Motorised dish problems

Boydy

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Hi all

I am having hell with my motorised dish. I recently moved home and doing so got an installer (guy I always use) to transfer my dish etc to my new property.

Turned out the old motor I had - TM2600 - was no longer driving the dish so I bought a new one about a month ago. The installer came out and hooked it up and it was ok - or it seemed to be. The only thing he couldn't get going correctly was locking 30 West. I played around with that and managed to bring it in (probably by good fortune opposed to knowledge).

Anyway, it seems a bit of a mess now. I have only been able to lock on 30 West and nothing else, meaning I can get nothing else east or west.

Today I got a ladder and sent the dish to zero and reset the motor. I then unplugged the power from the box and disconnected the cable to the dish. When I turned it on I was able to get 0.8 W, 13.0 E, 28.2 E etc. Then when I tried to go to 30 W I couldn't bring it in so tried to go back to 0.8 - 0.8 then didn't come in.

Before I moved I was using a VU+ Zero but it is white and my other hardware is black so I purchased a Mutant HD box to get everything looking decent. I have been skipping between the 2 boxes to see if either of them will work - I know, I know.

My USALS setup is:

Single tuner

configuration - simple

Long - 6.693

Lat - 55.140

We have had some storms lately and my dish is 1.1 metres but it's perforated and doesn't seem to have moved - my viewing experience is flawless (when available).

I'm at my wits end with this now and don't really want to be paying out again to correct this. The only problem with that is I haven't a clue about manually positioning the dish or anything. All I really know is via the box.

Any help here would be like manna from heaven. I am ready to volley this down the road.

Thanks
 

TJExcalibur

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Where is Long - 6.693 Lat - 55.140 Google maps shows this as the Indian Ocean
 

Boydy

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Terryl

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Try it this way....
W6.693, N55.140...Puts him in Coleraine, Northern Ireland
 

Boydy

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Try it this way....
W6.693, N55.140...Puts him in Coleraine, Northern Ireland

Yes that's me.

Anyway so I played around last night and managed to bring in numerous sets. Sat and tuned them all in last night before I went to bed. I left it on 30W when I went to bed and came back down this morning and shifted to Thor and they've all gone again except 30W.

Why are the other sats not persisting?
 

Mickha

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When you set up a motorized dish, using USALS, you need to get a few basics correct.
1 Ensure your pole is secure, and plumb.
2. Set everything to 0, dish LNB and motor.
3. Enter your Latitude, and Longitude, into your receiver and send it to a suitable satellite, preferably one nearest to your Longitude position, the use your receiver to send the motor/dish to the chosen satellite..
4. physically move the dish, to the chosen satellite, and get the strongest signal possible. This way 0, on your motor, should point to your Longitude, in your case 6.69 West.

You then send your dish to the furthest East satellite, and furthest West satellite, available to you, and check the readings. You can then send it back to the satellite you set up on, and make fine adjustments, to the motor, and dish bracket, to get the dish to track the satellite arc correctly.

You can select the satellites manually, then drive the motor/dish, to the chosen satellite, and store them, by using Diseqc 1.2, instead of USALS, on your receiver. Once set up it will act the same as USALS.
 

Boydy

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When you set up a motorized dish, using USALS, you need to get a few basics correct.
1 Ensure your pole is secure, and plumb.
2. Set everything to 0, dish LNB and motor.
3. Enter your Latitude, and Longitude, into your receiver and send it to a suitable satellite, preferably one nearest to your Longitude position, the use your receiver to send the motor/dish to the chosen satellite..
4. physically move the dish, to the chosen satellite, and get the strongest signal possible. This way 0, on your motor, should point to your Longitude, in your case 6.69 West.

You then send your dish to the furthest East satellite, and furthest West satellite, available to you, and check the readings. You can then send it back to the satellite you set up on, and make fine adjustments, to the motor, and dish bracket, to get the dish to track the satellite arc correctly.

