Adding Wally to Motorhome?

[reubenray]

I am a new subscriber to Dish after switching from Directv. I am still debating on what to get for my motorhome. I have a Hopper 3 plus a Joey 3 in my house. The first option is to take the receivers from the house to the motorhome. The second option is to get a Wally just to use in the motorhome for an additional charge of $7 per month for the 4 to 6 months of traveling. From what I understand I can turn this on and off. Would this affect the deal I have now with Dish? Also where would be the best place to get the Wally?

The dish setups on the roof of the motorhome would be different for the two options. The Hopper 3 will require a DPH42 paired with the Winegard Trav'ler where the Wally would not. My setup would require the DPH42 be on the roof. I have read that this is OK and not OK to be out in the elements all the time.

The entertainment center setup in my motorhome would be easier for the Wally due to it is smaller. The Hopper 3 will not fit and it would be on the steering while at a campground. I had to do this also with Directv. I would have to remove and store the receiver whenever I am driving the motorhome, which is recommended anyway due to damaging the hard drive. The Wally could be in the entertainment center all the time. Removing the Hopper 3 from the home entertainment center is an issue also.

Would a hard drive from a desktop computer paired with a hard drive enclosure work for the Wally? I have a 750 gb hard drive that would work with this Amazon product ASIN B01MZC303G .

 

[NYDutch]

A Wally would obviously be the simplest way to go, but I suggest buying a suitable USB external hard drive instead of trying to use a desktop HD that may not be as shock protected. Check the various online sources for the best Wally pricing, including Amazon, eBay, etc.

 

[Brussam]

In my Bounder, the front-to-back measurement of the cabinet in the bedroom where all the HDMI and satellite cables where run was not enough for the Hopper 3 and the cable connections in back. I found by raising the rear of the Hopper 3 1.5 inches tipped the Hopper 3 enough to fit and clear the cables. My Bounder had 4 TVs and there were HDMI cables from each to the bedroom compartment. I chose to pair the Front-TV with the Mid-TV using a HDMI splitter. The Bedroom-TV and the Exterior-TV are on Joeys also located in the bedroom compartment.

A friend has a Winnebago and the compartment over the door was very small. He modified the cabinet and made brackets to hold his Hopper almost vertical but within the cabinet. His biggest job was running a cable to the bedroom TV

Some day the tale about hard drives in RVs will die but not yet. I have been Full-timing for 13 years , always with DVRs (VIP622, VIP612, VIP722K, Hopper, and now a Hopper 3). The DVRs were on inverters and always on. For numerous years I had a tower PC with 10 disk drives, also always on. Still waiting for one of those disk failures.

The DPH-42 is weatherproof when mounted vertically with the coax connections on the sides so rain can't pund on the coax connections. If mounting on the roof, I would put the DPH-42 in a weatherproof box so I could have it flat on the roof.

What I did for the Bounder was add a third coax cable from the Trav'ler alongside the first two cables to the compartments and installed the DPH-42 under a shelf in the compartment. My Trav'ler was mounted just above the bedroom compartment. If you satellite receiver is in the front, I would guess your Trav'ler is forward on the roof. Following the current cable should be easy. There is a power brick that goes with the DPH-42 that has some size to it.

I transferred my Hopper 3 and the Joeys between the Bounder motorhome and my Travel Supreme trailer each Spring and Fall, yes a little job but not difficult.

Since you have motorhome, you probably have a second TV in the bedroom. Life is a whole lot better with a Hopper 3 and Joeys that a single Wally with only one channel to view and one to record. The features of a Hopper 3 make TV watching a lot better when RVing because you can asynchronously watch your shows when you want to.

We also carried a ground tripod. We used a tripod with adjustable length lengths legs so be able to get a verical mast in all kinds of terrain. We use the HD Tripod from TV4RV.Com. We have EA and WA LNBF heads for the tripod dish. We use it for the one or two times a year when trees are in the way. We also use the EA head when we were in the East and the HD Locals for the DMA we were using were only on the EA. We used PTAT extensively and you have to use HD locals when available.

 

[NYDutch]

With a Wally connected to a Trav'ler or other multi-LNB DPP dish, an OTA adapter, and an external HD, you would have two satellite and two OTA tuners available. You could record up to 4 channels at once while watching one of them. An HDMI splitter or the composite output could be used to feed a second TV, but both TV's would be getting the same program.

 

[reubenray]

I already have an Eastern DPP-LNB that my Dish installer gave me. I also already have the TV4RV tripod that I will need to switch everything from Directv to Dish which will have the Western DPP-LNB. My motorhome is wired already to feed all three of my tv's including the bedroom with the front mounted receivervia a HDMI splitter. We very seldom watch something different in the bedroom at the same time as watching he L/R TV.

I am assuming I would need the wifi adapter for the Wally if I want anything OnDemand. But we have not used OnDemand yet in our month of having Dish. Camping World has the Wally on sale for $80 plus I have a $25 coupon.

