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Cheap LNB fried after one rainstorm in Florida

Picked up a no-name LNB from an eBay seller for like 12 bucks and it worked fine for about three weeks. Then a heavy downpour hit my setup near Tampa and the thing just stopped putting out any signal at all. Anyone else have luck with those budget LNBs or should I just bite the bullet and get something better?

3 comments

3 Comments

smith.parker8d ago

Funny you mention that... I had a buddy up in Tallahassee who swore by those cheap LNBs and he went through three of them in one summer. He finally gave up and got one of those metal cased ones from a local electronics shop. But get this, the new one worked great for about two months until a raccoon decided it looked like a nice perch and snapped it clean off the mount. He ended up building a little cover out of a plastic container just to keep the critters away. Weather down here is rough on gear for sure, but sometimes the animals are even worse to deal with.

aaronsullivan9d ago

I've had the same thing happen with a 10 dollar LNB from Amazon. They probably don't have any kind of sealant around the electronics inside. For Florida weather you really need something that's built to take rain. I'd recommend spending at least 30 to 40 bucks on a name brand like a Winegard or a GE. That cheap LNB will just keep failing whenever you get a bad storm.

lily_torres317d ago

Yeah those cheap ones are just asking for trouble in Florida weather. I live in central FL and went through two of them before I figured out the trick. They don't have any gaskets or seals around the connector part so water just seeps right in and shorts everything out. The real fix is to get a decent LNB but also put a big blob of silicone caulk around where the cable connects to keep the water out. Even then I'd still go with something like a Winegard or even a used DirecTV LNB from a thrift store they're built way tougher than the no name stuff. You might spend 30 bucks now but it beats buying a new 12 dollar one every time it rains.