Dry camping with satellite TV possible?

[Guysakar]

Update/Edit: It seems some people were confused by my original post, and I have some new discoveries.


Looking into getting Dish Network's Tailgater and VIP 211K receiver. Or anything, really.

The receiver draws around 22 watts when off, in standby mode. That is too much daily power consumption for dry camping.

Apparently unplugging and plugging the receiver daily is not recommended, as it is not designed for that. Plus, it takes a while to boot up from cold.



So, what are my options? Is it just not really feasible to have satellite TV while dry camping? Seems someone has found a way to work around this.

Thanks in advance.






Original post is below, but saved just because there are responses to it, but everything is covered above:

Me wrote:
HI everyone, and thanks for all of the previous help.

I am looking into getting a Tailgater and VIP 211K from Dish.

From what I am reading (I could be wrong) the 211K reciever will draw somewhere around 22 watts when off, which will drain about 2 amps an hour from my battery (mostly dry camping).

If this is true, then I assume I will need to unplug it every time it is not in use.

I am also reading that in doing this, it will take about 10 minutes for the tailgater to re-find satellites, box to boot up, etc...

Is this true?

If so, is there another, less PITA avenue I could take? What if I just went with a standard dish on a tripod? I wonder how long it would take to boot everything back up.

Also, is Direct TV a better option in general, being that it only has to pick up one, vs three satellites?


Thank you for any and all help in advance.

[wilber1]

We've been using satellite dry camping for years and never had a problem with unplugging the Motorola boxes used by Starchoice. Usually do it a couple of times a day. Never even thought about it. Maybe I should have.

[K_Charles]

Guysakar wrote:

Awesome. Thanks for the reply.

What kind of satellite do you have? I'm wondering how well the Tailgater will do having to acquire the satellites every day.

Also, I wonder if the stationary tri-pod dishes can get local channels. I think I read that the Tailgater does.


Thanks again.

I have an old 500 dish that I set on the ground that I don't use much and an even older foldup that has only one LNB, I aim it at 62.5 (I think) eastern arc and that has most if not all the locals on the east coast and all the programming I need. Most of what we watch you can get with the antenna, we need the dish for NCAA basketball and MLB.

[TechWriter]

Guysakar wrote:

Also, I wonder if the stationary tri-pod dishes can get local channels.

Open-faced tripod dishes like the DISH 1000.2 or 1000.4 can get all the channels as a standard house install because these are typically the dishes used for home accounts.

So, yes, tripod dishes can get local stations. Plus, once sats are acquired on a tripod dish, the sats remain acquired until you move the dish -- and a tripod dish uses no power.

However, setting up a tripod dish is more involved than setting up an automatic dish.

[Golden_HVAC]

HI,

I had Direct TV and could watch about 2 hours of TV each night and still have the solar panels fill my batteries each day. Then I installed a pair of 120 watt panels, and could watch TV about 8 hours per night and still charge the next day. . Life is good!

SunElec.com

Your RV will use about 35 amp hours per day to run the refrigerator and propane and CO meters. This is about what 120 watt 7 amp solar panel will put out in 5 hours sun. Sure it will be less than 7 amps before 10 am and after about 2 pm, but overall, the average is 5 hours X the maximum nominal amperage of each panel.

I would get a 100 watt inverter. It will run the dish receiver 24/7 without using to many amp hours. Even if you use the generator for a hour or so, leave it plugged into the inverter, so that you do not interrupt the power and cause the receiver to need to reset. While resetting the receiver is listening for a "Approval" notice to be sent out to it's receiver number, something that probably happens every hour or two, or when you call Dish Network tech support.

Fred.

[full_mosey]

Guysakar wrote:


Looking into getting Dish Network's Tailgater and VIP 211K receiver. Or anything, really.

The receiver draws around 22 watts when off, in standby mode. That is too much daily power consumption for dry camping.

Apparently unplugging and plugging the receiver daily is not recommended, as it is not designed for that. Plus, it takes a while to boot up from cold.

I use a 211k and Tailgater.

When dry-camping, I do unplug the 211k at least once every day; and overnight for sure. My Kill-A-Watt says 30W when plugged in. On or off makes no difference; it is 30W.

Where did you get the idea that unplugging was any problem? It takes about 15min to completely reboot.

HTH;
John

[enblethen]

My Direct TV receiver still sees the antenna and satellites while off. If I remove power from the receiver it must do a cold boot.

[dahkota]

For the last six months we used a Pathway X2 and 211K receiver, mostly on an inverter(200-400W). We turned off the inverter every night and turned it back on when we wanted to watch tv (to conserve batteries). We had no problems at all with the Pathway or the 211K doing this. Typically, the Pathway would take 5 minutes to find the satellites if the area was clear, up to 15 minutes if there was anything in the way.

