How to Upgrade Your Used RVs Television

When you buy a used RV these days more than likely you will find it equipped with out of date analog TVs. Now that the country has officially gone digital, this means your screen will be blank.

You have a couple options to bring a picture and entertainment back into your RV lifestyle, here at RVing On The Cheap, we like to keep things simple and repairable.

You could go out and buy one of those converter boxes that will allow your old set to receive the new digital signal. But then odds are pretty good the remote control for that old TV was missing when you bought your RV anyway. RV dealers have a bad habit of not keeping track of remotes, as was the case with our used RV.

That just adds one more electrical item to go bad, or work poorly, something I just don't care to do. Instead I removed the old TV and replaced it with a new digital model.

Many motorhomes come with the TV built into the dash area between the driver's and co-pilot's seats. This was the case for us, and by removing the old TV we were faced with a gaping hole with heater duct work and wiring visible to the world.

Digital TVs are much more compact and have screens that seldom will match up to this more square hole in your dash area. My solution was to fill the now empty space with a piece of 1/4" plywood cut to fit. Because I still planned on having the new TV in the same area I installed a TV antenna jack and 110v electrical outlet to power the new TV.

I then installed a shelf, supported by decorative angle supports, to hold the new TV. This created a secure place for the TV when we are parked that doesn't interfere with getting into or out of the cockpit seats. The new TV is safely stored in the hall closet while traveling.

This arrangement means that during winter storage the digital TV can be easily removed and kept in a warm environment. Some digital models can't handle below zero temperatures. If for what ever reason it should fail and need to be replaced, there is no tearing things apart to remove it. Simply pick it up and take it with you.

To see exactly how I made this revision to my motorhome go to my How To Upgrade Your RV TV Slideshow and you will see it wasn't too difficult to make a neat clean revision that doesn't take away from the looks of the RV.