When you do work at replacing your power supply, it’s best to turn off the power to the block. Plenty of RVers have complained that corrosion seems to be a huge killer of these critters, so don’t be surprised to find “the green” on your circuit board. If power is present in the socket and the light is out, it’s a likely bet the block is blown. Plugging in a hair dryer or an inverter with a load of much more than 60 or 70 watts will “blow” the fuse. Remember, these little babies don’t like to supply a lot of power - typically 8 amps or less is the limit. If you don’t have power, track down the fuse that supplies power to the wall plate. With your multimeter set to the appropriate DC range, carefully probe into the “socket” of the wall plate - with the positive probe going to the center conductor and the negative to the outer shell of the socket.
Troubleshooting? If the wall plate light doesn’t turn on, check for power.
We found, much to our “designer sense” chagrin, that the new-style block is clearly imprinted “WINEGARD.” Unfortunately, the way our rig is “plumbed” we had to install the power supply block upside down. Incidentally, older Winegard power supply blocks often had “slide” style switches to turn the power supply off, and at the same time allow for a “cable” connection. Nearly any RV supply house can set you up with the proper replacement. Stark Electronics has a great web page where you can eyeball the differences. There are other Winegard plates, too, designed for “satellite” connections. This amplifies the signal in the block, and doesn’t run any power up the coax.
For the non-amplified antenna, you’ll need a amplifier block. This system runs 12-volt power up the coax to the antenna-mounted amplifier and allows TV signal back down. Most (but not all) present day Winegard RV antennas have the amplifier built into them - for these you need a power supply block. They’re two different breeds of cat, and you can’t replace one with the other. The little white plate that connects the antenna coax cable to your television comes in more than one “flavor.” There are amplified Winegard antennas - ones where an amplifier is built right into the antenna up above roof level - and those that have no amplifiers. If your signal comes from a translator rather than directly from the main tower: our engineers are having to “retune” them each one at a time – try rescanning every few days to see if your translator has been updated.Which one? Well, that’s the question.If you are near the main antenna site in Shoreview: we suggest not using a powered antenna because the signal will actually be too strong.This website will help you experiment with tuning in over the air: Try to move your antenna around a bit. Just a little different placement can help.After the scan is complete, reconnect the antenna and re-scan the channel To do this, remove the antenna cable, then scan the channels. Have you tried a “double rescan”? Sometimes the TV receiver or converter box will save incorrect channel information and will require a "double rescan" to restore the correct channel info.Here is a link to a site with great antenna recommendations based on where you live. You must use a flat or roof-mounted UHF antenna. Rabbit ears won’t work to receive the NEW UHF signal.