Winegard 1518 won't lock on

[dkperez]

I have a new Winegard 1518, and I"m not sure what I"m doing wrong. I did a search of the forum for 1518 and it came be with no topics, which didn't seem right, so I'll just ask and beg your forebearance...

As I said, new 1518. We're on Direct TV, and I"m using a DVR R16-300. I tested everything at home and it worked PERFECTLY... Put the dish outside, plug in the cable, plug in the receiver, plug in the 12V and in a minute, I have satellite.....

Last weekend we were in a state park, lots of trees, underbrush, HEAVY overcast, awful conditions. Set the dome down pointing sort-of south, hooked everything up, and VOILA, in a minute I had satellite. Even in those cruddy conditions it worked.

TODAY, I"m in South Dakota at a KOA. Bright and sunny, TOTALLY clear to the south, NO problems at all. EXCEPT I CAN'T GET A SATELLITE. I connected everything the way I always do, the dome whirs and does whatever, but I get no connection.

I reset the receiver. I unplugged and plugged in the dome. NO satellite.

Finally, I took the white cover off and watched it. It does the rotate thing, then starts adjusting the height. It makes a complete first series of passes, then resets and starts again. On the second series of passes, it SEEMS to get a signal. It stops, then goes up and down, then moves a little to the right, goes up and down again, moves back, and does this a couple times. Then, it just goes back to spinning in a circle. Eventually, it appears to give up and just aims the dish straight up....

I figure it's GOTTA be me, 'cause it's SOUTH DAKOTA fer cryin' out loud....

The ONLY thing I've done since last weekend, was to take the 12 volt cable and the two satellite cables, and put them all together with tape about every foot so things wouldn't be so messy. I can't believe that would cause the thing not to work though, would it?

I've read the manual, and followed the instructions, and I'm perplexed. WHAT do I do to get this thing to stay locked on? Is there some kind of communication between the receiver and the dome? Do I need to give it a zip code? Is there something else going on?

[Winegard Tech Help]

dkperez,

There is a communication voltage coming from the receiver to the satellite antenna.

Make sure of a few things. First, the coax cable between the antenna and the receiver needs to be a straight run (ie: no splitters, power inserters, or anything else in line). If you have a receptacle you are using on the side of your coach, I would bypass that initially to see if we can get locked, and if we can, then we can try that port again.

Follow these instructions to ensure the receiver is configured correctly: http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/re ... irectv.pdf

If you're still having issues, post back or try calling technical service at 800-788-4417.

[Bill Adams]

You might also want to try using only one cable from the Carryout Main connection to the R-16 input one and set the receiver for single tuner during the Repeat Satellite setup routine. You may also want to try using 18" round / multiswitch (instead of the oval option) as an additional trouble shooting idea.

[dkperez]

I've got everything hooked up directly - straight from dome to receiver. Also have unhooked the secondary cable from both ends.

I was on the phone with your tech support this morning, and they had just had me test the voltage at the dome - I got 12.35 volts, and sent me to (I suspect) test the voltage at the receiver when my cell phone ran out of battery. So, I"ve got it recharged and I"m going to give it another try....

BTW: Your support person said 12.35 was low, but we hadn't gotten further before I was cut off.

[dkperez]

Just to make things more "interesting" I called Direct TV. And requested a transfer to technical support so I could get their version of what the output of the receiver SHOULD be...

AND, true to their tradition, I got a guy that "has NO IDEA what the receiver voltage should be. Only installers ares allowed to know that. And since you're not AT THE ADDRESS ON THE ACCOUNT, we can't send out an installer."

OH. And BTW, I've now tried both cables I have with me. Neither gets over 12.3 volts. As near as I can tell, the receiver only outputs 12.3.

IT WORKED LAST WEEKEND. IT WORKED 2 DAYS AGO. Same dome. Same receiver. Same cables. And at THAT time it was actually going through the setup in the RV, which is a dedicated plug, cable inside, and plug at the TV. So, there was MORE stuff for it to go through than it's got now...

Unfortunately, I called Winegard back 3 times, got the "we're all busy" message every time. Left a phone and name the first time, about 3 hours ago, have never heard back.

[Bill Adams]

I just connected a cable up to my Tuner 1 port on my R16. Depending upon whether your receiver is currently looking for an odd or even transponder you should be seeing 13.6V and 18.9V output from the tuner 1 connection (that's the output from the antenna input in case I am confusing you). You do want to ensure that the power coming from the cigarette lighter to the Carryout is 12.5+V as well.
If you are checking the Tuner 1 connection and only seeing 12.3V output then you certainly have an issue with the receiver. If you go into the satellite setup and get to where the signal meter is you will see the transponders listed there with a +, - to change the number. 1 is default. If you change between and odd and even number you should see the voltage change as this is how the LNB changes polarity (if that's the right term).

[dkperez]

I did two things (which, of course, means I have no idea which helped the problem)...

The cable from Winegard that came with the dome had a very sharp kink right at the end. When I wiggled it, it seemed TOO loose. SO, I picked up a new end and put it on, just in case the center wire was damaged. Then I moved from Sioux Falls to Wall SD.

In Wall I hooked up, turned things on, plugged in the dome and in 30 seconds I had a lock and satellite.

One thing I found when I retested the receiver after it was unplugged while moving across the state... Where I"d been getting 12.1-12.3V when I tested the plug on the receiver, in Wall, on transponder 1 was getting 18.3V. Changed to transponder 2 and got 13.0V. Went to transponder 3 and got 18.2, so I presume the receiver is now "working".

I've now moved from Wall to Keystone, but, where I"m camped I have trees around. I used the Sat Finder app on the cell phone, and found that I just have a notch in the trees with a clear view of the satellite (at least the one at 101), so I'm trying the dome here... It took the dome quite a while (definitely a LOT longer than the 30 or 60 seconds I was getting), but eventually I got about 85 on Tuner 1, transponder 1 on satellite 101, and it locked and downloaded the information.

So, at the moment, it appears to be working...

[burgiebill]

"Last weekend we were in a state park, lots of trees, underbrush, HEAVY overcast, awful conditions. Set the dome down pointing sort-of south, hooked everything up, and VOILA, in a minute I had satellite. Even in those cruddy conditions it worked."

Question, did you have any rain? If so did you get any rain fade?