SK-3005

[ChuckNJ]

I purchased the sk34 auto stow cable as a fail safe against driving away with the dish deployed. I paid $50 for a cable that probably should have been included in the price of the $1800 dish but that not what bothers me its this.

Who designed this cable and what good is it?

To get the dish to auto stow you need to have the winegard dish powered on with 120 volts a/c , at this point you would have to apply 12 volts via coach ignition or brake switch while the unit is connected to 120 volts to get it to auto stow.

How many people have the dish unit powered on once its pointed? How many people have constant 120 volts to there dish from the time they park till the time they turn the ignition on to drive away? You would have to start the vehicle connected to shore power or have a inverter or generator running 24/7 for tthis feature to work.

They also claim one of the wires could be hooked up to a warning light but again you need the unit to be powered on by 120 volts for that feature to work.

Why could they have just done this? The dish knows to park itself when its powered down and it knows when its fully down as it powers off why at this point could you not have one of those 4 wires go from closed circuit to open so it could turn off a warning light or buzzer?

Or do they really not want a fail safe and hope you drive away and destroy the unit? I have seen many destroyed units on craigslist !!

I feel they should not market this cable period as it serves no purpose and they should refund me my $50

Thanks for listening to my rant

Chuck Meunier

[winegard]

Well, I sent your questions over to an engineer but it sounds like he's giving me the same canned answers that you have heard before

Auto Stow Cable

Here is exactly what I received back from engineering...

"The auto-stow cable does require the IDU to be powered on as the IDU controls the antenna’s ability to stow."

Your other questions are a little hard to give technical responses to as I don't know exactly how many people have the dish unit powered once it's pointed or why engineering was instructed to design the product a certain way.

[ChuckNJ]

Here is exactly what I received back from engineering...

"The auto-stow cable does require the IDU to be powered on as the IDU controls the antenna’s ability to stow."


AGAIN AND I USE CAPS BECAUSE I AM SHOUTING. WHY WOULD YOU LEAVE THE IDU POWERED 24/7 ? UNLESS ITS POWERED 24/7 THE SAFETY FEATURE THAT YOU MARKET THIS CABLE AND ITS $50 COST WILL NOT WORK IT IS NOT A FAIL SAFE !!!!!!!

This is what bothers me after countless hours calling winegard its the same basic NON RESPONSE

Oh its does not work and we cant tell you why but sorry your out $50 and we will continue to market something that does not work and we cant even tell you why we market it or what its purpose is !!!!

So please go out and drive away with you dish up WINEGARD needs the money in replacement parts or units !!!


Chuck Meunier

[dons2346]

Having to have the unit powered up makes sense to me. How in the world would the unit stow without power?

[SCVJeff]

I don't get why you're landing on a tech that's good enough to show up here, answer questions and help out where he can. He gave you a quoted answer from engineering, and that's the end of it. If you don't like the answer, then go after marketing. They sold it, not him.

[winegard]

dons2346 hit it right on the head, there is no way to stow the antenna without drawing power from the IDU control box. It also states in the manual that the “Auxiliary stow cable may not work for all situations, IDU should remain powered on for proper operation.”

The product works exactly how it is intended to work. Winegard does not want you to drive away with your antenna deployed.

[ChuckNJ]

Really it works like it should? I am an ASE certified Master automotive and truck tech and have spent the last 30 years of my life troubleshooting some of the most complex electrical issues on the market. If you have any idea about basic electrical circuits you would understand what i am upset about.

Please explain to me what you feel this $50 wire accomplishes and what its real design is?

That dish knows when its parked no? So if thats the case why cant the IDU just open a circuit that would allow a light or buzzer to go off when you power on the coach?

and for those of you that have the sk-3005 do you leave the IDU powered 24/7 ?

[UFO Pilot]

I have the Travler 1000 and I leave it powered on 24/7.

[ChuckNJ]

Maybe what I am getting at tis this here is the senerio. I arrive at my destination I fire up the genny turn on IDU position dish watch TV for the night now its time for bed time to shut genny off. Now its morning fire up genny turn on tv and it works no problem dish is already pointed no need to turn IDU on out of sight out of mind. Watch tv for a few hours shut it off turn genny off go for a walk. Now its time to leave I turn on the ignition and off i go but guess what i forgot to stow dish the rest is history as its probably demolished now.

But wait I have the auto stow $50 cable that should be or could be setup as a failsafe if it was properly designed and marketed but its not .

I am still trying to find out the senerio that this cable was designed for ?????

[ChuckNJ]

Originally Posted by UFO Pilot

I have the Travler 1000 and I leave it powered on 24/7.

so your saying you have a genny or inverter running 24/7 so when you turn on ignition the autostow will work?

Shore power would not be a solution here as you would need to disconnect before starting coach therefore shutting off IDU and its so called failsafe feature

[FlyingDiver]

Chuck - the problem here is that the cable doesn't work the way YOU want it to work. But it does work the way it was designed to work. If you start the RV while the IDU has power, it will stow. That's ALL it's designed to do.

For me, it would work fine. All of our electronics, including the dish controller, are on the inverter. And yes, I start up the engine to air up the bags before disconnecting shore power. I'm not sure why you think that's a farfetched notion.

You need a big red flag over your ignition switch to remind you the dish is up before you start the engine. Lots of people used to do that with the crank up dishes. For you, it would work much better than any automatic system.

joe

[ChuckNJ]

Originally Posted by FlyingDiver

Chuck - the problem here is that the cable doesn't work the way YOU want it to work. But it does work the way it was designed to work. If you start the RV while the IDU has power, it will stow. That's ALL it's designed to do.

joe

Ok I Give

So i get it pay the $50 for the cable, and have it installed by a tech because most wont have any idea of how to do it. What you will end up with is about a 200 to 300 dollar investment to save you the time of powering the unit off yourself?????? I know its real tuff to press that power button thanks wingard for saving me that trouble !!

What a great idea Why have winegard design something that would actually help someone from destroying the unit???

[ChuckNJ]

Let me also say that before I bought this cable I spoke to a women at winegard about the funtion of the cable she insisted that the coach 12 volt system would stow the dish she was unaware that the unit operates on 48 volts that info came on my second call. My third call was about setting it up using the warning light feature but guess what thats a no go also without 120 votls so whats it WARNING against????

[FlyingDiver]

You posted two messages in a row. I read the first one, and I was composing the reply when you posted the second.

Since you say that Winegard lied to you, have you contacted them for a refund? They're a reputable company. And no, I don't work for Winegard. But up until message #57, all you were doing was ranting about how the product didn't work as you wanted it to, you never said that Winegard actually gave you wrong information.

joe