MOD Run a cable from the overhead AV box to the Televator in a 2017 Newmar Ventana

[Neal]

As you're aware I recently replaced the TV's in my 2017 Newmar Ventana with newer ones (3 x LG and 1 x Samsung). In this process I realized that Newmar's HDMI cable used in this era, a super heavy gauge HDMI cable, is not passing a 4K/60Hz signal so you can't get anything more than 1080P on your TV. For most this is fine and for most you won't notice a difference. There are some features in these TV's that benefit from the better signal such as 4K Dolby Vision, something I'm new to. It is amazing! So amazing that it has driven me to running a new HDMI cable that can send the higher quality signal for 4K Dolby Vision. One quick note, I've always been a Samsung fan and believer for TV's. I think this swap to LG's as Samsung didn't have 48in TV's has opened my eyes to LG and that I may have been living under a rock and in a very sheltered world. My opinion now is that LG TV's are better than Samsung. I cannot get 4K Dolby Vision from a direct connected Apple TV 4K on my bedroom Samsung, much less HDR working properly. This may be this particular TV, I'll test my larger Samsungs at home and see what I can determine there later. LG not only has HDR but the next level higher which is Dolby Vision that the Apple TV 4K plays nicely with.

In this process I wanted to run an ethernet cable to the basement so I could move my Pepwave AP ONE AX to the basement and out of my bedroom AV compartment and also a 8K top of the line HDMI cable to get 4K Dolby Vision from the AV box to the Televator. Why you ask? Because in my 2017 Ventana it was the last year Newmar installed 5.1 Home Theater systems, which of course I upgraded the receiver, speakers, subwoofer early on. For my best TV and movie experience the source needs to come from the home theater even though I also have a direct connected Apple TV 4K to the Televator TV but that would rely on either TV speakers or an analog audio out going back to the receiver. All fine, but not as good as I have to offer with my setup.

I originally bought a 50ft flat ethernet cable which I figured would be good for running in tight spaces - bad idea! I returned it. I forgot Newmar coaches are radioactive devices with some of the most interference I've ever experienced or been aware of, all probably because they don't use shielded anything. So I ordered a 50ft shielded ethernet cable for this job. A small dose of being smart, shattered later in this story. I also ordered a 50ft 8K HDMI cable which tested great and yeah, definitely test prior to running a cable with maximum pain in this process and realize it doesn't work! So verify first and I did, it worked perfectly. Then I realized from over the AV box across to center coach into the gen bay, down, back, up the below sink path and over to the Televator may be more than 50ft. I'm thinking I have a 50ft coach and I'm only going half way back, nope, not chancing learning that I'm coming up short. In the end, 50ft "may" and that's a strong maybe, would work. 75ft is the right answer, I went with 100ft 8K HDMI cable and have quite a bit coiled up in the televator bay. I returned the 50ft and got the 100ft and tested it as I was concerned about the additional length but it worked fine.

Cutting to the chase in how this story went really bad was that I did not know this HDMI cable was directional. Good thing I'm not in Vegas, I had a 50/50 shot of getting this right as I did in the initial test (twice) but not when I actually ran the cable! I've never seen a directional HDMI cable. So yeah, I did the most amazing job of running the two cables, zip tying them up, got so lucky getting through the small paths along the route, used a coat hanger to fish up the cable in the televator bay so I didn't have to remove the jackknife sofa to find out I got NOTHING when plugging in the cable. I figured I must have cut it along the pull and after disconnecting the cable from the HDMI splitter in the AV compartment I see huge text on the plug "DISPLAY" and I check the other side "SOURCE". I was livid! I couldn't sleep, I can't believe I'm going to have to do this job again! Beyond painful and I know I won't be as lucky. I got it done, it was more painful, I did not have to remove the jackknife sofa at least but it absolutely sucked.

On to the HOW TO do this so it's not a mystery to anyone that may need to do this down the road. In the past I ran 12V (red and white) lines up to the AV box for my pepwave's to be powered by 12V instead of 120V which is the same path, removing the left of the windshield A pillar cover (plastic). This job was more involved.

1. Remove A pillar plastic cover left of windshield, this gives the wire run up to the AV compartment
2. Remove DASH cover above your gauges to be able to route the wire towards center of the coach to the port to the gen bay
3. Sadly, you can't get the wires, at least in mine, into the AV compartment unless you remove the driver's side MCD shade. Not hard, but more work. First remove shade from mounting clips (easy) then remove the screws holding the mounting board to the support braces
4. Remove two sliding drawers from center console
5. Remove center console
6. Remove drawers from kitchen area to aid in passing wire to the hole to the televator bay

At this point you can see the path to the gen bay. Newmar cuts a hole here, I think it's a typically 3 inch hole like in a computer desk and then uses spray foam to seal/insulate it that you find in the insulation aisle of Lowes, etc. (as I bought some last night).

You then pass your cable through this path and that gets you OUT of the coach. Then you route through the driver's side tire wheel well and into the battery compartment. You may have to drill a hole to get from the battery compartment into the next bay, it's a wooden wall, I already had a path for my solar work. Now you just route the cable where you need. To get into the coach the path is below the kitchen sink. There is a plastic cover that exposes the flex chain where all wires come in through that path, you'll have to route your cable through that same contraption. Then pull the wire up and route it into the televator bay. Overall, the path is easy, the work is definitely work, but it's something anyone can do once you understand the path.

I used 1/2 inch split loom to protect the wires.

Here are a few pictures showing the paths as described above. In the end, the job is complete, works great, and I'm glad this is done. It was going to be a winter project but I had a little boredom at the Texarkana, KOA so I figured I'd knock it out right up until I realized I needed different cables so I had to finish it at the next stop, where I am now. And yeah, 6 hours more hard labor on my birthday to get this huge screw up with the HDMI cable pulled out and re-run.

The last pictures show the Pepwave AP ONE AX access point (essentially another Wi-Fi antenna) I attached to the back wall of the bay forward of the pegboard. Not really sure the best placement for this or direction. I did look at the antenna radiation pattern found on the Peplink forum. Goal is to improve Wi-Fi in the bedroom and also patio side. I also considered running this ethernet up and putting this antenna on the back side of the kitchen sink area which would be even better for patio side Wi-Fi but we'll see how this works for now. The AP One AX is powered by a PoE managed switch in the AV compartment. A simple 8 port PoE TP-Link which has been working great. I have the non PoE version under the Dinette for all that connectivity (NAS, computers, SAT box, etc.)

 

[Richpatty]

Wow. That was a ton of work. Nicely done.
Not sure I will go down that path as my old eyes probably couldn’t see the difference.

 

[Fish]

Wow. That was a ton of work. Nicely done.
Not sure I will go down that path as my old eyes probably couldn’t see the difference.

I know I'm just an old redneck country hick but I'm always amazed at the lengths people will go to improve tv picture and stereo sound quality. I think 1080p is movie screen quality and playing an mp3 from a flash drive in my vehicle or on my laptop sounds like concert quality to me.

Maybe because I grew up with rabbit ears and snow and listening to a transistor portable radio.

 

[tom999z]

Or you could stop for a minute to realize that you're in an RV and then go outside to the campground and experience life on your bicycle or a walk on the beach...