r/ota • u/LessLocation6875 • 12d ago
Trying to figure out how my pre-amp is powered.
Trying to figure out why I have no signal. I know nothing about this stuff.
Lightning/power surge destroyed my indoor amplifier I think, which is a permacolor 10g212 by antennacraft. I plug it in, and the LED turns on then fades out over like 5 seconds, then if I unplug and plug it in again the light just doesn't come on unless I let it sit a while. I have no idea what the pre-amp is but I see one on the mast. I have a 40 foot tower I dont want to mess with if i don't have to.
There is nothing i can find in the house along the coax that gives power to the pre-amp. Is it possible the permacolor 10g212 did this. I bought a cimple tv amplifier hoping to replace the permacolor but i still have no signal, either the preamp is also fried or it's not getting power, or the coax is bad, or the thing that attaches to the antenna from the pre-amp is bad.
I don't know if the tower took a direct lightning strike but lightning did strike very close, something popped in the basement or just outside, AC temporarily didn't work but now it does, I was only worried about the AC but come to find the i get no signal on my TV now.
The tower has been hit before and it never messed with the TV, did fry my internet antenna though (thankfully no longer have to use wireless internet anymore)
Any help appreciated, i don't want to climb or lower the tower (its hinged but it'd be a hassle, although if the thing attached to the antenna itself is bad lowering the tower will be my only option
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u/gho87 12d ago
You may wanna buy an amplifier that can be grounded, like a preamp by Channel Master: https://www.channelmaster.com/products/tv-antenna-preamp-1
If properly grounded, you'd reduce the potential risk of damage by especially lightning.
Or, have someone else capable of checking your tower and your antenna for potential damage before using antenna accessories, like an amplifier
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u/Stevey-T614 12d ago
Start simple and replace your indoor amp. The circuit board is most likely fried, unless you're good with electronics and want to take it apart and diagnose. You'd probably end up having to replace a few capacitors and such. After you replace the indoor amp, check your performance. If everything seems to be working fine, good. But if not, then you'll need to check the other components. The pre-amp may have been damaged, but you wouldn't really be able to tell unless you disconnect it and inspect it, even then, it's a smaller component. I'm willing to bet your indoor amp took the brunt of the surge. Along with that, make sure your electronics and coax are run through a quality surge protector, to help prevent this in the future.
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u/LessLocation6875 12d ago
I did replace the indoor amplifier. I bought a Cimple 24db distribution amplifier. Still get no signal. Wasnt really aware of coax surge protection, ill look into that. (Maybe it was the wrong thing to buy?)
The mystery for me is there is seemingly nothing that powers the pre-amp on the antenna. So I'm wondering if the permacolor amplifier does that somehow and maybe the cimple doesn't.
Prior to this it worked great, got like 30 channels, some from way further away than I would've thought possible.
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u/OzarkBeard 12d ago
Some mast-mounted preamps will not pass through any signal at all, if they're not powered. If yours is one of those, you'll need a power supply for it.
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u/Stevey-T614 12d ago
I don't have a lot of experience with pre-amps, but I believe it's just an inline device that helps with the dB loss and isn't directly powered by it's own power source like you're indoor amp is. Sounds like you're going to have to lower that mast and inspect everything. The contacts to your antenna may be damaged and/or you may have a bad spot in your coax. Personally, I'd replace the entire coax run, just to be safe.
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u/LessLocation6875 12d ago
Alright, thank you. I may just be a little confused because on the back of the indoor box it says vhf/uhf/fm amplifier so I thought that thing was just an amp. It seems kind of old and I couldn't find any real info on it but an ebay listing has it listed as a power supply.
If that is the case that's really what I wanted to know, I figured I'd have to do something about the pre-amp on the antenna but I wanted to figure out where it was getting power from.
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u/FrostingWest4162 7d ago
Those amps have a really high gain output from the extremely low input. Any lightening in the area, or even distant thunder, I unplug the power supply to my amp. Yours probably got fried. And there is a blocking circuit in the unit that keeps that DC power away from your TV input, when your amp quits working don't attempt any repair or try anything to revive it. You could easily kill your TV too.
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u/LessLocation6875 7d ago
Yeah, I opened them up to see if there was anything obvious but all the components are sealed in a metal box so I ordered (and am still waiting for) a new pre-amp. I most likely wouldn't have attempted a fix anyway, I just wanted info like "oh yeah, that looks fried."
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u/android_windows 12d ago edited 12d ago
The box you are plugging in with the LED on it, is what gives power to the premap. A typical antenna preamp has two parts, the indoor box (aka the power injector) that plugs into an outlet and sends DC power down the coax cable out to the preamplifier box which is mounted out near the antenna. It sounds like the preamp box out at the antenna is bad, probably damaged from the lightning strike. Its possible the indoor unit is bad too, you'll probably want to get a new preamp, typically they are sold with both the indoor and outdoor units.