Resolved Locating Coax splitter on 2019 Chapparal FL370 5th Wheel?

[Mike R]

Hi - having issues receiving proper signal to TV in back Bedroom. Living Room and outside is fine. With cable, bedroom TV can only find 4 channels (living room TV finds 70 or so) - with antenna air it finds channels digitally fine. Just guessing it may have something to do with splitter or connections but do not know where it is. I have turned off & on the Weinguard booster switch and that does not seem to be it. Can anyone help?

 

[91CavGT]

I went through a similar problem a few weeks back. Here’s what I found, but my results may be a little different since my RV is a Chaparral. But they are both made by Coachman so they might be similar.


I could get a lot of off the air TV stations in the living area, but got nothing with cable TV connected. What I ended up doing is taking the fireplace out that is right below the TV in the living area. It was really easy to remove having just 2 screws close to the top on the inside(one on the right side close to the controls and another on the opposite side). Once those screws are out, the glass face comes off by sliding it straight up and slightly forward at the same time. Then there are 4 screws at each corner. Take those out and the fireplace comes out. Be careful sitting it on the floor though because the edges are sharp.

Once the fireplace was out of the way, I found 6 coax cables back there! The signal was split and sent to different areas throughout the RV. There were 12 coax cables in total, and they were all connected via barrel adaptors to make a total of 6. I took them apart one by one and tried to program the TV with each wire connected. It took some time to get through all 12 cables but I eventually found the right one.

In your case, there could be a loose connection(a few of mine were very loose) or it could be a bad crimp on one of the cables.

I did find another splitter just behind the wet bay as well(found it when I was trying to find a water leak).


Hope this helps.

 

[Mike R]

I went through a similar problem a few weeks back. Here’s what I found, but my results may be a little different since my RV is a Chaparral. But they are both made by Coachman so they might be similar.


I could get a lot of off the air TV stations in the living area, but got nothing with cable TV connected. What I ended up doing is taking the fireplace out that is right below the TV in the living area. It was really easy to remove having just 2 screws close to the top on the inside(one on the right side close to the controls and another on the opposite side). Once those screws are out, the glass face comes off by sliding it straight up and slightly forward at the same time. Then there are 4 screws at each corner. Take those out and the fireplace comes out. Be careful sitting it on the floor though because the edges are sharp.

Once the fireplace was out of the way, I found 6 coax cables back there! The signal was split and sent to different areas throughout the RV. There were 12 coax cables in total, and they were all connected via barrel adaptors to make a total of 6. I took them apart one by one and tried to program the TV with each wire connected. It took some time to get through all 12 cables but I eventually found the right one.

In your case, there could be a loose connection(a few of mine were very loose) or it could be a bad crimp on one of the cables.

I did find another splitter just behind the wet bay as well(found it when I was trying to find a water leak).


Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice. My 5th wheel is a Chapparal...I'll check the fireplace area....Where exactly was the other splitter (wet bay)? Under the kitchen sink area?

 

[91CavGT]

The wet bay in mine is under the bathroom and right next to the basement. There are some thin wooden panels covered in carpet separating the storage area from all of the wiring, furnace, water heater, and all of the hoses for the wet bay. The splitter was pretty easy to see and get to once you removed the screws for the wooden panels.

 

[Mike R]

Bingo! - Found it. Although on my 5th wheel the splitter is just 3 coax cables (one in/2 out) it was located behind the LR fireplace as you suggested. AND, one cable was 3 turns loose! Need to test it further now but that will have to come later as I don't have cable service readily available to try here at home. Thanks for your great advice! One step closer resolving this.