Winegard RC-DT09A "battery powered" DTV converter box

[yuandrew]

A few months back, I read about a DTV converter box made by Winegard which was made for the RV camping market. It would normally operate from an included "Wall Wart" adapter which outputs 9 volts DC but Winegard also offered a battery holder (sold separately) which would plug into the power input in place of the AC-DC adapter and used six "D" sized batteries to operate the unit when AC power was not available such as when camping or tailgating or during emergencies that may result in power outages such as storms or earthquakes.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10054968-1.html

I bought that particular converter box today using my other $40 coupon which was about to expire by next month. It's the Winegard model RC-DT09A and was purchased from a store called CampingWorld which caters to the RV and camping market. CampingWorld didn't have the battery pack in stock (I found out later that it must be purchased directly from Winegard) so I decided to try a 9 volt battery. A trip to RadioShack for a 9 volt battery connector and an "N" size adaptaplug and I was ready. In the box was a user's manual, a coax cable to connect to the TV, a bag containing the wall wart and two AAA batteries for the remote, the remote control, and finally, wrapped in foam and cardboard, the unit itself. The unit is pretty compact and measured 5.5" wide by 6.5" long and a little over an inch tall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDsm-aCymkk

I used a broken portable DVD player which no longer played DVDs but had had a composite input (needed a cable with RCA connections on one end and a "headphone" type connector on the other) as my monitor but I believe one could hook it up to a battery operated portable or hand held TV using a piece of wire wrapped around the TV's antenna and sticking the other end into the RF "out" connection on the converter. The initial channel scan picked up 49 channels which was surprising for me due to my location in a bad reception area between hills and the fact I was using an indoor antenna. The tuner was very sensitive and kept the picture going even though I was only able to get the signal meter up 1/3 of the way at most. I would say the performance is maybe slightly better than the Zenith DTT-900/901 converter boxes which have long been the benchmark for DTV converter boxes. I also found the menu on this unit very easy to use and was able to figure out all the settings quickly even without reading the instructions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O46ZlUvtCbk

As for my battery power experiment, the 9 volt battery I hooked up lasted only about ten minutes. I suppose that some AAs should give me a much longer run time. Winegard advertised up to 18 hours of operation on six "D" batteries.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the performance and ease of use of the Winegard DTV converter box. With the option of battery power, this converter can also be used where AC is not present; an important feature for emergency situations.

 

[BillG]

Re: Winegard "battery powered" DTV converter box (quick review)

thanks for the review

 

[StarHalo]

Re: Winegard "battery powered" DTV converter box (quick review)

Ha, I was just thinking before you did it, "He should set the box to something to compare its size, like a soda can.." Nicely done :thumbsup:

It looks like you only had to do two or three button presses to get it to scan channels, which is very promising - I've been complaining for some time about the loss of broadcast television audio for radio, specifically in emergency/power outage situations. I'd wager you could connect this box to the battery tray, then hook up a pair of portable speakers to the component audio outs; after turning it on just do the channel scan sequence on the remote and wait a minute or so, and then you should have television audio coming through the speakers.

Do you think it could be done? Running this box "blind"/without a monitor doesn't sound like it'd be too difficult..

 

[yuandrew]

Re: Winegard "battery powered" DTV converter box (quick review)

I just tried running it blind.

The channel scan is the first option on the menu so it's actually pretty easy to locate. Press "Menu" on the remote then "Down" once and "Enter" to start the scan. There's also an "add channel" function right below so if you decided to re-orient the antenna to pick up another group of transmitters, you can also scan for more channels and add them to the existing inventory without affecting what you had scanned earlier.

The "signal" button on the remote opens up a bar graph which also beeps faster the stronger your signal is (just like on my Zenith DTT-900) so you can use the speed of the beeps to judge how strong the signal is.

Of course, you can also set it up while it's hooked to a TV or other monitor before-hand. It should keep it's memory and all you have to do is just hook speakers and a 9 volt source up when needed and just turn it on and pick your channel.

 

[StarHalo]

Re: Winegard "battery powered" DTV converter box (quick review)

The "signal" button on the remote opens up a bar graph which also beeps faster the stronger your signal is (just like on my Zenith DTT-900) so you can use the speed of the beeps to judge how strong the signal is.

Now that's awesome, an audio signal strength meter, not even radios have that. Very impressive.

Of course, you can also set it up while it's hooked to a TV or other monitor before-hand. It should keep it's memory and all you have to do is just hook speakers and a 9 volt source up when needed and just turn it on and pick your channel.

Also awesome, this means even if you're using the box connected to a standard full-size TV, during a power outage you just need to connect it to a 9V source and portable speakers - presto, TV audio without any programming or even moving/disconnecting the box.

 

[RyanA]

I wonder if the cable will work with the power out? I guess it can't really be tested. So the waiting game begins...

 

[StarHalo]

I wonder if the cable will work with the power out? I guess it can't really be tested. So the waiting game begins...

Analog cable would for sure, but I don't know if digital cable requires you use their converter box or what, good question. You could kill the main switch at your circuit breaker to test it..

And I wonder if my FiOS would work, or would stop working after a short time, since it uses a large and complex box that's stored in the TV/Cable-in area that's powered by a socket..

 

[RyanA]

I bet the internet would probably go down. I wonder though, if the cable works with the main breaker down I wonder if there's somewhere else where power ties into the cable system out on the grid?

 

[yuandrew]

Cable and internet will go down. At my friend's house, there is a distribution and signal amplifier box on the wall where the utilities come in which boosts the cable TV signal before sending it to the individual set top boxes throughout the house and the cable modem in the home office for the computers. The distribution amplifier has to be plugged into a nearby outlet to work and if we happened unplug the amplifier to hook up a power tool or shop vac while working in the garage, the TV's will lose reception or the internet connection would be disrupted.


Back to the topic; I just finished doing a run time test on 6AA alkaline batteries hooked to the Winegard DTV converter box and what a better way to test run time than to watch the Superbowl game and use that to time it. The 6 AA batteries ran the DTV converter from after kickoffs to when the half time show just began) Had to change batteries during the half time show. My stopwatch that I left running nearby said 1 hour and 37 minutes when the batteries ran out.

I'd say 1 hour and a half is plenty of time for tuning into a local news station during emergencies or power outages.

An added bonus, the tuner on the Wingard was surprisingly sensitive. Even at my location between hills where reception is very poor, I still managed to get a steady picture with UN-amplified rabbit ears after carefully aiming the UHF loop. That should be 1 less power source needed than if I had to use an antenna amplifier.