King Dome Problem???

smlranger · 08-27-2005, 05:00 PM

We're on the road..short trip. Tried Direct TV and got signal but lost it very quickly. Went thru all the usual stuff...checked the receiver, called Direct TV. They say it is the dome. It rained here so I even went topside and dried off the dome. Still can't find the satellite. This thing worked fine last time out.

Any ideas would be appreciated. Also, is Kingdome a fairly helpful and responsive company?

smlranger · 08-27-2005, 05:00 PM

We're on the road..short trip. Tried Direct TV and got signal but lost it very quickly. Went thru all the usual stuff...checked the receiver, called Direct TV. They say it is the dome. It rained here so I even went topside and dried off the dome. Still can't find the satellite. This thing worked fine last time out.

Any ideas would be appreciated. Also, is Kingdome a fairly helpful and responsive company?

John_Canfield · 08-28-2005, 03:26 AM

Chris - I found King Dome to be very helpful when I was upgrading to the dual LNB. I believe I had an operator issue at the beginning that they helped resolve.

I have not found mine to be seriously affected by a wet dome. The signal strength will drop down to the 30s and 40s though.

My model is the in-motion version and it uses its own tuner.

For some bizzare reason, Winny installed my King-Dome backwards with the cable exit to the front instead of the rear like the install directions call for. This is just asking for water intrusion at some point.

--John

smlranger · 08-28-2005, 03:21 PM

Well, we tried again during our return home. We stopped twice in places where there were no obstructions and the dish never could locate a satellite. In addition to the normal step motor sound of the dome, we hear new sounds...a popping occassionally...very much like an acorn hitting the roof. We would hear this every time we activated the dome.

Will call King Controls tomorrow.

My front TV is also making weird noises and develops a fluttering picture. A quick swat with your hand, and it stops. We may be replacing the RCA with a Sony.

Cruzer · 08-29-2005, 05:20 AM

I found that if the King Dome ever get's "lost" you power it down by pressing the "ENTER" and "+" keys at the same time. Wait 15 seconds, then power up the system. When it reboots it will go into an initial diagnostic mode and then it generally grabs the satellite. All of your settings, such as the satellite number, are not lost during a cold reboot.

smlranger · 08-29-2005, 05:52 AM

Cruzer:

You lost me. Mine has the little control box with only one switch...on/off. You press and hold ON to start the search. There is no enter and '+' key.

Cruzer · 08-29-2005, 10:01 AM

Must be a different sestup. My KingDome is the in-motion version that came on the Allegro Bus in June 2004. It has a control panel with soft touch buttons and an LCD display to cycle through the menu options. There is no data port to connect a PC to for setup programming because it's all done right by the display. I've never seen a KingDome with just a switch before. It must be a different model or year. Now you got me curious. How old is it and is it an in-motion dome? There has to be some way to set it up. My KVH L3 used an RS-232 data port to connect to a laptop and it then just used the single switch to turn it on and off.

smlranger · 08-29-2005, 05:14 PM

Cruzer:
Mine is not 'in-motion' and it came from the factory on the coach when it was new in 2002. I called King Controls from work today and they wanted me in the coach for trouble shooting. So, when I got home this evening I went out to the rig and called them. They just take a message and promise to call you back within one hour. Well, after waiting 1 1/2 hours and no call, I went up on the roof and removed the junction box cover. There had been a bit of water intrusion and a coax connector was a bit corroded. I cleaned it, retightened it, and the thing found the bird in about 2 minutes.