My 2018 T@G mods to date.

Michael

Planned and completed mods;

1) Ultimate Trailer Jack. Completed. Since I have the aluminum rack I had to set it with the pin on the right side.This required a drilling of one single hole in the trailer platform that mounts the jack. Did not want to break the weld on the jack collar and I dont think the one hole there will compromise anything. By the way, most Tractor Supply stores have this in stock. I paid 69.99 for the unit.

2) Kick plate backsplash. Complete. Used a 10" x 34" stainless one from Home Depot. Drilled thru for the pump switch.

3) Foam shields for round door portals. Partially complete. I've cut some foam pieces from a 2 inch thick sheet I purchased at Home Depot. The foam fits in the portals perfectly. Going to get a upholstery shop to make me some covers for the foam shortly as I can't sew worth squat.

4) I've purchased a Chromecast and a FireTV stick for the JensenTV. Used the FireTV while camping last week. Worked perfect using a ATT hotspot. Was able to watch my home DVR (Dish Hopper) remotely. Adding a hdmi switch to the input of the Jensen TV once I get the T@G back from repairs.
5) Swap out the cheap speakers in the ceiling. Complete. I replaced the speakers with a pair of Massive Audio MX65S MX Series Coaxial Speakers. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073JKCC7D?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf . Did have to add some spacers to the existing bezels. Metra 82-4300 1-Inch Universal Speaker Adapter Brackets. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002BG6QY?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf . Great improvement in sound.

6) Speaking of sound, has anyone noticed the pop in the speakers when turning off the Jensen TV? I suspect its due to some sort of DC coupling in the audio out of the TV. Going to try a experiment. I've purchased a RCA jack to Toslink converter and a Toslink to RCA converter plus a 1 foot Toslink fiber. This should isolate the two units if it is DC causing the pop. I'll advise once tested.

7) Echo Dot. Complete. Bluetooth to Jensen audio. Works well.

Lots more to come!

Martog

3) I've seen others do this, do the side windows and big windows leak much light in with the shades drawn over them?

4) Is the TV providing the audio to the radio via ARC or is everything tuned in from the radio head then sent to the TV? The show room model I played with didn't have coax piped into it, but I also didn't try any over the air stations (does the radio antenna work as a TV antenna too?)

5) The 2018 TAX XL I spent about an hour scouring over that was in a dealer's show room I did notice that the ceiling speakers were not the greatest even at lower volume, I could hear distortion, but maybe it was just the FM radio station, I don't know. It had the newer radio head in it, nuCamp I suspect changed this during the 2018 run somewhere as I seen other 2018's with the larger radio head. I didn't want to attempt to pair it to my phone to play music that I had stored locally.

Michael

Not so bad with the side and front windows but I was surprised at the amount of light that came in the door portals even with the rotatable baffle in the blocking position.

Do you mean aux? The TV shows up on aux input # 1 of Jensen head unit. I assume its comming in via the RCA's but maybe not. They might be going the other way providing audio from the head unit to the TV. I'm going to have to look at it more closely when I get the trailer back from service.

More to come on the audio. I think I'm going to put a set of four by six speakers in the headboard towers. Probably an amp of some sort also. I don't care so much for higher volume. I just want more quality sound.

Martog

Yeah one of Mandy Lea's mod videos showed someone putting something in the door windows due to the amount of light they let in. I think the window shades should have been black, but they did white to match the inside I bet.

I'm not sure honestly, since I did not play with the showroom model TV all that much I did not see if it could receive OTA signals and see how it worked for input. Looking at the earlier 2018 models with the larger radio head, the TV has power and composite input? There is a dealer in Ohio who has taken the TV out of all the units on the lot for theft reasons I was told and the older units have a power, red, white and yellow which means 480P at most, which I mean for a DVD player 480 is all you get. Looking at the newer 2018 and the 2019 models they have a HDMI and coax going to the TV. Which radio head to you have, a larger Jenson or a smaller one?

I'm going to get mine with the galley speakers wired in, a dealer wanted $600 to install them post-factory and I found out they are MUCH cheaper than that. It must be due to having to take out some of the panels. I agree higher quality > volume especially in such a small area.

Michael

The white shades on the side windows do a good job of blocking light at least for me. The portals is what was letting most of the light in. Mandy's video is what gave me the idea.

I have the older larger head unit so yes DVD would only be 480 at most. Tell you the truth I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal for me as if there is any thing that I'm going to watch video wise will probably come in via Chromecast or Firestick.

$600 is nuts. At least in my unit it would be super easy to wire galley speakers to the head unit. The head unit actually supports 3 sets of speakers a, b and c. Which are selectable from the unit and maybe the remote control also. I'll have to look at that to verify.

Martog

It's so hard to tell some of the years apart when they do upgrades in the middle of them, the later 18's and 19's also put the AC plug behind the TV and moved the AC vent switch.

I'm not sure how much I'd use the TV, but I was told if you delete it during a custom order or it didn't have one for some reason from the factory (i bet rare) the wiring isn't there nor is the mounting bracket. I'd rather have it if I decide to use it or do something else. How are you getting the audio back to the radio though since I assume it's the only thing wired to the speakers, or were you fine with just the TV speakers? I'll be curious once I get mine if the later 18 and 19 models have ARC in HDMI since the TV seems to have the coax and not the radio.

