Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club

The early model Day/Night Window Shades made by Specialty Window Coverings, Inc. were installed with a one-piece clear plastic cord tensioner bobbin. Each shade uses 4 of these bobbins, two at the top of the window, one in each corner, and two at the bottom, each fastened to the wood framework with a screw. This style bobbin has proven to be fragile and easily broken and when one breaks it releases the tension in the strings and the shades collapse to the bottom of the window frame.

If you don't investigate this failure properly, you may conclude that a string (cord) broke causing the problem when actually the problem may be that one of the 4 clear plastic bobbins may have broken instead.

If in fact you have a broken string, then it is recommended that you remove the complete shade assembly and return it to the factory for repair by re-stringing. For the owner to attempt replacement of a broken string on his own is not for the faint of heart! Others may have a different opinion.

If the coach is less than 3 years old, the factory will repair the shade for free including free return freight. If the coach is more than 3 years old, the factory still will repair your shade for free, but you must send it in with a $15.00 check to cover return freight charges.

Contact: Specialty Window Coverings, Inc.
1614 N. Eisenhower Drive
Goshen, IN 46526
Phone: 574-262-5190

NOTE: The above address is now the current and correct address for the company. The previous address in Elkhart, IN listed in some of the attachments below should be ignored and only the above address used.

If the problem is a broken tensioner bobbin, then the recommended fix is to replace that bobbin with a newer style two-piece beige colored bobbin available from the factory above and maybe also available from the Born Free factory. The redesigned two-piece bobbin is obviously a much more rugged part.

When a old style bobbin breaks, the pair of strings it was holding may pull thru the hole of the plastic end piece of either the upper or lower metal shade bar. You may have to remove the shade to enable you to fish this pair of strings back thru that end piece hole.

Attached below are three photos relating to and the factory instructions for installing the new style two-piece bobbins for the Day/Night Window Shades.

The method of adjusting string tension with the old style one-piece bobbin was to loosen the mounting screw and then rotate the bobbin so that the pair of strings would wrap around the bobbin increasing the tension based on how much string length you took up by rotating it around the bobbin.

On the new style two-piece bobbin, the procedure for increasing the string tension is to again loosen the mounting screw and then pull the pair of strings thru the bobbin until the desired tension is achieved and then retighten the screw. A much easier procedure to do!

As you can see by looking at the photo of the two pieces for the newer bobbin, one part has protruding ribs on the inside and the other mating part has matching groves that the two strings pass over and thru which pinch the strings and hold them tightly when the mounting screw is tightened.

CAUTION! Make sure that a knot is tied in the pair of strings near their ends as shown in the photo below so that when you loosen the bobbin screw, the strings will not pull thru the bobbin.

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Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad

Club Member Sab Sasaki has provided more information on re-stringing day/night shades that have suffered a broken string and additional information on changing out the early model clear plastic tensioner spools (that tend to break easily with age) with the new style beige colored two piece adjustable tensioner spools. The information that Sab provided is contained in the three photos below.

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Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Website Forum Administrators
(bfadmin-1) Dave Moffat - Primary Administrator
(bfadmin-3) Jerry Fay - Assistant Administrator
(bfadmin-2) Bill Hemme - Backup Administrator
(bfadmin) Email: bfadmin@bornfreervclub.org