Satellite cabling question

[glraz]

We picked up our new 33CKTS yesterday and wanted to know if anyone has information regarding the sat/cable connections in the external hookup area. The individual doing the walk thru (service manager) didn't and said he would call the factory for wiring diagram. You would think now days the question "where does the outside connection labeled Sat go to inside the 5th wheel or the one labeled cable" would be a standard question.

I see that the plug w/ booster in the bedroom has a TV and a sat/aux coax connection and I hope that Forest River wasn't dumb enough to only run the sat connection there. I am okay using the "cable" labeled connection if that will get sat signal to the main TV. anyone by chance have the wiring schematics for the coax?

In our previous 5th wheel there was an external connection that went to the TV in the living room and then another line that ran from there to the bedroom. That way we could use one receiver and watch the same channel on both TVs.

I hope after buying a brand new rig we don't have to take it back for a bunch of cable wiring to make things work!

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks,
Gary

[glraz]

Did some more research but need to confirm with dealer and FR. It seems that the outside connections for Sat & Cable run to the bedroom ceiling plate that contains the roof mounted antenna power for amplifier. The unit didn't have a TV in the bedroom and seems really dumb to have the satellite connection run there instead of to the big 40" TV that is in the living area.

If my assumption and investigation is correct I am going to see if the dealer can just put a connection thru the wall of the slide where the 40" TV is and will connect my dish there. I am then going to look at a wireless HDMI that I found on Amazon for $180 to share the signal to the TV in the bedroom. That way all the stock TV wiring from FR will still work as it should.

Said that you pay $50k for a brand new unit and have to spend a few hundred more to make the TV work when it states satellite ready.

Will update when I get everything worked thru.

[Kidtexas]

What I was told on my Columbus is that the one labeled Sat is for when I use a portable dish and the one labeled Sat in RED letters is for if you wanted to mount a permanent dish on the roof and that those cables are in a fake roof vent up on top, you pull the cap off and there is the cable. So if its like mine then you may have a fake vent cap on top and that's were that RED sat connection goes to. hope that makes sense.

[clr]

I think that every model is wired somewhat differently in regards to the Sat connections if their are any Sat connections at all. I have a 2015 Sanibel 3601 and it has direct coax connections from the UDC to the bedroom and to the living room TV wall plates. I use a Sat box on each of the TV's when we are long term, one in the bedroom and the other in the living room. This is so that we can watch different TV programs at the same time. So in my UDS I have three coax connections, one for the cable TV, one for the bedroom TV and one for the living room TV.

[glraz]

thanks for the replay clr. We only have two external connections one labeled cable and one labeled sat. I looked at the wires behind those two connections and one is orange (cable) one is grey (sat). When I looked behind the amp plate in the bedroom there was an orange connected to what i believe it should be and the grey was connected to the port labeled sat on the plate.

Just really surprised me when I looked behind TV and only saw a black coax which I saw a black coax in the bedroom hooked to ceiling plate and labeled set 2. Strange to me that they run the only sat connection to the bedroom.

[Jimmerinwi]

If sat is only run to br, use a jumper in br from grey sat to black cable running to lr. Connect receiver in lr, HD in lr. You should be able to backfeed output of receiver to br to mirror lr.


Somedays I wake up Grumpy, somedays I just let her sleep......(Ray Scott)

[glraz]

i thought of that but there is only one wire if I jumper it won't I lose off air to lr tv and not sure how i would back feed to br. I don't think i can run multiple singles on the same cable can i? thanks.

[Sammy]

I was told by winegard if there are splitters in lines then the satellite will not work properly. So found the splitter took it out and was able to connect.

[medic736]

I just bought a brand new 36qbok and have the same issue. I asked the dealer several times about satellite and nobody could answer any of my questions. this is the stupidest thing ive ever seen saying the camper is sat ready and only putting a sat jack in front bedroom. the dealer was tickled to death about showing me outside kitchen because you can put tv inside of it. yeah idiot but if im somewhere that doesn't have cable hookup im not getting anything because the front bedroom is the only thing wired for sat. im just angry about this whole deal. I had my sat guy come over to test to make sure and in fact there is only sat hookup in front bedroom. after much discussion he was able to put splitter on so I could have sat in the living room and bedroom, but doing it this way I wont have cable hookup in living room unless I mess with wires in ceiling again. so there is light at end of tunnel but for now I have sat in the two most important places. the kids are not happy they will not have sat, but as long as I go to larger camping resorts that have cable they will have some channels back in their room.

