Satellite Hook up

[DenMig]

Here we are 3 months since these were posted. After satellite working in my rv with this setup, suddenly it won't connect. I have winegard pathway x2. After the box goes through the 3 tests, the dish turns north and it can't find the satellite, duh. I then tried it having the cable go through the door directly to the box and the dish/box combo worked great, so I don't think it is the dish. Back to the 29mv and I made sure connections were tight, but at a loss as why this is happening. Very frustrating.

[Big1]

Yes it is frustrating so that's why I install a separate direct connection for my satellite hookup. These are just a few pics that I did, I can hookup it up directly from my tailgater king pro 2 to my receiver and not having to run the cable through a window.

[CAG]

Originally Posted by DenMig

Here we are 3 months since these were posted. After satellite working in my rv with this setup, suddenly it won't connect. I have winegard pathway x2. After the box goes through the 3 tests, the dish turns north and it can't find the satellite, duh. I then tried it having the cable go through the door directly to the box and the dish/box combo worked great, so I don't think it is the dish. Back to the 29mv and I made sure connections were tight, but at a loss as why this is happening. Very frustrating.

I did not see this until today and don't know if you got this fixed but the first items I would look at are the switch, if you put one in and the power button for the TV. Did either get changed by chance?

[DenMig]

Originally Posted by CAG

I did not see this until today and don't know if you got this fixed but the first items I would look at are the switch, if you put one in and the power button for the TV. Did either get changed by chance?

Still not fixed, took a break from it, lol. So I had it on the B switch, which it still is. I slid to A, then back to B. I checked all the connections that had easy access (the ones I changed), but no luck. I'll try again this week.

Weird thing is, if I open the door and run the rg6 directly from the dish to the box, works great. When I connect the cable to the rv (in the power compartment), it goes through tests 1-3 like everything is great, but then before it downloads the signal, the dish turns an additional amount and is basically facing away from the satellite and I ultimately get the can't find a signal message. It is so weird that it does the last turn, and only when connected to the RV.

[CAG]

Yeah, that is weird. If it has found the Sats and is then is going to download the signal why would it turn? And why only if connect through the RV? I have to give that some though but I'm not sure of an answer for that one.

[F350guy]

Originally Posted by DenMig

Still not fixed, took a break from it, lol. So I had it on the B switch, which it still is. I slid to A, then back to B. I checked all the connections that had easy access (the ones I changed), but no luck. I'll try again this week.

Weird thing is, if I open the door and run the rg6 directly from the dish to the box, works great. When I connect the cable to the rv (in the power compartment), it goes through tests 1-3 like everything is great, but then before it downloads the signal, the dish turns an additional amount and is basically facing away from the satellite and I ultimately get the can't find a signal message. It is so weird that it does the last turn, and only when connected to the RV.

I have a Pathway for the living room tv that works great thru the satellite connection in the water hook up compartment. I recently bought a Playmaker for the wife to have satellite in the bedroom. I tried it out last week with the living room tv using the same connection and it would try to find the satellites but would give up and stall pointing straight up. I thought it was defective so I called Winegard. The tech had me hook it up directly to the Wally and it worked as advertised. The tech said the problem was it was not getting enough power from the Wally to make it work correctly, too many connections inside the Pinnacle were lowering the voltage, I guess. I told her it worked with the Pathway but she said they are different animals.

I then tried it using the aux connection which supplies the bedroom and guess what, it worked. Should have tried that in the first place. I would assume there are less splices and a shorter run to the bedroom tv. Based on my experience sounds like you have a low voltage issue due to the number of splices/length of run inside the coach but why it would show up after working for a while makes no sense. You may have do something like Big1 did. I may do that also at some point just to eliminate possible issues.

I know my issue was with a Playmaker but Winegard was very helpful so you might give them a call.

[DenMig]

Originally Posted by F350guy

I have a Pathway for the living room tv that works great thru the satellite connection in the water hook up compartment. I bought a Playmaker for the wife to have satellite in the bedroom. I tried it out last week with the living room tv using the same connection and it would try to find the satellites but would give up and stall pointing straight up. I thought it was defective so I called Winegard. The tech had me hook it up directly to the Wally and it worked as advertised. The tech said the problem was it was not getting enough power from the Wally to make it work correctly, too many connections inside the Pinnacle were lowering the voltage, I guess. I told her it worked with the Pathway but she said they are different animals.

