Installing a Winegard Travler on 5th wheel

[mazboy123]

has anyone done an installation of a winegard traveler on their 5th wheel?

couple of questions, such as, do you lose the use of your on air antenna?
what issues did you or the rv dealer run into?

thanks for any input.

[bobbecky]

Had the Travler Dish system installed a few years ago by CW in Las Vegas. I guess the installation was pretty much normal. They ran the cabling over the roof to the front of the trailer where the OTA cable is located in a front wardrobe cabinet. We elected to have two receivers installed, one for the bedroom TV and one for the living room TV. There was already a connection at both TV's for the OTA antenna, which plugged into the back of the receiver boxes, so when setting up at a new location, you can also get OTA channels in addition to dish channels. I would think Directv would be the same. Installation cost from CW wasn't too expensive, and was much easier than DIY.

[Pprice01]

Originally Posted by bobbecky

Had the Travler Dish system installed a few years ago by CW in Las Vegas. I guess the installation was pretty much normal. They ran the cabling over the roof to the front of the trailer where the OTA cable is located in a front wardrobe cabinet. We elected to have two receivers installed, one for the bedroom TV and one for the living room TV. There was already a connection at both TV's for the OTA antenna, which plugged into the back of the receiver boxes, so when setting up at a new location, you can also get OTA channels in addition to dish channels. I would think Directv would be the same. Installation cost from CW wasn't too expensive, and was much easier than DIY.

Hi Bobbecky,

I am in Vegas be am looking at the winegard trav'ler for DirecTV in my new Montana HC 5er.

Do you know if they prewire coax to the roof for adding a satellite? I'm concerned that a DIY install may not be the right thing to do, especially if it's not prewired.

Also, could you PM me what CW charged for the job?

Thank you,

Paul


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[MattHelm21]

I think the answer as to whether you lose access to OTA signal depends on the trailer wiring. Ours is satellite ready meaning there are dual runs to each TV for OTA and Satellite. If you are going to have the Travelr powered on, I would exped you would lose access to the OTA antenna.

Our docking bay in the pass through storage compartment contains the termination of the satellite runs to the TV's. The dish was mounted on the roof over this point and the feed run to a cabinet inside below it. From there, the SWM/splitter was run to each of the terminations in the docking bay.

I can't speak to the Montana but the installer said he ran the cable to/through the roof. Dish placement must be very specific to avoid obstacles during storage and alignment so I don't think an RV manufacturer would want to guess the requirements and then the location of where to run a cable.

[chuckster57]

Travler uses separate coax. OTA and park cable signal will travel through a splitter, satellite signal won't pass through the splitters used in RV's by the factory.

The Travler for Directv uses SWM technology (single wire multi signal) so there is one coax run from the roof to a powered "distribution" box and from there to the respective TV locations. So the answer is no you don't lose OTA, but you would have to switch the coax at the TV outlet plate.

We are currently installing a Travler on a Heartland and it is prewired for Travler installation including the outlets for the controller and the box, and coax. I haven't been on the roof to tell you where the coax terminates.

[Pprice01]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Travler uses separate coax. OTA and park cable signal will travel through a splitter, satellite signal won't pass through the splitters used in RV's by the factory.



The Travler for Directv uses SWM technology (single wire multi signal) so there is one coax run from the roof to a powered "distribution" box and from there to the respective TV locations. So the answer is no you don't lose OTA, but you would have to switch the coax at the TV outlet plate.

I understand Chuckster. Any thoughts on whether or not they pre-run the sat coax to the 'command center'? If not, how does one determine where to run them? I am not too keen on drilling holes in the roof.


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[chuckster57]

We don't sell Montana's so I don't know. I have personally installed 3 Travler systems on Grand Design Solitudes. They are NOT prewired, and as long as you use the correct plate on the roof and sealant (Dicor) I haven't had any come back for any leaks. It is a time consuming process to do it "right", but I guess we do it right because there are 2 in the shop being done right now.

The installation guide will tell you what clearances you need for obstacles and storage, and we usually use the dead space behind the basement storage for the distribution box.

Travler for Dish is different. Which is better? I guess it depends on what you want. If you have one or the other in your stick/brick house it's easy to just take a reciever with you and there's no additional charges.

[Pprice01]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

We don't sell Montana's so I don't know. I have personally installed 3 Travler systems on Grand Design Solitudes. They are NOT prewired, and as long as you use the correct plate on the roof and sealant (Dicor) I haven't had any come back for any leaks. It is a time consuming process to do it "right", but I guess we do it right because there are 2 in the shop being done right now.



The installation guide will tell you what clearances you need for obstacles and storage, and we usually use the dead space behind the basement storage for the distribution box.



Travler for Dish is different. Which is better? I guess it depends on what you want. If you have one or the other in your stick/brick house it's easy to just take a reciever with you and there's no additional charges.

Thanks! I guess the hard part for me will be evaluating which dealer to use for the install here in Vegas.


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[chuckster57]

Check Yelp for reviews, another resource would be the BBB. If any member sees this thread and lives near LV maybe they can recommend a good dealer.