Winegard woes….please help!!

[somelee]

first let me say hello
I'm a new member on the forum and a new rv owner. I just bought a 2013 Landmark Key Largo a few weeks ago. I haven't even brought it on my first trip yet but will do this week. So heres my issue:

I decided to do the satellite install myself to save a few bucks and to get familiar with the layout of the cables in the rv. I spent a day or so checking, and fixing in a few cases, the coax cables. After everything was verified as working I did the install. I mounted the antenna, ran the cabling through the roof, hooked up all the direct tv receivers (one in LR one in BR). Connected the power inserter and the interface box. When I went to power up the antenna the interface box started powering up and then shut off when I released the button. I tried again and it shut off. I unplugged the antenna connection from the rear of the box and powered up the unit. It powered up and looked for the antenna but, obviously, didn't find it. It said antenna not connected. I plugged back in and tried again. Once again it shut off when I released the button. Next I left the cable plugged in to the interface box and unplugged it from the antenna side. Once again it powered up and tried to find the antenna but couldn't (because it wasn't hooked up). I tried one more time with everything connected and the same thing..starts to power up then shuts off.
I also tried the whole sequence with the cable supplied with the antenna (I didn't need it because the RV was pre-wired with one already). Same result.

it seems to me that something is wrong with the antenna itself? Has anyone had this issue? It's very frustrating.

any help/ideas would be appreciated.

regards
Lee

 

[danemayer]

Hi somelee,

Congratulations on your new Key Largo and welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. This is a great place to get answers and there are a few people who have installed the rooftop Winegard, so hopefully you'll get some helpful responses.

I don't know much about the Winegard, but one thing that might help would be to isolate the setup from the coach wiring while troubleshooting. Even though you've tested everything, getting possible complicating factors out of the equation sometimes can be helpful.

 

[Garypowell]

I have a portable system so I don't know the ins and outs of your system. But one thing I do know is that Winegard has excellent customer support. Usually you have to leave a message but they do call back. I seem to always get the same lady so I think their staff is small. But she has patiently helped me before I bought and after as I did the simple set up and then again as I converted to SWM.

 

[somelee]

thanks Dan
Ever since I started looking at buying a Heartland this website has been very helpful. I know with other interests of mine the owners forums are usually more informative/helpful than the manufacturers are!

On the troubleshooting front..I definitely have done that. The problem seems to be powering up the antenna. (SK-SWM3). It doesn't have anything to do with the coax runs in the coach. Power for the antenna is provided by the interface box. Only when the box is plugged into the antenna does it shut itself down before even looking for the antenna. When its unplugged from the antenna it functions as it should. 2 different interface cables same result. Something in the antenna is causing the interface box to shut off. I really hope I didn't get a defective antenna as its already screwed and sealed to the roof!!

the other observation I've made (slightly unrelated) is that the provided mounting screws for the antenna base don't really seem to grip into the "wood" of the roof like I'd like them to. They don't really snug up enough to make me comfortable. Are those of you who are running this dish using some other type of screw?

 

[Phil Smith]

I'm thinking there is probably a stray strand of the copper sheilding shorting to the center conductor. Possible even inside the sat. dish. You can take an ohm meter and with both ends of the cables unattached look at the resistance. Outside of the connector to the center conductor should have a high resistance value. If 0 or near zero, the cable is shorted. Remove the ends and replace. It only takes one strand of the copper braid to cause a short and could short out the power supply causing it to shut down.

 

[OhShoot]

Try looking at the manuals in heartland manuals section this may help http://manuals.heartlandowners.org/...youts/All_Brands/2013.5_LM-BH_Coax_Layout.pdf

 

[jbeletti]

Lee,

Even though you don't believe the issue to be with the coax, as others have mentioned, drop a new section of coax from the antenna, in through and down to the power supply.

Speaking of which, I didn't hear you mention the power supply. I assume you have one and connected it. Perhaps you have the leads reversed on it?

I could be wrong on this and it may not be helpful to your issue but, I believe:
1. The LNBs are powered by the power supply that comes with the dish
2. The motors in the dish base are powered by the interface box which itself is 110 VAC powered

The fact that dropping the coax off the dish and the interface box stays powered on is telling. Perhaps the interface box is looking for a range of resistance from the coax power before it will start it's process.

Sounds like a quick call to Winegard in the morning is needed. Do circle back here to let us know what the fix was. You will then be "paying it forward" on this forum and helping out the next guy and teaching us older and saltier dogs something we may not have known too

 

[kakampers]

I think you probably already know this, but you have to hold the button for a few seconds till it says that it is powering up....if you push it and just let it go, it will go black and power off.

 

[GlenStMary]

I installed a Winegard dish just as you did and found on the first screw that if I used an electric screwdriver the driver over torqued the screws and wallowed out the wood. I ended up using a hand turned screw driver on the rest of the screws just to be safe. If I was you I'd opt for larger diameter screws and install them by hand so you could be sure they don't strip out the wood.

 

[GlenStMary]

I assume you've used the cable provided with the dish when you purchased it to also test the operation of this device. If not, I'd suggest you do that. You can use that factory supplied cable up on the roof along with an extension cord and the controller to test the operation of the unit. If that too ends with the error, I'd have to think the dish controller is at fault, I'd get back with Winegard and have them send you another controller. There isn't much in the dish and it's base in the way of intelligence. My line of thought is that you may have a faulty control module and if replaced, the already mounted dish and mount should function normally.

 

[somelee]

thanks for the replies everyone. I pretty much tried everything today. All of my coax cable are working as they should but I ran a brand new one directly from the dish to the power inserter just to be triple sure. I am 99.9 percent certain the coax cables have nothing to do with this issue though. I also tested both dish power cables for continuity and they check out fine. SO I think its going to be something like Phil or Glen suggested. Either theres a bad wire or wiring in a connector inside the actual Dish or the interface (power) box is bad. I'll let you know what shakes out after I talk to Winegard tomorrow.

thanks again
Lee

 

[Dave49]

I'm not understanding quite how you are hooking the cable up but when it was installed in my 2011 Bighorn the installer hooked up to a coax that was factory installed but not hooked up to anything. This was located in the bedroom speaker. The first one you come to when walking into the bedroom. Just remove he speaker cover and they might be there.

Unsure how the newer rigs are but aye this will help.

Dave