You can select the satellites manually, then drive the motor/dish, to the chosen satellite, and store them, by using Diseqc 1.2, instead of USALS, on your receiver. Once set up it will act the same as USALS.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Unfortunately I've no knowledge of manually shifting the dish. I don't know how to use the disecq method neither. I've been using USALS up to now without any issues.

On a side note I've just been out and taken a look and the motor is driving the dish no problem. Also appears (by looking at the movement) that 0 for me is 0.8W.

I'm absolutely baffled here. Reading about Disecq it appears to be more reliable once setup but I haven't a scooby how to go about it. I don't have the knowledge or a meter, bar an analog 1 that I'm not confident of using, in order to set it up.

So frustrating.
 

Boydy

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So I've sent the motor to 0, went out and reset the motor. Came in, unplugged the coax cable from the STB, powered off the box and waited 1 minute before reconnecting everything and powering on.

When I powered on the dish immediately spun to 30W - does this mean the motor thinks my 0 is 30W?

I don't understand how I was able to bring in numerous satellites last night only for them to be gone this morning. The box is never powered off etc.
 

TJExcalibur

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I would set the motor to Tor 1 west. Then check the dish is pointing in that direction. May have slipped on the pole brackets in the wind.
 

Channel Hopper

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Since your profile mentions two receivers, are you somehow connecting both to the motor ?

Try each one separately , I would opt for the Mutant first.
 

Mickha

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When the motor moves to 30W it's just that one of the channels, on 30W, is set to default, or if you haven't set a default it automatically sets one.

Setting up Diseqc 1.2 isn't that difficult, it's just repetitive. If you go into the menu, and tuner setup, you select a satellite, like 0.8W, set the option to Diseqc 1.2, and allocate a number, for that satellite, e.g. 001, then save it. You then go to positioner setup, in the menu, use the buttons, to drive the motor/dish, East/West, until you locate 0.8W, maximize the signal quality, and then store that position at 0.8W. You then have to do the same for each satellite, e.g. 4.8 E at 002. 7E at 003, etc..

You can also alter yourt Longitude settings, in the receiver, to see if that improves your signal quality, as your making the motor change it's position, to counter any mistakes, either when setting the dish up, or due to wind.
 

Boydy

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I would set the motor to Tor 1 west. Then check the dish is pointing in that direction. May have slipped on the pole brackets in the wind.

If it moved in the wind would all sats not be out?

I've attached some details of the sats I can get.
 

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Boydy

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Since your profile mentions two receivers, are you somehow connecting both to the motor ?

Try each one separately , I would opt for the Mutant first.

Both aren't connected at the same time. Before I moved home the VU Zero was working fine. I then bought the Mutant to have all the hardware matching black. When we were installing everything we were having difficulty setting up the Mutant but eventually got there - in so far as sats were tuned but not persisting.

The plan was then to put the Zero in my office. Before installing anymore cabling etc I plugged it into my living room to set the box up. It didn't work straight off. Again more playing aw round and it worked. As mentioned previously all sats were tuned in last night when I went to bed. Got up this morning and only 30W seems to persist.
 

Boydy

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When the motor moves to 30W it's just that one of the channels, on 30W, is set to default, or if you haven't set a default it automatically sets one.

Setting up Diseqc 1.2 isn't that difficult, it's just repetitive. If you go into the menu, and tuner setup, you select a satellite, like 0.8W, set the option to Diseqc 1.2, and allocate a number, for that satellite, e.g. 001, then save it. You then go to positioner setup, in the menu, use the buttons, to drive the motor/dish, East/West, until you locate 0.8W, maximize the signal quality, and then store that position at 0.8W. You then have to do the same for each satellite, e.g. 4.8 E at 002. 7E at 003, etc..

You can also alter yourt Longitude settings, in the receiver, to see if that improves your signal quality, as your making the motor change it's position, to counter any mistakes, either when setting the dish up, or due to wind.

Cool, thanks. When I've tried that previously having read about it online I've been worried that I'll knock the whole thing off and not be able to recover it.