Yeah I thought so too, what also boggled me about the same dealer is they told me they really don't do the wiring for the vehicle or the receiver install (I want to go from a Class 2 to 3 just for accessories). I find it odd an RV dealer with a service department cannot do that. I figured for the price of having them factory installed,a and they look different than the ceiling mounted by Mandy's 2019 Boondock Edge tour they might be better but not holding my breath. I figure it would save me some headache if I did't like them.

TomD

TV and Camping. Many different ways to do this. I save movies and shows on my IPad-Pro and then play them back. Simple. Those without Apple products also have the same options if they also have a Pad. Leave the Jenson in the dirt. Old tech is not doing anything for anybody.

Michael

Personally I'm glad my AC unit plugs in by the head unit. It allows me to have a 120v outlet on it's own breaker for my little 350 watt heater. I'm going to swap out the existing cheap 15 amp socket with a high quality 20 amp socket.

It (the audio) must be going from the TV to the head unit via the RCA's as it does show up on aux #1. The yellow RCA however must be going the opposite direction from the head unit to the TV to provide the 480 video connection. Wish I could look but I don't expect to get my unit back until next weekend.

mgreen2

Easy fix for the door windows. Pre cut Foam board from hobby lobby.

Martog

@TomD said:
TV and Camping. Many different ways to do this. I save movies and shows on my IPad-Pro and then play them back. Simple. Those without Apple products also have the same options if they also have a Pad. Leave the Jenson in the dirt. Old tech is not doing anything for anybody.

The Jenson wouldn't be horrible if it also played Blu-Ray and had an HDMI input on the face of it. And if the TV was 1080p, I believe the model in the units are 720p. Issue is I'm spoiled by an OLED 4K at home haha, so I may not be tempted to watch much. Though rainy days do happen when camping. If had at least BR I'd just bring some of my disc movies honestly for in case of rainy day weather. I don't really do digital movies. I do have a Surface Pro 3 I could load up with movies as it's a 256GB model, or my Note 8 which has a 128GB SD card.

@Michael said:
Personally I'm glad my AC unit plugs in by the head unit. It allows me to have a 120v outlet on it's own breaker for my little 350 watt heater. I'm going to swap out the existing cheap 15 amp socket with a high quality 20 amp socket.

That would be handy honestly, my first real camping is probably going to be towards the end of October, I'm going to put the order in tomorrow and see how long it will take to get it so I can reserve the camping site as there's only a handful electric left on where I want to take it and I'll probably need a small space heater for end of Oct in Indiana.

@mgreen2 said:
Easy fix for the door windows. Pre cut Foam board from hobby lobby.

Awesome, will have to look in that, have a Hobby Lobby like right down the road.

Chaverim

What size are the window covers from Hobby Lobby? I checked with them and they didn’t have anything close when I looked. I must be looking in the wrong section.

ontheroad

@Chaverim ...it actually looks like foam core with 2 fabric tabs glued to it...we used foam and covered it with fabric...they work great

KKrieg

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4) I've purchased a Chromecast and a FireTV stick for the JensenTV. Used the FireTV while camping last week. Worked perfect using a ATT hotspot. Was able to watch my home DVR (Dish Hopper) remotely. Adding a hdmi switch to the input of the Jensen TV once I get the T@G back from repairs.
5) Swap out the cheap speakers in the ceiling. Complete. I replaced the speakers with a pair of Massive Audio MX65S MX Series Coaxial Speakers. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073JKCC7D?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf . Did have to add some spacers to the existing bezels. Metra 82-4300 1-Inch Universal Speaker Adapter Brackets. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002BG6QY?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf . Great improvement in sound.

Question on your bezels, I was going to fabricate some spacing bezels of my own. How well did these fit? Could you post a picture? I have speakers that I would like to install and want a better idea.

Michael

They fit ok. I'll take a picture this weekend.

Ianstag

Wow! I have already completed or am working on most of these mods. I did the Firestick, Chromecast, Exhi Dot and HDMI switch right after we got our 2918 T@G XL. Adding the same backsplash and replacing the speakers qith the same Masasive ones currently (just discovered yesterday that I need to make a spacer). I'll have to check out the jack mod and definitely will make the door portal covers. For the postal covers I'm planning just using an insulated windshield sunshade with reflective material.on one side and a Realtree camo pattern in the other. We use these in our minivan to blackout ththe windows and they work great and give you a sort of forrest scene to look at inside. Plus they are lightweight, insulating and take up no room.

Ianstag

I see you bought 1" mounting spacers for the Massive speakers from Amazon. I was about to order, then decided to read the reviews. Lots of different opinions on whether they work on all 6.5 unch speakers. How did they work on the Massives?

JamesDow

I also have an Echo Dot that I use. Note the 2nd generation runs off standard usb power and not a power block as the 3rd generation does. Works good using the phone as a mobile hotspot. I also installed a shelf under the cabinet by the converter and fused and use a Sony BDP-S3700 Smart Blue Ray Player (Ebay $36.99) with Built in Wi-Fi. The shelf I installed using 3M removable Command Hooks. I use the Sony mainly because it has a video usb input port, which I use a 1 TB hard drive with about 275 movies and music videos installed. I cut off the power block on the Sony and installed a 12 volt male cigarette connector which plugs into the T@B. Works great and has very low power consumption (22 watts average Blu-ray player, TV & Hard Drive).
I also tapped into the Jensen unit and hooked up RCA connectors to speaker "B" and ran the wires to the galley. This allows for some music outside with the small speakers I bring.