[glraz]

What I ended up doing was putting a cable out the floor of the slide where the entertainment center is fished the wire up to the cabinet above the TV where I put the sat receiver. I then added a wireless hdmi unit from Amazon (IOGEAR GW3DHDKIT) to broadcast the signal to the bedroom TV with HDMI. Not the cheapest solution but works great and didn't have to mess with the factory wiring. I also attached an optical cable from the TV opt audio out to the back of the iRV unit to get TV in the surround sound on the ceiling which didn't work either.

Took our new 33CKTS out this weekend and it worked great! Don't' get me started on all the other issues, it is back at the dealer with a 3 page punch list of items one being loss of power in the slide both for the microwave and the entertainment center. but that is for another post when I am not so angry.

[dseiler64]

I need the satellite/TV wiring diagram for a 2015 Columbus 381FL. i am trying to set up a tailgater system, using the existing wiring. Running wires through the slides is not a good option.

[Gearitis]

Folks, I wanted to add a bit of info to this thread in regards to satellite hook up in our rigs. After being rather disgusted with how the Coaxial cable was run in my new Sabre, this weekend I proceeded to trace out the cable and also test it. I was taken back by the lack of quality and the stupidity of how it was run. Also, the terminations on the cable was beyond stupid.
After owning a company where we installed VSAT systems, DirecTV, DishNetwork, HughesNet and etc for over 14 years, I Pulled out the tools and equipment to find the weak points of the wiring. I am not going into detail but will address what YOU need to do to make sure your wiring is at least has continuity.
Please, Please, take off wall plates and re-terminate with proper or professional, water proof ends. http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Betts-B.../dp/B002OFA8AG these are what I use and have for years and you will need the tool to properly compress the fitting. Also redo the ends where cable/satellite enter the RV. After retermination, all were a lot better but not perfect but you could not Pull it apart. DO NOT USE SCREW ON TERMINATIONS. Remove all of the screw on terminations and put on the good ones! There are 900 mhz splitters in the walls, my device indicated this. Satellite connections from the Dish to the receiver will not work properly as it needs a 2 to 2.3 ghz splitter/power passing as to power the antenna.
The orange Sat cable was broken near the entry point in the wall. That means the center pin had been put in such a bind, it broke that brittle pin. I replaced the sat cable from outside connection to broken point. The Cable connection was broken at near the same place Replaced the cable and reterminated.
If you do not want to buy the tools or the connections, I highly recommend finding someone to just take off all the terminations and replace with good grade. The junk you find at Walmart or those cheap crimp ends where they are 100 for a dollar, please pass on those.
Once I did my due diligence, I tested my Tailgater, my TV's and and Antenna. I now have clear picture, and am very comfortable that it will last.
Now next project, how to get HD to the main living area PROPERLY and not using expensive HDMI wireless.

[CHICKDOE]

to gearitis: this is just a mental question. sounds like you ensured the integrity of your existing cables. you mentioned having the wrong splitter installed in the walls. did you also replace them with the proper splitters? you state that you owned a satellite company that could have offered these services to an owner who did not have the ability to do what you did. if you had to bill for what you did, how much would you have charged? in other words, how much more would an owner need to pay to have proper cabling? any idea how much more it would cost the factory to do this during the build?

[Gearitis]

Originally Posted by CHICKDOE

to gearitis: this is just a mental question. sounds like you ensured the integrity of your existing cables. you mentioned having the wrong splitter installed in the walls. did you also replace them with the proper splitters? you state that you owned a satellite company that could have offered these services to an owner who did not have the ability to do what you did. if you had to bill for what you did, how much would you have charged? in other words, how much more would an owner need to pay to have proper cabling? any idea how much more it would cost the factory to do this during the build?

The splitter for the Main Living area and the basement TV connection shows to be in the wall about 3 feet up from the entry point in the wall. Getting to that splitter seems to be near impossible unless a wall is taken out which I will not do. My device also shows a splitter in the ceiling. It is 4 feet from the connection in the bedroom where the amplifier for the TV antenna gets power. I will try and pull back the coaxial cable but I have a distinct feeling there is a sharp turn in the wall and/or it has been stapled.
In my day, to test and do what I have done so far would be in $250 neighborhood and that is assuming access was as easy as what my 5er is now. I had plenty of room in the basement for me to take out the panels and literally crawl up in the basement, setup and work. Very fortunate as some in the older days, it was a belly flop all the way!
I will dive into this more this next weekend to see if I can pull back any of the coax with a string attached or maybe see if there is enough room to run a fiberglass fish rod and get a string thru there to pull a new cable so to bypass the splitters. I would rather have separate cables to each outlet than have it split up. If a run needs to be split, then do it in the open for flexibility such as a common junction point for all coaxial runs where we can attach a satellite receiver or a distribution box.

