Sanibel Satellite and Cable connections not working

[pmf]

Good afternoon,

We have a brand new Sanibel 3751 and can't get a signal through either one of the Satellite cables or the Cable wire. The antenna works fine but that's it. Anyone run across this and if so how did you fix it?

I am amazed at the lack of quality control in RV's and it doesn't matter what brand.

Thanks in advance,
Pat

[5picker]

Common complaint... not just on Sanibels.

Start by checking the connections at the cable ports and inside at the wall plates.

[pmf]

Originally Posted by 5picker

Common complaint... not just on Sanibel.

Start by checking the connections at the cable ports and inside at the wall plates.

I've pulled all of the wall plates off and checked the connections. They are all crimped which is amazing and all of them are tight with no bare wires showing. I am borrowing some tools from our Telecom guys at work to see what I get between the ends and go from there.

My last 5er it was just loose fittings.

[Brand2328]

Originally Posted by pmf

I've pulled all of the wall plates off and checked the connections. They are all crimped which is amazing and all of them are tight with no bare wires showing. I am borrowing some tools from our Telecom guys at work to see what I get between the ends and go from there.



My last 5er it was just loose fittings.

Mine were Miss connected behind the water cabinet at the main connection

[wcrafter]

On my 2014 Sierra I had to run a line from the Satellite connection all the way to my Sat box in the Living room. All this was done when I first go it New in 2014. Could never get it to work before I ran the new coax cable. That was the way I got mine to work.

[trozfast]

Does your anntana have a booster on it. If so you need to turn off the booster for your sat or cable to work.

[kayo]

The satellite dish is powered by power from the satellite receivers. hook your satellite receiver(s) near the TV to the cables. At the satellite itself, use a voltmeter to test the current on the end. If you are not getting a current it is a problem with the receiver or a connection.

On my SANIBEL, I have three outdoor connection - one for cable and two for satellite - one for the living room tv and one for the bed room. I added a splitter to on of the sat leads to get both leads to my DVD

[Sanibel]

On ours there was a switch/button behind the TV. Also make sure you have switched the input on the tv by choosing menu then input I think. Then once all that is right you have to run channel scan. Yep every time you change locations

[pmf]

Well after a lot more testing I have found that all 3 cables outside were labeled wrong so I have the bedroom going. I bypassed the plates on the front and tested it which tested fine but if I go to plug the SWiM into the front cable the power light on the SWiM goes out so there has to be some sort of short in that cable so I am going to check and see if I can run another one this weekend.

trozfast - The power on the cable/antenna has nothing to do with the SAT because it is a totally separate cable and runs off of HDMI, not TV. That is a good thought though and I did make sure it was off.

Nobody should have to spend this much time troubleshooting anything on a brand new unit. Quality control is a thing of the past in this country.

Thanks for everyone's comments and help.
Pat

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by Brand2328

Mine were Miss connected behind the water cabinet at the main connection

Originally Posted by pmf

Well after a lot more testing I have found that all 3 cables outside were labeled wrong so I have the bedroom going. I bypassed the plates on the front and tested it which tested fine but if I go to plug the SWiM into the front cable the power light on the SWiM goes out so there has to be some sort of short in that cable so I am going to check and see if I can run another one this weekend.

trozfast - The power on the cable/antenna has nothing to do with the SAT because it is a totally separate cable and runs off of HDMI, not TV. That is a good thought though and I did make sure it was off.

Nobody should have to spend this much time troubleshooting anything on a brand new unit. Quality control is a thing of the past in this country.

Thanks for everyone's comments and help.
Pat

Pat - If Prime Time still has consistency on the assembly line, the Sat. coax running throughout the 5'er should be ORANGE and should NOT (as you probably already know) be connected to the antenna booster. So, now you've already found one Tv solution the other cable should be the same color (orange I hope) from the outside connection to the wall plate behind the living area Tv. And you're right. If the SWiM light goes out, you have a cable problem/bad connection or the cable may be connected to the booster (which the SWiM dosen't like, ask me how I know that too!).

On my Sanibel (built in late 2013) I found;

Satellite coax = ORANGE
Park Cable coax = GREY
Antenna coax = BLACK

I hope this helps everybody.

[pmf]

Originally Posted by rracer5

Pat - If Prime Time still has consistency on the assembly line, the Sat. coax running throughout the 5'er should be ORANGE and should NOT (as you probably already know) be connected to the antenna booster. So, now you've already found one Tv solution the other cable should be the same color (orange I hope) from the outside connection to the wall plate behind the living area Tv. And you're right. If the SWiM light goes out, you have a cable problem/bad connection or the cable may be connected to the booster (which the SWiM dosen't like, ask me how I know that too!).

On my Sanibel (built in late 2013) I found;

Satellite coax = ORANGE
Park Cable coax = GREY
Antenna coax = BLACK



I hope this helps everybody.

Yes both the SAT cables are orange and I have the bedroom working. The front isn't connected to anything and I have eliminated everything but the cable. So it's either the crimped on connectors are bad or someone put a staple or something like that through it. I am going to crimp on new connectors this weekend and see what that does if that isn't it I have to get a new cable fished through the wall and I am not sure I can do that.

Thanks,
Pat

[pmf]

By the way the lack of Quality and Quality Control in the RV business is unbelievable! Actually very sad that anyone would put out a product like most of them.

