carryout power cord

[herefishy]

We have a 3 year old winegard carryout and just ordered our 3rd power cord - is there any alternative for the blankety blank plug that just ceases to work?

[enblethen]

I do not disconnect the cord at the dish. I used a couple medium duty cable ties to secure the cable onto the handle so no strain is placed on my replacement connectors.

[Bill_Satellite]

MrWizard wrote:
get a new cord
then cut it about 12 inches from the antenna
use automotive 2 prong plugs to make the connection between the pieces

leave the 12" piece always connected to the antenna,
unplug the 49ft piece from the 1ft permanent short piece and long cord
no more pulling on the antenna connector

I like it! Great idea.

[mike-s]

Bill.Satellite wrote:

The above picture is NOT the connection used in his 3 year old Carryout. That is the updated "good" power connector and does not suffer from the problems that nearly everyone with the OP's original power cord suffers. Unfortunately, the new good power connector is not a direct replacement for the old style so you have to keep buying new cords over and over or you have to ensure that you never pull on the cord itself while trying to unplug the cord. It's not an easy task but it can be done.

Sounds like a bad strain relief on the original, so tugging on the wire breaks the internal connection? Shoe-goo is pretty strong, stiff but flexible, and waterproof - perhaps coating a few inches of cable, then onto the body of the connector would help.

Shoe-goo is a Styrene-butadiene copolymer. It's great stuff, IMHO. It's like a flexible version of JBWeld/PC-7, which you don't have to mix. I keep it in my tool kit since it works well for lots of things.

[MrWizard]

get a new cord
then cut it about 12 inches from the antenna
use automotive 2 prong plugs to make the connection between the pieces

leave the 12" piece always connected to the antenna,
unplug the 49ft piece from the 1ft permanent short piece and long cord
no more pulling on the antenna connector

[Bill_Satellite]

RoyB wrote:
AFter looking at where you plug in the 12VDC Plug I can understand alittle more about how easy it may be pulled out easily...


Roy's image from PDF manual

It still looks like once you make the connection you can use something like heat shrink tubing to seal around the connection next to the Carryout Unit and make it more difficult to be ripped out...

Definitely needs to do something along this line to keep from having to keep purchasing new extension cords...

I probably would make the connection and slip the heat shrink over both the plug part and the receptacle part and shrink it in place. Then I would add a small tie wrap around the receptacle part to keep it more secure in place. This would definitely make it more weather tight as well. Then I would just leave the 12VDC extension cord in place all the the time and wrap up the 25 or 50-foot length around the the carry out...

Enough of me rattling on here haha. Maybe some others on here will have some ideas as well...

Again just my thoughts here

I heat shrink all of my outside DC connections around my battery bank etc... They also make adhesive type heat shrink tubing that is excellent for doing the battery ring terminal connection for use outside where weather tight connections are important...

Roy Ken

The above picture is NOT the connection used in his 3 year old Carryout. That is the updated "good" power connector and does not suffer from the problems that nearly everyone with the OP's original power cord suffers. Unfortunately, the new good power connector is not a direct replacement for the old style so you have to keep buying new cords over and over or you have to ensure that you never pull on the cord itself while trying to unplug the cord. It's not an easy task but it can be done.

[herefishy]

thanks for the tips on the heat shrink tubing, never dreamed they made it in one inch diameter. That might just make it weatherproof. I kind of think that the wire wiggles within the plug, and the tubing should make it a more solid connection. Think I will also wind tape around the cord and the handle to keep the strain off it.

[enblethen]

I changed my dish ends out to the flat two conductor used in many RVs.
It has not failed since changing them out. I used a cable tie to secure the connector in the dish so there would be no stain on electrical connections.
When using crimp connectors and heat shrink, inject electrical grease into connector prior to crimping and heat shrinking.

[RoyB]

AFter looking at where you plug in the 12VDC Plug I can understand alittle more about how easy it may be pulled out easily...


Roy's image from PDF manual

It still looks like once you make the connection you can use something like heat shrink tubing to seal around the connection next to the Carryout Unit and make it more difficult to be ripped out...

Definitely needs to do something along this line to keep from having to keep purchasing new extension cords...

I probably would make the connection and slip the heat shrink over both the plug part and the receptacle part and shrink it in place. Then I would add a small tie wrap around the receptacle part to keep it more secure in place. This would definitely make it more weather tight as well. Then I would just leave the 12VDC extension cord in place all the the time and wrap up the 25 or 50-foot length around the the carry out...

Enough of me rattling on here haha. Maybe some others on here will have some ideas as well...

Again just my thoughts here

I heat shrink all of my outside DC connections around my battery bank etc... They also make adhesive type heat shrink tubing that is excellent for doing the battery ring terminal connection for use outside where weather tight connections are important...

Roy Ken

[RoyB]

I have not seen or used one of those but the word proprietary usually just means they can charge more for it. If what we are talking about here is a WINEGARD RPGM52 you can buy this exact item from AMAZON for around $28...
WINEGARD RPGM52 AMAZON
google image

If it looks like the AMAZON part shown above I would get one of those and make the connections and slip some one inch heat shrink material over both connections and heat shrink both ends. That will give you alot of strength against being pulled apart... You would want to slip the heat shrink tubing on the cable end before you connect both ends together. The heat shrink may not fit over the 12VDC plug on the other end to be slid all the way down to the antenna side where those two connectors are located. Then after I heat shrinked both end i would use some small tie wraps and tightned down on both ends of the heat shrink. This isn't going to be ripped off very easy...

You probably always have the 50-foot extension cord connected so it would not make any difference to make it more permanent connection. Seems silly to have to keep purchasing a new one every six months or so...

Just some of my thoughts here...

Roy Ken

[herefishy]

The attachment to the antenna is the part that fails and I'm told it is a proprietary part. It seems to tear loose from the connection.

[RoyB]

I am assuming this is the WINEGARD RPGM52 Power Cord you are referring too. What part of it fails.. This is just a 50-foot extension cord for 12VDC... AMAZON has it listed for around $28

Google Image

If the two pin connector is getting corrosion than maybe you can rig up a 1-inch piece of heat shrink tubing to go over both the connections to make it more weather proof... Hardware stores like True Value - Lowes sell short pieces of heat shrink material in a 4-6 each to a package.. You can tie wrap or heat shrink one end and allow the other end to slip over the receptacle perhaps...

Roy Ken