Replacing the coax cable

TxCowboy

Well-known member
There's not a lot of action on this particular forum but thought I'd post my questions anyway.

Here's the set up before the question: I have a 32RL and the picture quality in the living room leaves a lot to be desired. I purchased a TV for the bedroom and the picture on that TV is awesome. It also seemed to pick up a lot more channels than the one in the living room does. I moved the TV in the bedroom to the living room just to test the connection there. Yep, the picture quality was also bad and I lost a lot of the channels.

Is it possible to replace the cable from the bedroom (or other location) to the entertainment center in the living room? If so, how do you do that without dissassembling the RV?A

lf so, I was wondering if I can hire my local cable company to run that cable if I don't have an account with them.

Anyone have experience with this siutation that you'd like to share?
 

branson4020

Icantre Member
The problem is almost always at the connectors, not the cable itself. Replace the connectors and do a proper job installing them.
 

noobee

Well-known member
The problem is almost always at the connectors, not the cable itself. Replace the connectors and do a proper job installing them.

I also agree.... last fall I was getting poor reception... a friend & I went through the whole unit checking the connectors... two were loose & we replaced those & everything was back to normal. I think the connectors had loosened due to road vibration.

CS
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
Yep, connectors sounds like the proper diagnosis. Be sure to at least check them or replace them with a good quality compression type. You can purchase those and the tool at any big box building center such as The Home Depot. LOOK HERE and HERE. If you are just checking them be sure to look closely at the single wire in the center. You do not want to see any of the shielding wire touching it. Or they may be just loose.
You will want to look at the coax by removing the signal amplifier in the bedroom as well as the living room and where it comes into your particular coach. The problem is most likely at the amplifier or living room.

Peace
Dave
 

wdk450

Well-known member
While poor connectors is the problem with coax about 90% of the time, a staple shot through the coax, or severely compressing the coax with a cable tie or pinching, can cause permanent damage to the coax. Such damaged places CAN be repaired by cutting out the bad part, adding connectors to the cut off ends, and re-connecting the cable.
Running new coax has been done by others following the original coax run as much as possible, getting down to the frame for the long runs, using the old coax as a fish tape to pull the new one in steps. I would also recommend you get a set of the fiberglass cable pulling rods from Harbor Freight (less than $10) to help.
I have also found that using Cramolyn electrical contact spray (available at Radio Shack) can make a big difference on all of the coax connectors. This is especially true when using a park's cable service and hooking up to their weather-corroded connector.
 

DMitch

Well-known member
I agree with all that is said in the prior posts. I have found one other thing. The splitters that are used are really low quality. Sonetimes they will raise heck with signal. I found this out when I had cable and internet connected last year when we got to Florida. The tech showed me this problem.
 

TomMar

Retired Texas-South Chapter Leader
I would also suggest you check the connections/input/outputs to the amplifier. When we bought our Big Horn in 2009 we had the same symptoms. I even went so far as to add a Radio Shack booster with little to no effect. I finally took my time and verified which cable was the actual input and which were the cables that fed L/r and B/R. Yep they were connected wrong to the amplifier. Once I got input on the right connection signal strength and picture was great. Just my two cents.
 

cableman

Well-known member
Yes everyone is correct. Change all splitters you can find, try and find a cable guy somewhere and ask for there splitters the quality is far better than the box stores. I work for the cable company and bad splitters are #1 problem. With the new digital everything must be tight ( finger tight is not tight enough anymore). Compression fittings are the only way to go. I always carry extra cable, splitters and connectors and have helped several people with bad parts.
 

TxCowboy

Well-known member
Thanks for all of the replies. Any idea where all of these connections might be located?

I pulled the connector in the bedroom that has the 12vdc adapter and the amplifier button but didn't see a splitter there. Also, if there's a splitter near the TV in the living room area, it's probably buried in the cabinet somewhere.

Any idea where else these connectors could be? Am I looking at disassembling parts of the RV to get to them?
 
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