Titanium Satellite Titanium ASC 1 gone bad after 1 month in use

Why bother replacing? The problem is not the splice. Unsheilded cat5 cable is not suitable for skew motors. Who cares if the wrong cabling is free?

PWM servo motor distribution wiring requires shielding. For the past 30+ years, satellite ribbon cables have had a shield with bare drain wire, which was connected to the IRD ground terminal. Spend 18 cents a foot. :eeek

www.homedepot.com/p/Southwire-By-the-Foot-22-2-Gray-Stranded-CU-CL3R-Shielded-Security-Cable-57572199/204725140


Brian, I just cannot bring myself to spend any money for new wire when I can replace a compromised ( spliced ) wire with new wire that I have on hand, it is possible it will work for awhile!
Even if it only works for two or three months, I have enough wire to replace it at least two more times! I might as well get my moneys worth out of it!
 
The ASC1 is the best dish mover around but you need the correct wire for it to work right. Using sub standard unshielded and the wrong size wire will definitely cause problems with it.

Kinda like buying a new car and putting old drain oil into it because you happen to have some laying around, not sensible and performance will be poor.
 
If the CAT5 is causing your problem then you are not getting your money's worth out of it.


It worked on the 4DTV for several months and on the ASC 1 when I first installed it! I am hoping that the splice ( x-2 witch equals 6 butt connectors ) has allowed water intrusion!

I began this thread because of a sticking relay in my ASC 1, Brian has taken care of me on that! I had forgotten all about me having spliced that CAT 5 cable! If I had remembered this fact, I never would have mentioned this problem before replacing the cable!

Tomorrow I will be replacing the motherboard and connecting the new CAT 5 wire. The relay problem will take a few days to verify a fix because it is very intermittent. The losing signal problem is beginning to be more weather related, so that could take a few days also. I promise I will post the results because I hate posts like this that the original poster just left us all hanging!
 
It worked on the 4DTV for several months and on the ASC 1 when I first installed it! I am hoping that the splice ( x-2 witch equals 6 butt connectors ) has allowed water intrusion!

I began this thread because of a sticking relay in my ASC 1, Brian has taken care of me on that! I had forgotten all about me having spliced that CAT 5 cable! If I had remembered this fact, I never would have mentioned this problem before replacing the cable!

Tomorrow I will be replacing the motherboard and connecting the new CAT 5 wire. The relay problem will take a few days to verify a fix because it is very intermittent. The losing signal problem is beginning to be more weather related, so that could take a few days also. I promise I will post the results because I hate posts like this that the original poster just left us all hanging!


I had my friend take pictures yesterday, Monday, It turns out that they were not needed!

The tap at the relay fix quit working on Saturday morning and of course my friend was missing again! I was able to replace the motherboard in the ASC 1 but I ran out of time and was not able to connect the new unspliced CAT-5 wire. Even through I had run the dish west to 0000 before the replacement, all I could find was a printout of the TVROSAT sat chart that I had written my assigned numbers on! That was a big help, but I still had to go find all my sats again!

That was easy until 121, I just could not find it! It did not matter what I did!

I had to get out my calculator and crunch some numbers! My far west sat is G-15 at 133.0 W at a count of 0179 on the ASC 1, AMC-11 at 131.0 at a count of 0194, G-13 at 127.0 at a count of 0221.

I had not fine tuned yet, these numbers could change after doing so, ( and they will be different from what you are using for equipment! )
but it was enough for me to use 27 counts for 4 degrees between sats and 10 counts for 2 degrees! After doing this 121 was right there at 0259!

Today was cold with a mist falling all day. The ASC 1 is working just fine, but I am still losing signal at times, the wetter it is outside the worse the problem is!

Wed is supposed to a lot warmer but with more rain! I do not know when I will be able to try the new CAT 5 cable!

And I confess, I did not run the new wire, a customer that thought I had undercharged him ran it!

He just knew how to use a shovel to make a 3 or 4 inch trench to bury my cables in! When I told him not to bury the cat wire he made tell him why! He then had to have my new wire to bury at the same time!

I just could not bring myself to tell him that by putting all those wires together like that in the same trench may not work,

The CAT 5 may have worked for me all this time because the wires were never run together!

Now they will be when I finally connect the cat 5 cable! If the weather ever cooperates?
 
