Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Info & Discussion Forum

We've had two of the plastic 12V DC wall plate sockets fail in the last 2 months. In both cases, the center connector appears to have melted and come loose from the plate.

Anyone else having this problem? I don't think we're encountering excessive vibration on the 12V DC plug for the TV.

I'm looking at marine grade socket plates as a possible solution. Other suggestions?

Marilyn and Gerry,

I have posted information about this very failure that you have experienced in the Technical Library section of our website.

Look in that section under the topic TV Wall Plate Power Connector Failure! or a direct clickable link to it follows: http://www.bornfreervclub.org/bulletin_ ... php?t=1080

The solution is to replace your TV wallplate with the Winegard P/N RA-7596 part listed. I assume that the failed wallplates were both made by Braund - not a good design. I also assume that your Born Free coach is equipped with the Delta TV antenna and not the Winegard Batwing TV antenna. It would help if you would provide this kind of information so that we would know about your setup.

I hate these type of connectors for handling power! My choice would
be Anderson Powerpoles. These come in a wide assortment of current
handling capacities and mounting styles.

See: http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-power ... cessories/

for some examples. I think you can probably find something here that
you could adapt to your situation.

Regards, Roger

Roger,

I am having trouble figuring out how the power connectors that you recommend would also serve the purpose of providing the other necessary functions of the TV wall plate, such as:

1) The antenna pre-amplifier function
2) Two 75-ohm RF input connectors bringing in both the TV antenna signal and the cable TV signal along with a switch to both to turn ON or OFF the pre-amplifier and also to select between the antenna signal or the cable signal
3) A splitter output to two 75-ohm RF connectors to send the the selected signal to TV #1 and TV #2 (if so equipped).

And not to mention, be a receptacle for the male cigarette adapter plug.....

Bill...

I only intended this suggestion for a power connection. There is a
Powerpole chassis mount that will snap into a 1" X 1.25 " hole. Looking
at my old Braund wallplate it looks like it would be pretty easy to
cut the proper hole in the plate and remove the existing crummy
receptacle and snap in the chassis mount. For those that don't mind
cutting a hole in the wall, there are other mounting options. The wiring
coming up to my wallplate is quite heavy #14 or #12. Having the
Powerpoles would provide the capability to use heavier current devices
such as a 12 volt vacuum cleaner.

Of course this presupposes that the owner has some knowlege of wiring
and is moderately handy.

Regards, Roger

Bill:

Thanks for the response and the link.

Ours is a brand new unit (2010 custom mobility-equipped on 2009 chassis), and it has both the Winegard combination wall plate and a separate 12V DC socket plate probably made by Braund. Our antenna is a Winegard motorized Sensar IV with a Wingman add-on Yagi.

It isn't the Winegard combination plate socket that's failing; it's the dedicated 12V socket plate.

I hadn't thought about the possibility of arcing having caused the melting of the center connector; I'll have to make sure the replacement is properly insulated and isolated.

Cheers,
Gerry