Wally and Pathway X2 - FAIL

[Saftek1]

For about 5 years we used a Winegard Pathway X2 and VIP 211 combo... upgraded to the Z a couple of years ago. We bought a new RV so decided to "upgrade" to the Wally receiver.

After about two hours on the telephone with technical support we got the Wally to activate. It found satellites and we were okay for a couple of days. Then, we started having complete signal loss failures, failures to find - or even search for satellites, missing channels, etc.

• We ran new cable direct between the Pathway and Wally. No change.
• We replaced the Pathway TWICE. No change
• We purchased another Wally.

With the second Wally... two hours trying to get it activated and ultimately NO CHANGE! Same problems. All of this over the past year.

So, we reverted back to the 211Z.  We have had no problems for the past 2 months despite foul weather and snow.

Dish sells these units as a package, but clearly the Wally has serious problems. If not all Wallys suffer  from this, then they have serious quality control issues. Dish needs to investigate and fix this receiver or stop selling it.

[ChrisS]

Thanks for posting, and we’re sorry to hear you didn’t have a good experience with our Wally.

Our Tech Ops team tried to recreate what you described and weren’t able to identify a root cause.

We ask any other customers who may be experiencing a similar issue with their Wally to reply in this thread with their receiver’s software version (but not the receiver number) so we can continue to investigate.

Thank you.

[Doughboy57]

Well, I’m glad to respond and help with this. I bought a Wally/X2 bundle from Dish RV in October last year. 6 months ago!

Never ending calls to tech support since then, Winegard had me send the X2 back - they replaced it with a new one, because they couldn’t find a problem. Great service! 

Same results, calls to Winegard ended with a key piece of information THE X2 NEEDS 14 - 18 VOLTS DC! 

I checked my Wally’s output. MY WALLY OUTPUTS 13.1 VOLTS which gives me 0.1 volts to be within Dish specifications. No room for cable line loss. No room for error!

Zack at Pace did everything in his power to fix - we did a Master Reset and got it working here at my house - but I leave on a 10,000 mile road trip June 4th!

Because the unit is inside specs they won’t replace it!

Talk about feeling hung out to dry! 

I’m not going on the road with this package without a fight. Next stop social media - Escapees (22k members) travel trailer life (58k)

i will do my best to give Dish a chance to fix first though 

Help!

[ReyU]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm happy to help out in any way I can. The time you've taken to gather that information regarding the power output of your Wally is greatly appreciated and I'll be sure it gets routed to our Engineering Team.

Just to confirm, since you haven't left for your trip just yet, are the services at your Wally still working?  

[Doughboy57]

Well, the folks at Dish RV replaced my Wally. 

New wally outputs 19.07 volts! After set up 20.07! 

Works like a charm!

Set up was perfect 

you can bet I’ll never travel without my Fluke meter!

Thanks to all who made it right. . . 

[Doughboy57]

Dish Inc. was very reluctant to replace my unit that put out 13.1 volts. They were ready to send me out on the road to see if it would continue to find and keep a signal. 

Pace jumped in and replaced the Wally

The last Winegard tech I spoke to said that the X2 required 14 - 18 volts She was the only one out of months of calling, told me to check the output voltage

It would seem that a reasonable question would be, are the manufacturing specifications on the Wally output that wide. (13-20 volts) because the power supplies come from various suppliers? 

Why doesn’t tech support tell customers to check their voltage?

Please get the parties involved to come up with a specification that I can pass on to FB’s Trailer Life (59k members) and Escapees (22k) as I cannot believe that many others are not / have not spent the huge amount of hours at tech support that I did. 

[PamelaM]

We appreciate you sharing the information about the specs of your Wally and what output was needed for the Winegard!

We are getting this information forwarded to our Engineers so they can recreate the issue and work on getting this resolved for other customers experiencing this. 

[NWRVR]

My Pathway X2 Wally worked perfectly last year and the first trip I made in April of this year, but now it will not receive 110 or 119 sitting in my driveway with a clear shot at the south sky with no clouds. I checked the voltage output of the Wally and it is 13.1. Has Dish fixed the low voltage issue with the Wally / X2?

[CalebS]

Hello, NWRVR. I did see that this issue has been mostly solved. Since you are still experiencing it, I would love to look into this for you. Would you mind sending me a Private Message with your phone number and 4-digit PIN please? 

Here are the steps to sending a private message: 

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Enter the recipient's name (CalebS) in the Send to area.
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[schan11]

Hello,  I'm having an issue with my second receiver its also only putting out 13.1 volts, first receiver puts out 19 volts and works fine.  Seems the 2nd is the one having an issue.  It's under a year old, is there something that can be done to help this issue?