# Windscreen blind



## Pard

The electrically-powered metal roller-blind for the windcsreen of my Eura Mobil Integra ceased to function on the first day of a couple of weeks' break in France in May. As it was warm weather, it wasn't a catastrophe, but I'd like to get it sorted before the British summer proper (i.e cold and wet) sets in if I can.

The motor still operates, but the blind is stuck in the retracted position (fortunately!)

Before this, the blind was a bit clanky and sticky - are they meant to be smooth and hushed?

It looks as if access might be gained by removing the shaped ceiling panel immediately behind the windscreen. Has anyone had this problem and solved it? Is it in any way a d.i.y. job? [I am not the lithest being, and my reach is short!]


----------



## rosina

*Integra Windscreen Blind*

Hi, whilst my blind has never actually failed it was very 'clonky'. After stripping back the material around the bed to get a better look it was obvious that the centre of the blind was catching the wood surround of the bed. I stripped back the ceiling sheet and then slightly prepositioned the blind brackets closer to the windscreen and thus away from wood it had been hitting. 
It now runs smoothly and the only noise is the clanking of the individual elements as the come off the roll. 
The job is not particularly difficult as you can do it laying on the bed, but you need a decent set of Torx screwdrivers.
It's also possible, if yours has failed completely, that it is caught on the bed and could have blown the fuse on overload? This shows as fuse 5 (15A) on the small distribution box DS-321EM in my documents.

Colin


----------



## Pard

Hi Colin

Thanks for that information. After extensive searching of the internet I was beginning to think everyone else's blinds must be working perfectly! Your guidance is very helpful, and I had come to the conclusion that stripping back the bed curtains and the blind's cover-boxes etc was likely to be my only option. I was just a bit worried that I might have an explosion of springs, washers and heaven-knows-what else! 

Incidentally, I'd just had the windscreen replaced before this happened. Is it possible that excess rubber sealant from the screen could get anywhere near the blind?

Terry


----------



## rosina

*Integra Windscreen Blind*

Hi Terry, don't think it likely that any sealant would affect this. 
The blind is a self-contained unit and simply hangs on brackets attached to the A pillar. I also seem to remember that the wood that was contacting the blind was quite thin and had bowed due to its weight. Think I may have also shaved a bit off this to gain some extra clearance?
Take the bed curtaining and roof sheet off and have a look, nothing will fall apart, then see if the blind is catching on the bed. If it's then something you do not want to do yourself then at least you know what the problem is.

Colin


----------



## Pard

Hi Colin

Once again, thanks for the encouraging words. 

I'll have to see if I can find some time tomorrow to go and lie down on the cab bed! (Although I might need to supplement the patchy toolkit with the Torx screwdrivers)

Terry


----------



## Jennifer

I have the same problem with my electric blind, and even though it has been back to the dealer to be repaired under warranty, the firts time I used it, it stuck down, and had to be forced back up. I am taking the vehicle to the dealer again next week, to see if they can come up with another solution, so have been very grateful for the advice given above, which I have sent on to my dealer!!!!

Jenny


----------



## Pard

Hi

Well, it's been a busy afternoon. I dismantled the bed curtains and the wooden blind casing, and set to work on the blinds themselves.

I took out the top slat, the one attached to the roller itself as that seemed to be a trifle bent, although I'm uncertain if that was my doing. With a lot of fiddling I've managed to attach the sprung metal clips which attach the blind to the roller to the 'new' top slat. [This job would be a lot easier with the whole lot out of the van, as they'd slide on the the ends of the slats easily, I think.]

Then I found two of the slats near the top had begun separating, and that did take some patient sorting, but it seems OK for now!

Anyway, it now seems to work, and a bit more smoothly, but not as well as would be ideal. Also, for reasons I can't yet fathom, it doesn't retract as far as it did - in fact only to about 3" below the push-pull stops which one is meant to use to prevent it descending inadvertently while you're driving along. I can push it up and use the stops, but previously it went right up to the top of the screen.

Any further thoughts on this welcomed!

Terry


----------



## rosina

*Integra Windscreen Blind*

Hi Terry, glad to have managed to get this far. I never worked on the actual roller assembly itself so can only offer a suggestion. 
There could be a switch to prevent overtightening of the blind onto the roller, or the blind is catching on something as the diameter increases?