[The Newsoms]

Originally Posted by Brand2328

Mine were Miss connected behind the water cabinet at the main connection

X2

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by pmf

Yes both the SAT cables are orange and I have the bedroom working. The front isn't connected to anything and I have eliminated everything but the cable. So it's either the crimped on connectors are bad or someone put a staple or something like that through it. I am going to crimp on new connectors this weekend and see what that does if that isn't it I have to get a new cable fished through the wall and I am not sure I can do that.

Thanks,
Pat

Pat - I'm probably here but, I'll say it again. If the dealer is worth anything other than just taking everybodys money, this issue should have been caught during the PDI. The inspecting tech. should be checking ALL the systems in the RV for proper operation. He should have had the Tv, sound system on & shown you how to switch from cable to antenna. I guess I was fortunate because in testing stuff prior to our arrival at the dealer for delivery, the tech. had found a bad coax crimp for the main Tv and was just done putting a new end on when we walked in. He was able to check the cable too because the service waiting room adjacent to the PDI bay had cable. He then checked the "homerun" SAT. cable with a simple ohm meter.

Is it too much of a hassle to take it back to the dealer if you dare?

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by pmf

Well after a lot more testing I have found that all 3 cables outside were labeled wrong so I have the bedroom going. I bypassed the plates on the front and tested it which tested fine but if I go to plug the SWiM into the front cable the power light on the SWiM goes out so there has to be some sort of short in that cable so I am going to check and see if I can run another one this weekend.

trozfast - The power on the cable/antenna has nothing to do with the SAT because it is a totally separate cable and runs off of HDMI, not TV. That is a good thought though and I did make sure it was off.

Nobody should have to spend this much time troubleshooting anything on a brand new unit. Quality control is a thing of the past in this country.

Thanks for everyone's comments and help.
Pat

That might be quite easy on the 3751 because the entertainment center is in the slide......which may be where your cable issue is. The slide going in & out may have pulled/crushed/pinched/cut the coax. At the rear underside of the slide should be a wire loom & plastic support system to hold all the power wires etc. from sagging when the slide closes. I would check in that area where the cables exit from under the frame & on up to where they enter the underside of the slide through the floor. This may require removing the gobs of sealant they probably have at the points of exit/entry. Good luck & keep us informed.

[BandJCarm]

No dealer I know of will connect a physical satellite dish, sitting somewhere on his property, to a Dish OR DirecTV receiver that he would have to lease, on a plan that he'd have to pay for, just to prove that the Amish Manufacturer, who doesn't watch TV, ran the coax cables correctl. Not one. None. Won't happen.

Dealers might, and I stress might as a very low probability, check to see that the OTA antenna works with the provided tv.

Flat Coax through a window fixes things......until you can get the continuity problem figured out.

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

No dealer I know of will connect a physical satellite dish, sitting somewhere on his property, to a Dish OR DirecTV receiver that he would have to lease, on a plan that he'd have to pay for, just to prove that the Amish Manufacturer, who doesn't watch TV, ran the coax cables correctl. Not one. None. Won't happen.

Dealers might, and I stress might as a very low probability, check to see that the OTA antenna works with the provided tv.

Flat Coax through a window fixes things......until you can get the continuity problem figured out.

You're absolutely correct but, no where in my reply did I mention the dealer connecting to a satellite system. I was fortunate in that they had "cable Tv" capabilities at the PDI bay.

I think some dealers idea of PDI involves just unwrapping the furniture, taking the plastic off the carpet, dusting (maybe) & removing other packaging/transport material. And, never even turning anything ON to see if it even works let alone hooking up propane & water to check for leaks in the plumbing & that the dump valves work. Very unfortunate that this type of short fall exist.

[rracer5]

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

No dealer I know of will connect a physical satellite dish, sitting somewhere on his property, to a Dish OR DirecTV receiver that he would have to lease, on a plan that he'd have to pay for, just to prove that the Amish Manufacturer, who doesn't watch TV, ran the coax cables correctl. Not one. None. Won't happen.

Dealers might, and I stress might as a very low probability, check to see that the OTA antenna works with the provided tv.

Flat Coax through a window fixes things......until you can get the continuity problem figured out.

Not sure flat coax will support todays satellite signal. Might have picture quality issues if a picture comes in at all. If you've used it successfully then, I stand corrected.

[BandJCarm]

Yes, used it often in the previous Grey Wolf. I got it at Radio Shack.....which might be a challenge now!

But this is what I used:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005F0QILU...a-348940488219

Remember, attenuation occurs at every connection so use quality F connectors and make sure they are tight. Use a 7/16" open end but be careful.

Shouldn't be a permanent fix.........but should get you a signal till you can tone out the existing cables, and replace/repair as needed.

Use RG6, NOT RG59, and as little of it as you can.

[pmf]

Well, it turned out the crimped end had some of the wires that are supposed to be folded back touching the center wire that connects which caused the short. I have three cables and found 2 like that so far. I have replaced 2 of the ends but plan on doing all 3 cables on both ends. One of them was the SAT for the front on the outside and one was the cable connection which is why I couldn't get cable at the park after we purchased it.

They had the TV on but apparently, it was using the antenna and that works fine. The sad part is, I had the resources to troubleshoot this and figure out the problem was and I would think the average person buying an RV would not have.

BANDJCarm My Satellite Dish came with a cable like that but fortunately I didn't have to use it but they do work.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Now I am waiting to see what the next puzzle that pops up is.

Pat