Community Forums

Monaco Wolfy · 10-18-2018, 07:42 PM

I've ordered a "weboost" cell signal booster for our 04 Windsor. I will need to run a cable from the cabinet above the drivers seat to the drivers slide slide/dining table. Has anyone had to run new wire, of any type, to their Windsor slide out. We have a desk, recliner, cabinet, table and chair configuration in that slide out. There's 110 power outlets and lights in the slide out, but I'm a little puzzle as to where and how the wires enter the slide exactly. Where do the wires enter the slide wall and where is the excess loop at when the slide is brought in? Maybe in the slide wall? Does anyone know for sure? I would like to (if possible) run the we boost wire to the slide the same way as the other wires enter the slide. Stringing the wire through the air like a cloths line is not an option.

RustyTools · 10-19-2018, 05:07 AM

Which floorplan (ie, PDQ, PAQ, etc) Windsor do you have? That will help narrow down where Monaco cleverly hid the wiring/etc going to the slide.
Look along the floor of the coach and the slides on each side, you may find a seemingly unused area maybe with a small removable panel.
Also try to look in the vertical space (inside the coach) between the slidewalls and the coach wall itself, with the slides open. You may see a wire-bundle there.

If nothing is found, I'm sure someone with your floorplan will come along and help.

Monaco Wolfy · 10-19-2018, 11:35 AM

Good point Rusty Tools, it's a PDQ. I've poked around looking a little, but I can't see any obvious point of entry. Hopefully someone else has had to fish a wire to the slide. I'll spend a little more time with it today.

RustyTools · 10-19-2018, 12:35 PM

That does help. I have an '08 Camelot PDQ, so maybe they're similar enough.

Mine has a plastic 'track' outside and under the slide that the wiring/etc lays in, and moves in/out with the slide. Is that anything like yours?

EDIT: I just looked at the '04 Windsor PDQ floorplan and it shows your frig in the coach, and not in the slide as mine. If that's the case, have you looked in any cabinets/drawers/panels down low next to or under that frig?

Monaco Wolfy · 10-19-2018, 10:33 PM

I discovered the wiring route today after poking around for a while. There's a piece of PVC running parallel and next to the rear slide support, visible under the slide when it's out. It slides into a larger diameter pipe as the slide is brought in. Looks like I'll have to remove the basement ceiling panel to fish the cable through it. It should keep me busy for while.

Thanks for the input

RustyTools · 10-20-2018, 04:24 AM

Glad you found it!

I had the same thing in my Endeavor. Be sure you route your 'service loop' for the new cable right along with the existing ones, so it doesn't get caught on something {guess how I know

}

BigLar368 · 10-20-2018, 05:37 AM

Not to change the subject but I an curious what cell booster you are using. We have a WIFI Ranger that was in our RV but not long after we got the RV a tree limb knocked off the antenna. The company wanted bout 300 bucks for a new one. I passed on that offer....lol. Thanks.

YC1 · 10-20-2018, 06:35 AM

I'm curious as to what cables you need to run there? Perhaps there are other options?

docj · 10-21-2018, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigLar368

Not to change the subject but I an curious what cell booster you are using. We have a WIFI Ranger that was in our RV but not long after we got the RV a tree limb knocked off the antenna. The company wanted bout 300 bucks for a new one. I passed on that offer....lol. Thanks.

That device on the roof of your RV isn't just an antenna. It's a complete router that includes an antenna. If all you needed was just the antenna, I'm sure that the cost wouldn't have been $300. But if the "box" itself was damaged you would have to replace the entire unit.

Monaco Wolfy · 10-21-2018, 11:37 AM

I installed a weboost cell booster.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/weBoost-Wil...53.m1438.l2649

I attached the weboost antenna just above the old crank up TV antenna using a flat piece of aluminum. The antenna is directional and I discovered by trial & error that if it was mounted just above the old antenna, the gain increased another -5 to -10. I'm not sure what it did to the tv antenna reception, I never use it. At my current location it boosted the cell signal to -65. Better than advertised. It was a very weak -108 before. About one to two bars on the phone. Often not working at all. The weboost worked out better than expected. The phone works great now. I can now use my hot spot for the computer and streaming video too. I'm very pleased. I can point the antenna right at the cell towers now for maximum gain and it cranks down when not in use.

