Vista - Satellite Hookup

[aauummm]

Originally Posted by grtharris

aauummm, looking at the 3D parts catalog for the 2016 BE it looks like there is only one coax connector in the wet bay more like a KE.

HHmmmm there should be two. One for the portable sat dish and one for a campground cable connection. On mine the coax connectors are over on the left side labeled "Input Connections".

[aauummm]

Originally Posted by DJRVLuvBugs

You are absolutely correct, my RV is a 2016, but built in August of 2015. I still don't quite understand how it is a 2016 model!

There is a plate in the upper cabinet over the Passenger seat. It is labeled TV with a push button that appears to turn it on and off. If I connect my DirecTV box there, then I have to run a cable around the cockpit area to reach the TV on the other side of the coach.

I'll have to wait for the wiring diagrams to see what it is connected to.

powercat is correct. That plate and the coax plug on it is to make a connection to the over-the-air antenna on the roof and/or to campground cable.

All of the later model Winnebagos come wired for the TV's, entertainment centers and DVD/radio and satellite right from the factory. Thus you do not have to string any wires through the coach to make a connection to a TV or anything. All of the cables for the electronics are run through the walls, ceilings and floor, even the wiring in the slideouts.

All connections to a satellite receiver are made in the cabinet above the dash and no wires have to be strung through the cockpit or anywhere else.

Now some of those coiled wires (component and HDMI) might be tucked away out of sight, but they have to be there.

[aauummm]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

That diagram is how my 2015 Vista 27N with outside TV was done: in compartment above driver's seat:

- 120 volt outlet fed thru the 1000 Watt inverter, if you have the inverter option
- HDMI cable to main living room TV
- Component cable (5 ended cable R G B video + L R audio) to outside TV,
if you have that option
- Back wall of compartment has a plate with 2 coax connectors,
1 for outside Sat that is run to the wet bay plate Ext. Sat. coax connector,
1 for roof Sat that is stored under the fiberglass roof,
under a "drill here for satellite cables" sticker.

- The other part of the satellite pre-wire is the plate that says Sat. TV conn. in the bedroom with a coax that also runs to under the "drill here for satellite cables" sticker.

I know all this as I removed all the panels in the compartments in front of my Vista to install a roof top dish and run cables for solar and air horns. There is also the splitter coming off the plate with the TV antenna amplifier power switch up there, so if you wanted to output your Sat Receiver to a RF modulator and feed the bedroom TV coax with an A-B switch that would be possible, the TV can still accept analog TV signals that the modulator would put out as well as digital.

powercat-that is correct. To put it a bit more specifically, those cables to the TVs (Component and HDMI) were run through the walls, ceilings and floor at the factory. Those cables all run from each electronic device to the cabinet above the dash. They should be there coiled up ready to connect to the sat receiver.

I hear you on taking the backs of the cabinets out to access the area behind the cabinets. I did it on mine to insulate that area and to trace wiring from my living room TV to the connections in the cabinet. Very interesting project! Here's whats behind the front cabinets above the dash:

[powercat_ras]

Originally Posted by aauummm

I hear you on taking the backs of the cabinets out to access the area behind the cabinets. I did it on mine to insulate that area and to trace wiring from my living room TV to the connections in the cabinet. Very interesting project! Here's whats behind the front cabinets above the dash:

X2, It was interesting to me that the windshield went all the way up behind all those cabinets, and so I insulated the back side of that glass area as the prior poster did. Insulating back of glass cut down noise when driving slightly, and I am sure it will slightly improve heat flow to/from the outside in winter and summer.

I used the big dead space behind the lower center back panel for the Dish Hybrid Solo Node required for the Hopper 3 install.

I also changed the cable/antenna jack/switch to a SensarPro and changed the TV signal splitter accordingly to slightly improve the signal making it to the TVs and make it easier to aim the TV antenna on the roof when using OTA TV.

[grtharris]

DJRVLuvBugs, Got a drawing for your coach from my friend at Winnebago this morning that showed a Satellite Receiver Connection plate. So I emailed him back asking the location of this plate and got the following reply which make sense from what you have posted.
" I reviewed this with the electrical group and found that the drawing I sent you was incorrect. The non-LX Vista don’t have satellite dish prep. The single outlet in the basement is for cable TV hookup."
I would suggest placing the satellite receiver on one of the shelves next to the TV run a HDMI cable over to the TV and dropping the satellite coax out the window for now. It will be hard to route a coax because of the slide out.

[tderonne]

Before Winnebago wired coaches for exterior satellite setup folks (including me) had to use diplxers to allow both cable and satellite signals to be carried over the same piece of coax. I'm sure there's a thread here somewhere with details...

