Television Wiring

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grashley

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I'm finally getting back to TV signal coax wiring.  09 model Grand Junction with (nonfunctional) KVH sat dish on roof.

Bedroom has 2 coax connections, higher and lower.
LR has 2 coax connections, kinda.  Upper is a Winegard TV amp / switch, circa 2008.  Lower is simple coax connector.  A new Winegard digital amp/scanner is part of this process.
I pulled both bedroom connectors, and both were simple connections to a coax cable.
I pulled both LR connectors.  Lower was simple connection to a coax cable.  Upper (Winegard amp) had COAX CABLES  on ANT  and TV1 , but nothing connected to CABLE.
All these wires conveniently disappear into the wall.

There is big collection of all kinds of wires in the shelf below the LR TV, which houses the DVD/Stereo, sat receiver and the BOMB.
One of these coax wires is labeled  TO BR LOWER COAX  and, indeed is correct.  Nothing else with meaningful labels.

QUESTIONS
1.  Is it safe to assume this labeled wire was intended to connect the BR  TV  to multiple inputs via the BOMB  and the upper BR coax goes to the KVH dish?
2.  Is it logical that the LR lower connection goes to the KVH dish?
3.  I plan to go to the KVH dish and connect the two outputs with a coupler, then use the LR lower coax to connect a different sat dish input to go to the BR upper coax.  Do you see a problem with this?
4.  I do have a cable input on the camper near the fresh water connections.  Any idea where this cable goes?  It may be part of my mess of wires in the LR.  How do I determine which one?  Hook up a sat receiver output to the cable input and see if I get a signal somewhere?  Other better suggestions?

 
I'm pretty sure I'm telling you something you already know....It's a complete guessing game as to what the manufacture did when they set up the cable run in your RV. I would explore testing the wires to find out what goes where. The last time I dealt with sat. Each TV needed it's own cable run and decoder box with no other signal present within the run.(No sharing with cable TV or Ant.)

That said....

QUESTIONS
1.  Is it safe to assume this labeled wire was intended to connect the BR  TV  to multiple inputs via the BOMB  and the upper BR coax goes to the KVH dish?

I would say that a good guess

2.  Is it logical that the LR lower connection goes to the KVH dish?

Again yes

3.  I plan to go to the KVH dish and connect the two outputs with a coupler, then use the LR lower coax to connect a different sat dish input to go to the BR upper coax.  Do you see a problem with this?

Not sure this will work...but then I'm not sure I understand the question...

4.  I do have a cable input on the camper near the fresh water connections.  Any idea where this cable goes?  It may be part of my mess of wires in the LR.  How do I determine which one?  Hook up a sat receiver output to the cable input and see if I get a signal somewhere?  Other better suggestions?

This may be a cable input or it could be a output from the antenna(after the booster)

 
You could "ring out" the wires.  Telephone linemen would identify wire pairs in a bundle by shorting one end of a pair together, then going to the other end of the cable with a battery and bell and connecting them to each of the unknown wire pairs.  When they got to the pair they shorted, the bell would ring.

You can do the same thing with your coax bundle.  Short one end of a coax (like the cable input on the side of the RV) then use the resistance range on a multimeter between the center conductor and the outer shield to find the other end.  Put a label on the found end so you can identify it later, then move on to the next unknown wire and do the same.

You may find several wires with low resistance readings because they're connected to equipment, but only one should be a true zero ohms, or close to it.
 
Our 2010 Jayco Seneca was mis-wired from the factory. I lived with it until our Salon TV failed. I spent an entire day tracing wires, RCA plugs, and Coax and relabeled them. The way I did it was I used a multimeter to test for continuity. I just attached a very long wire to one side. All of our wires accumulated in a cabinet in the overhead bunk.

It takes time, but it can be done.

Ken
 
How my o5 was wired
Antenna connected to BOMB
Park cable inlet to BOMB
All TV/s to BOMB
cables for VCR (Now DVR) Sat and Aux all connectd to BOMB

Now they do not make that matrix switch (BOMB) any mroe so you need the wall plate with the ANT and TV leads connected to power the mast-head amp (or a Sensar Pro for even better performance)

How my rig is wired now would take a while.. 2 TV's (well 3 if I want) two DVR's 2 Digital converters.  SENSAR PRO and I still have the BOMB.
 
Thanks to all. 
Gizmo:  My thought is the defunct sat dish had a coax running to each TV.  If I can identify these two cables under the dome and connect them, I have connected the two outlets previously coming from the dish.  I have essentially made a second cable from LR lower (old sat) to BR upper (old sat).

Since the BR TV has a built in DVD player, all I need from the LR is one cable / ANT  input and one sat input.  ANT input goes to TV coax in.  Sat input goes to receiver, then to TV  HDMI.

On the LR, I will run the sat cable in where the slide meets the floor.  That cable goes to the sat splitter, then to each receiver.  TV and sat do not mix!

