Community Forums

hugh37 · 09-01-2015, 08:04 PM

I'm surprised and disappointed to find that the shades (day & night) at the
entry door and passenger window do not work independently. Am I doing
something wrong? At times I'd like the window shade(s) down, with the
door shades completely up. I'd appreciate some responses as to whether
or not the shades should work independently. Others of you not happy
with this design? Thanks!

DRL1950 · 09-01-2015, 08:26 PM

You are right about the night shade, they are not independent of each other. The day shade on my coach is only on the passenger window, the one on the door is manual and is built in to the screen door. My last coach did not have the ability to lower the screen which made it difficult to see through the door when pulling out in traffic so I ended up taking the screen door off, I like this setup much better. As for them not being independent guess I hadn't thought about it, would be more convenient if they were.

ravensdad · 09-01-2015, 08:34 PM

We have a 2014 4369 and had the same questions. The tech at our dealer was able to reprogram the door shade to another button on our controller. We do not have the window in the bathroom so we had two spare buttons on the controller. We also did not like having to reach over the bed to open or close the night shades so.. We purchased a two button remote at Newmar parts and programmed the night shades on it and mounted it above the light switch at the entrance to the bedroom. The buttons still work over the bed. If you do not have space on the touch pad for another function then maybe using a two button controller to program the door shade would work.

hugh37 · 09-01-2015, 08:41 PM

Good info, Bob! My window bath has it's own touchpad on the wall. I'll
check tomorrow to see if I have room on my controller, with hopes of having mine re-programmed. Many thanks...

Tom Potter · 09-07-2015, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hugh37

I'm surprised and disappointed to find that the shades (day & night) at the
entry door and passenger window do not work independently. Am I doing
something wrong? At times I'd like the window shade(s) down, with the
door shades completely up. I'd appreciate some responses as to whether
or not the shades should work independently. Others of you not happy
with this design? Thanks!

I think Bob has the answer. Our 2015 DS 4369, manufactured in late January 2015, came with the lower right button on the main shade controller labeled with something like "pass door/window." Often, in the evening, I will select "all night shades down" and then immediately push the "pass door/widow" night shade up. All night shades will start down and then the two for the pass door/window will retract. Later, i will push the "pass door/window" night shade down and they will drop to the closed position. We do not have a window over the sink in the kitchen which may have freed up the button being used for this function.

On a similar topic... We were not happy with the shade control for the bedroom being located over the center the the headboard which made it difficult to control the bedroom shades without crawling on the bed. I ordered a second controller like the one over the bed from MDC for something like $35.00 and programed it the same as the one over the bed and mounted on the wall below the bedroom slide control panel. We can now control the bedroom shades from either location. A similar small size controller would likely give you the control you need for your door shades if you do not have a spare button on the large controller in the living room. Just a thought.

Tom

hugh37 · 09-07-2015, 05:28 PM

Thanks, Tom. Did you make any changes to your door/passenger window
shades. If not, they're working up/down as you like? I don't have a kitchen window, either...perhaps that's why I have a spare lower right and
lower left on the controller. I plan to try to re-program my door/window
shades to operate more to my liking, using the spares. I hadn't thought to
use my bedroom shades, yet. Likely, the controller for them is the same
location as yours. What was involved in installing your new controller...I
may wish to do the same. Again, thanks, Tom. Larry

Tom Potter · 09-08-2015, 07:02 AM

Larry, While I'm not sure if this is responsive to your question about any changes to our door/passenger window shades... I did not like the fact that the door night shade would get caught up on the box holding the door screen roller at the top of the screen door. We would always have to go to the door and guide the night shade away from the roller. I fashioned a ramp out of clear plastic which I secured to the top of the door with tape which allows the night shade to slide over the screen roller. The plastic works fine but I intend to make a replacement ramp out of metal painted black and riveted to the door for a better looking job. I think I am now happy with the way the shades are set up and working.

In answer to your question about the bedroom controller... The controller comes with a mounting bracket which is simply screwed to the wall which the controller snaps into. No programing directions came with the controller from MDC. I called their tech support team and their tech walked me through the process to set up the unit. While it is not a complex process, I would have never been able to do it without their help nor would I be able to do it again on my own.

Yell if I can be of any help.

Tom

PanJH · 09-08-2015, 07:43 AM

I had the same setup ... I did have 2 "spare" buttons on the controller, so I split out the door from the window the other day. So now, I have a button for the door and a button for the passenger window. I also married them to the "all" button so with a single push everything goes ... I attached the PDF that has the instructions to do the reprogramming. It only took a few minutes.

Tom Potter · 09-08-2015, 09:20 AM

Thank you for posting the MCD Directions. Glad to have a copy for my file.

newmarpusher · 09-08-2015, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hugh37

I'm surprised and disappointed to find that the shades (day & night) at the
entry door and passenger window do not work independently. Am I doing
something wrong? At times I'd like the window shade(s) down, with the
door shades completely up. I'd appreciate some responses as to whether
or not the shades should work independently. Others of you not happy
with this design? Thanks!

My "manual" MCD shades on my Ventana have no such limitation.

hugh37 · 09-08-2015, 01:05 PM

Tom, many thanks for your good information and offer of further help if
needed! Thanks also to you, PanJH, for the excellent PDF instructions.
Now, if I can only find a few minutes to complete the job. Again thanks!

PanJH · 09-08-2015, 03:58 PM

Hugh37 - if you go ahead and reprogram, here's a tip- unmarry the door shade first. Then reprogram it to a spare and marry it, if you wish, to the all button. If you don't unmarry first, when you program the spare button, it will work fine pushing the spare button, but since it's still married to the "old" passenger side button, when you push that passenger button, it will still be activated, hence the need to unmarry first. Had me going for a minute or two when I did ours last week.

lakebuster · 09-08-2015, 08:30 PM

Tom,
Where do you purchase the MCD controllers for the bedroom?
Searching google sending me to the wrong place!

Thanks!

Tom Potter · 09-09-2015, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakebuster

Tom,
Where do you purchase the MCD controllers for the bedroom?
Searching google sending me to the wrong place!

Thanks!

David and Sharon,

I purchased the second controller for the bedroom directly form MCD. The invoice shows it as a "Duo-solo 2-Channel Remote Controller." The cost was $35.00 plus $10.00 Shipping and Handling. I told them what I was trying to do and that I had Newmar and the controller they sent was identical to the one which came with the coach located over the bed.

MCD can be reached at mcdinnovations.com or 972-548-1850 or 800-804-1757.

Hope this helps you. It was well worth the $45 to be able to work the bedroom shades while standing up in the bedroom.

Tom