TV Antenna power

[budbon]

On my 2014 Vista 27N, I tore off the "Jack" TV Antenna on a tree limb and had it replaced. Now I get no signal from the antenna. The little power button on the tv antenna control does not light up. It is to far to return to the shop so I would like to fix it myself. Where does the power come from for the antenna? Help!

[powercat_ras]

One of the 15 amp DC fuses under the bed feeds the wall plate, if the green LED is not coming on it could be blown. Or, the TV control wall plate could have failed. Or the coax going to the Jack has the center and outside of the coax shorted together some how from the tear off, and they did not fix it correctly when they replaced the antenna.

The main TV IR repeater is on the same fuse , so if you can push buttons on the TV remote with it pointed towards the main TV and the LED above the TV on the wall lights with remote button presses then the fuse is NOT blown.

[budbon]

Thank you, I'll give it a try.

[Morich]

Some additional info on checking the coax may come around to being handy, if for no other reason than to verify.
Coax is sometimes a bit of mystery but really just is two wires, one is the center and the second is the outer mesh of metal that surrounds the first and they are separated by thin plastic stuff.
So checking it is a matter of taking it loose at both ends and looking for a short between inner and outer conductors. If no short or reading there, touch the two conductors together at the far end while watching the reading and you should see near no resistance, proving that both conductors run all the way to the far end without breaks.
No shorts between the two and no breaks, make it very likely to be good coax!
But if a tree takes the antenna off the roof, it is real easy to mash the coax parts together or break one. Might even see the damage?

[budbon]

The fuses are ok. The ir repeater lights up. The cables to the antenna seem in good shape (No direct grounds). The manual refers to a digital antenna power switch (button). I have no such thing. Where does the power come from then? I'm befuddled.

[Morich]

Check the side of the coax connector, perhaps in a cabinet where they often give the option to switch from antenna to cable. There may be a small button located next to the coax connection. Small button about 1/8 inch can be super hard to spot in a dark cabinet! Built into the faceplate itself.
2015 Vista 31KE has it in the front compartment over the passenger side.
Drawings here:
https://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram...ire_110138.pdf
Choose which options you have on your unit.
More drawings?
https://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram...ire_180921.pdf
This gives locations but hard to spot and takes some study but this should be your unit. Use sheets 1, 6,7, and 11 for the 27 N.

[Morich]

Help for those trying to look over the Winnebago drawings on this question, some pointers may help as it does take some time to get into reading them. Not sure 'I've got it all but I am willing to share what I think is correct!
Step one, find the drawings on the winnebago site and look for the type you want, plumbing electrical coax, etc.
In this case we want the coax. Then look at the top left for your model 27N in this case. That gives you which pages to ignore as there are lots! Just look at those which fit for your unit.
Page one, right side over the Winnebago name gives lots of options for exactly which items your RV has, so choose which options you have by looking over the list and matching what you have to get the code for the option callouts on each section of drawing. a 32 inch color with remote? Use options matching 42K. That is a big start on what to ignore as you can find 42K in the bubble on the first sheet near the page top.
Learn to look at the detail callouts for really closeup drawing like at the right on page one detail AB but also learn to look at whether it actually matches your unit as we find there may be changes 2013 and 2014 if we look at the sheet one lower left.
It's still a trek and I often get on the wrong item but if I print off the info and actually look at my RV, I can often find the info is there----I just have to learn what to ignore and what to use!

[powercat_ras]

Originally Posted by budbon

The fuses are ok. The ir repeater lights up. The cables to the antenna seem in good shape (No direct grounds). The manual refers to a digital antenna power switch (button). I have no such thing. Where does the power come from then? I'm befuddled.

The digital antenna power switch is just the little button on the TV wall plate, with the LED off the power to the digital antenna is OFF. This cuts thru the antenna jack in the basement to the TVs for when you are at an RV park with cable TV.

With the button pushed so that the LED is ON then the plate cuts the TVs thru to the roof antenna and inserts 12 volts on the coax leading to the roof antenna to power the roof antennas amplifier and signal meter.

If you have the signal display switch on the panel on the ceiling under the Jack TV antenna set to ON you should see LEDs on that signal display if the coax from the plate to the Jack is connected correctly. Under the base of the Jack there is a small splitter - one cable goes up into the batwing part of the antenna, other goes down thru the hole into the ceiling part of the Jack for the signal display that helps you figure out how to turn the antenna to get the most signal.

[budbon]

I have no such power switch button on the wall plate (located in the driver side overhead cabnet).

[budbon]

Thanks to all of you, l have solved the issue. I had been looking in the cabinet over the driver where we connected our Dish network controller. There is no power button there. One of you mentioned a wall plate over the passanger seat. I looked there and found the wall plate an power switch. Back to normal thanks to all of you.

[Morich]

YES! It is super hard to spot and I had to nearly be knocked in the head before I found it as it was on a different RV and the coax connection ran across the button just enough to hide it.

[Larry M]

We normally cram stuff in that compartment. Seems to.me to be a $300 15 minute repair if you took it in to a repair shop.