Thread: When Changing Jacks.....

Because of some curious problems I have recently had I am thinking of changing jacks and would like to make the change as painless as possible.

The old jack

Spindly looking 18" HTS jack
I got this with the dish out of a blackberry patch. Originally it was froze but I got it broke loose and managed to get it working

The new jack

El mundo 24" Von Weise
Looks like it could move a house

Mostly I am looking for tips on how to translate the counts from one bird position to another, as I think the Von Weise has more counts per rev than the HTS.

Also looking for suggestions for a cover thing to try to keep the wet off my pretty new jack

One thing to keep in mind...HAVE HELP.

I also learned the hard way about leaving the dish sitting there without the actuator attached during a down time while waiting for a new one. The wind flipped it all the way around during the night.

I would start by having the dish down near it's lower limit, replace the actuator. Now with the dish in sight reset the dish upper and lower limits. Then program in the new positions. Odds are the sensor count rate will not even be close. Newer models have more pulses and are more accurate than ancient ones.

I have a cover over the motor and a bellows type boot over the shaft on my Unimesh.

On keeping the wet out, I have found that the more you try to water proof anything outdoors, the more it will keep moisture in once it gets in and it WILL find a way in. Most of mine I have just kept stock and made sure the little hole in the back of the VonWeise is pointing down (motor up) so that any water that does get in can drain right back out. Again, trying to seal the moisture out will only trap any moisture which will inevitably get in and cause you more grief.

Oh and it is highly unlikely that there is any way to match up the counts so you'll be re-programming everything.
I usually bring the dish to the position where the jack is as far in as you can go then loosen the bolt on the mount and gently bring the dish down to rest. Then I take out the bolt which joins the arm to the dish. If you take out the bolt on the end of the jack first you run the risk of putting the end of the jack right through your dish!
Re-install in reverse. Someone there to steady the dish would definitely help although I have done it alone.

Originally Posted by Inno

On keeping the wet out, I have found that the more you try to water proof anything outdoors, the more it will keep moisture in once it gets in and it WILL find a way in.

I agree with this. I once had a source of long skinny plastic bags, and thought that they would keep out the moisture, but the actuator never gets a chance to dry out, even when it gets hot, which would usually evaporate any moisture, but inside the bag, it just turns the contraption into a steam bath.

Originally Posted by Inno

Most of mine I have just kept stock and made sure the little hole in the back of the VonWeise is pointing down (motor up) so that any water that does get in can drain right back out. Again, trying to seal the moisture out will only trap any moisture which will inevitably get in and cause you more grief.

Again, I agree. Back in the old days, lots of people recommended installing a grease fitting in that little hole. People would pump grease into the bottom, which would mean that any water that got in couldn't drain. I never had a Von Weise, but with the HT actuators I used, I found it better to take the actuator apart and grease the screw by hand rather than try to push a bunch of grease in blocking the drainage.

Originally Posted by Inno

Oh and it is highly unlikely that there is any way to match up the counts so you'll be re-programming everything.
I usually bring the dish to the position where the jack is as far in as you can go then loosen the bolt on the mount and gently bring the dish down to rest. Then I take out the bolt which joins the arm to the dish. If you take out the bolt on the end of the jack first you run the risk of putting the end of the jack right through your dish!
Re-install in reverse. Someone there to steady the dish would definitely help although I have done it alone.

I used to have 2 actuators, one in use, and one a spare that I'd quickly switch in when the one I was using started to give me problems. I would use one of those light duty chains, with dog clips one each end. Hook the ends to where the actuator attached, so that when I'd disconnect the actuator (from whichever end), the chain would support the dish. Actually, I got so quick at lubricating the actuators, that I'd do this, take off the actuator, take it inside, take it apart, smear on grease, take it outside and re-install it, do a quick re-sync, and I was back in business in about an hour or so. The only problem was that once I forgot to take the chain off after re-installing the actuator. And yes, with different actuators, and even identical actuators connected differently (via different positions of the clamp around the cyllinder), it's unlikely that you'd get the counts to match up. Easier to just start over.