[enblethen]

I do not think that keeping the receiver power while on the road will help much. It will try to find the birds and with no antenna connected it could go into default and shut down. You may then need to call the service number for a reconnection.

[wa8yxm]

A pair of GC2 golf car batteries (Six volt) in series hold about 1KW of usable enegery

22 watts times 24 hours is 528 watts.

Add a pair of GC-2 batteries to your existing battery bank and you will have more than enough, even a single group 31 is enough to bolster your battery bank, IN fact. Running the generator for at least six hours a day.. Even less would do it.

But I'd go with an additional pair of GC-2s if I could because.. Best bang for the buck... You may also need a small converter upgrade...

Converter should be around 1/3 your total battery bank 20 hour amp hour rating.

Bigger (Faster recharge) not good for batteries.. in fact slower is better so it's a trade off between generator run time and battery life.

[Snowman9000]

We have the Tailgater and the 211k receiver. We use it just as you propose to do. No problem! It will take ~15 minutes to be ready to go from a cold start, as mentioned already. Maybe a bit less if you haven't moved, because it does seem to retain some of the guide info after power off. Loading the guide info is the most time-consuming part of the start up.

Also, the 211k has an over the air tuner. So you can connect your RV antenna to it, let it scan for locals, and they will be included (somewhat) in your guide, be available for DVR, pause/resume, etc. It's sweet. The 211z doesn't have the tuner, but you can buy one as an accessory. Edit to add, you have to connect an external HD to the 211k to have the DVR features. And pay a one time fee.

[enblethen]

I doubt whether it would put much wear and tear on the receiver. It would need to reboot every time power is supplied.

[Me_Again]

Guysakar wrote:

Me Again wrote:
We have Directv HD with a slimeline SWM setup. Because of the scales built into the mount it is easier to align than our old SD dish. Run things off our Freedom 10 inverter and charge with the converter and Honda eu1000i. Other than spot beam, we do not have issues.

Chris

Thanks for the reply.

I know that it is possible to use them dry camping. My questions are: Is there a way around unplugging them everyday? If not, how much wear and tear is going to be put on the system having to cold boot it once a day?

Thanks again.

I lost a HDDVR over the winter while the trailer was stored and plugged in. Directv sent me a new model for no charge under the $7 maintenance fee I pay each month.

Chris

[GoPackGo]

I have the Winegard Pathway X2. This unit is for Dish only, as is the Tailgater. it sells for about the same price as a Tailgater and uses the same receiver boxes (211K, 211Z). I see $500 (with one 211z receiver included) at the Winegard site, but you can also get them from Amazon or Camping World, etc. The 211z is the latest model of the 211 series.

The Tailgater and the X2 both get their operational power thru the cable that runs to the receiver box - no separate plug in needed.

I believe the X2 has 3 advantages over the Tailgater.

- It has a little larger dish so it should be a little better at latching onto the satellites in marginal conditions (trees, storms, etc).

- It will receive EITHER western arc or eastern arc sats. This might be a big deal in some locations.

- Most important - it has 2 outputs so you can run lines to 2 different TVs. You can watch different programs on the 2 TVs as long as the programs are on the same satellite and you have a separate receiver box for each TV.

I full time so I move a lot. There are no problems with shutting down every few days and then restarting in a different location.

Local channels - All you do is call Dish tech support and give them your current physical address, (including zip code) and they will then push the right buttons to get you the local channels (takes about 10-15 minutes for them to show up in the channel guide). I do this every time I move more then a hundred miles or so with no problems. This process is the same for all the Dish portable sat receivers.

I really like my X2. It has performed great with no problems. So far I have used it everywhere from Florida to Wisconsin to Wyoming.

I have nothing against the Tailgater. I know people really like them and I'm sure it would work fine too.

Both the X2 and the Tailgater have a way to attach a cable and lock so you can securely attach to your RV to make sure it won't walk away. I bought 30 ft of chain and 2 padlocks for that purpose.

I did not get a DirectTV portable because DirectTV doesn't send out an HD signal the portables can receive.

These golf ball sat receivers work great. Just point them south and stand back.

Saw an interesting sight the other day. A motorhome with 2 Tailgaters set up and setting side by side. I assume it's because they had 2 TVs and wanted to watch different programming at the same time. Actually not a bad idea.

Tim

[Guysakar]

Me Again wrote:
We have Directv HD with a slimeline SWM setup. Because of the scales built into the mount it is easier to align than our old SD dish. Run things off our Freedom 10 inverter and charge with the converter and Honda eu1000i. Other than spot beam, we do not have issues.

Chris

Thanks for the reply.

I know that it is possible to use them dry camping. My questions are: Is there a way around unplugging them everyday? If not, how much wear and tear is going to be put on the system having to cold boot it once a day?

Thanks again.