Satellite doesn't get signal in cold weather????

[JBaytown]

Hey guys!

Been a while since I've posted on here. Me and my wife have been enjoying our Class A full-time since August. We started out in Houston and very recently decided to check out fulltiming in Colorado. Right now we're at the Denver East KOA... My first time staying at a KOA, but the RV parks and campgrounds around here stay full!

Anyways, this has been bothering me so I finally decided to post about it. I have a 2001 Georgie Boy Cruise Master, With a Winegard SD satellite. I've had the switches set for Dish, and have been using the Wally (don't get me started on the little receiver "made" for RV's). When I park the rig and flip the switch to start scanning, I usually have no problem with the rooftop satellite itself, it'll scan, start finding the first sat, focus in on it, move to the next, etc.

But starting from a trip to North Louisiana I've noticed that if the temperature is below say 45, the dish just scans and scans, continuously back and forth, not stopping on any satellites to identify them. At first I thought it was where I was parked and after time and time again I realized it only did that in cold weather. The dome is clean and under the dome the motor and satellite itself are in great shape. No dirt or debris. It's not condensation because on a 70° day it'll still pick up during a thunderstorm.

Being in Colorado, you can guess I haven't been able to watch the satellite much at all. Today was different. It was 55 degrees and I started the dish up and it tuned into the satellites as normal. (110, and 119). After resetting and begging my Wally to perform correctly, I was finally watching the Longest yard on Comedy Central. I didn't want to lose satellite signal and it start scanning again after it got cold so I was smart and turned off the switch so the satellite won't move. (Keeping it pointed at 119). So far so good, I was able to keep watching the movie.

It got darker and the temps got colder.... Suddenly the channel goes out and "Complete signal loss" appears, even though the motor is off and hasn't budged the dish...

Utter confusion. How does cold temps affect signal??? Well at least in my case.

It's not the Wally cause I was using the VIP211 which did the same thing (which is so much more dependable ...(may it ironically rest in peace))

I'm thinking it may be electronics in the Winegard SD... It's WAY out of warranty, and I don't want to go replacing a decent satellite dish that works (most of the time)... When I DO replace it i want to get the in-motion version, (not in the budget at the moment)

Any suggestions on what could be causing this, keeping in mind what I've already ruled out?

Thanksssssss

[hawkeye1995]

Shooting from the hip, I would guess that condensation is building up on the dome in cold weather. As temperatures drop, the air condenses, forming water on the dome, thus giving the same effect as if it were raining hard. I know my King Dome Sat. System mentions this in one of the troubleshooting guides. It states that morning dew can cause problems with reception. If humidity is high, this could be your problem. I heard they sell a chemical to reduce this problem, but I can not endorse, because I have never used the item. Also might want to remove the cover and check the gears and check for some excessive wear.



Since you said the Sat just went out without moving the dish, this is the only logical thing I can come up with at the moment. This is interesting, let us know if you find the problem.

[JBaytown]

Originally Posted by hawkeye1995

Shooting from the hip, I would guess that condensation is building up on the dome in cold weather. As temperatures drop, the air condenses, forming water on the dome, thus giving the same effect as if it were raining hard. I know my King Dome Sat. System mentions this in one of the troubleshooting guides. It states that morning dew can cause problems with reception. If humidity is high, this could be your problem. I heard they sell a chemical to reduce this problem, but I can not endorse, because I have never used the item. Also might want to remove the cover and check the gears and check for some excessive wear.



Since you said the Sat just went out without moving the dish, this is the only logical thing I can come up with at the moment. This is interesting, let us know if you find the problem.

I know it was long, but as I mentioned in the thread, it works during thunderstorms , and no, no condensation has formed on the dome itself.

Also, the sat was stationary (motor turned off so it wouldn't move) and as I mentioned , under the dome, everything appears to be in great shape. (Everything works great when it's 45° plus too.

I've since googled some more and there's a little hard to find thread that mentions "Winegard manufactured" LNB's on DirecTV Slimline (home) dishes that tend to not do well in under 0° weather... But 40 degrees and no signal? C'mon lol

[vsheetz]

Electronics can have temperature related problems. Have you spoken to the antenna manufacturer? Maybe a known issue.

As for the Wally. I have two that work perfectly. I've previously had 211k and 211z. The Wally is far better unit, in my experience and opinion. Ymmv, as it evidently does. But I dint think it's a systematic issue of the Wally in general.

[YC1]

In my electronics repair business we have a refrigerator to put devices into that experience thermal problems.

It can be tricky to get something cold and then quickly diagnose it because the refrigerator is too small for the tech to get inside and besides, the light goes off when the door closes or at least that is what they claim.

If you were boondocking and using just battery power I would recommend measuring the voltage at the dish or the closest connection to the dish.

I had a new in motion KVH sd that was really quite good but low voltage would make it just search and search. IF I had some sort of charging voltage it would lock quickly.

Ultimately I installed a 12 volt transformer and ran it with the inverter when on battery power. Once it quickly locked I turned the power off.

As for a replacement the in motion really was not that useful. Today there are so many streaming services that something is not so critical to me.

In any case, I would disconnect any connections you can get to to exercise them and then re-tighten.

[SuperGewl]

Well if you are going to replace it the get the Traveler. It locks into all 3 sats and no more searching if you change channels. Also it allows for 2 separate boxes and both TV's can watch what they want.