Cable Connections & Other Questions

pdonoghu · 03-10-2013, 05:54 PM

We stopped by the dealer to look at our new Voltage V 3105 that arrived at the dealer to be prepped.

A few questions:

Looking at the entertainment center, there are two cable jacks with a short jumper connecting them. What is the jumper for?

It looks like all the light switches for the main living area are behind a door in the entertainment center. I can't believe that there is not at least one light switch when one walks in the main door. How do others deal with this? Has anyone found some sort of remote control for the lights that could be left by the door?

Thanks,
Paul

njduck · 03-10-2013, 08:41 PM

Picked my 3200 up 2 weeks ago. When you open the door the light above it comes on so you can see. It stays on for a bit then goes off. Enjoy your new rig

Tanman · 03-11-2013, 12:27 AM

The short jumper is for satellite receiver if you hook one to the outside. Dont plan on it working as they use the cheapest connectors at the cable ends and a pair of pliers to crimp the connectors. My satellite would not work anywhere but the main tv. I got with the cable guy and changed out all my sorry el-cheapo connectors with quality connectors. All my TV's are working with satellite tv now. Even Dutchmen admitted they had a lot of complaints about the tv cable connectors. I suggest you change out every one including the cheap chinese splitters. Signal loss will be minimal.
The walk in the door and no light switch also I cannot get over. One would think to put one by the door but Dutchmen went with save on a 3 dollar switch and 50 cents of wire. I ordered a switch like in the bedroom. I am going to mount it just above the thermostat. At least i can reach around the corner when entering the door and find the switch. The reason I chose this spot is all the wiring is on the other side. Its not the ideal spot but at least its where I can find it to turn on a light.
My Voltage is a 2013 but no automatic light when I open the door. That might have been a nice thing to have. Actually a wonderful thing to have.
If Dutchmen is reading,,,,put a light switch by the door dummies!!!

pdonoghu · 03-11-2013, 01:49 AM

Thanks Tanman. I don't plan on using satellite. We use cable hookup for the time we are in Florida, and use over the air antenna for the two weeks we spend in Maine. I plan on changing out the stock antenna for a Jack TV antenna. I took it off our old RV and will reinstall on the new one.

I'm still not clear on what the jumper does. So I assume (always dangerous) that for cable or OTA, I leave it in place? If I were going to use a satellite receiver, what would I do with the jumper?

Good advice on replacing the connecorts. I assume (dangerous again) I can pull off the wall plates and change the connectors. As I plan on getting cable internet while in Florida, this will be important.

Where can I find the splitters so I can replace them with quality units? The 3105 has cable connections in the main living area entertainment center, the bedroom, and the garage.

Thanks,
Paul

Tanman · 03-11-2013, 03:21 AM

The jumper is for a satellite decoder to go in line with the system. Your system enters from the outside on one cable/satellite line. If it is cable there is no big problems but satellite inputs cannot be split before the decoder box only after the box. The jumper allows cable to pass thru the system and be split several times. The jumper allows the sat box to receive input from the sat dish without being split before sending its signal to the rest of the camper where it is split several times.

If your were using a sat box you would remove the jumper and place a short cable to the input of the sat box and from the sat box back to where the other end of the jumper was. that is the purpose of the jumper.

The best place for QUALITY cable ends is your local cable guy. Yes they usually use state of the art like compression fittings and high quality splitters not rat shack junk. The compression fittings takes a special tool to compress the fitting. You also need a end trimmer so the stinger wire is the correct length. To long and you get harmonics in the cable. If you see a cable guy or sat guy ask one what he would charge to change out all your fittings. I did all mine and it made a world of difference.

Dont take it to the RV dealer as most will probably use old style crimp and cheap fittings. '

Before I did mine all my tv's had a horrible picture and no sat except on the main tv which was at best a bad pic for sat.

gonervn · 03-17-2013, 07:04 PM

Thanks for the post. I don't get good pictures on all of the tv's. I also had to put on hdmi cables for the sat.

Aronious · 03-17-2013, 10:49 PM

Tanman, Did you pull in new cables or just the ends? What little I've looked at ours it looks like they scrimped on the cable also.

gonervn · 03-17-2013, 11:48 PM

New

Tanman · 03-18-2013, 12:23 AM

I used the existing cables and put on New ends and splitters through the camper. Since I have friends that worked at a local cable install I have the fittings and tools to make the proper connections. Quality of the signal went from nil to 10. Now I have perfect tv and Sat in each room.

Aronious · 03-18-2013, 12:53 AM

Thank's Tanman, I also have the tools and ends at the house. I will try just the ends and splitters when we get home and see how it works out. We had nothing on anything after delivery and took back to dealer. They claimed that had to replace the tennie (about 3 weeks), and was now fine. Got TH home and had 1 of what should have been about 20 channels. Yup, right back to the dealer and another week. This time they claimed they found a screw thru the cable coming down from the tennie. Better now but still not right. Was camping in the U. P. of Michigan last summer and friends parked beside us had 7 channels on their bat-wing, we had one -----gerrrrrrrr!!

