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We have installed a 48" LCD tv into a bay on our coach. We built the frame out of steel and mounted it to both the floor and ceiling of the bay. The extendable tv mounting bracket is mounted to our frame. I'm concerned about the amount of vibration this might subject the tv to. We could store the tv in a padded box for the longer trips, but were wondering if anyone has a simliar setup and your experience.
You need to be sure the tv is mounted to the metal tv chassis itself. Many of the mounts are attatched to plastic on the rear of the tv. Add a few miies of vibration and the plastic will be done. I did not think about this untill I spoke with Troy at Liberty. It makes perfectly good sense. Good luck with your project!
Kevin,
If there is any way to isolate the vibration try to do it. There are many products on the market, including the air bellows used for our generators. More likely the vulcanized rubber isolation mounts are all you will need.
In another life I designed and produced shipping pallets for engines manufactured by Cummins in Jamestown NY. These were reuseable skids or pallets and the specs required they withstand a certain amount of Gs, as well as a full vibration range such as might be found on every mode of transportation, including truck, train, air and boat. I designed it out of sheet metal although others tried to make it from structural shapes. Our design when presented to the testers brought about laughs because they were sure it would fail.
At the end of the day the flex provided by sheet metal as opposed to the rigidity of structural components saved the day. We passed every test. The bottom line is I never realized the damage a range of vibrations could do to things. I watched as our engine skid sustained all the frequencies to which it was exposed, however I also watched as parts of the engine disassembled themselves.
During our tests which were interrupted I watched as a team of engineers from Chrysler had tested a shipping skid of theirs which held about 20 sheet metal roofs from their vans. Within 30 seconds the structure had failed and roof panels peeled from the skid like playing cards.
These are not violent shocks, but vibration frequencies ranging from very low to very high. You and I could stand on the base while it vibrates, but anything rigidly attached to the same base would eventually fail unless it could handle the effects of the vibrations.
If I were to mount a large TV I would use something to provide a little "give". It might be our coaches will never impose vibrations of a frequency or magnitude great enough to damage the TV or cause the mounts to fail, but why take the chance? Unrelated, I now look at structures in a completely different way and I am in awe of how Prevost has changed the bus frame structure to accomodate a slide room and apparently been able to create a structure thus far immune to the types of failures I withnessed happening so easily.
Kevin, I installed an LCD tv in my entertainment bay over a year ago, although it is not as large as yours, (I think it is like a 27 inch) I designed it flush with the cabinet, it is mounted on ply wood with a hinge on the bottom so it will open down/out, and it has storage behind for all of my Prevost manuals, coach information ect. so far, it performs well with no problems. But I must admit, Country Coach and Vision Coaches rides so much smoother than the Liberty Jon is accustomed to so I wouldn't worry about it! By the way, thanks for the tip/info on Continental Tires I really am enjoying the ride!
Incoming...
Thanks for the input everyone. I do have some rubber donut cushion washers that can be mounted the floor portion of the frame. We're going to leave the tv on the swing out mount for now. We have a 1000 mile round trip coming up next week. Ill keep you posted on the outcome good or bad.
I have my 46" lcd mounted to a motel type extendable/turnable rack which is mounted to the wooden floor of the bay. When the rack is recessed all the way into the bay, closing the bay door braces the tv against the carpeted backside of the door to keep it from bouncing around much on the mount. I also put two rubber bumpers on the inside of the door which slip under the bottom edge of the tv as you close the door. No problems in about 75,000 miles.
I like the ideas you all have come up with. How about some pics for the visual. Rick