Roof Satellite Dish
I have a 2 berth Elldis Avant 482 and having had a portable dish now want a fixed Self Seeking.
Looked at the usual domes, RoadPro, SatFi etc but there dish size, 40cm is too small for the North of Scotland and the very West of Ireland. I am also concerned about putting 10kg on the roof.
I am now looking at buying a 62cm Kronings Ultra Light Satellite dish. http://kronings.com/language/uk/home/products/sattelite-system1/
At under 5kg and £799 it looks the job. A twin LNB can be added as an extra.
Anyone any thoughts?
Comments
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To me the expence of a fixed dish setup is a lot to pay out to be able to watch tv. I like the flexibility of my portable dish, sometimes being able to move it that little bit is the difference between a signal and no signal, and it only takes a few minutes
to get set up. A few years ago at Lady Margarets Park CC site I managed to get a signal, where the motorhome next to us with a fixed dish had to give up. The only downside with the portable dish is having to carry it about.0 -
Similar experiences to JD. Very easy to move portable dish around the pitch, not so the van! Quite enjoy the challenge of alignment too, but much easier these days with the easy find system. Couldnt justify the additional cost personally and my portable is so much lighter.
On one occasion the man the next pitch gave up on his roof mount and shared my twin LMB, saved a domestic apparently, not sure whether it was the footy or corry that was so crucial mind!
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We used to have a freestanding dish when we caravanned and kept it for a while when we started motorhoming. It was not long before we started to think about a fixed automatic dish on the roof and went of an 85cms Mecatronic dish supplied and fitted by Road Pro at Daventry. We have been very pleased pleased with it but it was twice the price of the model you are looking at!!!
David
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I would certainly be getting confirmation from Elldis that the roof construction is suitable, unless I knew for sure it was a bonded sandwich rather than a floating design.
Like others the benefits and disadvantages I would get for the investment in a roof mounted unit on a caravan over my freestanding, are far from value for money. With a motorhome moving on each or every otherday I might see it differently.
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what is it with the 'construction' (the right word?) of caravans...?
we have posts where folk are concerned about putting a bike rack on the back (as the walls are made of paper or similar)...
now we have worries about a 10kg load on the roof.....but 5kg (plus extra weight of twin LNB might be alright?....)
we had a sat dish and solar panel on the Bolero and i used to walk on the roof when cleaning it.
the dish and panel are even larger on the Carthago and i also walk on the roof to clean it....although im not particularly heavy, im a lot more than 10kg
are caravans really made with such a tiny tolerance to any sort of modification, that it will affect the integrity (that cant be the right word....) of the construction?
seriously, if there were manufaturers concerns about putting 10kg on the roof of a van, id be concerned about how robust the whole thing was...
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Pretty much any caravan can have a 10kg sat dish put on the roof provided it is sensibly positioned over an internal bulkhead fitting or where the wardrobe, for example, meets the roof. An experienced installer such as Roadpro in Daventry would know this. Have given this serious thought myself but as stated above, the flexibility with a freestanding dish is the difference between getting a signal or not at sites where there are a few trees. Currently use a Maxview Precision which is very easy to set up and around a tenth of the cost of a roof mounted unit.
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so, you would stand on the roof to wash it...?
unless over a bulkhead or wardrobe?
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BB, some caravans feature roofs that whilst having an adequate internal structure, the weather proofing external skin is a free floating sheet of aluminium.
Therefore there is only that floating skin to fix anything to, unless as at hatches, the front back and sides the sheet is fixed down to the internal structure.
One would not be walking about on that without doing untold damage. Similar skins I am sure have been used on coach built MHs
Putting an internal structure in place after the van has been built, into which a satellite dish can be through fixed, presents considerable challenges.
More modern construction uses a bonded sandwich that by definition has a “bonded” external skin; bonding a spreader plate externally onto this makes fixing a satellite dish no real issue. These roofs can be adequatly specified for walking on if that is a design brief, though not one seen much in caravans.
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so, you would stand on the roof to wash it...?
unless over a bulkhead or wardrobe?
Of course I wouldn't. Why compare standing on a caravan roof to mounting a satellite dish on it? I'm 6ft 2, over 17st... with a hint of common sense
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BB, some caravans feature roofs that whilst having an adequate internal structure, the weather proofing external skin is a free floating sheet of aluminium.
Therefore there is only that floating skin to fix anything to, unless as at hatches, the front back and sides the sheet is fixed down to the internal structure.
One would not be walking about on that without doing untold damage. Similar skins I am sure have been used on coach built MHs
Putting an internal structure in place after the van has been built, into which a satellite dish can be through fixed, presents considerable challenges.
