My Remis skylight

my  Remis skylight won't wind up and a metal chord is unattached at one end. Is it broken or can I somehow feed it back into the mechanism?

Fredcool wrote:my  Remis skylight won't wind up and a metal chord is unattached at one end. Is it broken or can I somehow feed it back into the mechanism?

When we bought our Broadway the rear Remis wind up skylight had the drive cable hanging out and when I investigated the problem it was obvious that I needed to renew the cable assembly.
Not a particularly difficult job and from memory the part was about £70
The handle drives a small gearbox which has a pair of gears inside which can also give trouble but ours was fine

The canopy can stick to the rubber seal and when the handle is forced the cable comes out of it's track so it's a good idea to use a silicon lubricant on the rubber seal

The mechanism is fairly weak and it's failure is common, once repaired if you gently push the canopy up with one hand while turning the handle you'll probably not have any further problems.

Chris

I had a similar or the same problem on holiday where the connection between the metal cable and the strut came apart. It can be readily fixed but will then be prone to popping again so need strapping
The joint is basically a ball and socket so that's how I'll describe the repair. The 'ball' is the black end on the metal cable and the 'socket' is the white bit that fits over the top and connects to the strut supporting the skylight.
 
Turn the winder to open the skylight fully. If both struts have popped the winder will turn easily but the skylght won't actually open. If only one has popped then support the skylight as you open it.
 
Assuming both have popped, support the sky light open with a separate prop lodged in the sky light frame.
 
Disconnect both support struts from skylight. You will need a pair of thinned nosed pliers to squeeze the retaining plug in the skylight. Prop the skylight open.
 
You now need to create some slack so you can force the 'ball' back into its socket.
 
Unscrew the screws that hold the black cable runner in place. This will allow the black 'ball' a bit of lateral movement towards you.
 
The white socket needs to be position to allow it to move slightly away from you. If you look at the channel in which the mechanism runs you will see a short plastic strengthening pieces every couple of inches. These are perpendicular to the channel. If you position the white socket in front of those then it cannot move away from you so position the socket between two of these.
 
Now wind the mechanism to draw the black 'ball' towards the white 'socket'. When they meet push the 'socket'  away from you and the 'ball' toward you so they overlap and continue to wind until the ball pops into the socket.
 
You now need to strengthen the joint because in breaking it and repairing it, it is sprained and loose.
 
I used a short piece of copper wire from the a co-ax cable to create a strap, perhaps a small tie wrap might work too
 
Below is a picture of the repaired joint.
You can see the white 'socket', the 'ball' is underneath. You can see the three of the screws that need removing and two of the strengthening pieces you need avoid putting the socket in front of
 
And Chris is right you should always support the sky light as you open it

So I've just found out I can't upload the picture! 

But here is it from my Flickr account