Winegard Trav’elr

[SuiteSuccess]

I have the Dish 1000 Trav’ler (converted from DirecTV) on our coach.  On our recent trip leaving Oklahoma unit would not stow.  Display alternated between EL motor failure and AZ motor failure.  No trees in southern Oklahoma so no obstructions.  Followed manual stow procedure (BTW it was 5/16 socket not 3/8”) and antenna folded down exactly 135 degrees in rotation from where it should stow and putting dish mostly “scooping” the 60mph air going down the road.  Only solution was to remove the reflector and arm to keep it from ripping loose.  Meantime wife was on phone trying to get help from Winegard.  Waited on hold over an hour only to tell me they couldn’t help unless I reinstalled reflector and arm.  Said I’d be happy too if they could tell me how to manually rotate the base for an emergency stow in it’s normal position out of the slipstream.  Well they couldn’t really guarantee that so I said I’d just take what I have and check back when we got home and stationary.  Understand Elevation can be re-calibrated but manual only says call Winegard Tech (and hold 1-2 hours).  What about Azimuth, can it be re-calibrated?  Any other suggestions?  On edit anyone have instructions on how to recalibrate?

[Brad & Jacolyn]

Hate to hear about your problem Suite. We have the Wineguard Trav'ler using Dish network. I pressed the button one day to stow and it pointed straight up. They did help get it down and stowed but to fix it I have to remove the unit from the roof and send it back to them for repairs. That was an ordeal that I won't go into here. They were not particularly easy to work with and being full time also complicated things. May be easier for you since you have a house. Good Luck.

Brad

 

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

Early this summer I had my Trav'ler get the Azimuth Motor error.  I first contacted Winegard via a email.  I got a response fairly quickly by phone (within an hour), decided that the turret had to be shipped in for a rebuild.  At that time I as going to pay $350 for the rebuild and shipment back.  At that time, the elapsed time was projected at a couple of weeks.

My biggest challenge was getting the turret off the roof.  We were a few days out from the REV Service Center in Decatur IN.  We had REV remove the turret and ship it to Winegard. 

We had the rebuild shipped to the farm where we were headed.  We were using the ground tripod for the EA anyways.  We didn't get to the farm for 17 days and the rebuilt turret had been there for over a week.  During the 17 days, Winegard hadd called and said they were handling it as a warranty repair.

I was fine with Winegard.  I was surprised that the Trav'ler had the problem at 2.25 years since the Trav'ler on the Travel Supreme Trailer is over 8 years old without a hiccup. But for two years, the Bounder Trav'ler had a Hybrid DPH LNBF mounted for the Hopper 3 and it uses more voltage than the Trav'ler logic board provides ,  My normal seek times went to a couple of minutes to sometimes over an hour.  So in the 40-50 stops a year, I managed  to put 20 years of seeking on the turret.  

Solved the seek issue with a DPH-42 Switch and a regular LNBF head on the Trav'ler.  All in all, I feel the service is fine.

[SuiteSuccess]

Mine should be less than two years old and under warranty.  Trouble is since we bought the trailer used (it is a 2017) Winegard is not sympathetic since we don’t have a receipt for purchase.  DRV provided us with the build sheet and the trailer was built in August 2016.  The Trav’ler was not on the original build sheet and it was shipped to LazyDaze in Florida where I assume it was added by them.  So far no one from there will return our calls but will keep trying.

[Rover]

We are having problems with our Trav’ler seeking for long periods and often stowing itself a couple of times before it will lock on. And this is with absolutely no obstructions. I’d have to check, but since we’ve had the hopper 3 since 2016, I’m pretty sure we have the hybrid DPH LNBF head. We also had to put in a solo node.

If we switched this out for the DPH-42 switch and regular head, does that also replace the node? And should help our seek and stowe problem? 

TIA

Vicki

 

 

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Carl, take dealing with Lazy Days out of the equation.  They are less than useless.... 

[SuiteSuccess]

34 minutes ago, Alie&Jim's Carrilite said:

Carl, take dealing with Lazy Days out of the equation.  They are less than useless.... 

Jim,

Yes I’m gathering that.  Did find out from them they installed the Trav’ler on our coach April 2017 so it should still be under two year parts warranty but have no paperwork to support that and having hard time getting Lazy Days to send me any confirmation so I can prove to Winegard.  Found instructions on how to re-calibrate EL motor and tried three times today and it still fails so looks like Winegard going to have to rebuild.  More phone calls tomorrow.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

1 hour ago, Rover said:

We are having problems with our Trav’ler seeking for long periods and often stowing itself a couple of times before it will lock on. And this is with absolutely no obstructions. I’d have to check, but since we’ve had the hopper 3 since 2016, I’m pretty sure we have the hybrid DPH LNBF head. We also had to put in a solo node.

If we switched this out for the DPH-42 switch and regular head, does that also replace the node? And should help our seek and stowe problem? 

TIA

Vicki

Putting the DPH-42 Switch will significantly improve the performance of the Trav'ler.  You are wearing out the Azimuth motor with the Hybrid LNBF head.

[SuiteSuccess]

21 minutes ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

Putting the DPH-42 Switch will significantly improve the performance of the Trav'ler.  You are wearing out the Azimuth motor with the Hybrid LNBF head.

Mark,

You’ve lost me.  We have the Dish 1000 Trav’ler with one VIP 211Z in the living room and a Joey in the bedroom.  Is anything you are referring to above pertinent to my system?  And could this be causing my system not to calibrate?

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

If you don't have a Hopper on board, you are not driving the Joey. The Hybrid LNBF is only needed for the Hopper 3.

