Thread: i am having the reed count on the actuator changing from day to day.

Ok, I misunderstood.
Yeah, moving to a sat from one direction works, the other is a couple of clicks off. Got that here also. It helped some to hang a weight (brick) on the east lip of the dish. At least for the most watched portion of the arc. I'm using 22 inches of the 24 inch actuator going from 55.5°W to 137°W. Considering a 36 inch, with the attachment to the dish moved further off axis to minimize aiming inaccuracies, and provide more count's per degree.

I thought I was experiencing a major change in counts, so this thread attracted my attention. Then I discovered that wind in last few days moved the dish off course on the pole by about 1/4inch. That meant that 137.0w was located on the V-Box at 135.0. I have a register mark on the pole and the mount so that setting it back took just a few minutes.

i had a problem like this a few years back . it was with the v-box (3 maybe) and a vonweise actuator . i suspected first that it might be the v-box cause several reported no problems with a g-box type mover. I think the g-box actually double the count . then i thought it could be that the actuator might not have a high enough count per inch ( lets say) i was only getting 32 counts where i think 40 might have been. needed. I never solved the problem cause i didn't have time to finish the project . but i did buy the parts to test with. i was planning on adding a second reed sensor to the opposite side of the magnet wheel in effect doubbling the count from the actuator.

my problem was when going from a west satellite to my south satellite it would have a set # of counts ... this number wouldn't vary but when i returned from that south satellite going back to the same west satellite it would lose a few counts usually 1 or 2 clicks / counts. Doing so would through the v-box off on its count so it couldn't return to exactly same count location each time. I don't know if on the return , maybe the v-box didn't receive several counts from the sensor at the actuator or not . it only happened going back west. nothing i did could correct the problem at the time. i repositioned the sensor closer to the magnet wheel, changed out the sensor tried adjusting the magnetic wheel. re-adjusted the actuator mounts. re wired the whole actuator. my only conclusion on it at the time was that some way the v-box wasn't as sensitive counting each way. but thats just me guessing ....

gabshere, those were many of the things i was looking for in moving from west to east and vs. so far, moving east to west from 55w to 137w was pretty good, did a blind scan yesterday and only messed up on a couple of k band satellites. i have 39 satellites scanned in my blind scan. have a solomend/openbox9 with 7.5 dish with powerjack 36" actuator. charlie

i think i am making real progress on getting the dish to stop on the satellite from both directions. first, i tightened all bolts again. some were snug but not tight on my adjustments. i have lengthened the arm which the actuator connects to on the dish itself but didn't move the connection on the post. that introduced instability and in a warmer time of the year i will lengthen that connection so there is more of a bigger triangle between the post, dish and actuator. right now i have a couple of bunge cords connecting the actuator connection on the dish on one end and the post on the other end. that provides the stability i need to be accurate. education does not end, even after you retire from working for 55 years... charlie

if you still have old actuator see if there is any slop in it, this can be done by grabbing edge of dish and moving E to W (if tube has slop then it must be replaced)
another solution is the magnetic wheel next to reed switch sometimes breaks looe and spins freely( this can be glued)