Well I am in the process of solving a problem that I have been having with the VBox III that I bought a short while ago.
I had noticed that many times when I would change satellites using the VBox III with my 10' Unimesh dish that I would have to adjust the position by a few counts to get the best signal.
I went up on the roof today and pulled the cover off my 24" Von Weise actuator to just take a look.
I got the model number which is a VW-24LC and called Von Weise in St. Clair, MO. I talked to a guy there who was very knowledgeable and told me how many counts per inch that my actuator was putting out. It turns out that it only puts out 24 counts per inch. That translates into a little over 400 counts in the entire travel of my actuator arm.
I never paid any attention to the total number of counts, and just assumed it was all up to par.
I asked about taking a magnet out of a junk actuator and putting them in, but they won't fit. He gave me the dimensions of the magnet I need, and said I should be able to find them in a craft or hobby store. He is sending me one, just in case.
The magnet holder on the 24LC holds two magnets, but they come from the factory with only one in place. I can double the counts by putting in the other magnet. That will make the positioning twice as accurate.
Sadly, that may account for the spun aluminum dish and the fiasco I had with it. If you remember, I was using an analog receiver to move the dish which made it even less accurate combined with a small number of counts, which may have caused me to mis-judge it's abilities, and an unfamiliar receiver for tuning purposes. That's a shame and one I won't soon forget.
But I pass this information along hoping that someone might find it useful.
I have found that most of these manufacturers are more than willing to help customers fix or solve their problems with equipment that may have been sold 10 or 15 years ago.
Von Weise is one of the good guys.
I had noticed that many times when I would change satellites using the VBox III with my 10' Unimesh dish that I would have to adjust the position by a few counts to get the best signal.
I went up on the roof today and pulled the cover off my 24" Von Weise actuator to just take a look.
I got the model number which is a VW-24LC and called Von Weise in St. Clair, MO. I talked to a guy there who was very knowledgeable and told me how many counts per inch that my actuator was putting out. It turns out that it only puts out 24 counts per inch. That translates into a little over 400 counts in the entire travel of my actuator arm.
I never paid any attention to the total number of counts, and just assumed it was all up to par.
I asked about taking a magnet out of a junk actuator and putting them in, but they won't fit. He gave me the dimensions of the magnet I need, and said I should be able to find them in a craft or hobby store. He is sending me one, just in case.
The magnet holder on the 24LC holds two magnets, but they come from the factory with only one in place. I can double the counts by putting in the other magnet. That will make the positioning twice as accurate.
Sadly, that may account for the spun aluminum dish and the fiasco I had with it. If you remember, I was using an analog receiver to move the dish which made it even less accurate combined with a small number of counts, which may have caused me to mis-judge it's abilities, and an unfamiliar receiver for tuning purposes. That's a shame and one I won't soon forget.
But I pass this information along hoping that someone might find it useful.
I have found that most of these manufacturers are more than willing to help customers fix or solve their problems with equipment that may have been sold 10 or 15 years ago.
Von Weise is one of the good guys.