you desire. Reverse the shade direction (up or down) from the direction you were initially moving the shade and do not release the button until the shade reaches the other limit you want to set. You will first hear a beep before the shade travels in the opposite direction. This

    indicates that that limit has been set.


    Note: This adjustment is for ignition ON so be sure you set your lower limit above your eye level. This is a safety feature and the shade should NOT go all the way to the dash with the ignition key switch on. The lower limit must not block your view of the road on either the day or night shade.


    4) You can now once again “bump” the shade in the same direction of the desired limit. When there, reverse the shade travel with the dash switch. A beep is heard. Both limits are now locked in.


    5) Test the shade limits by pushing the dash switch up to the upper limit and down to the lower limit. If all is well, you can now perform the same adjustment on the other shade (day or night) with the ignition ON if you desire.


    Note: Once the ignition ON settings are changed, you MUST reset the limits for ignition off on the same shade. Changing the adjustments in one mode affects the other mode.


    Setting the shade limits with the ignition OFF.


    The procedure is the same as above, but with the ignition off, you can bring either shade totally down to the dash for complete coverage of the windshield when you are parked.


    Note: If you release the dash button too soon when reversing the direction of the shade and you have a long distance to your stop point limit, the motor will only allow you to “bump” the shade up or down a little at a time. It may be quicker to reverse the direction again, which takes it out of the learning mode, and begin the procedure all over again (item #2 above) by holding both buttons and waiting for the beeps.


    X2, I was only able to figure out the stop point on the up side,but works better than it did.
  • JoeH's avatar
    JoeH
    Explorer III
    I had similar issues last week... contacted MCD and they gave me the following instructions. I followed the instructions and all is well.
    Basically, you are reprogramming the motor to tell it where to stop.
    For the windshield, you program it once "on" and set the stops so the shades don't fall into your field of vision while driving, then you do it in ignition "off" so you can set it for full down positions.



    MCD Windshield Shade Upper and Lower Limit Adjustment Simplified

    NOTE: Please Read the Directions in its Entirety Before Performing the Adjustments


    1) Locate the learning button for the shade you want to set the limits for. The button will be on the motor side of the shade where the power wires go into the unit. The button is attached to a small gray wire. Turn your ignition key switch on. You will now set the upper limit and middle limit of the shade, above your eye level.


    Note: You may need two people to perform this adjustment depending on where the buttons and switches are located.


    2) Push the learning button ON and, at the same time, push the shade dash mounted rocker switch you use to put that shade up or down. Push the button so the shade travels “up” if it is in the down position or “down” if the shade is in the up position. Release both buttons when the beeping starts. You are now in the learning mode.


    Note: Sometimes the programming buttons will become lost or disconnected from the gray learning wire at the motor end of the shade. If that is the case, you can perform this shade adjustment by touching the metal tips of the two ends of the gray wires together. This will simulate pushing the learning button on.


    3) Press the same dash button in the same direction you were just going (either up or down) and hold it until it gets close to the upper or lower limit you want the shade to be set at. Release the dash button. You can now “bump” the shade button in the same direction of travel by repeatedly pushing it until you get it to the limit position you desire. Reverse the shade direction (up or down) from the direction you were initially moving the shade and do not release the button until the shade reaches the other limit you want to set. You will first hear a beep before the shade travels in the opposite direction. This

    indicates that that limit has been set.


    Note: This adjustment is for ignition ON so be sure you set your lower limit above your eye level. This is a safety feature and the shade should NOT go all the way to the dash with the ignition key switch on. The lower limit must not block your view of the road on either the day or night shade.


    4) You can now once again “bump” the shade in the same direction of the desired limit. When there, reverse the shade travel with the dash switch. A beep is heard. Both limits are now locked in.


    5) Test the shade limits by pushing the dash switch up to the upper limit and down to the lower limit. If all is well, you can now perform the same adjustment on the other shade (day or night) with the ignition ON if you desire.


    Note: Once the ignition ON settings are changed, you MUST reset the limits for ignition off on the same shade. Changing the adjustments in one mode affects the other mode.


    Setting the shade limits with the ignition OFF.


    The procedure is the same as above, but with the ignition off, you can bring either shade totally down to the dash for complete coverage of the windshield when you are parked.


    Note: If you release the dash button too soon when reversing the direction of the shade and you have a long distance to your stop point limit, the motor will only allow you to “bump” the shade up or down a little at a time. It may be quicker to reverse the direction again, which takes it out of the learning mode, and begin the procedure all over again (item #2 above) by holding both buttons and waiting for the beeps.
  • If you push the button and the shade moves maybe 1/2" or so then it's most likely the motor has failed. The shades are most likely made by AutoMotion, and they won't sell you a new motor - they would rather sell you a complete new shade. Last year I went through this exercise and ended up finding another company who makes motors that will work, with minor modifications to the motor drive coupling. I wrote up an app note detailing what I did to fix my issue, at a cost of under $100 vs. the $800 that AutoMotion wanted for a new shade. I posted it somewhere here back then, but I'd be happy to send a copy if you let me know where to email it!
  • If your having the same issue with both and each has its own switch, I would go to the source of the electrical power. Trace the wire from the switch backwards to the fused connection.
    If, you can when it happens, go to the back of the switch and short the two wire connections together and see if it operates.