Roof satellite dish won't crank up.

[GAVERY]

We bought a 2004 Winnebago Adventurer last Thanksgiving and thought we had everything finally fixed and ready to go(ABS light 2 times, HWH jacks inoperative, Onan generator would not run,etc). We spent today to get ready for our first trip and I decided to crank the Winegard sat. dish on the roof to the up position to try it out. The crank turned quite easily for about 15 turns and then it got tight so I assumed it was all the way up. I climbed up on the roof to check it and it was only about 1/4 of the way up. There is also a digital panel on the ceiling next to the crank that the manual says shows the elevation of the antenna but nothing shows on it when I push the button. Took the panel down and it has wires hooked behind it in the ceiling. Any help would be very much appreciated as we are looking forward to our first outing--sometime.

[tomsm]

GAVERY - I assume you checked for obstructions while you were up there. That antenna is known to get a little sloppy on the elevation. The gear that attaches to the elevation shaft (not the crank shaft) tends to allow the dish to flop up and down a few degrees in the wind. It usually doesn't hurt the reception. Possibly yours has totally rounded off and slipped on the shaft. With the antenna cranked up as far as it will go, try to lift the dish up further. If it will lift, the gear is slipping on the shaft and you will probably have to replace the antenna.

As for the elevation digital readout - mine quit working about a year ago and I found a chart in the manual that shows how many turns to crank it up for various elevations. Kind of a pain to stand there counting cranks, but it works and increases your powers of concentration....

I plan to replace mine with the Winegard Slimline SOON...

[Clay L]

It may need lubricating. I think you can download an installation manual from their web site which should help you see how to get to the parts that need lubrication. My manual says to use silicon grease. If not you could call Winegard.

The elevation sensor has two wires leading from the sensor on the dish to the board and there are two from rthe board that connect to 12 volts dc. The board is marked for which one is the 12 volts. You might want to check the voltage.

[Ding-a-ling]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomsm As for the elevation digital readout - mine quit working about a year ago and I found a chart in the manual that shows how many turns to crank it up for various elevations.

.... D'ya know - there is a battery in the readout device that runs down rather quiclky.

I gave up on that and just use the chart for turns vs. elevation also.

Maybe newer models of the digital readout are hard-wired to a DC source - ours isn't.

[Clay L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ding-a-ling .... D'ya know - there is a battery in the readout device that runs down rather quiclky. I gave up on that and just use the chart for turns vs. elevation also. Maybe newer models of the digital readout are hard-wired to a DC source - ours isn't.

Yeah some have a battery and some don't and are connected to 12 volts.

Mine wasn't and I also got tired of replacing the battery. I asked Winegard about it and they told me that to avoid problems the 12 volt suppy should be "clean". I built a simple regulator using a LM7809 IC, mounted it in the display housing and connected it to the 9 volt (battery input) then connected the regulator input to the 12 volt line going to the Winegard supply.
Been working great for about 4 years now.

[tomsm]

Mine doesn't have a 9v battery. It worked perfectly for the first 4 years so I don't think the 12v is dirty. Anyway, it's nice to know I can count 20 cranks or so without losing my place...

[GAVERY]

TOMSM,
I did try pulling up on the ant. It wouldn't move. There is no 9 volt battery under the elevation readout cover, just 2 wires the go up into the ceiling. Any way, thanks so much for the suggestions. Guess I will try a call to Winegard as my nanual does not have any elevation or azimuth numbers for the different satilites-we are on Direct TV. Thanks again.

[stubeje]

I backed into my building without lowering the dish and broke it/ Called winegard and they sent a replacement gear to me and a new dish(which got bent pretty good) and never even charged me for them...was easy to replace the nylon gear in the unit...good company to do business with...

[Bill Adams]

Often users confuse all the way up with all the way down. It's possible that the previous user put it down by mistakenly putting it up. Depending upon the age of the antenna the dish either stowed on it's back with the LNB folded up somewhat inside the dish or it stowed with the dish over the top of the LNB. In either case the dish would have properly stowed with the base toward the front and the dish toward the rear.
As to the Digital Magic box, check to see if 12V power is available at any of the connections inside, or if you see a 9V battery connection in there. You need one or the other for the display to work. When the dish is perfectly straight up and down the Digital Magic should read 24. Put a level on the dish and crank up or down until the level shows this dish is straight up and down. If the meter inside does not read 24 you will find a small white box on the dish outside. Loosen one of the screws and adjust the sensor until the inside box reads 24 and tighten it down again.

[tomsm]

GAVERY - Here's a link to the PDF file on the Winegard site that gives the number of crank turns for any given elevation: http://winegard.com/kbase/upload/2451182.pdf

As for the elevation and azimuth for a satellite, that depends on where you are in your travels. You can find the values on the DirecTv website for any zipcode or you can use a standalone program such as this one, which I use: Satellite Finder Home Page

Of course that still doesn't solve the problem of not being able to crank it up enough

[Navy Flier]

You will probably have to replace the gear mechanism. Order one from Winegard and be sure to get the latest one that improves station keeping in windy conditions. The gear set will arrive with installation instructions