2016 Era - OTA TV antenna system power switch failure

[RV-Travelers]

The Over The Air (OTA) TV antenna system on our 2016 ERA recently quit working. The first inkling was when I did a channel scan and came up with 0 channels. I was in a fairly remote area and chalked it up to no TV stations in the area.

Over the course of the next week I tried it again in some fairly populous areas with the same result so I realized something was indeed wrong.

I noticed that if I turned the power switch on on the King antenna rotor and attenuator unit mounted on the ceiling, the green power LED wasn't lighting up and neither were the attenuator LEDs.

Wasn't sure where to start troubleshooting so I called Winnebago. The first rep told me to check the fuses under the driver seat and the breakers under the passenger seat. We ended the call and I checked all of them without finding any issues.

I called Winnebago again and this rep had me check a power switch on a switch plate mounted in the top of the cabinet underneath the audio/video system in the overhead storage behind the driver's seat. I had seen the switch plate before but never noticed a small push-button switch next to the single coaxial cable jack. If I held the button in, the King unit lit up; when I released it the power shut off.

When the switch is off, the button protudes perhaps a 1/4 of an inch. When it's pushed in, it latches (turning on the power) and protudes perhaps 1/8 of an inch. There is a small green LED next to the button that glows when the power is on. The problem was the switch would no longer latch in the on position.

The replacement part (Winnebago # 179004-02-02A ) was about $20 from Lichtsinn RV. Installation was simple - remove the 2 screws holding the plate and pull it down, move the 2 power wires and 3 coaxial cables over from the old part to the new part and screw the plate back in. I used some slightly larger screws as the holes in the cardboard (I suppose it's fiberboard of some sort, but not much thicker than cardboard) wouldn't hold the original screws.

Turned on the 12V system, pressed the new switch in to latch it and the green power LED turned on. Next, slid the slide switch on the side of the King unit to the on position and a green power LED came on and the attenuator LEDs lit up. Finally, did a channel scan and the TV found a number of available channels.

Hopefully this will help others who may encounter the same issue.

[Winterbagoal]

Thanks. Every little fix gets added to the mental "shop manuals".

[RV-Travelers]

While responding to another thread about TV problems I realized I never attached any of the (poor cell phone) photos I took of the part I replaced.

[Morich]

Considering the number of folks who we have with the same problem of not finding that tiny switch, I might suggest to Winnebago it should be highlighted, both in the manual and a big tag tied to the little thing before they hide it!!

[RV-Travelers]

I'm baffled as to why there is a switch in the 1st place. If there's a significant power draw maybe it makes sense to provide a way to turn it off, say when boondocking, but if that's the case a much more prominent and easy to see switch would make a lot more sense.