Sg2100 Motor Bracket Flex

[starman345]

There's no way to zero it on the Coolsat 5000. I just reset the motor itself and it goes to zero. Like I said, the motor is stopping on the satellites ( any satellite, not just my TS) every time using USALS, its just when it gets there the elevation is all wrong.

Bumping it in either direction does not help. Only if I physically change the elevation adjustment on the dish will it come in.

I have the Coolsat 5000, go to motorized settings menu, select antenna settings, select go to reference, look at your motor pointer, does it stop at exactly zero? If not, you will never be able to track that dish. I went through exactly what you are describing and the motor being slightly off zero was the problem.

 

[qwert1515]

If not, you will never be able to track that dish.

Then all you have to do is move the motor to the right place and reset the motor with a pin.

 

[starman345]

Then all you have to do is move the motor to the right place and reset the motor with a pin.

That would work if he had a motor that could be re-set with a pin, but he doesn't. Read further back in the thread, he has a two button model, no zero reset.

 

[stogie5150]

That would work if he had a motor that could be re-set with a pin, but he doesn't. Read further back in the thread, he has a two button model, no zero reset.

To reset the two button model you have to turn it off, hold both buttons, and then turn it on, wait for the LED to quit flashing, release the buttons, and the motor moves to zero. I have reset it unmerous times but I have never checked to see if it is really going to zero or not. So tomorrow that will be the first thing I check.

Thanks again guys, keep it coming!
:up

 

[stogie5150]

I have the Coolsat 5000, go to motorized settings menu, select antenna settings, select go to reference, look at your motor pointer, does it stop at exactly zero? If not, you will never be able to track that dish. I went through exactly what you are describing and the motor being slightly off zero was the problem.

Is that in the USALS menu or the 1.2 menu? because in the USALS menu there is no go to reference.

 

[qwert1515]

On the Coolsat 6000 it is under both 1.2 and USALS in the "Motorized Setting" -> "Limit Motor Control" -> "Goto Reference"

 

[Larry1]

If you go out to the dish and setup your receiver beside the dish and run the motor back and forth from beside the dish, does the movement look smooth or are there any bumps/drops in the movement of the dish. Also, from the zero position, the dish should be at the lowest point (which is the highest point of the arc)....if I have this thought out correctly. If you run the motor in equal amounts east and west the dish should move the same amout up from a horizontal line. When you actually run the motor (in both diredctions) is it the lowest point or is the zero position off (as starman345 has suggested). You should be able to see what I am talking about when you are beside the dish and take some measurements. When the dish is high on one end of the arc and low on the other it sounds as if it is twisted on the pole. Is the tube/shaft of the motor good and firm or does it have any play in it.
You can wear your new Sadoun hat while you are out there adjusting the motor.... congrats on winning it.

 

[Larry1]

Is there any play in your pivot bolt that attaches your dish to the motor tube? (see red arrow in your picture) Is centre line of the motor tube lined up exactly with the centre line of the dish? When the motor is set to the zero position, the dish should be square to the motor and mounting pole. If you loosen this bolt, will the dish move a few degrees in either direction?

 

[starman345]

Stogie, as I said further back in the thread, when you go through that re-set procedure, it only resets the satellite positions to factory defaults in the motor, it does not set the new zero that you have set on the pointer at the motor. I learned that the hard way. It is unlike the older SG-2100 in that regard, although no mention of it is in any of the literature.
It seems like you have everything else covered, I don't know of any other reason that dish won't track properly.
In the Coolsat 5000, go to where you input your longitude and latitude, press ok on that, then press go to reference, check the zero on your motor.

 

[stogie5150]

Stogie, that SG-2100 sounds like a DXM-7000? When you do that reset procedure it does NOT reset the zero on the motor, it only re-sets the satellites that are stored (diseqc1.2) in the motor to the factory ones. To reset the zero you need to physically open the motor and move the gears.
To check, send your dish to zero via your stb and go and look at the zero pointer on the motor, is it on zero?

The zero IS wrong.

This is EXACTLY the problem! No matter what I do the motor will NOT reset the zero I manually set it at! It IS off to the west. So now I have to open the motor? Wow.

Might need to fire off an email to DMS and ask them what is that going to mean for my warranty.

 

[starman345]

The zero IS wrong.

This is EXACTLY the problem! No matter what I do the motor will NOT reset the zero I manually set it at! It IS off to the west. So now I have to open the motor? Wow.

