Trav’ler overrides external sat connection?

We recently acquired a 2010 36FWS and among the options on it is a rooftop factory mounted Trav’ler satellite antenna.  It’s working great so no issues there. With our last Carriage, a 2006 3’5 CKQ, I got satellite reception with a Pathway X2 antenna connected through the normal coax connection.  I’d like to have the option to use that antenna if we’re parked in a position where the Trav’ler can’t see the satellites.  However, when I’ve tried connecting the Pathway X2 to the Living Room connection in the docking center it’s obviously not working.  It makes no difference whether the Trav’ler is stowed or deployed.  I suspect that the installation of the Trav’ler may be somehow blocking the Pathway X2 from connecting with the receiver.  Can anyone confirm this and, if so, suggest a work-around solution?

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We also had a 2010 Cameo that we ordered from the factory with two wires (living room & bedroom) from the area where the Trav’lr that we added at the dealer was located. We also bought a portable automatic dish for use when we couldn’t get a signal. We never used the docking station, we got up on the roof and disconnected the cables from the Trav’lr and connected them to the cables from the portable. Fired up the portable and we had service. We did have to redo the satellite setup on our DVR but easy to do.

Hope this helps

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Randy,

In most instances the Traveler is routed through the utility center.  If you look at the backside of the utility sat connection via the sliding door in the main storage area you may see that the oem inputs are just blank terminals.  Just fish around and you will find where the roof sat has been connected via a union to the coax that oem had attached to the inside of the utility connections.

Just add a short jumper from the back of the utility connection so you can swap out that connects to the union depending upon what can be seen from the roof.

 

PS, also it is not too difficult to run new coax and a union from the bedroom sat to the living room ac center.     Not fun but not difficult.  This allows a second tv out from older receivers.  (This SECOND tv is not HD but size of bedroom tv makes this mute.  This option is not available with Hopper or Walley.

I replaced the oem Samsung DVD with a blue ray when one speaker quit.  My dish receiver is on the shelf below.  I use digital audio out of tv to get dish sound back to blueray amplifier.  Much, much better than tv speakers.  RGB cables were part of tge mix because oem tv had only one hdmi.  Newer tvs have more.  Today I would probably just do a good sound bar.

PPS,  you can fit a 43 inch lcd 4k tv in the living room oem mount with a little work.  It weighs less and consumes fewer watts.

 

JohnD222
Based in Florida except summer
2013 36FWS Lifestyle (our great 2010 Cameo 36FWS has happy owners)

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Thanks so much for the replies.  As soon as the weather moderates (90’s with 60-70% humidity) I’ll check the cable connections.

One of the tasks remaining is the dvd/home theater system.  All but the speakers had been removed prior to our purchasing the trailer. I’m still trying to find a combo unit but it seems that the industry has gone to a system of a separate dvd player being routed to a home theater unit for distributing the sound to the speakers. The TV had already been upgraded to a 43 inch but, as noted, the sound isn’t that great so John’s suggestion is very much appreciated and I’ll do that as soon as I can find the necessary component(s).

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Randy,

The speaker wiring is very thin and the impedance of the oem Samsung amp/DVD/speakers were weird.  Mine crapped out when Samsung still made such systems with BlueRay with more conventinal impedance speakers with the same skinny wires.  As I said, today I would toss them and buy a GOOD sound bar – that technology has vastly improved especially for such a small space.  Most soundbars can Bluetooth in from a phone for music etc, leaving only over the air am/fm lacking.

We have a 721 Dish receiver with DVR.  We record stuff before we travel and usually have sight to the sky with rooftop Traveler dish, or a TV4RV tripod setup, so haven’t used blue ray in years – but we do have some great dvds.

PS, we initially (within weeks) moved the couch/bed to the rear and moved the recliners to face the tv.  Then (within a year)  we tossed the oem recliners for some comfortable ones and tossed the couch entirely.  Also within a year we tossed the oem matress in the bedroom for a heavier memory foam.  Needed to add stronger and longer spring shocks so we could lift the mattress for access to space underneath but rarely use that any more except for the safe.

John

JohnD222
Based in Florida except summer
2013 36FWS Lifestyle (our great 2010 Cameo 36FWS has happy owners)

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John,

Good to know I’m on the right track! Our couch was already positioned at the back and one of the first things we did was toss & burn the oem chairs and replace them with aftermarket chairs we’d had in the previous Cameo. We also tossed & burned the existing mattress and replaced it with a really good quality mattress from LaBeda.  The gas struts under the mattress were shot so I replaced them with 100# struts and they’re holding fine.  Your comments on the sound system are noted.  I’ve just been concerned about whether or not there would be any significant latency between Bluetooth connected speakers of the sound system and the TV.

I checked the satellite connections today and your assumptions were correct so I’ll be making those corrections in the near future.

We’re the second owners of this unit. The first owners weren’t real big on maintenance, it appears.  They didn’t abuse things but it  appears they weren’t very handy with tools, or didn’t care, or both. Fortunately these units are so well built that they’re pretty forgiving in that area.  We’ve had several minor repairs to affect, but none have been extensive or expensive.  The only thing I’ve found so far that was poorly done at the factory was how the kitchen island was attached to the floor.  Fortunately I do woodworking as a hobby and getting that corrected wasn’t much of a challenge.

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Randy,

 

Sound bars usually connect to tv via digital optical out.  Blueray/DVD/SAT/ feeds tv with HDMI and tv sends that sound to the sound bar rather than internal tv speakers  so there is zero lag.  Ditto for over the air antenna feeding tv via coax.

 

The Bluetooth I referred to is sending music from your pad, pc, or phone directly to the sound bar via bluetooth.

 

Some better sound bars do have options for wired or wireless sub woofers and rear speaker.  There should be no lag if the sound bar offers wireless to the subwoofer or rear speakers.  You cannot stream music from a phone etc without going through the soundbar.  The soundbar itself listens only to digital optical from tv unless you tell it to listen for bluetooth inputs instead.

Pay attention to the roof caulking especially along the roof fabric to gutter seam.  Also vent openings and the metal flashing where the roof takes a marked dip towards the nose.

 

John

JohnD222
Based in Florida except summer
2013 36FWS Lifestyle (our great 2010 Cameo 36FWS has happy owners)

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John,

Ok, I think i see what you mean, now.  It takes awhile for the technical stuff to soak in.  So, if I understand this correctly, I could replace the existing speakers with an upgraded sound bar and, in order to watch movies, connect a Blueray/DVD to the TV by HDMI.  Not having am/fm doesn’t cause much concern, but we do listen to CD’s often and I’ll have to find a way to get that  accomplished.  But that may be just a matter of making sure the Blueray/DVD player will also play CD’s and connecting it directly to the sound bar, if that’s all possible and practical.

And I did have to re-caulk the gutter seams as well as install new gutter extensions.  The areas around the vent openings and antenna all look pretty good. I usually have a tube of Dicor on hand just for touching up those places. Thanks for all of your input.  It’s taking some work, but this thing is coming together and is going to make us a nice winter home in Texas.

[Author]

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