Ya, another project for when we get home.

Thanks!

Tanman · 03-18-2013, 01:03 PM

I fooled with the dealer once with mine. They put as crappy fitting on as the factory. It looked like a bull dog bit down to make the crimp. The stinger wire (wire in the center) was way too long which causes unwanted harmonics. When I called the factory all they could say was they were aware of the problem and had many complaints about the connectors.

I wish I could tell you where to get good splitters but I cannot unless you can run down a cable installer. They have top quality.

The only connector i did not replace was the back of the main tv. It looks like a mama jammer to take off the wall and seems to work fine. If it ever comes down I will replace it.

When you get looking one splitter is behind the switches panel and one behind the stereo in the toy bay in my TH FYI.

Good luck and let us know how u come out with it.

Aronious · 03-18-2013, 01:42 PM

I still have some "quad" cable left over from when I install new cable runs in the house. I think that I will make up whole new cables for the ones I can get at easily like from the wall to the tv.
Thanks again for all the info!

72mach · 03-19-2013, 04:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tanman

The short jumper is for satellite receiver if you hook one to the outside. Dont plan on it working as they use the cheapest connectors at the cable ends and a pair of pliers to crimp the connectors. My satellite would not work anywhere but the main tv. I got with the cable guy and changed out all my sorry el-cheapo connectors with quality connectors. All my TV's are working with satellite tv now. Even Dutchmen admitted they had a lot of complaints about the tv cable connectors. I suggest you change out every one including the cheap chinese splitters. Signal loss will be minimal.
The walk in the door and no light switch also I cannot get over. One would think to put one by the door but Dutchmen went with save on a 3 dollar switch and 50 cents of wire. I ordered a switch like in the bedroom. I am going to mount it just above the thermostat. At least i can reach around the corner when entering the door and find the switch. The reason I chose this spot is all the wiring is on the other side. Its not the ideal spot but at least its where I can find it to turn on a light.
My Voltage is a 2013 but no automatic light when I open the door. That might have been a nice thing to have. Actually a wonderful thing to have.
If Dutchmen is reading,,,,put a light switch by the door dummies!!!

thanks for the great info. I've been working on installing the sat. tvlike you did and have a question. like you the only TV that worked so far was the one in the living room front end on our trailer. I pulled the jumper and hooked into the powered direct TV splitter, ran one leg up to the main TV and it works fine. I then put another leg back into the wall plate and it appears to feed the bedroom in the back. (there is a third connection in the storage basement) I get sat.signal very poorly, after the box gets set up the picture is very pixalated and the audio choppy. the guide comes in fine. does that sound like what you experienced? also what is the best way to get sat. in the basement? I've pulled some of the panels in the basement to get to the electrical and there is a splitter which I think is the OTA antenna and it fed the one jack in the basement but getting sattelite would be best, any ideas? thanks.

Cooper · 03-19-2013, 04:31 PM

when we camp......we're lucky to get sat radios reception on a clear day and the antenna has to be in just the proper angle..just like the old rabbit ears.....we hardly use the TV.....
Good luck with the cable system

Coops

Aronious · 03-19-2013, 04:37 PM

Coop - Some of us camp in civilized areas!!!

Cooper · 03-19-2013, 11:45 PM

Aronious.....travel safely on Friday if I'm not on line...where the H is Mitten....sorry for the dumb question...but I am just a dumb Canuck who camps in an uncivilized RV spot.

Safe Travel

Coops

Aronious · 03-20-2013, 01:38 AM

Hey Coop - See a mitten? Home is in the south east corner of dis mitten. Michiganders have a habit when asked "where ya from" of holding up one hand and point with the other and saying "just about here"! We point to the lower right corner and say "Just about here"!

Guess maybe this counts as a gotcha back for the gotcha that you gotcha'ed me with on the other thread!

Speaking of the area's you camp in it looks like some really beautiful country up there where you live. We've been mulling over an Alaska trip in the next couple of years, I was telling Laura that by my research we should schedule more time for the BC portion of the trip. Jealous here, as some people don't have to drive very far to view the beauty of the world!!!!

Cooper · 03-20-2013, 04:21 PM

Aronious. Nice one....wasn't expected a "Mitten" I guess if I didn't see a mitten I' d be in trouble.....travel safely.

PS is that left handed palm facing away or right handed palm facing u. Lolo

knesdad · 03-21-2013, 03:06 AM

Um, Aaron, here's the real Mitten State....

Cooper · 03-21-2013, 09:46 PM

If that leans any more to the left it will hit Minnesota...

Coops

Now theres a scary thought a Western Canuck and a British Columbian at that...knows US Geography... Eastern US to boot....ARGO Part deux

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