Micro HD, two dishes and motor problems!

[Martyn]

Hi guys,

I wonder if someone could give me some help here.

I have a MicroHD with a motorized ku-band dish. It's been working perfectly.

This weekend I put up a C-band dish, which is viewed via the MicroHD but steered via an old analog receiver. Everything worked well.

Now I want to merge them together.

So, I went through all my C-band satellite settings and set motor type to none and 22kHz to on. The ku-band side was left untouched (Diseqc 1.2 motor, 22kHz off).

I connected a 22kHz switch between the motor and ku LNB, "off" port to ku and the "on" port to the C-band dish.

It worked to a point. I can see channels on both ku-band and C-band satellites.

My problem is that the motor on the ku-band dish doesn't seem to be receiving the signals properly. When I switch ku satellites, it sometimes sits there for a minute before deciding to move. Sometimes it doesn't move at all not matter how long I wait.

I thought putting the switch after the motor would avoid motor problems.

I also have a Diseqc switch and can try swapping that for the 22kHz switch if it will help. Should that be before or after the motor?

Thanks!

 

[Cham]

In a usual setup all switches should be installed after the motor. That way the motor always gets a "move" signal. There are some cases where 22KHz switches will pass DC to one port (the one the motor should be on) but not all 22KHz switches will do this. The Ecoda switches are the ones I think work that way.

Just for curiosity's sake what model motor are you using?

C.

 

[Martyn]

Cham,

Thanks for the quick response.

It's a DG380. It's getting power, the lights are flashing every two seconds to show it's powered and I can use the buttons on the motor body to move it manually.

I just took the switch out of the system and the ku is back to working fine.

I'm going to try a Diseqc switch now to see how that does.

Martyn

 

[Martyn]

Changing the 22kHz switch for the Diseqc seems to have solved it, but I'm still curious why that didn't work.

 

[Anole]

The flippant answer is, cause you had a crummy 22khz switch.
But if I understood you, ya never ran motor power through the switch.
Good for you!
So maybe you DID have a defective/broken/crummy switch. :up
?

 

[Martyn]

Thanks Anole.

I'm glad it probably wasn't operator error.

BTW, I got DVIDS. A $40 long-handled tree pruner and 10 minutes on the roof solved all my problems.

Martyn

 

[Anole]

I was going to suggest a high powered industrial laser...or hand grenades, but your solution worked, too!
?
?

 

[Martyn]

They never came to my mind but "controlled burn" did

 

[primestar31]

They never came to my mind but "controlled burn" did

No, a "controlled burn" is what you get when you ask your wife to help you aim it by her watching the tv screen inside, and letting you know if it's BETTER or WORSE when you move it. LOL