Perplexing problem with coax cable

I recently purchased a 2011 Sundance and have a problem with the coax on the RV park cable side of the connections. The satelite connection works fine. When I attach to the RV park cable connection in the UDC, I don't get a signal at the living room TV. I do get a signal at the bedroom TV. When I connect the RV park cable service directly to the TV I get a signal. I checked all connections I could find but did not find the problem. I double checked each time to insure the antenna singal amplifier was off. I paid an RV satelite/cable tech to find and fix the problem. After two hours, he did not find the problem and said the next step was to abandone the exsisting coax and re-wire the coach. He thought the problem was somewhere between the splitter/amplifier at the bedroom TV and the living room connection. He said the exterior TV cable connection also works, but I have not connected a TV to find out. Before the tech started the roof top antenna worked in the bedroom and living room. Now, it does not work in the living room.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi SRThornburg,

Many rigs have another cable/antenna feed that comes out in the basement storage area. That connection is in between the bedroom signal booster and the living room outlet, and is common to both cable and antenna feed.

If you have a basement coax connection, behind the basement wall there will be a splitter. The input connection comes from the bedroom signal booster. One output goes to the basement coax connector and the other output goes to the living room. There's a good chance you have a loose/poor connection at this splitter.

It's also possible that the connection coming out of the signal booster is where the loose/poor connection is, but I would hope the tech examined those connections. And of course the connector in the living room would need to be checked. But I would again assume the tech did that.

It's also possible that on the way to the living room there's a barrel connector joining 2 pieces of coax.

In the manuals section of the forum, we have a number of Coax wiring diagrams, including 2 for Sundance. Here's a link.
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
It's also possible that on the way to the living room there's a barrel connector joining 2 pieces of coax.

Dan, you are probably correct. I seem to recall when we had our underbelly down back a few years ago that there was a coax barrel connection in the underbelly, where the cable came from the front of the rig and was headed to where the TV was located. In our case it was near the entertainment slideout.
 

Bobby A

Well-known member
I recently purchased a 2011 Sundance and have a problem with the coax on the RV park cable side of the connections. The satelite connection works fine. When I attach to the RV park cable connection in the UDC, I don't get a signal at the living room TV. I do get a signal at the bedroom TV. When I connect the RV park cable service directly to the TV I get a signal. I checked all connections I could find but did not find the problem. I double checked each time to insure the antenna singal amplifier was off. I paid an RV satelite/cable tech to find and fix the problem. After two hours, he did not find the problem and said the next step was to abandone the exsisting coax and re-wire the coach. He thought the problem was somewhere between the splitter/amplifier at the bedroom TV and the living room connection. He said the exterior TV cable connection also works, but I have not connected a TV to find out. Before the tech started the roof top antenna worked in the bedroom and living room. Now, it does not work in the living room.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I've had this exact problem since 2010 when I bought the coach, I've given up !! either I do without cable or run direct to the TV as you said.
 
Dan,

Thanks for the suggestion. I do have a basement connection which the tech said is working. The tech had checked everything else you mentioned and he replaced several connectors. The basement connector is located between the door to the coach and the door to the storage compartment, next to the 110 outlet plug. It appears I can get to the back of the connector by removing the screws that connect it to the trailer wall. If I can't get to the splitter that way, should I try to remove the storage room wall, or gain access from underneath the coach? I'll look at the diagrams you provided a link to.


I appreciate the help,

Steve
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Dan,

Thanks for the suggestion. I do have a basement connection which the tech said is working. The tech had checked everything else you mentioned and he replaced several connectors. The basement connector is located between the door to the coach and the door to the storage compartment, next to the 110 outlet plug. It appears I can get to the back of the connector by removing the screws that connect it to the trailer wall. If I can't get to the splitter that way, should I try to remove the storage room wall, or gain access from underneath the coach? I'll look at the diagrams you provided a link to.


I appreciate the help,

Steve
Steve,

If you remove the coax mounting plate, there's a good chance you can pull the cable and wiggle the splitter out to work on it. If not, you'll have to take the wall down. Not too hard but if you can avoid it, you should. Another possibility is to cut an opening in the wall next to the coax plate and put an access cover over the hole.
 