The Hybrid LNBF head is backward compatible with the VIP 211Z but not with the Trav'ler electronics.  The lower than needed voltage for the Hybrid LNBF from the Trav'ler electronics cause intermittent signals to the seeking logic, hence the longer seek times.

And if you have a Hopper 3 on board, what are you messing with the VIP 211Z?  There are ways to hook a VIP 211Z with the Hopper 3 but it is not straight forward.

 

[SuiteSuccess]

Sorry Mark, I misspoke.  We have a Walley in the bedroom, not a Joey.  We have the VIP left over from our previous trailer.  The Dish 1000 has a separate feed to the Walley.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

How do you know you have a Hybrid LNBF on the Trav'ler?

If you do, either back-off to a DPP LNBF on the Trav'ler or get the DPH-42 Switch.

[SuiteSuccess]

Well just got a call from Winegard.  Have to send turret back to them for rebuild.  Will not honor warranty since we bought the coach used.  System is 17 months old. Don’t know what that has to do with anything since it’s their system that failed but is apparently the norm now.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

Back to the question do you really have a Hybrid LNBF on the Trav'ler? Because if you do, that is not a good situation.

[SuiteSuccess]

1 hour ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

Back to the question do you really have a Hybrid LNBF on the Trav'ler? Because if you do, that is not a good situation.

Mark,

I don’t think so if that is who you’re addressing, but it looks like one of the posters (Rover) might.   How would I know?  This is what I have RP-SK 21 and RP-SK 11 which converted my SWM turret to Dish from  Directv.  I bought directly from Winegard and they said that’s all I needed for the conversion.  For comparison.

https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-RP-SK21-Reflector-Bracket-Assembly/dp/B00T37LAZA

The SK-11 is the reflector itself.

[SuiteSuccess]

Mark,

This is what Winegard sent me when I emailed them, then Purchased.

Q: Does the SWM TRAV’LER antenna work with DISH programming?
A: No. However, if you decided to switch providers at a later time, the SWM TRAV’LER antenna can
be converted to a DISH system. The conversion kit requires Winegard part numbers RP-SK21 and RP-SK11.

[Rover]

Mark,

Just to clarify, we switch out the hybrid LNBF head with the regular one and add a DPH-42 switch. Do we leave the solo node in place or remove it? And I am assuming we would also switch out the LNBF on our portable dish also. 

Thanks so much for your help.

Vicki

 

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

20 minutes ago, Rover said:

Mark,

Just to clarify, we switch out the hybrid LNBF head with the regular one and add a DPH-42 switch. Do we leave the solo node in place or remove it? And I am assuming we would also switch out the LNBF on our portable dish also. 

Thanks so much for your help.

Vicki

Assuming we are talking about a Hopper 3, the output of the DPH-42 Switch goes through the Power Inserter for the DPH-42 Switch and then into the SOLO Hub.  While the Hub and the Node look similar, they are very different.  

The Hopper 3 needs the SOLO Hub unless the Hopper 3 is the only unit being used.  If there are Joeys then the Hub is necessary.

The SOLO Node was for the Hopper 1 & 2.

if you are using a ground tripod, the DPP 1000.2 should be using Hybrid LNBFs and the switching of the coax cables would be at the input of the SOLO Hub.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

2 hours ago, SuiteSuccess said:

Mark,

I don’t think so if that is who you’re addressing, but it looks like one of the posters (Rover) might.   How would I know?  This is what I have RP-SK 21 and RP-SK 11 which converted my SWM turret to Dish from  Directv.  I bought directly from Winegard and they said that’s all I needed for the conversion.  For comparison.

https://www.amazon.com/Winegard-RP-SK21-Reflector-Bracket-Assembly/dp/B00T37LAZA

The SK-11 is the reflector itself.

Then you should have a DPP (standard) LNBF and you should be fine.  I jut wonder if a firmware change of the controller box is not necessary to tell the Trav'ler electronics what to look for.

[SuiteSuccess]

Mark,

As always thanks for the help.  Taking the Trav’ler off tomorrow and shipping to Winegard at their request.  BTW they may be repairing under warranty since I pointed out their warranty says nothing about it being “non-transferable “ and it is less than two years old.  I sent them an email about your firmware update question.

[Rover]

19 hours ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

Assuming we are talking about a Hopper 3, the output of the DPH-42 Switch goes through the Power Inserter for the DPH-42 Switch and then into the SOLO Hub.  While the Hub and the Node look similar, they are very different.  

The Hopper 3 needs the SOLO Hub unless the Hopper 3 is the only unit being used.  If there are Joeys then the Hub is necessary.

The SOLO Node was for the Hopper 1 & 2.

if you are using a ground tripod, the DPP 1000.2 should be using Hybrid LNBFs and the switching of the coax cables would be at the input of the SOLO Hub.

Thanks Mark.

I’m sure we have the SOLO hub now or our Hopper 3 and Joey wouldn’t be working. As we originally started with a Hopper 1 before going fulltime, we had the node first and that’s what I remembered from the original install. I’m glad you told me about the portable dish as I would have thought we needed to switch the LNBF head on it also.

 Thanks again for your help.

Vicki

 

[SuiteSuccess]

Update:  Got a call from Winegard today and they based the repair on serial number and said it would be covered under warranty.  Supposed to call back Monday to get details of exactly what was wrong with the unit.  Saved me $350 although cost was$100 to ship to them.  

[Brad & Jacolyn]

Glad to hear they will cover under warranty. Also good that you have a house to send the repaired unit. I'll be curious to hear if they actually call you with problem. I did not get any calls after I approved the repair and did not know when it would be ready so they would know where to send it back. It arrived just in front of us at a location I was not expecting it but all worked out in the end.

Brad