More modern construction uses a bonded sandwich that by definition has a “bonded” external skin; bonding a spreader plate externally onto this makes fixing a satellite dish no real issue. These roofs can be adequatly specified for walking on if that is
a design brief, though not one seen much in caravans.The caravan roof satelite products I looked at when considering buying (Roadpro and Satfi) have a mounting plate that is Sikaflexed onto the roof skin. When I spoke to Roadpro they said they do not drill into the roof to mount the plate, the Sikaflex is
sufficient to secure the unit. They said they always look to mount the unit over where there is some internal structure that meets the ceiling (such as a wardrobe) as this provides the most support. Roadpro at Daventry claim they have never had a follow up
complaint for a leak or roof failure and they've fitted hundreds of systems. Admittedly it's not something I would attempt myself, and i'm not usually frightened to 'have a go' at most things. For something like this... leave it to the professionals
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i have had three MHs dating from 2007 (no caravans) and all have had a bonded GRP roof and have been totally solid whilst walking on them.
ok, im not 17st, nor never will be, but i also have a modicum of common sense and that tells me my MH roof is fully supported, and would be even with no furniture in it. the roof and side walls certainly dont rely on the furniture for 'support'.
if that were the case, there would be no such support from the front of the van right through to almost the rear....a distance of over 5m, and this 'unsupported' area further supports its own heavy internal drop down cab bed.
yet i can still walk on this area of the roof with confidence.....
the structure of the van is designed in this way, as are the self supporting garage floors of some vans, and they can still carry 350kg, license and payload permitting.
our satellite dish and solar panel are also sikaflexed to the roof.
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The caravan roof satelite products I looked at when considering buying (Roadpro and Satfi) have a mounting plate that is Sikaflexed onto the roof skin. When I spoke to Roadpro they said they do not drill into the roof to mount the plate, the Sikaflex is
sufficient to secure the unit.I have as said no issues with bonding a satellite dish to the roof be it with a Sikflex product or comparible ones.
But only if what you are bonding to is itself fixed down, not onto a free floating sheet of aluminium of grp, as in a non bonded roof structure. I would need to know what the OP's Elldis construction is before simply saying bond a dish to the roof.
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i can see why an aluminium sheet might be 'floating' due to expansion in hot weather, but GRP? why would this not be part of a bonded sandwich?
what is the advantage, if any, of a floating sheet of any material?...shaping or profiling ofmthe roofline perhaps?
our sidewalls are aluminium (inside and out) bonded sandwiches, and the roof and floor are bonded GRP sandwiches.
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We have a dome on our Unicorn and it was fitted with no problem. However, the roof GRP on our old Abbey flexed up and down considerably. If you had fitted a sat dish to it with just glue, not going through to some internal structure, it would have bounced all over the place. Could not afford one when we had the Abbey, so not a problem.
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BB,
Simply because not all vans have been exclusively constructed of sandwich panels; the curves at each end in the roof being a case where bending a sheet of alloy or GRP has been done to keep the weather out and avoid top surface cross joints.
It is not without any advantages, one avoiding a slab box design, another to avoid roof cross joints as already said and from a structural point of view avoiding the local flexing at the “hard” corners that can be a problem with too rigid panels.
It is no good to plonk a satellite dish on.
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...nor a solar panel, either then....
certainly an (other) important consideration, i would have thought, for those choosing a van.
im glad we dont have these construction 'features' to consider.
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...nor a solar panel, either then....
certainly an (other) important consideration, i would have thought, for those choosing a van.
im glad we dont have these construction 'features' to consider.
A framed panel would be very unwise but some I read have put on semi flexible panels.
I however think of the flexibility as a feature to accomodate a fixed curve on a soild base, not an ever moving surface. Might account for the reports of early failures?
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I have that issue. My semi flex solar panel on a 'free floating' skin has an intermittent fault.
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We would not consider a roof mounted dish as we would not want to pay that ammount of money and then have problems with trees etc blocking the dish and, since the changes to the satellite footprints, would be doubtful on reception anyway.
Faced with the dish issue we have opted to go down the wi-fi route and bought the iBoost system at the NEC and will either use our BT Fon or simply make it easier to get free or paid for wi-fi on site to watch TV via FilmOn.
We had the floating panel issue when we had our solar panel fitted so it had to be bolted down.
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I have a 2 berth Elldis Avant 482 and having had a portable dish now want a fixed Self Seeking.
Looked at the usual domes, RoadPro, SatFi etc but there dish size, 40cm is too small for the North of Scotland and the very West of Ireland. I am also concerned about putting 10kg on the roof.
I am now looking at buying a 62cm Kronings Ultra Light Satellite dish. http://kronings.com/language/uk/home/products/sattelite-system1/
At under 5kg and £799 it looks the job. A twin LNB can be added as an extra.
Anyone any thoughts?
We have a Satfi RV twin dome and it works okay all over the Uk and have used it in France with no issue. The big advantage is that if you get a sharp gust of wind, it will not be damaged. Also can be used in gale force winds as exposed dishes will have to be lowered.
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Thanks everyone for comments. Will contact Elddis.
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