My TV Mount & Entertainment Center - Fiberglass RV
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Old 03-16-2014, 08:41 AM   #1
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Name: Conrad
Trailer: Bigfoot 3000 & Barth "slide-in" truck camper
Connecticut
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My TV Mount & Entertainment Center

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Old 03-16-2014, 08:41 AM   #2
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Name: Conrad
Trailer: Bigfoot 3000 & Barth "slide-in" truck camper
Connecticut
Posts: 958
I thought people might the interested in my entertainment center.

I installed six outlets, individually switched with triple gang switches. This allows me to turn off any devices I don't need easily to save power and eliminate parasitic power draw. I need to label these, however my label maker fell and broke. If anyone has a label maker, and can make some labels for me, I'd appreciate it.

I purchased swivel arm, locking TV mount and installed it. My cabinets are two thin layers of plywood with a 3/4" gap. I used a furniture bezel to bring the wires through in a wire loom to keep them neat. Before installing the bezel I glued in some 2" long oak blocks for reinforcing the TV mount. The interior of the cabinet already had reinforcing for the center bolt.

The TV mount I found on Amazon searching for a locking TV mount. I chose a Master Mounts. I bought a 24" Vizio and in the closed position it holds nicely between the window valence and cabinet.

My TV cabinet holds a $55 Sony BuRay player and a TiVo preloaded with hours of Turner Classic Movies. That is a young Betty Davis in Jezebel (1939) I am watching.

One issue I had was the BluRay is set 90 degrees and the remote did it work. The TiVo was worse. It only fit diagonally and cocked up with a peanut butter jar underneath. I considers using an infra-red repeater. These are notoriously poor performing. Instead I chose to line the cabinet with tin foil. I added struts to hold the cabinet door open. The BluRay plays NetFlix as does the TV.

I installed a older Mac Mini, but still need to find a video cable for it. My AirPort Extreme connects me to the house for streaming video.

I have a Cushcraft Yagi 13dB gain beam antenna that I will be mounting on the roof connected to an older model Ubiquity Bullet WiGi access point. This will allow me to tie into free wifi at longer ranges. I have unlimited data on my cell phone but the cost for this is $30/month. I also have a two Omni directional Wifi Antennas. I plan to put one on the roof of the house to extend the wifi range in the yard and I'm debating whether an Omni antenna will work well on the camper. The Omni antennas don't have to be pointed at a source but they also pick up lots of interference from other emitters. I've found the Yagi antenna works best but it does require some fuss and bother to get it pointed directly at a free wifi source.

My future plans are to add a few web cams--one for the back, and two one tilt and pan mounted on either side of the front so I can keep an eye on the dogs and two legged varmints.
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Old 03-16-2014, 11:27 AM   #3
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Name: Diane
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Virginia
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WOW Conrad, you da man! Nice set up for those rainy days. You seem to have a great deal of skill.
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Old 03-16-2014, 12:10 PM   #4
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I have no context really to understand where this all is as I have no idea where it is?
What is this in?

Also I use IR repeaters every day and you are misguided I think about them,they work fine if installed correctly.
PM me and we can talk about it and I am happy to get you one for cheap too.

As for the antenna issues,you know the deal already. Get the metal in the air,anything else will not be reliable in general even at the wavelengths of WiFi in my experience. Signal strength and S/N are always at odds so you do need to be as far from interference as possible for a noticeable improvement.

Also let me know what adapter/cable for the Mini you need? I stock those usually.
DVI to HDMI is probably what you need,right? Audio is always separate with a DVI connection so either analog or digital coming out of the headphone jack works fine and I also have the Mini optical cable for the Mini in stock.

Let me know if I can help.
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Old 03-16-2014, 05:05 PM   #5
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Name: Conrad
Trailer: Bigfoot 3000 & Barth "slide-in" truck camper
Connecticut
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Originally Posted by Ed Harris View Post
I have no context really to understand where this all is as I have no idea where it is?
What is this in?

Also I use IR repeaters every day and you are misguided I think about them,they work fine if installed correctly.
PM me and we can talk about it and I am happy to get you one for cheap too.

As for the antenna issues,you know the deal already. Get the metal in the air,anything else will not be reliable in general even at the wavelengths of WiFi in my experience. Signal strength and S/N are always at odds so you do need to be as far from interference as possible for a noticeable improvement.

Also let me know what adapter/cable for the Mini you need? I stock those usually.
DVI to HDMI is probably what you need,right? Audio is always separate with a DVI connection so either analog or digital coming out of the headphone jack works fine and I also have the Mini optical cable for the Mini in stock.

Let me know if I can help.
This is in a my Bigfoot 3000 series pickup camper. As shown in my avatar.

I need a DVI to VGA video cable or adapter. I should have one somewhere but I can't seem to find it. The one cable I can find is too short.

The tin foil seems to work well for reflectin. I suppose an IR repeater would make for a neater installation. I might have to add a couple of small fans and vents for the TV cabinet which is in the cab-over area, next to the step up on the drivers side. I prefer to keep it simple. I would welcome some discussion on your experiences with it. My one attempt did not work well and I knew exactly where the detector was. Amazon reviews of these products show very low satisfaction, matching my own experience.

