Winegard Sensar IV Installation Help

[floridaguy]

Looking for some advice. I'm replacing a Winegard bat wing, vintage about 2006 with the Sensar IV that I'm going to pick up tomorrow. Heavy wind damaged the mast and crank mechanism. The present bat wing, with Wingman, has a 12 volt, two wire connection made on the mast, as well as the coax connection on the mast. Looking at the Sensar IV installation manual, it appears the new unit has a wall plate that I'll have to install inside. The 12 volt connection is made at the wall plate, along with coax in and coax out. Presently my winegard video distribution box provides the 12 volts that is connected on the mast. How have others dealt with this change in installation wiring? I was hoping the installation would be simple hooking everything up like it was before. All help appreciated. Bob

[Bill_Satellite]

Whew, glad to see that someone got the correct info. The 2 12V wires have nothing to do with the Sensar itself and they should not be disturbed. These are wired to a light or buzzer to remind you that the antenna is not properly stowed. The Sensar itself gets all of its power via coax so you just need to remove the old and install the new using the existing coax cable.

[floridaguy]

Job done! Thanks to all for getting my thinking right. Merry Christmas

[Chris_Bryant]

floridaguy wrote:
Thanks for all the advice. It gave me something to think about when I should have been sleeping last night. I haven't confirmed it but I bet that wire and junction box is for the "Antenna Up" warning light on my dash. Maybe it's some kind of mercury switch. I'll confirm today when I remove it. If it is for the warning feature, I'll move it to the new antenna. Thanks for helping me work through my case of dumb azz.

That is exactly it- a switch for the antenna up light.

[floridaguy]

Thanks for all the advice. It gave me something to think about when I should have been sleeping last night. I haven't confirmed it but I bet that wire and junction box is for the "Antenna Up" warning light on my dash. Maybe it's some kind of mercury switch. I'll confirm today when I remove it. If it is for the warning feature, I'll move it to the new antenna. Thanks for helping me work through my case of dumb azz.

[enblethen]

The box on the mast should come out. The power goes through the coaxial cable directly from the video box.
This may help you understand wall switch versus video box.
Video distribution box

[floridaguy]

The existing bat wing is not motorized.

[Old-Biscuit]

Never seen a junction box on mast?
Was the old one a motorized mast?

On my dist. box 12V DC is feed to box and then goes up the coax cable to antenna amplifier in head.

The wall plate does the same thing

[floridaguy]

enblethen wrote:
You should be able to skip the part about the wall mounted power supply. The winegard video box will do it.

On the mast of my existing bat wing, is a small junction box where the 2 wire 12V DC is connected. That box is not on the mast of the new Sensar IV. I don't know if I can remove it from the old antenna and put it on the new Sensar IV.

[floridaguy]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
The 12V DC power for the amplifier in the head is via the coax cable

That's true but I think the way the 12V DC power gets into the coax is via the wall plate that comes with the new Sensar IV. Right now I don't have a wall plate.

[Old-Biscuit]

The 12V DC power for the amplifier in the head is via the coax cable
No 12V wiring up to antenna
Just install the new antenna and hook up the coax cable...turn dist. box power off first

[enblethen]

You should be able to skip the part about the wall mounted power supply. The winegard video box will do it.