Winegard Sensar III wall plate

[vev46]

As a new RV owner, I am struggling to understand the operation of the wall plate where the 2 cables attach, one from the antenna, and the other from the cable input jack mounted on the rear left of the trailer. Since there is only 1 cable jack on the wall plate going to the TV, how is it determined which of the 2 sources is routed to the TV if there is a signal available from the antenna and one from a connected cable provided by the campground? There is nothing about this in the manual. Thanks for any help provided.

[TXJax]

SoundGuy wrote:

TXJax wrote:
Should I choose to NOT go with the SensarPro . . . what would be the correct wall plate to put in the camper?

So, is the SensarPro really worth the bucks?

Winegard makes a variety of wall plates but the basic RV-7042 would do what you want. The SensarPro does improve signal reception but it's not going to magically pull in stations when the antenna itself can't.

Thank you so very much, SoundGuy! I chose to buy the wall plate and make the Sensor Pro a lesser priority - I have too many other things to spend for on this little camper!

[TXJax]

SoundGuy wrote:

TXJax wrote:
Should I choose to NOT go with the SensarPro . . . what would be the correct wall plate to put in the camper?

So, is the SensarPro really worth the bucks?

Winegard makes a variety of wall plates but the basic RV-7042 would do what you want. The SensarPro does improve signal reception but it's not going to magically pull in stations when the antenna itself can't.

Thank you! I appreciate your time and patience.

[GaryS1953]

SoundGuy wrote:

GaryS1953 wrote:
"the Winegard SensarPro doesn't require the use of any "wall plate" as it replaces the wall plate,"

Pardon me for jumping in, but does this mean the SensarPro Wallplate removes my existing 12 volt plug?

Sure, but if retaining that 12 vdc outlet is so important then just leave it as is, mount the SensarPro in a surface mount box as I did and locate it near the wall plate, then run +/- 12 vdc from the wall plate to the SensarPro, and simply connect the coax cables from the wall plate to the SP. In my case, I instead removed the wall plate and built a custom box with a 1/4" TS jack for +/- 12 vdc and added kill switches for the stereo and SensarPro for those times we may be dry camping and I want to minimize draw on the battery.

Your setup there looks great and I'm sure I could do something similar. Thanks!

[GaryS1953]

wa8yxm wrote:
Yes it does but that outlet is low current.. you can always install an outlet fronm Auto zone/Pep Boys/Discount Auto/O'Riley's et-al next to the wall plate

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks!

[SoundGuy]

TXJax wrote:
Should I choose to NOT go with the SensarPro . . . what would be the correct wall plate to put in the camper?

So, is the SensarPro really worth the bucks?

Winegard makes a variety of wall plates but the basic RV-7042 would do what you want. The SensarPro does improve signal reception but it's not going to magically pull in stations when the antenna itself can't.

[TXJax]

SoundGuy wrote:

TXJax wrote:
Is the Sensor Pro really that good? What would the connection for an amplified antenna's wall plate really be? and Does anyone know the model number for the wall plate that would go with a Sensor IV? Winegard's "for all models" instructions are not helpful.

Little confused by your question :h - the Winegard SensarPro doesn't require the use of any "wall plate" as it replaces the wall plate, the biggest difference being it offers +/- 10 db of signal gain / attenuation which a conventional passive wall plate does not. The antenna cable feeds the SensarPro input, 12 vdc supplied by the trailer is connected to the SensarPro to drive it and is also routed to your new Sensar IV antenna head which contains a signal amplifier of it's own, and the SensarPro provides 2 outputs which can be used to feed up to 2 television sets.

I apologize.

The current plate that came with this new-to-me camper has no way to hook up the two TV cables (Air and outside RV park cable)to the one output. There is only the 12V socket.

Should I choose to NOT go with the SensarPro . . . what would be the correct wall plate to put in the camper? I am guessing it needs the splitter component and a 12V feed to the antenna input?

As my camper is small, I don't need two TVs, and where I tend to go (rural, boonies), I am also not sure the signal gain would be worth while. So, is the SensarPro really worth the bucks?

I've owned this thing a whole two months, so please bear with me! 🙂

[SoundGuy]

GaryS1953 wrote:
"the Winegard SensarPro doesn't require the use of any "wall plate" as it replaces the wall plate,"

Pardon me for jumping in, but does this mean the SensarPro Wallplate removes my existing 12 volt plug?