I would like to build an interface to run all my audio sources--iPad (mostly used for video and reading), iPod touch (primary music source), Computer, and TV--four sources all through the built in stereo. I was thinking of using a rotary switch for all this--well labeled of course. I'm swapping my present stereo out in the next few weeks when I have all the parts I need. I am missing one interface cable and remote which is out in the barn somewhere. I keep looking but have not found it. Perhaps I'll check the basement. I might have moved all my Volvo parts down there. The stereo has a USB input, and that would be nice for the iPod--perhaps mounted on a Ram mount in the galley for a central location.

BTW, I installed three pair of USB jacks on switches to eliminate parasitic power loss though-out the camper. One over the dinette and one on either side of the head of the bed. Each of these is paired with a cigarette adapter so I can use a small 300 watt inverter for charging or running a laptop. My camper came with two other cigarette plugs and I have plug in USB adapter, but no on off switches for those. I need another phone charger cord for convenience.

As I said before I'll be running some network wiring for web cams next and hard-wiring a few Ethernet ports. These will run in cabinets where I also want to run RF cable for my Ham Radio. I will need some bulkhead fittings and cable glands before I start all that. Much of this will be proof testing for products that I will install on my boat, such as a Pactor modem for worldwide HF radio email. I'll be using older generation products in the camper and state of the art products in my boat. On the boat I'm being too much of a perfectionist. I decided to move my entire electrical system panels aft to a very dry location. I've seem too many electrical fires start at electrical panels, and my old position was near a dead light and subject to possible moisture intrusion.

I'll send you a PM and we can chat on the phone sometime.

Conrad
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Old 03-16-2014, 05:10 PM   #6
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Name: Conrad
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Originally Posted by D Davis View Post
WOW Conrad, you da man! Nice set up for those rainy days. You seem to have a great deal of skill.
Thank you Diane,

I appreciate the complements. I have a lot of skills and too often I meet people that put me down for having these skills and using them.
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Old 03-17-2014, 09:04 PM   #7
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WOW Conrad, you da man! Nice set up for those rainy days. You seem to have a great deal of skill.

Have to agree with Diane. Of course I also have to add that I myself don't understand all you did...my DH is a retired Electronics/Instrumentation Tech. and he says you did a great job.I have done a lot of holding & helping in our day so I know this was not any easy job.Sure looks like a job well done.
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Old 03-17-2014, 10:29 PM   #8
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Wow, great job. Hope you don't have too many rainy days though and get to enjoy the amazing outdoors while you camp. I thought about a system and mounting choices for so long, I decided to just use my Bluetooth PC and a wireless speaker for movie watching. Someday when everything else is addressed I may add something more permanent. Again, great job and thanks for sharing.
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Old 03-20-2014, 07:03 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Ed Harris View Post

Let me know if I can help.

Ed.

I can't find your email. I'd like to chat with you on the phone.

Here is my junk email account
Liamknuj99. At gmail dot com

Put your subject in all caps so it stands out, and/or flag it high priority so I see it. This account is marked read as they come in. I'll reply with my normal email and phone number.

Regards,

Conrad
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Old 03-21-2014, 06:22 AM   #10
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Originally Posted by Night Sailor View Post
Ed.

I can't find your email. I'd like to chat with you on the phone.

Here is my junk email account
Liamknuj99. At gmail dot com

Put your subject in all caps so it stands out, and/or flag it high priority so I see it. This account is marked read as they come in. I'll reply with my normal email and phone number.

Regards,

Conrad
Sent you a P.M. with my info

Ed
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Old 03-25-2014, 06:37 PM   #11
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Nice installation!!! We've gotten as far as a small flat screen, which we've mounted up in a similar fashion. We play DVDs on it or link it to a Nook (the Barnes & Noble version of an iPad).

I really like the way you've integrated it all together - and having the option of piggy-backing onto any available wifi would be really nice.

So...I'm thinking my long range plan is to copy your set-up. Thank you for sharing.
Steveorino
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Old 03-25-2014, 11:18 PM   #12
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Name: Conrad
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Connecticut
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I plan on adding a Cushcraft Yagi antenna, which is a directional antenna, in conjunction with a Ubiquity bullet Wi-Fi access point for extended range on Wi-Fi. I just need a good mounting system.

I have discovered that using an omnidirectional antenna, which works well in all directions, results in too much interference from other wifi emitters. The directional Cushcraft Antenna works much better. In addition to fantastic 13 DB forward gain, it has nulls on the sides and backs where it is completely deaf. You can pointy slightly away from you target, putting a null on an interfering wifi station, and still have good reception.

I am debating using a cheap radio shack TV rotator to spin my antenna around any direction I choose, or else using a fixed amount and steering the antenna by turning my truck. Perhaps a combination of the two would work well.

Additionally the short mast would also allow me to steer a TV antenna any direction I choose.
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