Selfsat Snipe V3 Single white Fully Automatic Satellite Antenna - White Line, 75 ohms

I already did a positive review on this product but then had a problem. What I discovered may be of use to other purchasers.After three tests at home I installed the SNIPE3 on the roof of my boat. I tested it twice with Astra2 and it was perfect. Job done I thought. Later, after tidying up the wiring inside I tested it again and suddenly all was not well at all.As described by others the gearboxes sounded like bags of nails, the unit would not home correctly and would only sometimes seek to Astra2. I spent an hour trying all sorts of things including checking the in-line connectors. All to no avail.I started to think about de-commissioning and returning the unit. I am an electronics engineer so I took a look at the multi-way plug at the rear of the controller. The plug has a locking barb on it. It takes a lot of force to insert the plug and I was wary of breaking the socket inside. I noticed that the plug was not fully inserted by about 0.5mm. I carefully pushed the plug until the barb clicked and switched everything back on. The result was a perfect system again. It finds Astra2 and homes every time. I re-tested at least a dozen times including waiting for half an hour before the final test. It worked perfectly then and continues to do so.The dish mechanism has a number of motors to move the dish and sensors to detect where the dish and arm and turntable are. All of those connections go to the controller via the multi-way plug. If the plug is not fully inserted then some circuits are not made and the system just keeps on trying. The unit isn't smart enough to tell you that it cannot find a sensor or the motor connection is bad.I have passed my findings to the manufacturer as I am sure that a number of so-called faulty units were actually ok but this connector issue was not discovered.

I fitted this to the roof of my motorhome to replace a troublesome dome receiver that despite costing thousands of pounds was useless and the dealers were unable to fix. The instructions are clear, easy to follow. It is an easy fix for DIY , looks great on top of the van and is a much lower profile than the original ugly dome. Delivered from Germany in a few days packed for Armageddon. I’ve now been able to assess this bit of kit in various parts of the country and despite being close to buildings and trees on occasions it has never failed me. I was hoping to test it out abroad but the Coronavirus has put paid to that for the time being. Considering the price of a dome it is good value.

Works great on Motorhome

Having purchased one of these a few weeks ago and fitted it to the roof of my motorhome I hope my experiences will help other potential purchasers. The first unit arrived very promptly in a large, tatty, and very heavy cardboard box. I opened the the box to find that both front catches of the big black plastic carry case inside were broken off so I decided to return the unit for a replacement. I arranged for the unit to be collected by courier and Amazon duly refunded my shipping costs. The replacement unit arrived next day, this time with only one catch broken !!! I decided to keep this unit, unpacked it and duly set everything up on a table next to my motorhome. I connected the cables, linking it up to the TV in the motorhome and everything worked perfectly. The TV picture quality was very impressive, far better than that provided by the terrestrial aerial. Next step was the daunting task of installing the unit on the van roof. For this purpose I had already purchased a tube of Sikaflex 221, a 25mm hole cutter drill attachment, 3mm drill bits for the screw holes, and some masking tape. I must say that the manual is very well written in english and the fitting instructions and diagrams are well laid out. The first job was to decide the best location on the roof for the antenna. This involved deciding where the cables would run inside the roof lining. My motorhome is an Autosleepers panel van and the TV is located on the side of the wardrobe just inside the sliding side door. Above the sliding door is a full length, slim wooden unit housing the control panel for the lighting, heating etc, plus storage cubby hole. I had to remove this unit to reveal where I could potentially run the satellite cabling. Next time I will remember to photograph the control panel wiring connections before disconnecting. Having removed the wooden unit, I found sufficient room to route the satellite cables. Back up on the roof I determined where to position the provided aluminium roof mounting plate for the antenna, and also where to drill the large 25mm hole for the cables to enter the van. A large plastic cowl and cable gland is provided to cover this hole and at the same time house the large molex connectors joining the too short cable from the antenna to the long cable going to the satellite controller box on the inside. As will be revealed later, the molex connectors being inside the cowl turned out to be a real pain. The next step was to drill the necessary screw holes for the mounting plate, apply the Sikaflex and screw in place forming a watertight bond. It's probably best to stop working at this point for a few hours to let the Sikaflex cure, but me being the impatient sort and well into my stride decided to carry on. The next task was to get the satellite antenna up onto the van roof. Weighing in at around 12kg there was no way I would be able to carry it one handed while climbing the ladder, so I rigged up a platform inside the van and managed to manoeuvre the antenna up and out through the skylight onto the roof. The antenna was the positioned onto the mounting plate and bolted into place. Next job was to drill the screw holes in the van roof for the plastic cowl. Then thread the cables through the cowl and gland, join the molex connectors and pass the cabling through the 25mm hole and inside the van. I then had to hold the whole lot clear of the van roof so that I could apply Sikaflex to provide a watertight seal for the cowl, a tricky job with only one pair of hands. Externally, everything was now in place, so moving back inside I soon had the satellite controller box mounted on the wardrobe wall and all the cables connected. I tested the unit again and all was working fine. Time for a well earned break. The next day I tidied up, refitted the van control panel wooden housing and tested the unit. Again it worked fine until on pressing the home button on the controller box a horrible mechanical grinding noise started eminating from the antenna. The antenna wouldn't move and fearing damage I quickly powered off the system. Further testing of the system revealed the same problem which progressively worsened. I contacted Amazon and organised for a replacement to be sent which duly arrived next day. I replaced the antenna, not an easy task as it meant disconnecting the molex connectors housed inside the cowl which by now was firmly stuck to the van roof. I took me several hours to remove the cowl and the Sikaflex used to glue it in place. I eventually refitted everything, tested the system and disaster, the same fault occurred. Anyway, by a process of elimination it turned out that the satellite controller box was faulty and not the antenna. Since then the system has been working perfectly. I must say that Amazon have been very helpful and understanding, paying the shipping costs for both returned units. I just hope the system keeps working as it is a doddle to use and the TV picture quality is brilliant.Update 21st June: Unfortunately, a fault has now developed with the latest unit. The antenna will not move from the home position and is emitting a grinding noise. Final update: Again returned to Amazon for a full refund. Have now fitted a RoadPro Mini Dome which works perfectly.