I then tried it using the aux connection which supplies the bedroom and guess what, it worked. Should have tried that in the first place. I would assume there are less splices and a shorter run to the bedroom tv. Based on my experience sounds like you have a low voltage issue due to the number of splices/length of run inside the coach. Why it would show up after working for a while makes no sense. You may have do something like Big1 did. I may do that also at some point just to eliminate possible issues.

Winegard was very helpful so you might give them a call.

Thanks. That makes sense. Like you said, weird how it did work, but now it doesn't. I did use a new, longer cabe that I bought. I'll try again with the shorter cable, that may be it ?????

[DenMig]

Originally Posted by DenMig

Thanks. That makes sense. Like you said, weird how it did work, but now it doesn't. I did use a new, longer cabe that I bought. I'll try again with the shorter cable, that may be it ?????

That was it !!!! So I had always been using a 25 ft RG6 cable when it worked through the greyhawk. I was at a campground with a lot of trees, so I used a 50 ft cable, then combined them to 75 ft to get around the trees, but that weird turn kept happening. When I got home, I was using the 50 ft cable, no success.

Now I just switched back to the 25 ft RG6 cable and it works. So it definitely cannot provide enough voltage at 50 ft. (combined with the RV wiring)

Thank You !

[CAG]

Originally Posted by DenMig

That was it !!!! So I had always been using a 25 ft RG6 cable when it worked through the greyhawk. I was at a campground with a lot of trees, so I used a 50 ft cable, then combined them to 75 ft to get around the trees, but that weird turn kept happening. When I got home, I was using the 50 ft cable, no success.

Now I just switched back to the 25 ft RG6 cable and it works. So it definitely cannot provide enough voltage at 50 ft. (combined with the RV wiring)

Thank You !

I am putting that one away in the Good To Know locker. I have a 50 ft and a 100 ft coax. The Tailgator says only use the 50 but because I could not find an open space that close at one site I ordered a high grade coax at 100 feet. It worked ok but I was thinking that the voltage drop over 100 feet might be a problem I got the best coax I could find. I had no problems but I bet that was why. Dumb luck

Which makes me want to go look for a power booster for those, just in case. I don't know if one is available.

[F350guy]

Glad you figured it out. Now I'm concerned because I've only tried both of mine with the 25 foot cables. I bet with the 50 I will have the same issue. At least I know what it is. I'm thinking I need to get one of those outside connections to run thru the wall behind the tv's. Amazon shows them out of stock so will have to search for something. I hate drilling a hole thru the new Pinnacle but it sould solve the problem as I have heard of folks using up to a 100 foot cable with a direct connection.

[DenMig]

Originally Posted by CAG

I am putting that one away in the Good To Know locker. I have a 50 ft and a 100 ft coax. The Tailgator says only use the 50 but because I could not find an open space that close at one site I ordered a high grade coax at 100 feet. It worked ok but I was thinking that the voltage drop over 100 feet might be a problem I got the best coax I could find. I had no problems but I bet that was why. Dumb luck

Which makes me want to go look for a power booster for those, just in case. I don't know if one is available.

What kind of power booster would work ? What are the specs on the higher quality cable ? I just bought mine at walmart. Maybe with better cable I can use longer cables.

[CAG]

Booster, I don't know. I don't know if one is made but I plan on a little research.

Coax is another story. I cannot recall now if I researched and bought the best RG6 or went for RG11 but it works fine at 100 feet. RG11 is better for long runs and outside use.

I think I just went with the best RG6 I could find. The Walmart stuff is probably iffy over 50 feet.

[DenMig]

Originally Posted by F350guy

Glad you figured it out. Now I'm concerned because I've only tried both of mine with the 25 foot cables. I bet with the 50 I will have the same issue. At least I know what it is. I'm thinking I need to get one of those outside connections to run thru the wall behind the tv's. Amazon shows them out of stock so will have to search for something. I hate drilling a hole thru the new Pinnacle but it sould solve the problem as I have heard of folks using up to a 100 foot cable with a direct connection.

I am going to buy a higher quality 50 ft and 100 ft cable and see what happens.