Colin


----------



## Pard

Hi Colin

I wondered about the switch option, as the motor simply stops, and doesn't try to wind on, which I think it would if the blind was catching on something. Also, reaching in around it, there seems to be room. However, I think the electrics might be beyond my capabilities! I've decided to sleep on the matter for tonight, but many thanks for your continued interest and replies.

Terry


----------



## nicholsong

Just a friendly comment

This thread has been about Members helping out, with properly written English and no slagging off of opinions.

Exactly what MHF is for!

Well done all!

Geoff


----------



## Pard

Been thinking about this some more. I put the whole lot back together having decided to live with the lack of full retraction, maybe with an alteration to the position of the stops which could be raised in the side channels.

However, I'm now wondering if the roller to which the slats are attached with half a dozen sprung-steel 'hinges' - and from which I detached them to remove the bent slat - might have been unwound by one full rotation more than it should have been, so that when it is rewound it doesn't retract as fully as it should.

I don't plan to dismantle the lot again right now as it's such a hassle - maybe it's a winter's task - but if anyone with an inkling of how electric roller blinds work has any thoughts on the likelihood of that scenario being the cause of my problem, let me know!

Many thanks

Terry


----------



## Jennifer

When I visited my dealer the last time, and they "repaired" the blind, I was told that the blind should never ever be retracted above the stop buttons. I was not told this when I purchased the M/H. As I have not seen the mechanism when it was being repaired, I cannot comment, but be assured, if and when they try to repair this time, I will be present so that I have some inclination as to the workings.

Will let you know how I get on on Saturday, when I visit the dealer again to sort out the problem. I am thinking I may go for inside silver screens, if I am given this option.

Jenny


----------



## Pard

Hi Jenny

The handbook (which is pretty sketchy on too many things, I find) only makes any reference to the blinds under "Additional control elements specially for the 'Integra' models".

It says "Please ensure that the roller blind for the front windscreen is prevented from coming down too far during the journey by the two mechanical fasteners. Note that the motor of the roller blind may also only be activated until the stop point is reached, otherwise the roller blind will no longer be taut on the shaft." And that's it.

I've taken the manual's reference to 'stop point' to mean the point at which the shaft no longer rotates, i.e. where it stops. But your dealer's interpretation seems to be that the 'stop buttons' are what Eura Mobil refer to as 'mechanical fasteners'. It's just possible he's right and perhaps it does mean that it shouldn't go higher than the 'mechanical fasteners' - but that begs the question of why bother fitting a windscreen with a tinted section at the top if it will be wholly obscured by the roller blind anyway? I suspect he _hasn't_ got it quite right, and that there is meant to be a point at which the blind stops of its own volition, rather as mine is doing (although mine's not stopping at the right point!).

Anyway, good luck on Saturday.

Terry


----------



## gutlessyogi

I have an Integra 660 2007 model bought a year ago from Elite Motorhomes in Banbury. The blind had a problem from the off and last sept it went back into the workshop for a replacement motor. Since then I have used the blind no more than 7 times and this weekend the fault returned.
The motor makes a grinding noise and the blind slips and will not go up or down properly without manual assistance. Although at one point it rather alarmingly began to slip down without any assistance or motor on.
I have emailed Elite about it and suppose I will be driving the 70 miles there to have it dealt with again but I fear this is a design fault as I keep hearing about this problem.


----------



## Pard

Hi gutlkessyogi

Sorry to hear about your problems with the blind. As you say, there is a design flaw inbuilt, I think. However, whilst my blind was very much like yours before it ceased working altogether, i.e. very noisy leading one to think motor on the way out, after I'd repaired the blind I found the motor worked fine, smoothly, as you might reasonably expect. 

So before replacing the motor - unless it is truly knackered - I'd suspect the blind and its fasteners to the roller itself, and - as Colin advised me in earlier postings - anything in the wood casing which might cause it to stick.

I still have yet to find the will to dismantle the whole caboodle again, but after the super weather we have here decides to end, I might strive for the perfection I misguidedly (blindly?) hanker after!

