Infotainment Center GPS System antenna issue
Our 2014 Itasca Ellipse Infotainment Center w/ 10-inch LCD experienced a GPS issue at the 5-hour point in our full day travel. The accuracy of the system tracking of our location relative to the moving map appeared to have us off course and paralleling the road, kept recalculating the route, and loosing heading. Pulled over at the next Rest Stop and called Camping World Elite Services, of which is suppose to be our 24-hour support center for any and all issues. They advised me to go to the nearest repair location, and had no further guidance, wow, they were clueless. I asked if they could transfer me to a Winnebago tech or the GPS manufacturer and the gal was clueless. So, I contacted the Infotainment center manufacturer directly, which in our case is River Park Inc. and asked for Technical Support. A guy by the name of Phil answered that call, and he turned out to be very knowledgable of the system, as well as my actual coach installation, and had dealt with the same issue a few times before. It was suggested to be one of three causes, either the antenna attached to the dash frame under the dash cover fell loose and is getting poor reception, the antenna cable has been routed incorrectly and chaffed against the dash frame rails and shorting to ground, or the antenna connector plug (a blue plastic RF connector) immediately behind the 10-inch monitor is loose. Four sheet metal screws release the dash cover over the speedometer and with a flashlight the blue antenna was easily seen, and with a little gentle pressure the connector was squeezed together tighter and wallah, the GPS snapped correctly to the current map coordinates and heading. Being a former avionics tech being behind the instrument panel was a simply task, and problem solved. Also, the River Park tech was more than ready to send a replacement antenna under warranty and no cost in the mail should it be necessary, very nice guy, really knew his stuff, not only about the system, but the specific motor-coach installation of that equipment. Anyway, 30-minutes later we were back on the road.
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Chris & Deb Werlhof, Venice, FL
2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee L
2022 Coachman 215RBK
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