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Winegard Sensar Amplifier

BobKrogstie
Explorer
Explorer
Has anyone ever had the amplifier go bad in the Sensar III head? I get no reception of the OTA channels others in the RV park are getting after multiple scans on the TV. I have 12VDC on the wall plate, the button is pushed in and the green light is on theoretically sending 12VDC to the amplifier in the antenna head.
Bob and Natalie
2008 Grand Junction 37QSB
2009 Dodge 3500DRW Big Horn 4X2/CC/LB/CTD/4:10/Auto
19 REPLIES 19

enblethen
Nomad
Nomad
Thanks for the update!

Bud
USAF Retired
Pace Arrow


2003 Chev Ice Road Tracker

RJsfishin
Explorer
Explorer
If you did not upgrade the wall mounted power supply to the "sensor pro", doing so just could find more channels,.....if nothing else you will find them a lot faster in unknown areas..
Rich

'01 31' Rexall Vision, Generac 5.5k, 1000 watt Honda, PD 9245 conv, 300 watts Solar, 150 watt inv, 2 Cos 6v batts, ammeters, led voltmeters all over the place, KD/sat, 2 Oly Cat heaters w/ ox, and towing a 2012 Liberty, Lowe bass boat, or a Kawi Mule.

BobKrogstie
Explorer
Explorer
To tie off this thread, I replaced my 8 YO Sensar III with a Sensar IV after verifying 12vdc at the head and am now receiving 13 OTA channels. Thanks again to everyone for your valued input.
Bob and Natalie
2008 Grand Junction 37QSB
2009 Dodge 3500DRW Big Horn 4X2/CC/LB/CTD/4:10/Auto

wa8yxm
Explorer III
Explorer III
Short answer to the original question: YES, but not often

More likely .. Over time the coax cable (roof to head) goes bad due to effects of Sun and Weather.. The connections also tarnish and loose contact

replacement every decade or so is (Possibly far sooner) is indicated, also when you disconnect treat the connections with DE-OX-IT or better yet DE-Ox-IT followed by De-Ox-It Gold.

There is a connection in the roof, mine is under a "Clamshell" plate... That was toast on my RV, had to remove connector, replace the cable ends with a better ones and put in a new connector as well I mean it was in sad shape.

That is my #1 suspect in fact.. Took ma a good amount of time to scrape off the Dicore,m unscrew, lift and seperate then about 1 second to inspect, a few minutes to renew the cable ends and replace the barrel then it was put it all back together time and seal far better than factory did.
Home was where I park it. but alas the.
2005 Damon Intruder 377 Alas declared a total loss
after a semi "nicked" it. Still have the radios
Kenwood TS-2000, ICOM ID-5100, ID-51A+2, ID-880 REF030C most times

Tom_M1
Explorer
Explorer
Here's an excellent article by Chris Bryant about tuning up your antenna:
Tune up your TV antenna
Tom
2005 Born Free 24RB
170ah Renogy LiFePo4 drop-in battery 400 watts solar
Towing 2016 Mini Cooper convertible on tow dolly
Minneapolis, MN

RJsfishin
Explorer
Explorer
Dump it all !
Update to the sensor 4 head and the sensor pro amp/power supply w/ digital readout giving you location of the strongest signal, w/o even turning the tv on. No more doing 4 separate scans in 4 different directions just to find a tv channel.....that maybe isn't there. Worth its weight in gold.
Rich

'01 31' Rexall Vision, Generac 5.5k, 1000 watt Honda, PD 9245 conv, 300 watts Solar, 150 watt inv, 2 Cos 6v batts, ammeters, led voltmeters all over the place, KD/sat, 2 Oly Cat heaters w/ ox, and towing a 2012 Liberty, Lowe bass boat, or a Kawi Mule.

Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Explorer II
Paul G. wrote:
I would take a 25' section of coax cable and connect it directly to the antenna and run it through a door or window and connect to tv. This way you can quickly tell if its the amp or the cable. My bet it is the short cable from the antenna to the mounting plate.

That's all I got.

Paul...


This will not work. The Winegard antenna requires 12V power to operate. You could run the coax from the antenna, through a window and connect it to the power supply but a direct line to the TV will result in little or no reception.
What I post is my 2 cents and nothing more. Please don't read anything into my post that's not there. If you disagree, that's OK.
Can't we all just get along?

Chuck_thehammer
Explorer
Explorer
cables do NOT like being moved..

and there you have the issue.. raise up antenna... lower antenna with a wire (cable) that does not like being moved... over and over and over.

a major failure point.

plus 2 connectors subject to weather.. at the head unit and at the roof.

I had to glue the boots .. as they kept slipping off the connectors.

Dutch_12078
Explorer II
Explorer II
D.E.Bishop wrote:
I'm glad no one told me that the short(a relative distance) cable from the antenna to the power supply was easy to replace. In my Bounder, there were three pieces of cable from where the cable from the antenna entered the Bounder to the power supply. FOUR pieces in all.

As I said, the piece from the Sensar head to the roof connection is a common failure point that's easily replaced. That's just one short 3-4 foot piece of coax. The roof connection routing inside to the power injector is anyone's guess, and can be a real can of worms to replace in some rigs, but seldom fails.
Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F53 chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
Bigfoot Automatic Leveling System
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/Blue Ox baseplate

BobKrogstie
Explorer
Explorer
Thanks all for your input.
Bob and Natalie
2008 Grand Junction 37QSB
2009 Dodge 3500DRW Big Horn 4X2/CC/LB/CTD/4:10/Auto

D_E_Bishop
Explorer
Explorer
I'm glad no one told me that the short(a relative distance) cable from the antenna to the power supply was easy to replace. In my Bounder, there were three pieces of cable from where the cable from the antenna entered the Bounder to the power supply. FOUR pieces in all.
"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to go". R. L. Stevenson

David Bishop
2002 Winnebago Adventurer 32V
2009 GMC Canyon
Roadmaster 5000
BrakeBuddy Classic II

Paul_G_
Explorer
Explorer
I would take a 25' section of coax cable and connect it directly to the antenna and run it through a door or window and connect to tv. This way you can quickly tell if its the amp or the cable. My bet it is the short cable from the antenna to the mounting plate.

That's all I got.

Paul...

enblethen
Nomad
Nomad
The amplifier is in the head. The unit on the wall or ceiling is a power supply that induces 12 volts onto the coaxial cable.
As suggested earlier, check for 12 volts DC on the coax.
Does you wall/ceiling unit have an LED and is the unit turned on?

Bud
USAF Retired
Pace Arrow


2003 Chev Ice Road Tracker

Johno02
Explorer
Explorer
Go up on the roof and check. a bad connector is the most likely problem.
Noel and Betty Johnson (and Harry)

2005 GulfStream Ultra Supreme, 1 Old grouch, 1 wonderful wife, and two silly poodles.