To answer a previous question, I used the old TV antenna cable outside to connect to the cell antenna. Then from inside the cabinet above the drivers seat, were the antenna cable comes in, I ran a 75ohm cable from there to the weboost in the lower dinette cabinet next to the table. Because the dinette is in the slide, I had to route the antenna cable as did the factory with other wires. I didn't want loose wire laying around the coach. I highly recommend this weboost setup.

BigLar368 · 10-21-2018, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docj

That device on the roof of your RV isn't just an antenna. It's a complete router that includes an antenna. If all you needed was just the antenna, I'm sure that the cost wouldn't have been $300. But if the "box" itself was damaged you would have to replace the entire unit.

No sir. I believe you are mistaken. I believe you are referring to what Monaco Wolfy just posted after your post. I do not have that. My antenna was bolted to my rear ladder and it was just an antenna. I called the company and it was around 300 bucks or at least that's what the guy on the phone said. This is what I have in my RV. I believe it's an older version.

https://wifiranger.com/

docj · 10-21-2018, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigLar368

No sir. I believe you are mistaken. I believe you are referring to what Monaco Wolfy just posted after your post. I do not have that. My antenna was bolted to my rear ladder and it was just an antenna. I called the company and it was around 300 bucks or at least that's what the guy on the phone said. This is what I have in my RV. I believe it's an older version.

https://wifiranger.com/

With all due respect, I have been with WiFiRanger for >5 years and we have never sold "just an antenna." I had assumed you had a rooftop unit, but that one that was attached to your ladder was also a complete router, not just an antenna. Most likely it was the unit we call the Elite. You can choose to believe whatever you wish, but I am a WiFiRanger employee and what I am telling is correct.

BigLar368 · 10-23-2018, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by docj

With all due respect, I have been with WiFiRanger for >5 years and we have never sold "just an antenna." I had assumed you had a rooftop unit, but that one that was attached to your ladder was also a complete router, not just an antenna. Most likely it was the unit we call the Elite. You can choose to believe whatever you wish, but I am a WiFiRanger employee and what I am telling is correct.

With all due respect your first assumption was incorrect as well as your second. I do NOT have a box on my antenna or anywhere on my roof. The previous owner told me that the unit bolted to the ladder that was about 10" to 12" was a antenna for the "WIFI RANGER" box hard wired in the rear of the RV inside the old TV console. In fact right now there is a white box hard wired in there that reads "WIFI RANGER" at the top and in the middle it reads "MICROTIK ROUTER BOARD". There is 110V power wire going to it and what appears to be some sort of data cable coming out of it going through the back wall. I followed that cable....guess where it goes to? The ladder rack where it previously had a round, white tube that extended vertically about 10" to 12". When I knocked it off I called the company and whomever I talked to said it was an antenna and quoted me a price. I may be wrong about that price but I remember it was more than I wanted to pay for.

Maybe we are talking about 2 seperate products....I really do not know however you can choose to believe what you want but what I am telling you is only what I see with my own two eyes.

docj · 10-23-2018, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigLar368

There is 110V power wire going to it and what appears to be some sort of data cable coming out of it going through the back wall. I followed that cable....guess where it goes to? The ladder rack where it previously had a round, white tube that extended vertically about 10" to 12".

My comment about a box on your roof was simply my initial assumption since it seemed most vulnerable to being knocked off by a tree limb or something similar. Nothing in my subsequent comments related to a rooftop unit.

The box inside your RV is called a WiFiRanger Go. The cable going from it to the ladder is a Cat 6 data cable. The "white tube" was a WiFiRanger Elite which is an outdoor router with antenna.

The fact that the cable is a data cable, not an antenna cable, is evidence that the outdoor unit was a router and not an antenna. If it had been an antenna the cable would have had to have been RF-rated coax and, FWIW, the Go does not have an input port for an external antenna.