Front 28" Samsung TV removed to be replaced by 24" rear TV

[Alex AVI]

Front 28" Samsung TV removed to be replaced by 24" rear TV

Hitting my head on tv edge - NO MORE!
Since I had removed the rear Samsung 24" tv for similar reasons (sharp lower corner was at grandson eye & head level and very dangerous) and replaced with smaller 19" tv, I now can use that smaller 24" Samsung to replace the 28" front.

I thought it is a simple swap, but the VESA holes on the rear are actually lower, it would still stick a ways below the overhead unless I open it up and do the identical mod AS did to the original front tv. And since I have to open it up anyway, I will mod the tv to include the headphone connections just like the original front tv.

[Alex AVI]

Not as easy as I initially thought

I initially thought I would just open up the 28" Samsung, unplug AS headphone wiring mods and move over to 24" Samsung. But no such luck.

Remove metal mounting plate/bracket. I first thought it was heavy gauge plastic, only to find out after removing that it is actually metal. Nice.


After opening 28" Samsung, saw that the wiring mods were actually sealed-in inside the left/right speakers. The speakers have their individual enclosures and the connections are not accessible without having to break open the enclosures.


Not wanting to destroy the enclosures, I decided to just cut the wires. That was the only way I could remove the wires from the speakers & also fish out from the back panel.


The speakers of the 24" Samsung do not have an enclosure, which makes soldering them in a much easier process.


But first, the metal mounting plate/bracket needed to be drilled for 75mm VESA holes. Also, the position of the mounting holes needed to be raised higher because they sit much higher on the 24" Samsung.


Soldered-in wiring onto speakers.



24" Samsung now attached & wired-in

[TX-Newbie]

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

Not as easy as I initially thought

I initially thought I would just open up the 28" Samsung, unplug AS headphone wiring mods and move over to 24" Samsung. But no such luck.

Remove metal mounting plate/bracket. I first thought it was heavy gauge plastic, only to find out after removing that it is actually metal. Nice.
Attachment 329417

After opening 28" Samsung, saw that the wiring mods were actually sealed-in inside the left/right speakers. The speakers have their individual enclosures and the connections are not accessible without having to break open the enclosures.
Attachment 329418

Not wanting to destroy the enclosures, I decided to just cut the wires. That was the only way I could remove the wires from the speakers & also fish out from the back panel.
Attachment 329419

The speakers of the 24" Samsung do not have an enclosure, which makes soldering them in a much easier process.
Attachment 329420

But first, the metal mounting plate/bracket needed to be drilled for 75mm VESA holes. Also, the position of the mounting holes needed to be raised higher because they sit much higher on the 24" Samsung.
Attachment 329421

Soldered-in wiring onto speakers.
Attachment 329422
Attachment 329423

24" Samsung now attached & wired-in

Alex. I want your skills. You too Wachuko....

Your time too, will you babysit my 3 boys?

Good news is they love the AI. Best purchase to date is the Dyson vacuum. These soccer tournaments trash it.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by TX-Newbie

Alex. I want your skills. You too Wachuko....

Your time too, will you babysit my 3 boys?

Good news is they love the AI. Best purchase to date is the Dyson vacuum. These soccer tournaments trash it.

TXNEWBIE - Thank you for kind words. How do you have time for AI tinkering with 3 boys? Well, actually you took 1st step in getting them to like it. Then you can start training them to help out with AI mods. I have no brothers, no sons, so my grandson is the first boy I get to train/raise from birth to become a man. I literally raised him from birth to 2 yrs old while daughter and her hubby were at work. She trusted me more in that stage than him. He was too scared to handle his little baby, afraid he would break him He is their only child, so they are still learning. Grandson loves the AI too and I take every opportunity to teach him little things in the AI workings (he is only 3). He now knows how to use the AI toilet fill & flush valve, fridge & lock, microwave open & close, outdoor shower controls, FireFly light controls (by sliding door), Samsung remote, and MOST IMPORTANT - power door lock & unlock Ohhh, I trained him to love vacuuming with Dyson. Soon as he hears it, he comes to take it from me to help out.

Back to AI stuff. Finally got everything buttoned up and tested. Heck even headphone jacks actually work. I was afraid that due to the thin coax wiring used for the headphone mod, the soldering job I did may have melted the hair thin wires. Still big enough for grandson's cartoons, even viewing from rear. And no more hitting head on front tv and shoulders on rear tv.

