Advice Needed Zeroing a motor - Does it matter?

Chris91

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Hello. I have a motor. Its a Technomate one... but it looks like they are all more or less the same units with different logos printed on them?

Anyway, I was wondering if it matters where 0 is programmed on the motor?
If I set 0 to be where the cast markings on the motor says its 20.0E, will that cause issues? Other than limiting east travel by the 20 degrees I just used up?
What I am trying to understand is, does it matter if I don't get the motor absolutely perfectly in the middle when I zero it?

Chris
 

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If you want the motor to track the satellite arc, correctly, then you should have it set to 0, before entering in your Latitude, and Longitude, into the receiver, as the motor tilts the dish, to represent skew, of the LNB, as you move the dish East, and West.
Why do you want to start at 20 degrees?
 

ozumo

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Not quite sure what you mean Chris91. The motor unit needs to point due south, you can't set it to 20E and then rotate the mount so 20E points to due south.

As long as your dish is centred on the stub, the longitude & latitude are entered correctly on the receiver, elevation and declination are roughly correct, and the pole is plumb - use USALS to send the motor to a receivable strong satellite (say 19.2E) and then rotate the motor unit on the pole until the signal is peaked. Then you can adjust elevation & declination to make the dish follow the arc.
 

Chris91

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I am trying to figure out how critical it is that my motor is perfectly zeroed, since its impossible to know for sure. You just kind of have to eyeball it going off the dodgy cast marks on the housing.

The 20 degree offset is an extreme example. If you guys said it was fine, I'd know that zeroing doesn't matter. But the more I think about it, the more it must matter because of skew, for one thing.
 

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Motor must be at zero before you try to find the arc.
if you press the button on the motor it will go to zero or send signal from your receiver to go to zero
If motor is not going to zero than someone here will help you with that problem.
 

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First off the mounting mast must be as vertical as possible, if off by a few degrees you could have problems finding the furthest east/west satellites.

Then you must zero the motor to true South (unless your South of the Equator) from your location, then you must set the motors elevation, (how high the due South satellite is above the horizon at your location) once the motor is zeroed in you can then find you due South satellite, this satellite will be your starting point. If all is good you should not have problems tracking the satellites in the Clark belt.( the arc of satellites over the Equator.

A online app called dishpointer (dot) com can help you out with the, it will give you all the information you need to help you setup your motor and dish, it will also give you a map of your area with a line pointing to the due South satellite. (you must select the correct satellite first)
 

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I am trying to figure out how critical it is that my motor is perfectly zeroed, since its impossible to know for sure. You just kind of have to eyeball it going off the dodgy cast marks on the housing.

The 20 degree offset is an extreme example. If you guys said it was fine, I'd know that zeroing doesn't matter. But the more I think about it, the more it must matter because of skew, for one thing.

You can temporarily visually enhance the datum mark by painting over it with something like Tippex. Makes it easier than squinting at an almost invisible casting line.
 

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I am trying to figure out how critical it is that my motor is perfectly zeroed, since its impossible to know for sure. You just kind of have to eyeball it going off the dodgy cast marks on the housing.

The motor-zero defines where the highest point of your rotation-arc is.
Apart from this motor zero, your dish should be mounted on the axis exactly in line while motor is at zero. This is also difficult, to get to 0.1 degree exact. (You can try measuring sides of dish to back of motor; left and right should be equal, if all brackets are symmetrical.)

For the combination motor + dish, thankfully USALS allows you to pick any satellite you like, and align to that satellite. That procedure also sets your due south/north right.

Checking at the east/west extremes, you get a chance to correct/finetune your angles; including your motor zero, and dish outlining with the zero position.

Greetz,
A33
 

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If the pole is not perfectly vertical then to get the arc correct you may have to offset the '0' mark from true south, not as much as 20 degrees however.

Additionally not all receivers can reset all motors and so you might find 'zeroing' the arc to the correct positions once installed becomes a nightmare.
 

Chris91

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Lots of replies guys, thanks!

First of all I should say that I installed this last summer and it was absolutely brilliant. I was getting stuff that the internet led me to believe was impossible on an 80CM dish. Ever since we had that really cold weather and the snow (in UK) it stopped picking up some stuff and getting pixilation here and there. Something somewhere was off.

I just finished up redoing it (for the 3rd time in a week). Instead of trying to be clever with maths and digital spirit levels, this time I just set all of the angles like I did the first time, using the cast marks. The pole is ~89.9 degrees, so within the margin of error for my level (digi-pass pocket). I am doing a scan now and its picking stuff up, whether or not I have everything that I did have... I wont know for a very long time because I wiped all of the scan data and I am starting over.

Something I noticed (that I seem to remember from before) is that the motor looks like it was at 42.0 when my software told it to go to 39.0. Not sure if that's a motor issue or a software issue. I use TVHeadend and USALS and here are my settings...

1617724055028.png

The motor is a Technomate one and everything I found online suggests the speed is 1.9° per second at13V; 2.5 per second at 18V
I then used someone else's maths 1 / 25 = 0.4 seconds per degree multiplied by 1000 to change to milliseconds giving me a value of 400 to get the 400 value.