Might need to fire off an email to DMS and ask them what is that going to mean for my warranty.

I'm happy for you, hopefully that is the problem, easy to fix, or just send it back if its still under warranty. If you are going to fix it yourself, have a look at this thread:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/94601-anyone-got-new-type-sg-2100-a.html

As I mentioned before, both of the motors I had slipped their zero, I reset them both, one of them is still in its box, I haven't used it since, the other I used about a month and it slipped zero again so its under my work bench. Your decision, but it might be better to just send it back if you can do without that dish for awhile.

 

[stogie5150]

I'm happy for you, hopefully that is the problem, easy to fix, or just send it back if its still under warranty. If you are going to fix it yourself, have a look at this thread:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/94601-anyone-got-new-type-sg-2100-a.html

As I mentioned before, both of the motors I had slipped their zero, I reset them both, one of them is still in its box, I haven't used it since, the other I used about a month and it slipped zero again so its under my work bench. Your decision, but it might be better to just send it back if you can do without that dish for awhile.

GOOD info! Thanks!

I have a call in to DMS and I am gonna wait on that before I tear into it....

Linuxman and I have been conversing and he came up with one more thing for me to try....doesn't cost anything to try so I am gonna try it... But it sounds like if I do not get that motor zeroed it will never track correctly.

 

[Tron]

Its too bad they changed the original SG-2100 design. The button which allows you to manually move the motor, combined with the "paperclip trick", makes it very easy to reset those older motors. I hope you're able to find a viable solution, especially since motor resets are required from time to time.

 

[stogie5150]

I just emailed DMS with a link to this thread.

 

[mastermesh]

The thing I don't like about my sg2100's bolts is the darn things rust out pretty dang easy over time... making it nearly impossible if it's been on the pole a long time to tighten or loosen them since the threads are full of rust.

 

[qwert1515]

The thing I don't like about my sg2100's bolts is the darn things rust out pretty dang easy over time... making it nearly impossible if it's been on the pole a long time to tighten or loosen them since the threads are full of rust.

I replaced mine with stainless steel bolts since I could find the "U" bolt at my local hardware store, they are about two years old and have not rusted

I put my backup motor with the "U" bolt and in three weeks it already shows signs of rust

 

[stogie5150]

The thing I don't like about my sg2100's bolts is the darn things rust out pretty dang easy over time... making it nearly impossible if it's been on the pole a long time to tighten or loosen them since the threads are full of rust.

Anti-seize compound is your friend on u-bolts. I live down here in the hot, humid, Sunny South, about five miles from salt water. I use anti-seize by the bucket around here.
Makes it a pain though to work on, it gets EVERYWHERE when you work on the dishes...hands, tools, clothes...

 

[stogie5150]

I figured I'd dredge this back up, because I am having the EXACT same problem again. I have been fooling with this setup for about 30 hours total the last week or so, it isn't my main dish so its not a priority. I STILL cannot get it to track properly. Thinking it might be my homebrew dish adaptor plate, I made another whole setup, bolted it to the dish, and gave that a go.
Checked the plumb of the pole, perfect. I can zero on my TS satellite (G11), with 97% quality (pegged out) on the CS5000, but move it to G18 and its junk. Its not on the satellite, and the elevation is screwed, I cant even nudge it in.

I tried moving the elevation of the motor one degree at a time up and down, then re-tweaking my TS satellite, tried again, no difference.
I have had trouble with this pole since I put it up. I took my other dish down the other day to re-position it, and I had it tracking the arc in five minutes. So i know my technique is sound, there is SOMETHING in my other setup that is throwing things out of whack.
I even tried another motor setup, one of the 10.00 motors, I changed out every last nut and bolt, brackets and everything. Same thing.

I am at the end of my rope. I was concentrating so hard I smoked my cigar until it burned my lip...

Lay ya thoughts on me, fellas. I'll have some pics for you, Brother Anole, as soon as the rain stops.:up

As Promised...here they are:

 

[stogie5150]

And here is the OTHER setup that works perfectly.

 

[starman345]

Well, it looks to me that your bracket is twisted, the u-bolts are not even, one is to the right/left of the other(looking at the picture from the rear of the dish). Also, there are more threads showing beyond the nut on the bottom u-bolt.....bracket is closer to the pole on the bottom than the top. Have you put a level on top of the motor, at the back on top of the mounting bolts? Its hard to tell from the pictures, just a few things I noticed off the bat. Light another cigar and pour a tall one, it will jump out at ya eventually