TV Wall Plate Power Connector Failures!

[whemme]

If you have a 2004 Born Free or older motorcoach, it is probably equipped with TV Wall Plate made by Braund. This wall plate is a high failure rate item. Refer to this same subject in the Technical Library section on this forum for a post discussing this problem in detail.

[Brent]

Bill,
Is the gauge of wire in the Winegard product heavier then the Braund? I think in my 99' the Braund is about 7-10 amps.

[whemme]

Brent,

There are no actual wire leads in either the Braund or Winegard wallplates themselves, only terminals to which the power and ground wires suppying the +!2 VDC power are soldered to. I don't know the actual wire gauge size of these two wires but I know the circuit is protected with a 10-amp red fuse at the DC power distribution panel.

So, actually the maximum current you can draw from this circuit is 10 amps whether the wall plate is made by Braund or Winegard. In my coach with a 20" LCD TV, VCR/DVD player, and Winegard Digital TV Converter in the entertainment center, I am drawing about 8 amps.

It is just that the Winegard TV Wall Plate is a better design than the Braund in that the center +12 VDC hot terminal is not set in plastic but in a high temperature bakelite insulating material to prevent this meltdown failure mode that seems to be common in the Braund wall plate.