WiFiRanger Mobile wiring

[snovak]

I recently received my new WifiRanger mobile outdoor antenna and tried to install it a few days ago, but went home with my tail between my legs at the end of the day. Mounting is the easy part. However, getting the CAT-5e cable back into the cab is proving challenging. I thought running the cable right along side the cabling for the satellite would be easy enough. However, after pulling up the great mound of dicor, which sealed the openning in the roof, I find the conduit might just be too tight to get another wire all the way through. I tried a number of methods of getting this wire through. After simply trying to feed the wire through failed, I tried pulling one of the existing satellite cables back through so that I might tape the new CAT5 to that and pull it through. Then, I just found the satellite cable jammed after pulling out 3 feet worth topside. DOH!! Frustrated, I seal her back up, unsuccessful.

So, what now? Do I find a likely spot inside to punch through and start poking it with a drill? Or is there some way to drop the headliner so that I might still use the existing conduit and free up the jam? I'd prefer the later. Seems like the "right" way to do it.

Thanks all!

["007"]

Your going to get into a big mess pulling down headliner.
In your cabinets you may have your overhead fan motor and a wood panel can be removed to gain access to the ceiling cap area a steel fish or heavy wire may get you into the space so you can pull in wire to location you need it.

[snovak]

@007 Thanks for the tip! Yeah, that headliner seems like it's up there pretty good. Not sure how it's fastened in any case. Makes me want to take the Newmar factory tour.

My cabinet looks pretty different from what you've shown in yours. My blower might be behind the old CRT TV up there. I plan on swapping out for an LED flat panel, which is another project altogether. Though, getting that CRT out might be the first step to finding a good way to the roof. So, thanks for the good idea. I will definitely keep the thread up to date.

["007"]

You will have the same access from your TV area can fish to either side of coach.
Some of the heavier wires are for front clearance lights and speaker wires and other wiring, they are marked as to where they go and come from.
Your A channels have wiring also which can be used to fished up into ceiling.
QT's # 3 has many LCD conversions and wiring for HDMI wiring by PDRJohn.
Good luck with your projects.

[redbaron73]

Have you thought about going along the bottoms of the coach? I installed an antenna on the ladder and came down through the engine bay. Chased the wire along with the rest of the wires and came up through the front dash fuse box. Not easy but no new holes.

[snovak]

@redbaron73 I had thought that going through the back might make sense. As you've mentioned, the ladder is a good mount spot. One thought that I had though, was that it's very visible and easy to acces on my Ventana. I have a full length ladder on the back, not one that stops halfway down. The half ladder I thought would be better in this case because it would be more difficult to access and steal the WifiRanger Mobile. So, I figured mounting it to the bat wing antenna might have the advantage of being out of sight most of the time. In addition, when extended, the antenna would be the highest point possible, maximizing the Ranger's reception.

I wonder if they ever thought about multiplexing the Ranger signal over coax, essentially piggy backing the UHF/VHF signal of the antenna. That way all this wire routing wouldn't be necessary. Anyplace there is coax existing, you could plug in your Ranger, and that's just about anywhere in these RVs. Hmm.. I guess I'll write them.

I'll try again this week.

Thanks again for the suggestions!!

[ready2roam]

As stated above, I mounted my WiFi Ranger on the aft Ladder. On my Ventana it does go all the way to the bumper but hanging off the ladder to undo the mounting bolts would be a trick for the thief (he/she could go up and lay on the roof I suppose, that's what I had to do). As to the the wiring, I was then able to run the Cat5 down a stand pipe for the water system, drill a small hole in the stand pipe and fish out the Cat5 inside the coach. Plugged the hole around the wire with a rubber plug WiFi Ranger provided. Once inside the coach the next runs were through backs of cabinets (I mounted the inside WiFi ranger in the back but it covers my 40' just fine). BTW, did you check out the WiFi Ranger Boost stand alone before mounting it? I had some issues with it that could have been avoided or at least solved while working inside instead of on the roof. Anyway, it's a good Internet solution.

[snovak]

@ready2roam, hmm,,, I didn't think about the stand pipe. If my efforts with the fish tape don't work to the front of the cab, I will try that for sure.

I did set everything up inside before taking the Mobile to the roof. One thing I thought curious was that the WifiRanger Go actually had a better reception for nearby networks. However, even inside the cab, the WifiRanger Mobile was able to receive signals from WAPs at a greater distance. I suppose it has something to do with their hardware, not just their placement on the rig. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Mobile will do on the roof.

Thanks again for all the great feedback!

[Bryantclan]

I just installed basically the same thing, used outdoor Cat5, don't use indoor cable it will not last long.

I used a 5/8th bit and drilled down in to one of the cabinets, yes it means I have yet another hole in my roof but it allowed the simplest install. As long as you are careful about making sure it is water sealed you will not have any problems.

One additional note, I covered the full wire run with eternal bond tape, that way it is not exposed to being grabbed by trees and I did not have to drill more holes for anchors to secure the wire which you don't want flapping around the roof.

Shaun

[Bryantclan]

Pictures of the install.

[snovak]

Really nice job!!!