Satellite Dish Type

[brenkco]

I have had Dish and used both the tripod with the full 3 lnb dish and now the Dish tailgater. There are pros and cons to each.

The dish gives you multiple inputs that allows you to use multiple receivers (or multi tuner receivers) and watch different programming on different TV's. It picks up all three satellites at the same time. Setup time takes a bit longer but as mentioned before, after some practice, it doesn't take too long.

The tailgater takes much less room to store. It's setup is simple and automatic. Although it gets all the HD channels, it has to switch between satellites. The delay is minimal. The limitation is that it only works with the VIP211K receiver and only allows one channel at a time. You can watch a recorded program on the DVR while recording another program. Another limitation is that if you dry camp and switch between generator and inverter power, the software on the tailgater requires a complete reset with program download that takes a bit of time to complete. (we found a solution to this issue but it's a bit lengthly so I won't go into it here) . This issue doesn't exist with a fixed dish.

Ken

[arcticman1957]

You can get the local channels on the X2. Another issue with the X2 is you cannot get weather on the 8's from the weather channel specific to your zip code the 211z will not allow it.

[Blue Dogs]

Originally Posted by brenkco

Another limitation is that if you dry camp and switch between generator and inverter power, the software on the tailgater requires a complete reset with program download that takes a bit of time to complete. (we found a solution to this issue but it's a bit lengthly so I won't go into it here) . This issue doesn't exist with a fixed dish.

Ken

Ken,
Would be very interested in hearing your solution to this. This is exactly what we will be doing and will be using the tailgater for dish.
Thanks
Yale

[brenkco]

Yale.
What I did was install a double pole, double throw switch on the entertainment circuit. Here is how I did it. The switch allows you to choose shore or inverter to power your circuit. (I did this on my Montana, not yet on the Redwood)

First, identify the circuit breaker that controls the ac for your entertainment area. Identify the romex wire as it exits the breaker panel. All of this was located behind the wall in the garage.

Next I determined a location to install my switch.

Making sure the the electricity was off, I removed the wire from the breaker. I ran a new length of romex from the breaker box to one side of of the switch.

Next, I ran romex from my inverter to the other side of the switch.

I then attached the romex that feeds the entertainment circuit to the center of the switch, mounted the switch box and labeled it, one side was labeled "Shore Power" the other "Inverter Power". Center position is off.

When boon docking, I leave the entertainment circuit on inverter the entire time, thus the tailgater (dish receiver) never looses power and doesn't have to cycle. The rest of the time, I leave it on shore power.

The biggest trick to the install was finding the double pole, double throw switch. I found one on line for about $45. The wiring of the switch was goofy but I toned the switch out several times before installing it.



Let me know if you have questions.

Ken

[Blue Dogs]

Originally Posted by brenkco

Yale.
What I did was install a double pole, double throw switch on the entertainment circuit. Here is how I did it. The switch allows you to choose shore or inverter to power your circuit. (I did this on my Montana, not yet on the Redwood)

First, identify the circuit breaker that controls the ac for your entertainment area. Identify the romex wire as it exits the breaker panel. All of this was located behind the wall in the garage.

Next I determined a location to install my switch.

Making sure the the electricity was off, I removed the wire from the breaker. I ran a new length of romex from the breaker box to one side of of the switch.

Next, I ran romex from my inverter to the other side of the switch.

I then attached the romex that feeds the entertainment circuit to the center of the switch, mounted the switch box and labeled it, one side was labeled "Shore Power" the other "Inverter Power". Center position is off.

When boon docking, I leave the entertainment circuit on inverter the entire time, thus the tailgater (dish receiver) never looses power and doesn't have to cycle. The rest of the time, I leave it on shore power.

The biggest trick to the install was finding the double pole, double throw switch. I found one on line for about $45. The wiring of the switch was goofy but I toned the switch out several times before installing it.



Let me know if you have questions.

Ken

Thanks Ken!
Believe it or not, this make total sense. Great idea to leave it on the inverter circuit. Looking forward to picking up the ne RW 38RL this Saturday. This will be one of the first mods I do.
Thanks again!
Yale

[mhs4771]

We don't boondock that often, but CGs are noted for short quick drops of power, resulting in our EMS going through it's normal delay before letting power back into the RW.
We use DirecTV with a DVR and it takes approx 10 min to go through it's re-boot/down load guide cycle. So we went to an Office Supply (Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, BestBuy, etc.) and bought a small computer UPS and have the DVR now plugged into it. The UPS will supply power to keep the DVR running till the EMS resets and restores power. So no more waiting for the DVR to complete it's routine.

[homeguy]

Originally Posted by mhs4771

We don't boondock that often, but CGs are noted for short quick drops of power, resulting in our EMS going through it's normal delay before letting power back into the RW.
We use DirecTV with a DVR and it takes approx 10 min to go through it's re-boot/down load guide cycle. So we went to an Office Supply (Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, BestBuy, etc.) and bought a small computer UPS and have the DVR now plugged into it. The UPS will supply power to keep the DVR running till the EMS resets and restores power. So no more waiting for the DVR to complete it's routine.

What a great idea. What dish do you have? We have Dish with a DVR and it sometimes is a pain to set up.

[johnboytoo]

Dang - why didn't I think of that - great idea mhs !!!
I have two UPS's from my days with uverse - that will work perfectly one for the bedroom and one for the living room.

We would need to bolt those heavy things down though - wouldn't want them flying around when towing

Heck, may even do it for the whole house directv dvr too .

[Blue Dogs]

Another awesome idea!
I have a spare one I never used, will have to give it a try first. My dish is a carry out that uses 12v so I will install a 12v outlet in the storage compartment to hook that to so there would be no power loss during switch over. This is great, that's for the great ideas!
Yale

[Ramblin Roadrunners]

You ladies are just too smart !!! What a good idea. I still have lots to learn from you guys.
Jay D.

[mhs4771]

We have the Winegard SlimLine 5 LNB for DirecTV, so the dish isn't a problem, once it's done its thing it no longer needs power.
We didn't like the waiting approx 10 to 15 minutes for the DVR receiver to complete its reboot process. We didn't get a big heavy UPS, just a smaller couple hundred watt unit as it only needs to supply power to the receiver for approx 15 to 20 minutes, was about $45.00 and sits in the cabinet with the DVR and the Home Theater.

[almcc]

Our older Titaniums had a factory installed small inverter (400 watts or so) installed in the basement area close to the batteries and an orange "extension cord" wire that ran to the entertainment center terminating in a switch, the switch looked like something you could get at Radio Shack. Top position was shore power, center was off and bottom was inverter power. We used inverter to continuously power the sat internet and entertainment stuff a number of times in Mexico when the external surge guard shut off the shore power because of voltage variations,