I'll give it a go again. I guess my patience doesn't allow me to wait long enough for the movement to locate the sat. If it hasn't found it fairly quickly I immediately assume it's not going to and quickly halt it.

Thank you.
 

Channel Hopper

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Both aren't connected at the same time. Before I moved home the VU Zero was working fine. I then bought the Mutant to have all the hardware matching black. When we were installing everything we were having difficulty setting up the Mutant but eventually got there - in so far as sats were tuned but not persisting.

Try the Mutant then

(You can always get some paint and a brush for the VU+)
 

Boydy

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Try the Mutant then

(You can always get some paint and a brush for the VU+)



Will try again later. Have to drive my mother in law to the airport.

Expect that'll be as painful as this sat stuff.
 

a33

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BTW, welcome to the forum, Boydy! :-welcome1

Also appears (by looking at the movement) that 0 for me is 0.8W.

When using USALS, with correct coordinates in your receiver, that would be very strange.
Getting to 0.8W would mean a 6.4 degree motor rotation from zero, at your location.
So what exactly have you done, to come to this observation?

BTW When you say you sent the motor to 0, do you (just) mean you gave the Goto0 or GotoRef command, or did you actually check that the motor tube was now at 0-position?

When the physical motor setup is done well, using USALS normally causes no problem.

3rd question: what exactly do you do to in the end receive a certain satellite? Use MoveLeft/MoveRight commands? Or something else?

greetz,
A33
 

Boydy

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Motorised 1.1 metre dish. USALS. VU+ Zero. Mutant HD.
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When the motor moves to 30W it's just that one of the channels, on 30W, is set to default, or if you haven't set a default it automatically sets one.

Setting up Diseqc 1.2 isn't that difficult, it's just repetitive. If you go into the menu, and tuner setup, you select a satellite, like 0.8W, set the option to Diseqc 1.2, and allocate a number, for that satellite, e.g. 001, then save it. You then go to positioner setup, in the menu, use the buttons, to drive the motor/dish, East/West, until you locate 0.8W, maximize the signal quality, and then store that position at 0.8W. You then have to do the same for each satellite, e.g. 4.8 E at 002. 7E at 003, etc..

You can also alter yourt Longitude settings, in the receiver, to see if that improves your signal quality, as your making the motor change it's position, to counter any mistakes, either when setting the dish up, or due to wind.

Hi mate, thanks for this.

So.it looks like I've fine tuned 28.2 using Disecq 1.2. Then I stored the position.

I just repeat that process then for the remaining? I don't need to physically touch the dish itself? How then does it know where say 19.2 is from here if not using USALS?

Thanks again
 

Mickha

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You have to assign a different number, to each satellite, and match the corresponding number when using the positioner setup option.
Make sure to write a list, of the satellites, and corresponding numbers.
 

Boydy

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BTW, welcome to the forum, Boydy! :-welcome1



When using USALS, with correct coordinates in your receiver, that would be very strange.
Getting to 0.8W would mean a 6.4 degree motor rotation from zero, at your location.
So what exactly have you done, to come to this observation?

BTW When you say you sent the motor to 0, do you (just) mean you gave the Goto0 or GotoRef command, or did you actually check that the motor tube was now at 0-position?

When the physical motor setup is done well, using USALS normally causes no problem.

3rd question: what exactly do you do to in the end receive a certain satellite? Use MoveLeft/MoveRight commands? Or something else?

greetz,
A33

Hey

A lot to answer there. Tbh my guesstimates on the positioned are purely visual in that it doesn't appear to move when I send to 0 or 0.8W. I've read 0.8W is considered 0 for where I am. I may be incorrect on that.

Anytime I've used USALS I've simply downloaded a channel list and set up simple positioner config and let USALS do the rest.

I've no idea why it's being arsey now. The guy who does the work for me has always set this up and we've never hit the skids like this.

Currently 28.2 is tuning in now having played with Disecq 1.2. I dont know how I'm going to move the dish to the next sat if I'm not using USALS. I have no idea how to configure the sats manually at the dish.

Apologies to all as I'm a layman at anything other than USALS.
 
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