Pre-wired Satellite Question

[philbird]

we purchased new to us a 2015 tiffin phaeton 40 qbh, that was pre wired for satellite . so I have bought a used year old winegard t4 dome and have connected on the roof . there was a directv receiver already there but we had one from our old mtrhome same model h24 so I hooked it up just the way it was with the original , the tvs are lg , I can receive regular air tv. but cant get the satellite to come on plus im not hearing the dome searching . the 12volt winegard switch up front by the exit door is on with its green light . there are still a lot of extra coax cables marked as this way tri pod , traveler 1, traveler 2,coax 1, coax 2 do I need a big splitter or something else that I don't know about . does the roof 12volt line go somewhere else that I need another switch for. sorry for the long story . thanks in advance for any help

[Lt Dan]

Originally Posted by philbird

we purchased new to us a 2015 tiffin phaeton 40 qbh, that was pre wired for satellite . so I have bought a used year old winegard t4 dome and have connected on the roof . there was a directv receiver already there but we had one from our old mtrhome same model h24 so I hooked it up just the way it was with the original , the tvs are lg , I can receive regular air tv. but cant get the satellite to come on plus im not hearing the dome searching . the 12volt winegard switch up front by the exit door is on with its green light . there are still a lot of extra coax cables marked as this way tri pod , traveler 1, traveler 2,coax 1, coax 2 do I need a big splitter or something else that I don't know about . does the roof 12volt line go somewhere else that I need another switch for. sorry for the long story . thanks in advance for any help

The first thing you need to do is pull the top off the dome and check the DIP switches to make sure it's set for DirecTV and not Dish. The Tripod coax is for the external satellite connection in the wet bay. Trav'ler 1 and 2 are for a triple LNB Trav'ler antenna. Coax 1 and 2 should be the dome connections and you normally want to use Coax 1, however sometimes they get switched on the roof. Coax 1 is supposed to be the primary. The 12volt power to the roof dome does not go anywhere else except to the dome. Did you connect the new antenna up toward the front where the domes are normally installed? There should be 12v power there with the coax. The other thing to make sure of is your HDMI splitters in the AV cabinet are turned on and working.

[philbird]

thanks lt .dan for the reply . I did switch the dip switch to directv and the wiring connecter was cracked at the mtrhome , so I just manually wired the connection on there as far as the av switch the only one I found was the cabinet above the front door which is a winegard which is on and green light , im wondering if I need a video or av switch that im not seeing and run all those extra coax to that and out to the main tv . I pulled the door off to the right of the receivers and it looks like spaghetti in there with a couple 2d/3d black boxes and something else plugged in which I don't know it either . im thinking the only reason I get regular air tv, is because it is only wired for it. what kinda swich are you using to go between air and satellite ? tia again

[Lt Dan]

Originally Posted by philbird

thanks lt .dan for the reply . I did switch the dip switch to directv and the wiring connecter was cracked at the mtrhome , so I just manually wired the connection on there as far as the av switch the only one I found was the cabinet above the front door which is a winegard which is on and green light , im wondering if I need a video or av switch that im not seeing and run all those extra coax to that and out to the main tv . I pulled the door off to the right of the receivers and it looks like spaghetti in there with a couple 2d/3d black boxes and something else plugged in which I don't know it either . im thinking the only reason I get regular air tv, is because it is only wired for it. what kinda swich are you using to go between air and satellite ? tia again

All of your TVs are already wired to receive satellite signal. The winegard switch by the front door is your Antenna/Cable switch. For antenna, the green light needs to be on to power the amplifer and for park cable you turn it off. You don't need any kind of A/B switch unless you are using a carryout antenna on the Tripod coax. As for distribution, the two black boxes in the cabinet with all of the wiring are your HDMI splitters, one for the satellite receiver and one for the BluRay player. They convert the HDMI signal to Cat6 network cable which is then distributed to the three TVs other than the bedroom. That one is direct HDMI cable feed from the box. There will be a power switch on the side of the cabinet that turns power to the splitters on and off. They have to be on to send signal to the TVs. In the 2015 year models they used a 1x8 splitter that was notorious for building up a lot of heat and burning out or burning out the power supplies. Below is a simplfied diagram of how the AV system is set up which may help.

[philbird]

thanks again lt.dan im heading to the motorhome shortly and look for that other switch all I remember was 2 plug in 110 plugs are you saying the other switch could be in the right side that I cant see, it does have a cooling fan built into that area . I will take pictures and send them back to you if I cant get it to work this time , I know its something simple but im not wrapping my head around it yet thanks again

[Lt Dan]

Originally Posted by philbird

thanks again lt.dan im heading to the motorhome shortly and look for that other switch all I remember was 2 plug in 110 plugs are you saying the other switch could be in the right side that I cant see, it does have a cooling fan built into that area . I will take pictures and send them back to you if I cant get it to work this time , I know its something simple but im not wrapping my head around it yet thanks again

On your 2015, there should be an electrical switch like a light switch on the inside of the cabinet next to the outlets. That one turns the power to the splitters and the fan on.

[philbird]

ok lt dan see if you can open these up if not , I will try to copy and paste them . I did flip the switch even after I pulled the fan and it runs fine , I don't think im getting 12 volts up to the roof . I put all the other coax into the right cabinet
to stop confusement . let me know if you can read them .

[Lt Dan]

The only two coax cables you need into the area with the receiver will be the Coax 1 and Tripod. The others you can bundle up inside the closed cabinet. It's good you have the Trav'ler pre-wire in case you want to add it at a later date.

I see those are the original 1x8 splitters that probably came with the coach. The next thing to check is see if you are getting power to the two splitters. You will have two power supplies that plug into outlets inside the cabinet. Those are notorious for burning out due to the heat the splitters produce. The splitters have to be powered on to distribute signal to the TVs. Also, on your TVs you must select the Sat input or BluRay/DVD input depending on which one you want to watch. As for power to the dome antenna, you will have to turn that switch on then go up on the roof to see if you are actually getting power.

Those should give you some starting points to work on.

[philbird]

thanks again lt. dan for the reply, the connector up on the roof was cracked so I just wire nutted them together red to red black to black next trying to find where that cable goes to no where back in the cabinet , so had a friend that had a 12 volt portable charger so we wanted to make sure the winegard t4 dish was working proper. so we separated the wires and went straight to the dish only, turned on the directv receiver and ran the 12 volt portable charger and have tv reception and working fine . my problem I cant find the cable with the red and black wires its not there in the wire area that looks like spaghetti down by the main tv. so I thought well maybe it might be by the winegard 12 volt switch with the green light, took that all apart nothing so I started thinking maybe under plate for the travelor nothing there also, so it looks like I need to call tiffin Tuesday am to find out exactly where they put it. its got to be somewhere accessable ive looked in the basement areas I hope its not under the lighting area in the middle where the plate is .

[Lt Dan]

The inside wiring will not be red and black. Tiffin normally uses yellow for hot wires and white for grounds in their 12v wiring harness circuits. Each wire will have printing about every foot showing where it goes.