On our last trip with the van my wife made the comment that when I had been in the shower the digital TV signal had been breaking up, I didn't take a real lot of notice as I couldn't see the relevance between one and the other. The next night it was a major drama because she had a shower when I was watching the cricket and the same thing happened After a few experiments I found that whenever the exhaust fan in either the ensuite or the shower cubicle is turned on the TV is unwatchable. The only thing I was thinking is that maybe the fan is causing interference a bit like in the old days when you self installed a car radio and the motor used to cause it to crackle until you fitted some sort of suppressor to the system. Has anyone else experienced this problem or know how to get rid of it ?
Sounds like you have interference from the 12v system. may need some suppression on aerial booster. Might be a TV tech on the forum who could assist you.
Most air vent fans interfere with TV as they are on same circuit - As it is only minimal time when showering I don't worry about it, I imagine a solution would cost much more than I would be prepared to pay.
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Thanks guys it's no big deal and as you say there are ways around it but I was just curious to find out if like the old car radios there was a quick fix. When I dropped the van off for a service yesterday they told me that when we opened the vents they were deflecting the signal away from the antenna so we just needed to rotate it. As the 2 vent fans are on opposite sides of the roof and are normally open at different times I didn't really think that this was either the likely cause nor the solution and it wasn't a big enough concern to muck around setting up the TV to find out.
A bigger issue is we are planning on installing 12V fans for cooling instead of running the air con. if we wire them into the same circuit and they also interfere with the signal we will then have to look at something like what patrol03 has suggested.
Try replacing the coax cable from the television to the antenna in good quality RG6 quad cable, also the connections, wall plate etc. F type connections are a must with digital television.
The problem is the manufactures of caravans use very poor quality cable and is so not 100 % fully insulated for outside interference and can come from many sources. Replacing the cable would be one of the first things that i would do. As others have also said you could try some sort line filter and this could help.
I had many problems in the early days of digital drop out ( spent the last 30 odd years in the television repair industry ) and found out that while the coax cable may have passed ok for the analog signal, it did't pass the grade as far as digital is concerned. It was amazing what a re wire of a houses antenna system did for the reception and also the amount of signal that the television's in the house received.
The hard part would be access to how the manufactures have run the cable, some times it is easier to run a new cable another way rather than try and chase a cable through walls of your caravan that would have poor, if not impossible paths. Remember a lot of caravans have all of the wiring and other services run through the walls before the outside skin in installed.
Good luck.
PS: This type of problem is why i invested in a satilight ( vast ) system for television for my own caravan.
Hi.
Regarding fans.
we tried 12v. but found that one 240 12in fan on 150w inverter gave much more air movement while hardly affecting battery as long as panels in rig.
It ran fan, 2 int lights and LED TV all at once. on 85a Wet cell battery every day.
That's all we ran in those days with genny for aircond and desal unit.
I use them all the time up North here.
and when\if it calks. $15\20, you have another one up and running.
this current one is 5 or 6 yrs old now, cost $15 in Woolies.
Changing tack for a tic.
Regarding water. and all the people,
here and elsewhere that seem concerned about it.
Look at price of your rig. Hmm.
Then look at the price of a small Desalination 12 or 240v unit.
Just buy one. you ALWAYS have 90% plus pure water.
just run water for drinking for it.
your coastal membrane will last forever with backflushes.
Mine id over 20 yrs ild and still ticking over nicely.
If you could turn your brain off to it.
You can run your wee wee discharge through it.
and drink pure clean water at other end. seriously.
Read up on them sometime.
This one is one of the original AC units and cost just over $1100.
They probably? cheaper nowadays.
They really DO give you freedom to stay anywhere there is a liquid supply of any sort.
After a few experiments I found that whenever the exhaust fan in either the ensuite or the shower cubicle is turned on the TV is unwatchable. The only thing I was thinking is that maybe the fan is causing interference a bit like in the old days when you self installed a car radio and the motor used to cause it to crackle until you fitted some sort of suppressor to the system. Has anyone else experienced this problem or know how to get rid of it ?