RAHanock

Active Member
We have a 2011 Sundance and there is a coax connection plate inside the compartment to the left of the DVD/CD player. On the plate, one can choose which TV feed to select. Ether from the Satellite or the park TV signal. You will need to unthread the connector and move it to the signal you want.
 

Jim.Allison

Well-known member
When I installed my generator, solar, and ems system I had occasion to get behind the basement wall. What I found was a disorderly array of wires. As I worked to straighten them out and tape the caps, I noticed that the TV cable connectors were just loosely joined at their connectors. Based on that observation I would bet money that your cables are intact and routed correctly, but your connections are poor and one or more have fallen apart. I also noticed when I repaired mine that some were not trimmed properly and the inner wire on the coax was either bent or broken off. I happened to have tools to redo them so it was not a problem.

Problem is that you had a guy with the tools come to check it out, if he did not find the problem then who can? Get behind the basement and see what you have there.
 
Again, I appreciate the suggestions. In trying to trace the problem, the tech replaced five connectors. I'm on the road for another week, so may waite till I return home before going too far.
 

dave10a

Well-known member
Again, I appreciate the suggestions. In trying to trace the problem, the tech replaced five connectors. I'm on the road for another week, so may waite till I return home before going too far.
I don't like to cast aspirations on the trades people, but I think you found a tech that does not know what he/she is doing and should consider another career choice. Trouble shooting coax problems is a rather simple task for people who are suppose to be trained to do so as well as having the proper test equipment.
 
Regarding the last comment about the capabilities of the tech, your'e absolutely right. I'm at an RV rally with about 100 rigs. The tech I hired travels the rally circuit installing satelite systems and related gear.

Pulled the outside cable connection and the hole was the size of the coax. Removed a vent in the basement wall which gave me limited access. I couldn't find a splitter, but I did find an in-line connection. Brought the RV Park cable feed to that connection and got a good signal to the living room TV, so I'm making progress. If the coach is wired following the wiring diagram, the problem should be somewhere between where I attached and the splitter/booster in the bedroom. To get better access, I need to cut a door into the basement wall. I can't remove the wall unless I disconnect the shower drain pipe and I don't want to do that. I won't be able to do much else until I return home on Oct 3.

Again, thanks for the help.
 
I bought a cable toner and started tracing all the coax in my Sundance. Replaced a few coax connectors which elimanated a short but the underlying problem remains. I'll try to explain where I'm at. At the antenna amplifier, there's a splitter connected to the TV2 output. One goes to the cable output jack on the outside of the trailer which works. The second gives an "open" reading. This should be the living room TV output. When I put the toner on the outside input jack (where park cable attaches), I get an "open" reading. I've tested every connection I could find but could not eliminate the "open" reading. The cable runs through the utility area behind the basement and then up behind the wall housing the converter. I found another coax coming down that wall and through the floor beneath the trailer. It has an inline connector. I traced it and one side goes to the amp and the other to the living room TV output. At my last RV park, I connected to that line to get cable TV. The TV output on the amp works fine. I set up the roof top antenna and everything worked. When I disconnected that in line connector, the signal went away at the living room TV.

As a side note, I connected the toner to the TV2 jack on the amp and got a "short". I don't know if that's a valid test though.

Any suggestions would be apprectiated.

Steve
 

brianharrison

Well-known member
I found an inline connector behind my washer and dryer (bedroom closet), in an inspection panel down near the floor. I believe this to be my feed from roof cable junction area to basement and then off to LR TV. Not sure if you have same routing, arrangement.

Brian
 
I spent most of the day trying to sort the cables out. Finally, I found a disconnected cable in the roof about six inches from the antenna amp. It was the end of the cable for the exterior park cable input. What's interesting is all three connections on the antenna amp were used. When I connected the cables from the RV park input directly to the living room TV, it toned correctly. When I connected the amp, I got an "open" light on the toner. When I took the amp out, the connection was fine. I'm think I might have fried the connector when I arched the 12v connection accidentally.
 
Top