Outside TV Mount

[montiem]

This question is not something I really need to know because I may never do it, but all have seen the outside TV's mounted in the wall over the storage bays. Has anyone thought about retrofitting an older coach. I have look at my Knight and I think I have enough room to mount one behind the couch, there seems to be enough room and I have the TV cable just below for the outside TV. I have never watched much TV outside except for a night race or football game in the fall. Just thinking, I have not spend my quota on repairs this month and think that it would be a shame not to spend some money on the motor home, I would not like for it to begin to think I don't still love it, kinda like a grandchild according to my wife. I thought they might make a kit for sidewall installation.

[Pigman]

Our Bus came with the door in the outside and the TV behind it. In two years I used it once and found it worked poorly in daylight, even with the awning out. I removed the TV and it's now in the kitchen. Works great there.

To put a setup like that will probably require you to cut sidewall struts, re-frame the opening and manufacture a door. Then there's the waterproofing of the compartment, and wiring it into your electronics through your slide. If you think you'll get sufficient use out of it, go for it, but as I said we didn't find it a viable setup for practical use. I'd be interested to hear how many actually use the Tiffin setup regularly.

John

[JManatee]

Our Monaco Cayman has side hinged compartment doors that are fairly large. Having the TV in a compartment could be a problem, The doors only open to 90 degrees which could be in the way of people walking by if left open to watch tv and they would block half of the viewing area.

So we discussed how we could mount a TV to the outside of the rig with out screwing in to the side wall of the coach.

So I welded up a receiver for 1" box tube with brackets to bolt it to the existing frame under our coach. This receiver is recessed 2" from the side of the RV and is just below the side.

Its a little hard to see here:


I then welded a "Tongue" to go in the receiver and on the end of the tongue is a 1x2 tube that runs parallel to the side wall of the coach. On the top of this tube I bolted the base for the articulating arm that holds the TV. I ran quick disconnect cable wire and power wire through the tube.


I got the arm from BJ's $49 LCD Wall Mount item no SYL1327EM2

Here is a photo:


We can quickly remove the TV (with articulating arm) and store it in the compartment and leave the bracket in place until we break camp.

when we are ready to break camp I pull one pin and the tongue / vertical bracket can be removed and stored in the compartment.


The articulating arm gives us great freedom in how we want to aim the TV. It can be rotated 180* and tilted up or down so you can have good visibility from a large area.


This outside TV uses the existing coach wiring which allows it to display the DVD player, cable and antenna. It also can be run from the inverter.

Quick project but it came out nice. Cant wait to try it on a camp site.

[gto19]

Very nice!!!!!!
I'd like to steal that idea for motorhome.where does the power and cable wire go when you put everything away.and where do you plug the tv into ?

[JManatee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gto19 Very nice!!!!!! I'd like to steal that idea for motorhome.where does the power and cable wire go when you put everything away.and where do you plug the tv into ?

We leave the power wire (unplugs from the back of the TV) and cable wire in the bracket when we store the bracket. we just wrap the extra around the bracket and put it in the storage bin.

Our couch had hookups for power and cable in the compartment. There was the little opening with cover thing (door with little slide opening) like they use for a water hose in the floor of the compartment. So we just put on the TV bracket, run wires through the little door thing, and plug in.

Putting on the bracket (sliding it into the receiver putting in pin) putting wires through hole and plugging in takes about 1 min, break down of the bracket is about the same 1 min.

If were camping and we choose to use the outside TV, we mount the bracket and leave the bracket mounted until we break camp. We only remove the TV and articulating arm at night or during hard rain etc.

The power wire unplugs from the back of the TV and the cable wire has the slip on kind of connector. When we are disconnecting the TV we pull the power and cable, lift off the tv and articulating arm, and store them in the compartment. We can do that in about 30 sec. Mounting the TV, lining up the articulating arm and plugging in the cable and power wire takes about 45 sec.

[gto19]

Sweet
can you post a pic or 2 of the compartment and the little door your talking about if you have time.also what is bj's ?I'd like to buy that arm that holds the tv .do they have a website?
thanks again

[JManatee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gto19 Sweet can you post a pic or 2 of the compartment and the little door your talking about if you have time.also what is bj's ?I'd like to buy that arm that holds the tv .do they have a website? thanks again

BJ's is like a Sams Club or Costco BJ's Wholesale Club

Here is a picture inside the compartment

[JManatee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gto19 Sweet can you post a pic or 2 of the compartment and the little door your talking about if you have time.also what is bj's ?I'd like to buy that arm that holds the tv .do they have a website? thanks again

One note I just searched BJs online for the arm and couldn't find it. but it was in the store I was even in the Manchester, CT store the other day and they had one left

[deaton]

JManatee -

I like your solution a lot more than Monaco's. On my model coach the charge for the option for the outside TV is five grand. I parked next to the identical coach at a park over Memorial day weekend.

The owner of that coach had the option (I don't). They said that the one time they tried to use it, they discovered that Monaco had cross wired the sound connections to their dashboard radio and the power from the TV setup blew out the speakers in the coach. Since they used their coach radio a lot more than the TV, they had the speakers replaced and disconnected the TV so it wouldn't happen again.....true story.

[montiem]

Well I finally got back to this post and I really appreciated these novel ideas and inventions, my coach is plumbed for TV and power in the second bay just like JManatee" Cayman. I think I will just set the TV inside the bay in the shade and set to the back of the MH because the door want open over 90d.

[George Z]

JManatee very nice looking mod. Very adaptable to most class As. We are now looking to copy it.

Thanks
George

[CaptKurt]

Very Nice. You should patent this and make some money..... It's just what I was looking for....

Thanks
Kurt

[Larry Geese]

THIS IS A BAD IDEA. I have seen a number of TV outdoor systems and sound systems with great stero speakers. What would make you think the next door neighors would like the same football game or Nascar race as you? Maybe they like classic music and not country like you do. My point is being a GOOD NEIGHBOR comes first. At least the indoor TV and stero seems to have more control of the outdoor sound. What is sound to you is nothing but noise to some else.
If you camped in the North Forty all alone then maybe this would be a good idea...not for being a good neighbor.
Larry

[ShapeShifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by montiem Well I finally got back to this post and I really appreciated these novel ideas and inventions, my coach is plumbed for TV and power in the second bay just like JManatee" Cayman. I think I will just set the TV inside the bay in the shade and set to the back of the MH because the door want open over 90d.

That's probably your best bet. I have the TV behind the door on the side wall under the living room window, and it's bigger and deeper than you would think. The door is an inch thick, and the TV and DVD player have to be recessed into the wall to allow the door to close. There is actually a box built into the wall behind the sofa to make room for it, meaning that the sofa is actually mounted 8 inches away from the wall where it would normally be. The box to enclose the back of the TV compartment is covered with a piece of Corian counter top that's as long as the sofa, and 8 inches wide. It makes a great ledge for the dogs to sit on and look out the window, but it does take up some interior space.

Even with that extra 8 inches, it's not enough room for the DVD player -- it sticks out the back of that box, and the back of the DVD player and all the wires are visible if you look behind the sofa.

I don't think it's a practical retrofit. And I don't think it's practical even as it comes from the factory: the TV gets a lot of glare, and as Larry points out, it's so easy to annoy the neighbors. The coach came with it, and we hardly ever use it. I would never explicitly order coach that had it.