Found: One such thread

[aauummm]

Originally Posted by grtharris

DJRVLuvBugs, Got a drawing for your coach from my friend at Winnebago this morning that showed a Satellite Receiver Connection plate. So I emailed him back asking the location of this plate and got the following reply which make sense from what you have posted.
" I reviewed this with the electrical group and found that the drawing I sent you was incorrect. The non-LX Vista don’t have satellite dish prep. The single outlet in the basement is for cable TV hookup."
I would suggest placing the satellite receiver on one of the shelves next to the TV run a HDMI cable over to the TV and dropping the satellite coax out the window for now. It will be hard to route a coax because of the slide out.

Grant and I agree with the head-banging icon. Me, too! Wow, just wow! I was guessing that Winnebago had all of their units prepped for portable satellite dish installation. I can't believe that they didn't for that one particular model. So that means a person has to buy a special Vista LX to get that basic stuff? Crap-now everyone can just ignore all of the diagrams that I posted previously!

[powercat_ras]

Originally Posted by grtharris

DJRVLuvBugs, Got a drawing for your coach from my friend at Winnebago this morning that showed a Satellite Receiver Connection plate. So I emailed him back asking the location of this plate and got the following reply which make sense from what you have posted.
" I reviewed this with the electrical group and found that the drawing I sent you was incorrect. The non-LX Vista don’t have satellite dish prep. The single outlet in the basement is for cable TV hookup."
I would suggest placing the satellite receiver on one of the shelves next to the TV run a HDMI cable over to the TV and dropping the satellite coax out the window for now. It will be hard to route a coax because of the slide out.

True, Winnebago had two "niceness levels" of Vista models before 2016, and some models were much better equipped than others, I think it was confusing both customer and dealers. So they split the line into Vista and Vista LX. My 2015 Vista 27N became a Vista LX 27N in 2016 so sorry it seems a lot of what I have been telling you may not apply to your particular model Vista.

[powercat_ras]

Originally Posted by aauummm

Grant and I agree with the head-banging icon. Me, too! Wow, just wow! I was guessing that Winnebago had all of their units prepped for portable satellite dish installation. I can't believe that they didn't for that one particular model. So that means a person has to buy a special Vista LX to get that basic stuff? Crap-now everyone can just ignore all of the diagrams that I posted previously!

You can still get-er-done, its just going to be a lot more work. If no sat prep, then:

- You can get sat coax for your outdoor dish down from the front to where-ever you want in the basement area by running them down behind the trim against the winshield then down thru the floor via poking a hole in a big gromment behind where the steering wheel passes thru the floor. If you are running coax for Sat TV down I would run two rather than one just in case you ever want to do Dish HD someday rather than Dish SD.

- You can use a RF modulator with your Sat. Rcvr. and add an A-B switch to switch between the existing CATV input to the antenna/CATV selector plate and the new RF Modulator

[aauummm]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

You can still get-er-done, its just going to be a lot more work. If no sat prep, then:

- You can get sat coax for your outdoor dish down from the front to where-ever you want in the basement area by running them down behind the trim against the winshield then down thru the floor via poking a hole in a big gromment behind where the steering wheel passes thru the floor. If you are running coax for Sat TV down I would run two rather than one just in case you ever want to do Dish HD someday rather than Dish SD.

- You can use a RF modulator with your Sat. Rcvr. and add an A-B switch to switch between the existing CATV input to the antenna/CATV selector plate and the new RF Modulator

Ouch, that's a lot of work for something that should have been included in the first place.

[Ohio Snake]

I have a '15 Vista 35F. It came satellite dish roof mount wire ready, sat receiver outlets at each tv, campground cable or portable satellite ready in wet bay. So for '16, this is a 35F LX?

[grtharris]

Ohio Snake, yes that be true, if you go to the online site the Vista XL are Satellite system ready and the Vista are not.

[tv boy]

We just got a vista 31be, and yes there is only the one outside cable hook up in the same bay as the 30 amp cord. I wanted a shorter run for our carry out pathway x-1.

I just pulled rg-6 from the basement just left of the door. That compartment has a cutout to plug items into the A/C outlet. The floor of that compartment has a sliding door for cords. There is room to fish it up into the small coat closet and then run up to top of closet and then drill small hole and over into the already open vents of the AV Box. There is a small 1/2 3/4 inch gap between the closet and the AV cabinet, so you can see a small amount of cable if you look close...

I removed the switch of the lights on the closet wall, used a inspection camera and worked that down to the basement and taped the cable to it and pulled it up. Then drilled a hole into the closet and ran cable up inside . Have not had time to test it. Only fear is there is some power next to the cable for a few inches which may cause some "noise"...

I wish they had pulled HDMI from the big TV to that cabinet! I bought a HMDI to coax converter from radio shack that works to send signal form DVD player there to all TV's on channel 3.0