Sure, but if retaining that 12 vdc outlet is so important then just leave it as is, mount the SensarPro in a surface mount box as I did and locate it near the wall plate, then run +/- 12 vdc from the wall plate to the SensarPro, and simply connect the coax cables from the wall plate to the SP. In my case, I instead removed the wall plate and built a custom box with a 1/4" TS jack for +/- 12 vdc and added kill switches for the stereo and SensarPro for those times we may be dry camping and I want to minimize draw on the battery.

[wa8yxm]

Yes it does but that outlet is low current.. you can always install an outlet fronm Auto zone/Pep Boys/Discount Auto/O'Riley's et-al next to the wall plate

[GaryS1953]

"the Winegard SensarPro doesn't require the use of any "wall plate" as it replaces the wall plate,"

Pardon me for jumping in, but does this mean the SensarPro Wallplate removes my existing 12 volt plug?

[SoundGuy]

TXJax wrote:
Is the Sensor Pro really that good? What would the connection for an amplified antenna's wall plate really be? and Does anyone know the model number for the wall plate that would go with a Sensor IV? Winegard's "for all models" instructions are not helpful.

Little confused by your question :h - the Winegard SensarPro doesn't require the use of any "wall plate" as it replaces the wall plate, the biggest difference being it offers +/- 10 db of signal gain / attenuation which a conventional passive wall plate does not. The antenna cable feeds the SensarPro input, 12 vdc supplied by the trailer is connected to the SensarPro to drive it and is also routed to your new Sensar IV antenna head which contains a signal amplifier of it's own, and the SensarPro provides 2 outputs which can be used to feed up to 2 television sets.

[TXJax]

SoundGuy wrote:

neschultz wrote:
There are electronics and 3 coax input\outputs (1 in from antenna, one in from cable jack and one out to TV) on the back of the wall plate.

The OP has told us he has a Sensar III antenna so his Winegard wall plate contains no "electronics" as it has no ability to amplify the signal. When the switch is depressed and the light is on the wall plate routes 12 vdc power to the antenna head which does contain an amplifier that does boost signal strength. That switch also routes the output from the antenna head to the wall plate's output connectors, one on the front of the wall plate, a second located on the PC board which can be connected to a second television set. When the switch is retracted, the light goes out, 12 vdc is disconnected from the antenna head, and the cable feed located the side of the RV instead of the antenna head is routed to those two output coax connectors. NO "electronics" involved.

Yes, one can still buy an amplified Winegard wall plate for older non-amplified Sensar I and Sensar II heads but there's little reason to these days when the better solution is to replace the older non-amplified Sensar with the latest amplified Sensar IV which includes the Wingman UHF array.

If the OP wants to improve reception I'd recommend he add a Winegard Wingman to his Sensar III, in effect making it a Sensar IV. The next improvement would be to replace that non-amplified wall plate with a Winegard SensarPro which does offer +/- 10 db of signal amplification / attenuation. I've done both.

Brand new newbie here with a 2007 Keystone outback.

I just swapped out an RV-6004 (Sensar I?) head for a Sensar IV head. The Wall plate has only the 12V socket (which I like because I plug in my XM radio), but no splitter or anything. Just two cables hanging inside the ceiling.

Is the Sensor Pro really that good? What would the connection for an amplified antenna's wall plate really be? and Does anyone know the model number for the wall plate that would go with a Sensor IV? Winegard's "for all models" instructions are not helpful.

Thank you so very much.

[Johno02]

But the SensarPro wallplate is... And it works WELL. However, regardless of how strong your siginal is, some digital stations may still show "breakup" or interruped picture. I can receive a fairly local station here at home, It shows a full 5 bar signal strength, but still get pixelation sometimes. It seems to be worse in heavy wooded areas.

[SoundGuy]

neschultz wrote:
Wow, SoundGuy! That is undoubtably a better and more detailed explanation than mine.

But - PC boards, switches, leds, coax connectors, etc. are all electronic components.

Hey, at least you didn't refer to this Winegard wall plate as a "booster" which so many erroneously do. :R

[neschultz]

Wow, SoundGuy! That is undoubtably a better and more detailed explanation than mine.

But - PC boards, switches, leds, coax connectors, etc. are all electronic components.