Winegard Trav'ler EL Motor Home Failure

[jmlmeyer]

I have had 2 EL Motor Home Failure faults (out of about 12 uses) when attempting to stow my new Winegard Trav'ler. This failure prevents you from stowing the dish. With the help of Winegard tech support I was able to recalibrate the EL motor and stow the dish. With our previous coach, which also had a Trav'ler I never had a EL Motor Home Failure over 8 years and 100's of uses.

Have others experienced this issue? if so with what frequency? Is there a underlying cause?

Below is the recalibration protocol. Might be a good idea to have a copy available in case you have the issue and it is not during Winegard business hours!

The EL Calibration is as follows:

-Press and hold "enter" on the interface box until "enter user menu" appears.
-Press "select" to move the * next to yes, and then press "enter"
-Press "select" 2 times until the * is next to "installation" then press "enter"
-When asked for password, press "enter" 4 times
-Press "select" until the * is next to "calibrate EL", and then press "enter"
-Press “Select” to move the * to yes, then press ”enter”
-It will then say “calibrate el in progress”
-It will then say "on EL hard stop." Verify with customer If the satellite is still pointing straight up press "select" to move the * next to yes, and then press "enter"
-It should say calibrate EL success. Once it does press "enter"
-Press "select" until the * is next to "exit"
-It should now say "power off: yes/no." Press "select" to move the * next to yes and then press "enter"

Jack

[450Donn]

Only seen that if power was interupted during storage command.

[sbahrns]

Jack,

I was about to send you a message to see how things were going once you left Nappanee. Sorry about the trouble with the Winegard. So far ours has worked fine, but we have probably had only about a dozen deployments. Thanks for the re-calibration protocol. I hope I don't need it, but it could save a call to Newmar.

I guess Newmar couldn't provide a probable/possible cause?

Say hi to Mary Lou.

[jmlmeyer]

Hi Steve,

Best to you and Liz. Sounds like you are getting the most out of your new adventure. We had a very nice "break-in" tour after leaving Nappanne. Columbus IN, Lexington KY, Louisville. Highly recommend visiting both Columbus and Lexington. We then headed north for a pre arranged "punch list" appointment at Midway RV in Grand Rapids. Not much on list but glad to get a couple of little things taken care of. The people at Mid-Way are outstanding in all aspects. Then to Dallas for storage until January.

I did see that a Hughs did not fit in your coach. I had same issue. Oh well I think it is one of those add-ons that are nice but not necessary.

Jack

[Bumps]

Only had that "problem" on initial power-up out-of-box. Since then it has worked flawlessly. I'm hoping that you will have similar success. /ken

[Hertzberg]

I've had the EL Motor home failure happen 3 or 4 times our current coach. Only happened once with my previous coach.

When I talked to Winegard about this, they said that it's pretty common. It happens when the dish is up and something happens to slightly dislodge the dish position, i.e. strong winds or something else shaking the coach. In one case, a coach-washing service was on the roof and probably knocked the dish.

The procedure noted above works to recalibrate the EL home position. I printed it out in case I need to use it again.

[jmlmeyer]

Thanks Bob. I have gotten the same feedback from Winegard. They also indicated that it could be caused by a slight power surge. I do use a surge protector. However when I questioned if there could be other potential issues such as loose connections I got the following response.

"If it continues to happen you need to call in each time to document the issue so if it continues we can get it replaced while still in warranty and have the documentation to support a warranty replacement"

So my intention is to notify Winegard if it happens even if I resolve the problem using the recalibration protocol

Jack

[LCDRAKAllen]

Packer, I had that issue and have since discovered that the unit can be powered off after it acquires the satellites. If you press "Power & Enter" together, it powers off the unit but the sat still sends the signal to the DirecTV box. I had been leaving the power on (blue interface box) on, and using the inverter, it hiccuped and then EL Motor Home Failure! Since I've realized that the power could be off, no issues, and I also have longer inverter use. To completely power down, just press and hold the power button, it'll awaken and then go through the the power down process. You can look at my previous posts on the topic. Hope this helps. [emoji4]

When it is powered down, as above, it is not susceptible to power interrupts.

[jmlmeyer]

Thanks, good idea.

I asked the service manager at Midway RV about this issue. He said he would look into it. Below is his feedback. I have been very pleased with the responsiveness of Midway.

"Talked to Newmar and Winegard. Both said the new satellites are more sensitive, if wind moves the dish or power voltage fluctuates to much this can happen
Here are the instruction for this failure to reset.
So it sounds like this will be somewhat common compared to the older dishes."

Jack

[hawgguy]

Originally Posted by LCDRAKAllen

Since I've realized that the power could be off, no issues, and I also have longer inverter use.

Oddly enough, I used to turn the power off once set up for the same reason you mentioned (less inverter draw). I had the calibration failure twice - both times when going to power down from the "off" position. I figured it might be related to that so started leaving it powered on at all times. No further calibration failures. Go figure.

[LCDRAKAllen]

The power module seems to generate a lot of heat, I found this to be another advantage of powering it down. When I do "awaken" it to stow, I hold power for a couple seconds, not just a quick push. If I push it quickly, it goes back into "search mode" as if though it was just turned on. Just following up.