Terry


----------



## Pard

Well, the summer's over and I spent another day and a half dismantling that blind again, having mangled it once more the first time I used it in earnest! I think I (over-)wound it the wrong way, but it's weeks ago now and I can't recall.
Anyway, I managed to write off another of the metal slats in the process, and so it's actually getting shorter all the time. Nevertheless - as of now - it's working the best it's worked. It retracts to where it should do and lowers as far as needed. All of this is accomplished smoothly and quietly. Now it's probably down to me to treat it with delicacy and caution!

I suspect that amongst those other adjustments, the best thing I've done is a variation on Rosina's advice to create sufficient space between the enclosing timberwork and the blind itself to avoid any restriction of the motion. 
In the course of the work, I had to take alarm sensors of the vertical trim panel, and loosen one of the guide channels. Replacing them it occurred to me that those channels, too, need to be sufficiently free to allow easy vertical movement of the blind.
Seems to work - for now..


----------



## Jennifer

Well Pard, you seem to have cracked the problem. As you probably have seen from my posting, I no longer have the Eura, gone smaller to enable me to travel solo. However, I have some internal screen blinds made by Vancomfort, which have been bespoke made to fit my Eura, if you are interested let me know

Jenny


----------



## Pard

I've PM'd! Many thanks

Terry


----------



## Pard

Well, I've about had enough of Christmas telly and sitting in the stifling heat which satisfies the MIL, I was perusing MHF postings, as you do, and I recalled that I'd never filed further updates on this tiresome problem. Although I thought I'd got it licked, I did in fact have yet more problems with the blind not long after my Oct 2010 posting. 

On the third or fourth time of dismantling, though, I think I discovered the real cause all along. The power cable which enters the blind roller at the lefthand end was loose, and I reckon it was snagging on the slats as they wound or unwound around the roller. It has to be loose enough to cope with the winding motion around the splindle, but not so loose that it gets in the way or so tight that it doesn't unwind easily.

All this may be tempting fate, of course, but so far it has worked for over a year. There was one hiccup about four months back. So I stripped it back again. Testing it with the covers off, it worked OK, and so I reassembled it, and it works again. Hopefully it'll be the last occurrence of the nuisance, but, as mentioned earlier, this is clearly not the best feature of the Integras of this period.


----------



## whistlinggypsy

Having just acquired a Integra 622 I require one of the push/pull stop devices for the roll down/up blind as the OS one is faulty but after googling for ages cannot find out where to purchase them from, anyone know :scratch: 

Bob


----------



## Chudders

whistlinggypsy said:


> Having just acquired a Integra 622 I require one of the push/pull stop devices for the roll down/up blind as the OS one is faulty but after googling for ages cannot find out where to purchase them from, anyone know :scratch:
> 
> Bob


Have you tried Euramobil themselves, you can e mail their customer service , a lady called Petra Lang, she has been helpful to me in the past.
Worth a try

Here is an e mail address... [email protected]

Dave


----------



## richardjames

nicholsong said:


> Just a friendly comment
> 
> This thread has been about Members helping out, with properly written English and no slagging off of opinions.
> 
> Exactly what MHF is for!
> 
> Well done all!
> 
> Geoff


I agree entirely


----------



## whistlinggypsy

Thank you Dave, email duly sent to Petra.

Bob


----------



## MaxandBarbara

*Advice on the electric blind*

Hello

I have experienced 'blind' problems myself. We have an Integra 666HB, bought from Highbridge Caravans nearly three years ago. The blinds failed in our first year under warranty and have since failed on two occasions so the warranty is still ok (for the blinds). You posted two possibilities that you pursued. One was to do with the wooden casing and the second with the power cable. I will pass these comments on to Highbridge. They sound very useful indeed. Do you have any other advice to offer us? Did these actually fix the problem or has is reoccured? I know that you may have moved on and even changed your M/H but thought it worth asking you.


----------



## bognormike

Bear in mind that the OP put this query up in 2010!!!


----------



## jiwawa

Hi Max and Barbara, welcome to the forum.

Hopefully the info you gained will indeed be useful to your dealer. It's a bit of a bummer that it's failed 3 times in as many years. Especially when it means you can't see where you're going! I nearly bought a MH with that addition - thank goodness I didn't!


----------