I wonder if the motor or software could be a little off? The software has been updated a few times since the first install.
 

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I wonder if the motor or software could be a little off?

If the motor might be off, somehow, always first try a Goto-Ref or Goto-Zero command from your receiver. And check that it indeed rotates to zero degree. Sometimes all is well again, after that.

Greetz,
A33
 

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Lots of replies guys, thanks!

First of all I should say that I installed this last summer and it was absolutely brilliant. I was getting stuff that the internet led me to believe was impossible on an 80CM dish. Ever since we had that really cold weather and the snow (in UK) it stopped picking up some stuff and getting pixilation here and there. Something somewhere was off.

I just finished up redoing it (for the 3rd time in a week). Instead of trying to be clever with maths and digital spirit levels, this time I just set all of the angles like I did the first time, using the cast marks. The pole is ~89.9 degrees, so within the margin of error for my level (digi-pass pocket). I am doing a scan now and its picking stuff up, whether or not I have everything that I did have... I wont know for a very long time because I wiped all of the scan data and I am starting over.

Something I noticed (that I seem to remember from before) is that the motor looks like it was at 42.0 when my software told it to go to 39.0. Not sure if that's a motor issue or a software issue. I use TVHeadend and USALS and here are my settings...

View attachment 135587

The motor is a Technomate one and everything I found online suggests the speed is 1.9° per second at13V; 2.5 per second at 18V
I then used someone else's maths 1 / 25 = 0.4 seconds per degree multiplied by 1000 to change to milliseconds giving me a value of 400 to get the 400 value.

I wonder if the motor or software could be a little off? The software has been updated a few times since the first install.
When you say a 'Technomate one' can you clarify ?

(Pictures of the unit/box / receipt might assist)
 

Chris91

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I don't use a receiver, I have a Linux server. Does anyone know how to do a go to zero command in regular Linux?

I bought the motor from world-of-sat. No box and no receipt. I can check the manual tomorrow to know for sure which one I have.
 

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Quote : Something I noticed (that I seem to remember from before) is that the motor looks like it was at 42.0 when my software told it to go to 39.0. Not sure if that's a motor issue or a software issue. I use TVHeadend and USALS and here are my settings...

The readings on the motor scale always are different to the sat position due your lat and longitude .
If you go to Dishpointer with your data and select that sat on 39º E you will see the green Azimuth line is pointed at 133º , so 180º (south) minus 133 = 47º and not 39º


zeroing.jpg
 

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@Chris91

Your profile location is the "Midlands" in the UK, and that is quite a large area, and thus your actual longitude could be anywhere between about 1.5 & 3 degrees West - OTOH, you obviously know exactly where you live, and therefore you should be able to find out your exact longitude!

Do that and plug the number into your location setting in the USALS settings in your receiver - and then come back and tell us what sort of "discrepancy" (if any?) you find between what you ask your receiver to send the dish to, and what the actual setting then is on the scale on the motor.
 

Chris91

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Thanks guys.
Yes my lat lon are spot on as much as my software allows (2 numbers after the decimal point).
Obviously it's dark now so I cant go out and see, but its good to know that the number on the motor wont be the same as the sat I'm pointed at.
My scan is pulling in lots of channels so all seems well.
The Sky IT channels on 5.0W are a example of what I lost and what got me fiddling with the dish in the first place. Assuming I'm back to where I was before I started messing, what would be the best way of trying to get those back? Send the dish to 5.0W and rotate the entire assembly around the pole to try and maximize the signal, and hope I don't loose the stronger stuff?
 

Chris91

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I checked my manual today. Its a Technomate 2600
 

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Thanks guys.
Yes my lat lon are spot on as much as my software allows (2 numbers after the decimal point).
Obviously it's dark now so I cant go out and see, but its good to know that the number on the motor wont be the same as the sat I'm pointed at.
My scan is pulling in lots of channels so all seems well.
The Sky IT channels on 5.0W are a example of what I lost and what got me fiddling with the dish in the first place. Assuming I'm back to where I was before I started messing, what would be the best way of trying to get those back? Send the dish to 5.0W and rotate the entire assembly around the pole to try and maximize the signal, and hope I don't loose the stronger stuff?
Have you checked the received channels on 5W against the list on Flysat? A lot of the Italian channels moved to 9E but that was a while ago now.

Rotating the motor around the pole would be a sensible first move. Mark everything up so it can be moved back if needed.

edit: I find rotating the pole by attaching a 18" steel angle to it with an exhaust clamp allows finer adjustment. First I add a couple of extra exhaust clamps to stop the pole sliding down, and then very slightly slacken the U-bolts. The extra leverage of the steel angle allows the pole to rotate without sliding down.
 
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Chris91

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That's a really good idea. I think I'll try drilling some holes in a length of wood so that it fits over the threads of the U-bolts, then use that as leverage.

According to fly sat the channels are still there.

1617820781819.png
 

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this thread is crazy - the OP needs to set his motor to ZERO, get his dish centered and clamped on, find 1w - then go from there....just like everyone else on here....anything else is pointless.

start here;
 
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