John:  I still have my BOMB, and they are still available.  I do not plan to use it once I get things straight.  I also have a Sensor Pro waiting install.  The connector came off the + power wire last night, and I was too lazy to come in to get the fitting and the crimper  :-[
I had never considered park cable coming in directly to the BOMB.  If the wire does come in to my collected mess, I guess it could be used either way - cable in or signal out to TV.

Ken:  My overhead bunk cabinet is located under the LR  TV..  I did sort out some of this last summer, but I failed to label anything.  :'(  Now I pay the penalty.
 
Lou Schneider said:
You could "ring out" the wires.  Telephone linemen would identify wire pairs in a bundle by shorting one end of a pair together, then going to the other end of the cable with a battery and bell and connecting them to each of the unknown wire pairs.  When they got to the pair they shorted, the bell would ring.

Cable toners are very inexpensive. This is specifically for coax:

https://www.amazon.com/Stanz-Pocket-coaxial-tracker-finder/dp/B01KZ0PL44/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1548105766&sr=8-6&keywords=cable+toner

You can buy different types for varying amounts of money. This more generic (not specifically for coax) but serves the same purpose:

https://www.amazon.com/Multifunctional-Collation-Telephone-Continuity-Flashlight/dp/B07D2BK2DC/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1548105766&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=cable+toner&psc=1

Makes it very easy to identify cables, and is handy to have!
 
This thread prompts a question about one of my projects:  I recently installed the DISH Tailgate package which comes with 50 feet of coax cable.  I currently have the cable connected to the Wally receiver - which means I have a bunch of cable wadded up in the inside cabinet above the driver's seat.

I am considering moving the coax cable to the outside wet bay - where I have a "park cable" connection.  The challenge is that I don't know which inside cable is connected to this outside "park cable".

Can someone recommend a tool to trace coax?  Will I need 2 of these tools - one for each end?

 
I'd just short out the Park Cable end of the coax and use your multimeter on the resistance setting to see which of the inside lines shows a short from the center conductor to the shield.  When you find it, remove the short from the far end and confirm the wire now shows infinite resistance.

If you're doing a lot of tracing, either of the tracers Spencer PJ linked to should work.  You put the tone generator on one end of the cable (i.e. on the Park Cable inlet in the bay) and use the signal detector to find the other end of the coax by plugging each suspect coax into the detector until you find the one with the beeping tone on it.  Essentially it's the same thing as using the ohmeter, except you're using a beeping tone instead of the resistance reading to locate the other end of the coax.

Harbor Freight has a cable tracer for $25. Harbor Freight cable tracer. Clip one lead of the tone generator to the center conductor of a coax and the other to the shield and use the probe to find the beeping tone when it's touched to the center conductor at the other end of the coax.  Lowes and Home Depot have similar models for a bit more.
 
thelazyl said:
This thread prompts a question about one of my projects:  I recently installed the DISH Tailgate package which comes with 50 feet of coax cable.  I currently have the cable connected to the Wally receiver - which means I have a bunch of cable wadded up in the inside cabinet above the driver's seat.

I am considering moving the coax cable to the outside wet bay - where I have a "park cable" connection.  The challenge is that I don't know which inside cable is connected to this outside "park cable".

Can someone recommend a tool to trace coax?  Will I need 2 of these tools - one for each end?

Using my TT as my example...The outside park cable connection is tied in with the antenna cable. If we connect to cable we have to turn off the antenna booster which allows the cable signal to come though.

In your case my first question would be does the satellite box feed power to the dish though the cable to operate any of the components inside the dish. If yes I might be concerned that it may not work properly and/or could damage the antenna booster
 
Good catch!  Yes, the 50' of coax provides power to the satellite.  I didn't consider that.  I probably will leave things as is.  Thank you for the help! 
 
Cable tracers (toners) can be difficult to use where a lot of wires are bundled together - the tone may seem to appear on several cables simultaneously.

The continuity method using an ohm meter, as described by Lou, works very well in these situations. 
 
You could disconnect the Park Cable coax from the antenna switch and use it as a simple piece of wire to get to the outside of the coach, then connect the satellite dish to the Park Cable inlet.

Of course, this would eliminate the ability to use Park Cable if it's offered by the park.

HappyWanderer said:
Cable tracers (toners) can be difficult to use where a lot of wires are bundled together - the tone may seem to appear on several cables simultaneously.

The continuity method using an ohm meter, as described by Lou, works very well in these situations. 

If you hear tone on several cables, disconnecting the end from the destination and touching the probe one-by-one to each coax's center conductor will instantly show which is the correct one.

Of course, this is about the same as using an ohm meter to look at the cables one at a time.
 
thelazyl said:
Good catch!  Yes, the 50' of coax provides power to the satellite.  I didn't consider that.  I probably will leave things as is.  Thank you for the help!

HE SHOOTS...HE SCORES....Just a lucky guess ;D.

But it doesn't have stop your plan....It just depends on how your RV is wired. You may be able to isolate the run to the cable line and  run a switch to choose between Sat. or cable
 
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