I would leave my locals set for home and use the OTA adapter while traveling with the Wally. By going the Wally route there is no danger of some of my wife's favorite shows not being recorded if I am unable to get a satellite or OTA signal while on a trip.

I have not used PTAT yet. This records a lot of shows we do not watch. I am thinking that I could use DishAnywhere on my laptop and connect it to my HDTV for watching recorded shows from the Hopper 3. This would work in case I cannot get a satellite signal. Is this correct? I do have a dependable internet source.

I do need to confirm that I will only need one cable coming from the Trav'ler or tripod setup for the Wally to work. I have an A/B switch already to switch between the two setups. I also think this is all I would need. Is this info correct?

If I get a new enclosed hard drive does it need to be powered instead of getting the power from the USB?

 

[NYDutch]

We use an Amazon FireTVstick with the DishAnywhere and other streaming apps installed so we don't tie up either of our laptops for TV watching. We have one Hopper2 installed at our NY Adirondack cottage, and another H2 installed in our fulltime motorhome. For short overnight stops enroute to longer stays, we often just use the Firestick instead of breaking out the dish. We also like DishAnywhere for watching programs we used DA to record at the cottage while we were underway. Streaming sucks a lot of cell data though, so make sure you have a good, preferably unlimited, data plan. We have unlimited plans with both AT&T and Verizon, giving us decent service with one or the other everywhere we've been so far, and often with both services. Our combined data usage this month will probably come in around 200GB.

The single line from the dish to the Wally is all that's needed.

On the Wally HD question, Dish does recommend an independently powered HD. If you have a USB powered drive on hand, just buy a low cost powered USB hub to handle it.

 

[dishrich]

On the Wally HD question, Dish does recommend an independently powered HD.

Is that really still the case...as this one appears to be specifically aimed for the Wally (see the outside box picture of the HDD) & does NOT require it's own power:
1 TB DVR Upgrade Expansion

 

[NYDutch]

It does appear that Dish has modified their requirements since I last checked:

"The external hard drive must have its own power supply. (Some external hard drives, like the Seagate® 1 TB DVR, may have a built-in power supply.)"

External Hard Drive | MyDISH | DISH Customer Support

 

[reubenray]

Will I need the wifi adapter to use OnDemand with the Wally?

 

[rvvaquero]

Will I need the wifi adapter to use OnDemand with the Wally?

I thought you could use the ethernet port, but I guess that's not true.

 

[charlesrshell]

I thought you could use the ethernet port, but I guess that's not true.

Someone needs to try out the Ethernet port. I bet it will work.

 

[rvvaquero]

Someone needs to try out the Ethernet port. I bet it will work.

After reubenray posted, Bobby responded that you had to have the adapter. I was responding to Bobby's post. But, Bobby cheated and deleted his post.

I don't watch On Demand, but it did work just fine over ethernet the one time I tested it.

 

[charlesrshell]

After reubenray posted, Bobby responded that you had to have the adapter. I was responding to Bobby's post. But, Bobby cheated and deleted his post.

I don't watch On Demand, but it did work just fine over ethernet the one time I tested it.

I saw the deletion too!

 

[reubenray]

I read some more about setting up the Wally for internet and there are notes that refer to using the ethernet connection. I guess I will have to try it before buying the wifi adapter. My smart TV does all of the other internet apps. I would need this only for watching OnDemand.

 

[Bobby]

I deleted because I know you need the wifi adapter to watch Netflix and apps but then I thought about the original questions. The question was if you needed the wifi adapter to watch on demand and I am uncertain, not having a Wally, if on demand is actually available on the Wally.

 

[rvvaquero]

I deleted because I know you need the wifi adapter to watch Netflix and apps but then I thought about the original questions. The question was if you needed the wifi adapter to watch on demand and I am uncertain, not having a Wally, if on demand is actually available on the Wally.

Are you sure you can't use the ethernet for those functions?

 

[n0qcu]

Are you sure you can't use the ethernet for those functions?

You can but do you have ethernet in your RV?

 

[NYDutch]

Are you sure you can't use the ethernet for those functions?

Bobby said he didn't know.

"The question was if you needed the wifi adapter to watch on demand and I am uncertain."

 

[rvvaquero]

You can but do you have ethernet in your RV?

Yes. I receive the internet through my ATT hotspot and feed it via usb to my router which is ethernet connected to my Wally.

Bobby said he didn't know.

"The question was if you needed the wifi adapter to watch on demand and I am uncertain."

Bobby said that you need the wifi adapter to watch Netflix and apps. I asked him if he's sure.

 

[HipKat]

I deleted because I know you need the wifi adapter to watch Netflix and apps but then I thought about the original questions. The question was if you needed the wifi adapter to watch on demand and I am uncertain, not having a Wally, if on demand is actually available on the Wally.

It is, but it only streams, unless you have an EHD