[Alex AVI]

So, we never use either of the 2 headphone jacks for front tv. But since I went through all the trouble of moving the AS headphone mod from the 28" to the 24" tv, I decided to check anyway if the headphones worked. And they did a few days ago. But what I did not realize was even with the headphones plugged in, they did not disconnect the tv speakers (like normal headphone jacks would do). I never noticed because the headphones were obviously playing on top of my ears. Hmmm, so I went through tv menu and selected tv-speaker-off/external-speaker-on. Now no sound from tv or headphone. Well, I thought I messed up on re-wire. Was debating if it was worth disconnecting the now nicely tie-wrapped wires behind & inside tv just to chase a headphone issue that we probably won't use again. The engineer in me decided I can't let some piddly speaker wires defeat my work. As I was about to embark on a total redo of my mod, I happen to glance inside the overhead and saw this - I totally forgot that the AS headphone mod is a manual disconnect from this switch DUH !! Averted hours of unecessary re-wiring due to brain-fart

[TX-Newbie]

Alex. Good to know you're human. [emoji16]

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by TX-Newbie

Alex. Good to know you're human. [emoji16]

TXNEWBIE - you forgot to say a flawed & stubborn human. And those are my good traits

[Mansderm161]

You are amazing and that is one lucky grandson to have someone like you to teach him. At some point, adults are usually asked, "who influenced your life the most?" I'll bet he will say YOU! I can remember my grandmother from a very young age and she was my answer!

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by Mansderm161

You are amazing and that is one lucky grandson to have someone like you to teach him. At some point, adults are usually asked, "who influenced your life the most?" I'll bet he will say YOU! I can remember my grandmother from a very young age and she was my answer!

MANSDERM161 - Thank you for the kind words. We spend as much time with our 2 grandkids as we find available. We literally live in our daughter's home every weekend. I consider it makeup time - makeup for the times when our 2 daughters were younger and we could not spend as much time with them due to career responsibilities.

[Muddy]

Alex AVI: You are very detail oriented and did a heck of a job moving the TV's. I would have neither your expertise or drive, but my wife and I dislike bumbing our heads in our 2017 AI.

Another possibility?: Could I cut the white wire that connects the TV speakers to both tv's, then move the smaller rear TV to the front and splice/solder the wires together (I would not think they are fiber optic--but "ordinary" wires). The idea would be to make the front TV work on the controls that are in place to divert sound to headphones for private use--then I could install a smaller TV in the rear, and just not wire it the same way--just cap off the white feed wire to the rear TV. What I am saying is that, while not perfect, I could live with manually adjusting TV volume to mute and the like in the rear TV.

We rarely use headphones. like you, our grandkids enjoy movies as we drive, and my wife and I use the tv's only when we are camping--rarely with headsets.

Is this a feasible solution, in your experience??

Muddy

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by Muddy

Alex AVI: You are very detail oriented and did a heck of a job moving the TV's. I would have neither your expertise or drive, but my wife and I dislike bumbing our heads in our 2017 AI.

Another possibility?: Could I cut the white wire that connects the TV speakers to both tv's, then move the smaller rear TV to the front and splice/solder the wires together (I would not think they are fiber optic--but "ordinary" wires). The idea would be to make the front TV work on the controls that are in place to divert sound to headphones for private use--then I could install a smaller TV in the rear, and just not wire it the same way--just cap off the white feed wire to the rear TV. What I am saying is that, while not perfect, I could live with manually adjusting TV volume to mute and the like in the rear TV.

We rarely use headphones. like you, our grandkids enjoy movies as we drive, and my wife and I use the tv's only when we are camping--rarely with headsets.

Is this a feasible solution, in your experience??

Muddy

MUDDY - Yes, most definitely. Yes, just regular wires. I am due to leave for an appt. in 5 mins. I only did mine this way for the cleanest look. But no reason why you can't do it the way you suggested. But I will double check which wires correspond to which between both the 28" & 24" and post more details. Check my post later today.

[Muddy]

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

MUDDY - Yes, most definitely. Yes, just regular wires. I am due to leave for an appt. in 5 mins. I only did mine this way for the cleanest look. But no reason why you can't do it the way you suggested. But I will double check which wires correspond to which between both the 28" & 24" and post more details. Check my post later today.

You are da man!! Thanks!

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by Muddy

You are da man!! Thanks!

MUDDY - Haha, but you know my wife's response to that was " . . . but I am the woman " and that quickly shut me up

Forgetting all I did, I looked further and realized it's not just a matter of snipping the exterior cables. Hard to explain - but simply put, the original Samsung speaker cables need to still be there and the AI mod cables need to be both connected onto one of the speaker posts (or wires) and the other needs to be spliced. Repeat the process for other speaker. I will post more detailed pics of before & after. I just did not want to overdo the pics (any more than I already am). It is not hard at all. I soldered because it was easier for me, but mechanical crimping is doable. FYI - the cables is a combo of regular speaker wires and RCA low-level pre-amp (similar to coax with external shielding and center core).

