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Your cart is empty.This low voltage HotShot dish heater kit will keep your satellite dish clear of ice and snow. It has a built-in sensor that turns on Heater in freezing conditions by a self adhesive heating element and will help prevent service outages due to signal loss caused by the buildup of snow or ice on the dish. It can also reduce rain fade by up to 75 percent. By simply attaching the self-adhesive vinyl pad to the satellite antenna.
Karl H
2025-07-09 10:27:06
Every winter for the past 7 years (as long as I've been a Directv customer) after the first snow fell I would say: "This year I'm putting up a dish heater". Well I finally did it and I can't believe a) how easy it was and b) how well it works!You can check out the images I added to see the different stages of the install. But basically I was surprised how well and thorough the instructions were put together. Sometimes for niche items like this the manuals are lacking and even though the install directions were only 2 pages, they answered all your questions.First, if you're installing this after winter has begun - be aware that you have to apply the adhesive-backed element onto the dish in at least a temperature environment of 50 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. So I realized that since I was going to install my heater on the back of the dish (instead of the front - the instructions say you can do either) and since it was 35 degrees out - it would be easiest to remove the dish and bring it in the house.If you're installing on a slimline like mine - it's just 4 easy bolts to remove and the dish is off! And it absolutely does not mess with your alignment.So I removed the 4 bolts, brought it in the house - cleaned it - and let it warm up.Then I began the applying the element to the back of the dish per instructions - starting in the middle and then peeling the backing off each "wing" one at a time.I put the dish back up and viola! Picture was still there perfectly.I then ran the included wire to the power transformer inside my house. I didn't need even half of the 100 feet that they give you and shortening it was a cinch.The power transformer is big and heavy. The manual says that the element has a thermostat and only turns on when the temperature falls to or below freezing. So technically you could leave it on all the time and it would only heat up when it's cold enough. However, I'm switching mine off at the transformer when it's not snowing because really that's the only time you need it. Rain or just cold doesn't seem to affect the signal (at least in Utah).And I figure it saves power to not have the transformer on all the time.Oddly enough it snowed 6 inches the same night of the day I installed it - so I got to see how well it worked quickly. It is awesome! Not a stitch of snow on my dish at all! When the snow was finished I just turned it off.If your dish is on the roof or even if you're just tired of brushing it off. You owe it to yourself to do this!Hands down - the best $130 bucks I ever spent!
M. Gorelick
2025-02-24 18:24:26
So far, this heater is the solution to a problem that had been vexing me for years: when it snows heavily, our dish gets covered in snow. Eventually, the signal is lost and our DirecTV stops working. We've been a subscriber for 15 years and every winter, I've had to "solve" the snowy dish problem by standing in my front yard and throwing snowballs at the thing until I knocked enough snow off. Given that it's often windy and the dish is quite high up, it's not a trivial shot.Last winter, I did some research and discovered this product. I bought it and waited until the warm weather months this year to finally climb up on the roof and install it. As many have mentioned, removing the 4 bolts holding the dish in place is easy. I brought the dish down off the roof to work on it. The heating element is packed up in its box such that it's folded over a couple of times. I found that leaving it in the sun for a while made the project much easier because the heating element was much more pliable when nice and warm. I chose to put the heating element on the back of the dish. I figure this keeps it out of the sun and less exposed to the elements. My dish points southwest and this is the direction most of our weather comes from. I was extremely careful and methodical and got excellent results. I ran the power cable from the dish and into the attic of my house where the other satellite cables enter. I also installed an A/C outlet in the attic near the dish to supply power.As many have noted, running the heater all winter seems a waste given that it turns on when the temperature is below 32F. Since that's almost all the time in winter where I live (Michigan), but it's only snowing a small percentage of that time, I wanted to be able to switch the element on when I actually needed it. However the switch for the heater is on the transformer, which is in the attic of my house and is only accessible via a ceiling access panel and a ladder--not very easy to do.I chose to solve this problem with a Belkin "WeMo" WiFi switch. I connected the heater's transformer to the outlet via one of these switches, and programmed it for my WiFi. Now I can turn the heater on and off from my smart phone (if I'm connected to my home WiFi). This works great and completely solved my problem.We got about 6" of snow here recently, and to test my new setup, I waited until there was some accumulation on the dish before turning it on from my phone. Sure enough, after about 30 minutes I could clearly see where the snow was melted, and my dish worked great. All in all, I'm very pleased with the way this all works and would highly recommend it to others.
Aquarius
2025-01-28 17:06:12
I installed this Hotshot satellite dish heater - 28"x20" on the front of the reflector. I had planned to install it on the back for some reason, but I discovered that the bolt holes in the heating mat were made for a different dish than my DirecTV dish. However, the instructions allow for that possibility. After installation of the heater indoors, I viewed the heater in operation with a thermal imaging camera at a temperature of about 17 degrees Fahrenheit confirmed that it works very well, heating the reflector to around 45 to 48 degrees Fahrenheit in those conditions. As you can see from my photos, the temperatures of the front and back of the reflector, as measured, were essentially identical. Other than the price of the product, my only gripe is that the heater came folded in a bubble-wrap bag and that about an inch or so of the adhesive backing had peeled away at a fold at one corner. The bubble wrap therefore stuck to that corner and could not be removed from the mat despite my best efforts. I had to use a drop of Gorilla Glue to adhere that corner to the reflector. Otherwise, I am very happy with the product so far.
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