[Gearitis]

Originally Posted by CHICKDOE

to gearitis: this is just a mental question. sounds like you ensured the integrity of your existing cables. you mentioned having the wrong splitter installed in the walls. did you also replace them with the proper splitters? you state that you owned a satellite company that could have offered these services to an owner who did not have the ability to do what you did. if you had to bill for what you did, how much would you have charged? in other words, how much more would an owner need to pay to have proper cabling? any idea how much more it would cost the factory to do this during the build?

If you would rather have someone come out and just do the terminations in your coaxial wall plates and outside connections, I would say the most would be a C note if not less. I will say, if you have that done, a lot of headaches will subside. Also have a "good" cable built from you external connection to your cable or satellite box or antenna. Especially Tailgater which must take power from the Receiver. DTV, not so much as they have an external power supply on most.

If the factory would just run the coax to a common junction point, the cost is negligible. They lose the cost of the splitter or splitters, the number of terminations would drop and failure rate and frustration would be nearly 0. It is a matter of about 30 ft more of coax to do it right IMO. Coax is cheap, but I guess if you are building 1000 rigs, thats 30000 ft at a nickel a foot then that is a cost they do not want.
I also noticed that they used RG 6 on my rig which is GREAT, where my neighbors Columbus they used RG59 which is OK but not good for shielding and longer runs and Satellite connections.

[oldgold]

Originally Posted by glraz

Did some more research but need to confirm with dealer and FR. It seems that the outside connections for Sat & Cable run to the bedroom ceiling plate that contains the roof mounted antenna power for amplifier. The unit didn't have a TV in the bedroom and seems really dumb to have the satellite connection run there instead of to the big 40" TV that is in the living area.

If my assumption and investigation is correct I am going to see if the dealer can just put a connection thru the wall of the slide where the 40" TV is and will connect my dish there. I am then going to look at a wireless HDMI that I found on Amazon for $180 to share the signal to the TV in the bedroom. That way all the stock TV wiring from FR will still work as it should.

Said that you pay $50k for a brand new unit and have to spend a few hundred more to make the TV work when it states satellite ready.

Will update when I get everything worked thru.

We use these... Great to transmit to all 4 of our tv's. Which one did you buy?

[glraz]

Originally Posted by oldgold

We use these... Great to transmit to all 4 of our tv's. Which one did you buy?

Attachment 88670

I used the IOGEAR GW3DHDKIT units from Amazon which to me it was worth the $200 bucks not having to mess with new ends or splitters buried in the wall. Plus now if I want to I am able to have a TV any where even outside without having to run anything but a electrical supply. The picture quality is great.

I went with this as I have my sat rec and a dvd plugged into base unit (it has 2 inputs and 1 output besides the wireless. Allows the transmit of dvd to the bedroom as well.

[Gearitis]

The wireless concepts are great and technology has improved so much that these solutions are valid and cost effective. My biggest irritation was the satellite run from the exterior to the interior. It was marked incorrectly, then continuity was in question, and it must pass power for the new technology auto positioning satellite antennas. Even with the wireless solutions mentioned, there still must be a good and solid coaxial run if you plan on running your sat receivers inside of you rv unless you run your own dedicated coax. Most if not all will try and use the external connection and assume it is done correctly. Problem is that there is voltage and very small amperage going to your sat antenna, so if one of those little strands of what most calls shielding stays in contact with the center wire, it could cause the receiver to reset or shut off automatically or could result in harm to the receiver. That was the case in my situation with most of the terminations.
The Interior coaxial cabling, I like the wireless solutions, be it 200 bucks or so. That works well in the bedroom where the engineering of cabling is in the ceiling and you do not want to run cables down your wall or in front of the window to a TV on the Dresser.

[glraz]

I understand your frustration with the cabling which is why in our 33ckts I had a cable dropped out the bottoms of the slide in the same penetration that all the existing wiring runs through where the tv is. I now have a dedicated cable for the satellite at the main tv in the living room. I was very disappointed after we started we did our PDI that the only sat cable location came out of the ceiling in the bedroom. This completely makes no sense as there isn't' even a TV in that location. How can a manufacture claim satellite ready, supply one TV in the main floor without even having a dedicated line run there in addiction know that they can't put a bunch of splitters in the line.

[nomad297]

All of the cabling in my Windjammer is flawless. I have satellite, cable and over air in three locations.

Bruce