Let me know if you still want to tackle and I am happy to upload detailed pics. You can do this. Just requires patience and small fingers

UPDATE : BTW , re-read your post - the headphone wiring is only for the front tv. So when you remove the rear tv and replace with something smaller, it's just a swap. I really did not even have to re-connect the headphone mod for the front tv since we never use the headphones. I only did it to keep it in same capability as before and reverse-engineering pride that anything AS can mod, so can I. But now that I have it, I can plug in my Bose portable in both and have a quasi-subwoofer without mounting a speaker bar under the front tv negating the reason for putting the smaller one there in first place.

[Muddy]

My wife keeps me in check, too. It is a good thing I was wondering if cutting the wires would somehow cause a fault--from what you say, I am then surprised that there is a white Airstream wire that goes into the back of the rear TV--why would that be unless you can watch the back TV alone and listen on headphones? (I never tried that--but assumed a mod to the TV would only mean such a configuration. I really would like to move the TV's as you did, and save my already addled brain some hard knocks.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by Muddy

My wife keeps me in check, too. It is a good thing I was wondering if cutting the wires would somehow cause a fault--from what you say, I am then surprised that there is a white Airstream wire that goes into the back of the rear TV--why would that be unless you can watch the back TV alone and listen on headphones? (I never tried that--but assumed a mod to the TV would only mean such a configuration. I really would like to move the TV's as you did, and save my already addled brain some hard knocks.

MUDDY - I do not know what the white cable connected to your rear tv is. Mine only has 3 cables going into it - hdmi, power, & antenna. All are black or dark cables. See attach pic below, most of the length of the cables are hidden in the wiring loom/bundle but you can see the tips of each three to see no white cables. Can you post a pic of yours? I will check diagrams too. Maybe they changed the wiring between our MY.

UPDATE - Just checked 2017 & 2018 diagrams and shows only 2 cables going into rear tv (power is 3rd but usually not shown).

[Alex AVI]

Even though I downsized the front tv from 28" to 24" and it's lower front edge sits higher than the overhead storage bin, it turns out a tall enough person can still hit their head on the tv edge walking from house area into cab area. And that lower edge of the Samsung is sharp - yep enough to draw blood from son in law's forehead. Reducing tv size further is not going to eliminate such hazard. So, the only solution is to cushion/protect the edge. I went with plain black from BuyBuyBaby but Amazon has them in many colors.

[Pahaska]

That edging could be good on the aisle edge of the rear TV. Being a GT, my front TV is pretty much out of the way.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by Pahaska

That edging could be good on the aisle edge of the rear TV. Being a GT, my front TV is pretty much out of the way.

JOHN - Yes. good idea. Even though I replaced the rear tv with smaller one so the aisle edge is not sticky out, have not hit it since, I will do the same per your advise since we have active kiddos.

FYI, on front tv, I used just the 1 long piece from left to right corner and just bending it to wrap around the both corners. It is not working out because the corners want to straighten out and pop out of their double-side tape. Plus, I think the bulbous corner does not looked so "polished" or "crisp". So I redid the corners by ordering a separate pre-formed 90-degree corners from same manufacturer. So instead of 1 continuous piece, I have 2 pre-formed corner pieces (left/right) & 1 straight center piece. I spent extra $11 for 8 corner pieces but looks so much better.

ended up removing pics from phone when uploaded the pics to my home pc, so will post later. But this is what the pre-formed pieces look like.

[MountainLife]

After 9 months of hitting our head on the larger front TV, I decided enough was enough. I was not ready to just remove it as we still use it occasionally, but not as much as the rear TV.

Problem #1 - locating a smaller TV to buy.

Problem #2 - how to deal with built in power and sound from factory installed TV.

Problem #3 - how to get the TV up and back further.

Solution #1 - Finally found one on Walmart and not fond of VIZIOs, but it was rather slim pickings.

Solution #2 - Cut the power cord to the factory TV and made it a female plug. Did not feel like fishing power cords and it was pretty straight forward after that. Discovered the other extra wires were used to turn on and off TV speakers using the switch in the left overhead compartment. I did discover that if I plugged in the remaining audio plug (had to use an extension) into the new TVs headphone jack the headphone jacks by the second row captains chairs still worked. Once you plug something into the TVs headphone jack the TVs speakers turn off. Ok. Cool.

Solution #3 - After measuring and remeasuring, I determined I could safely take 1.5 inches off the factory installed mount and get the TV back further and still open and close the hinge that is installed in the mount. Had to make a few minor adjustments to the latches to get it to align.

The result was a 4 day camping trip with not once hitting our heads!!