Community Forums

phredsee · 02-11-2010, 12:33 AM

Getting ready to reinstall the Winegard Trav'ler HD satellite on roof of 2010 Monarch. Read manual and said the cable is pre-wired with coax on roof approx. 12" forward of front air conditioner with conduit.

So I called Monaco tech support to reaffirm this claim and was told the same info as the manual and said there should be a "sticker" on the roof to locate cables. Jumped up on the roof today, no sticker.

Question: Has anyone had a sticker precisely at the 12" location? Very, very hesitant to start drilling to find out this was never installed. An alternative would be to install new cabling where the batwing cables run but wanted to take advantage of the pre-wiring using existing conduit.

Responses would be greatly appreciated.

Drifter · 02-11-2010, 12:50 AM

When we had ours installed last year, the installer told me that they never use the factory wires, because they were not always able to find them and that they were not trust worthy. He stated that it was a faster and cleaner to run new wires. We bought ours in Quartzsite form Satellite Advantage.

phredsee · 02-11-2010, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drifter

When we had ours installed last year, the installer told me that they never use the factory wires, because they were not always able to find them and that they were not trust worthy. He stated that it was a faster and cleaner to run new wires. We bought ours in Quartzsite form Satellite Advantage.

\

I'm inclined to agree with you and will probably do the same. Was looking for an easy way out to just find and connect. They appear to be connected in the front overhead TV cabinet jacks and labeled!

BaldOldBob · 02-11-2010, 08:22 AM

With ours, the location was checked from inside the coach. Took down the front overhead fluorescent fixture and found the cable from the inside. A little measuring confirmed where to drill on the roof.

itdave · 02-11-2010, 09:38 AM

Even if you find the right location all the wires you need may not be there. I am not sure that Monaco will have run two coaxes and the correct control wire for a HD type satellite dish. Before I went looking for the position I would check with Monaco to see how many and what kind of wires are in the roof. Then compare that to what is needed for your dish. On mine the installer, at a Monaco Dealer, did not trust the location so he drilled a hole from the cabinet where my receiver would go (the one to the left of TV) through the roof in the front cap.

deadeye916 · 02-11-2010, 02:46 PM

My 2008 was wired correctly for HD. DeMartini (GV) installed the Slimline Traveler so I can't tell you how they knew where to mount it or if there was a sticker there. I do have a sticker in the rear for solar installation.

gg · 02-11-2010, 02:49 PM

On my 09 the Sat cable here label is located in the center of the roof and 4 inch in front of the Carrier front roof air conditioner.

my KVH installer ran his own cables, drill holes in cap and into cabinets.

I would check for wires in the TV cable center in the driver front cabinet. If you find extra wires use them and try a 1/2 inch hole in the roof and go fish if you find them it would be the cleanest install. My 2 cents

gg

phredsee · 02-11-2010, 10:10 PM

The consensus seems to drill my own hole and run new cable since it doesn't appear that Monaco has standardized in one location. I was hoping to find the (2) required coax cables and add both the data cable and alarm cable since Monaco tech support said there was a conduit available from the roof into the video cabinet up front. I will try Bob's method if I have existing lighting fixtures in that area, can't hurt and might work out.

Thank you all for your input.

ShapeShifter · 02-12-2010, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phredsee

The consensus seems to drill my own hole and run new cable since it doesn't appear that Monaco has standardized in one location. I was hoping to find the (2) required coax cables and add both the data cable and alarm cable since Monaco tech support said there was a conduit available from the roof into the video cabinet up front. I will try Bob's method if I have existing lighting fixtures in that area, can't hurt and might work out.

Thank you all for your input.

Mine came with a dome factory installed. There is only one coax cable run to the roof (I wish there were two.) The other end of that cable goes to a bulkhead fitting in the back of the entertainment center cabinet (along with terminations for the external satellite input, and the connection from the output of the satellite receiver to the video distribution box.) You might want to look in the entertainment cabinet to see what cables you have, that might tell you how many are run to the roof area.

The comment about the conduit is interesting. A while back, I had my front ceiling light down to check on wiring paths for running a second cable, and I found this yellow wire up there (right in the vicinity of the dome.) As you can see, it is not connected to anything, and the end of the wire is looped back and taped to itself. From the opening, it seems to run to the curb side of the rig, and then I lose track of it.

I posted this on another forum, trying to figure out what it was. There were a variety of guesses, including one from an RV tech that it was a pull wire to help pull cables to the entertainment center cabinets. That sounds reasonable, but I was never able to find the other end of the wire.

Since we have a group of Monaco experts here, does anyone know the function of that wire? If it is a pull wire for satellite cables, where is the other end?

phredsee, you might want to pull your front light (if you have one in the same place) and see if you can find the ends of the cable(s) and if you have a similar pull wire.

itdave · 02-12-2010, 03:27 PM

ShapeShifter,
When my dish was first installed they only ran one wire so when I upgraded my receiver I needed to run a second cable. I did this by doing something called back pulling. I opened the hole were the cable went down through my front cap then cut the connector off the coax in the entertainment cabinet. I then connected two new coaxs to the cut coax, taped them well, and used the original cable to pull the two new cables through the roof. I am not sure if this will would work for a cable routed through the ceiling but it might be worth a try.
As far as getting the satellite on the roof, I have see Bill Adams, Internet Anywhere, do it by putting the satellite on the roof of his van and then pulling the van along side the motor home. I think Janet stands on the van and slides the satellite to Bill who is on the roof of the Motor Home. Just some ideas.

Dutch Star Don · 02-12-2010, 09:14 PM

phredsee.....You can probably find your cable via the flourescent light removal, but I don't think it will help. The Trav'Ler requires a minimum of one coax cable and one control cable. The satellite comes with two 30' lengths of RG6 coax and a 30' length of control cable. I would run all three for future use. Even three coax cables if you plan on having a DVR and another box.

When you mount the satellite, set it where you want it, and then mark the unit's outline with a pencil. Remove the unit and place a bead of self leveling Dicor just inside the pencil mark. Have your first couple of screws and screw gun ready before you set the satellite back down on the Dicor. Once you set it down, it will tend to "walk" before you can drive the first couple of screws.

I wanted to run both TV's off of one DirecTV box. I connected our front TV with an HDMI cable. I then mused the RCA jacks on the back of the DirecTV box for the rear TV. They make a modualtor ($20.00) that you plug the RCA jacks into the modulator which converts the signal to coax. I then connected the rear TV coax to the modulator.

On some advice from this website, I bought a DirecTV RF remote (Best Buy $50.00) that allows me to change the DirecTV from anywhere in the coach, including our side aisle bedroom.

phredsee · 02-16-2010, 12:38 AM

We took all suggestions on pulling down light fixtures and air conditioner covers and at least found an acceptable place to run new cabling. There is a square trough that runs from the front of the AC unit inside the coach up to the front cabinets and used that for all cables including XM and ham radio antenna cables. Mounted the DirecTV Trav'ler dish behind the front AC unit and surface ran the cables in side slit wrap to the front of the AC unit, drilled down into the trough and pulled to the front cabinets. Wrapped the dish in a blanket, hog tied with 1/4" nylon rope, Jeff pulling up, me pushing up the ladder and the dish made it to the roof. Wasn't pretty but it worked. Done.

BTW, never did find the factory coax cables so they lurk somewhere never to be found. Thanks to SCVJeff for donating much of his time helping on this project especially on a holiday weekend. The payback I think involves a 2000W inverter and cable upgrades.