Satellite Antenna installation

dms4911 · 01-10-2007, 06:46 AM

I have an 06 Safari 28W and would like to install a KVH L3 dome on the roof. It requires 2 coax and 1 data cable be run to the receiver. How can I run the cables into the settee area to the receiver?

Silvertwinkie · 01-10-2007, 06:51 AM

Just posted in another thread that when I was at the factory a bit over a year ago, I saw the factory folks installing one of these on the line to a trailer.

I seem to reall a hole was drilled out of the roof and the cables run through that way. Of course, since it was factory installed, it got the proper caulking that you see on the inside part of the outer skin, which is hard to do after construction is completed.

dms4911 · 01-10-2007, 01:27 PM

What I'm wondering is there a way to fish the cables from the roof down and into the settee area without pulling down cabinets and headliner, etc? Since AS builds no chase conduit to pull cables through, how can the fishing be done?

GlenCoombe · 01-10-2007, 04:19 PM

Fishtape. Used by many with great luck...til you run into a horizontal stringer and then it's out of the wall and covered up. Take a stud finder and work around the coach finding the stringers both horizontal and vertical. Figure out a path and fish away. BTW it's easier to fish down than up. Don't try to fish a wire on your first pass. Get the metal tape to do all the work and then attach a pull string to the fishtape and you're in business.
Good wire installers will always leave a pull string in the conduit for the next time they need to run the same wire run.... conduit or not it's good advise.

CharlieE · 01-10-2007, 06:14 PM

I replaced an old yagi multi element TV antenna with a Winegard Batwin a few years back. The old antenna had the flat twinlead cable that I had to replace with coaxial cable. Both antennas were just behind the front roof vent. I removed the inside guts of the vent fan and drilled out a few pop rivets on the interior skin at the fan location.. Then fished the wire from the antenna mounting hole up to the vent opening, routed around the vent and then fished up further to the front overhead cabinet. Then thru the front cabinet to the roadside then behind the curtain valence then into the wall and fished back out of the wall directly behind the TV. Every trailer is configured differently but maybe you can workout a similar arrangement. Just try to be sure you don't route through a very tight space that could cause chaffing of the cable as you travel down the road. LOL. Charlie E.

dms4911 · 01-14-2007, 08:27 AM

Thanks guys!!! In looking, the dome will have to mounted aft of the AC (rearward part of roof) due to space. We have a fantastic fan and skylight foreward, and no room for the dome other than aft. This means any fishing in superstructure would have too much distance any too many cross braces to deal with. The only hope would be to go down in the rearward part of the roof and then try to route the cables inside. I'm stumped as to how to get the cables inside (through the roof) and where, and how to route them to the forward settee locker. Any body had this problem?

SafeHarbor · 01-23-2007, 07:56 PM

Just curious - why mount an in-motion dome on the roof a trailer? Isn't that a lot to pay just to avoid the satellite acquisition time of a non-in motion dish? I mean, it's not like a MH - nobody's riding in it going down the road, right?

Or . . . you already have it from a previous MH?

Lamar

Safari Tim · 01-23-2007, 08:04 PM

If your fridge vent goes to the roof, you can fish wires down that way.

Along the roof you can run the wires in grey 1/2" pvc conduit.

I think that's the way after market solar panels are put on.

Paul NC · 01-23-2007, 10:15 PM

If you get a fishtape, try one that is made for fishing under carpets, it's flat about an inch wide. Keeps it from wandering side to side.

**CanoeStream** · 01-24-2007, 06:11 AM

Ribs are solid formed channel, so you won't be getting past any with fish tape. The attached picture is borrowed from Silvertwinkie's Airstream trip Dec 2003 and shows fore and aft running ribs that look pretty solid too. The factory no longer allows photos on the line. It would take somebody who's taken apart new Airstreams to say if you can do this without removing some inner skin -- Andy at Inland RV comes to mind (I've PM'ed him).

Photo credit to Silvertwinkie (by permission):

dms4911 · 01-26-2007, 12:11 PM

Hey, Thanks guys for the tips and the picture of the interior walls. I'll try the fridge vent first.

I want a KVH L3 in-motion unit so I can run a 10" LCD screen in the tow vehicle while underway. By adding a single RG6 from the AS to the car, I have TV on the road. Also, when I set up the AS, it's already aimed and ready to go. The KVH L3 is the one to use, since it is only powered when searching, not while stationary. In other words, you can cut it off and still have TV once it's locked onto the satellite. I'm keeping my portable dish for parks with trees. I'll add an "A-B" switch in the AS to select which antenna to use.

I'll use an RF remote extender to change channels from the car to the receiver in the AS. I use them at home and in the AS now and they work great.

By the way, I know it's illegal to have a TV in view of the driver. It's just for the kids, ya know.

Excella3287 · 01-26-2007, 12:52 PM

Thanks for the idea are there any part numbers that you can share and a little more detail about the setup and what is needed, not that mechanical.
Look forward to your end results.

Minnie's Mate · 01-26-2007, 01:16 PM

Once you get it down the refrigerator vent, you can run it down to the belly-pan and across to the location you want it and pull it up through the floor. If you are concerned with the wire being loose you could always drop that section of belly pan and staple it to the floor using cable fasteners.

dms4911 · 01-27-2007, 06:43 PM

Thanks again guys!!! Now I'm getting somewhere. Will running the cables down the fridge vent be a problem when running the fridge on gas (heat?)?

My setup will be a KVH L3 in-motion receiver ($500-600 on Ebay occasionally). It can be shut down after your selected satellite is found, plus it will work on any RCA DirectV receiver. Some Sat antenna units require a special receiver for the antenna.

The RF remote is: Invisible Multi-Room Remote Extender Frequency 433 (LRRX) Made by NextGeneration and available through SolidSignal....$49.95. Do a google search on the blue line above.

I've used these at home for 3 years. Also, I now use it in the AS and it works from any spot in the trailer. I have 2 TV's fed from one sat dish, and I can change channels from front to bedroom. Receiver is tucked away in the locker under the settee seat. Nothing shows. The RF transmitter is a battery transmitter that goes inside of the your TV remote and replaces one of the TV remote's batteries. The RF battery lasts about 4-6 weeks, then recharge in the base supplied with the unit. You get two Xmitter batteries, so you use one while the other is always on charge.

I figured why not be able to have TV in the car while on the road, since you've got everything you need (sat receiver) right behind you. Just run a coax to the car and you're done. You could get fancy and run an audio cable to the car also, and modulate it into the car stero. Then you'd have TV and full sound, more so than just the speaker on the TV monitor.