I don't know how much current your actuator motor draws, but I suspect cat5 cable might not handle it, especially if it's cheap cable. I know cat5 wouldn't handle the current of my motors.

You might end up where the motor is starving for power and cause heat on the relay contacts and end up right back where you were with bad relays by using that cable.
 
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I know this is a long and wandering thread filled with car repair tips and other life hacks, but.... the cat 5 wire is being used for the servo motor and not the motor or the sensor. He purchased good quality rotor cable with shielding for the actuator run.

He loses signal often when his heat pump cycles. In my opinion, the unsheiled servo wires running out to the dish are probably picking up RFI from the heat pump cycling and the servo motor moves the polarity probe out of position until a new polarity call out is made.

I suggested earlier in this thread how to test, but no testing has been done to determine if the servo motor is energized by the heat pump cycles. Replacing the old cat 5 cable with a new cat 5 cable is a repair to a yet untested problem. :(

Simply put... Servo motors are very susceptable to interference and an unsheiled pulse wire will act like an antenna.
 
I know this is a long and wandering thread filled with car repair tips and other life hacks, but.... the cat 5 wire is being used for the servo motor and not the motor or the sensor. He purchased good quality rotor cable with shielding for the actuator run.

He loses signal often when his heat pump cycles. In my opinion, the unsheiled servo wires running out to the dish are probably picking up RFI from the heat pump cycling and the servo motor moves the polarity probe out of position until a new polarity call out is made.

I suggested earlier in this thread how to test, but no testing has been done to determine if the servo motor is energized by the heat pump cycles. Replacing the old cat 5 cable with a new cat 5 cable is a repair to a yet untested problem. :(

Simply put... Servo motors are very susceptable to interference and an unsheiled pulse wire will act like an antenna.


Brian, the ASC 1 is working good. Thank you again for the new motherboard! And the switcht ! The weather cooperated today and I was able to connect that newly run cable!

And , yes, it was the skew motor being energized! After seeing the loss of signal after flashes of lightning, I waited until the storm had passed, and even without marking the feedhorn, I was able to see it had moved! A lot!

Everything has been working just fine for the last three hours! But it is not cold enough for the heat to come on, it is not raining, and there is no lightning!

As soon as something happens, I will post an update! If nothing happens I will post it in a few weeks!
 
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Hi Titanium can you recommend good wire to run to the actuator and the reed sensor cable at home depot? thanks. I ordered a ASC1 from you and I want to run new cable for it. thanks. I use a Titanium C1 LNBF so no servo motor here.
 
Here are some examples of wiring used for actuator control.

The low voltage landscaping wire 12/2 or 14/2 is perfect for M1/M2 (motor power).
www.homedepot.com/p/Southwire-100-ft-12-2-Black-Stranded-CU-Low-Voltage-Landscape-Lighting-Wire-55213443/202316562


Sheilded security system wiring is great for S1/S2/Gnd (sensor with sheild).
www.homedepot.com/p/Southwire-By-the-Foot-22-2-Gray-Stranded-CU-CL3R-Shielded-Security-Cable-57572199/204725140

Quality sheilded rotor control cabling is available through amateur radio supply stores. Wireman #306
The WireMan - Rotor cables and control wires - pricing
 
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Brian, the ASC 1 is working good. Thank you again for the new motherboard! And the switcht ! The weather cooperated today and I was able to connect that newly run cable!

And , yes, it was the skew motor being energized! After seeing the loss of signal after flashes of lightning, I waited until the storm had passed, and even without marking the feedhorn, I was able to see it had moved! A lot!

Everything has been working just fine for the last three hours! But it is not cold enough for the heat to come on, it is not raining, and there is no lightning!

As soon as something happens, I will post an update! If nothing happens I will post it in a few weeks!


Today is week one with no lost signal! Temps in the twentys (F) in the mornings, so not much on and off on the heat and almost no rain, but no lightning so far!

I will try to keep updating weekly until I am sure I will have no more problems!
 
Please start a new thread about the loss of signal if it happens again. No need to post each week letting us know you don't have any problems.... :)


Brian, thank you again for all your help!

The only time I have lost the signal so far has been the bi-yearly solar fade, and stupid me, I just changed over to my OTA clone of that channel, only to find that it worked 30 seconds before they had lost it too!I

I miss the old days when you could just move to another sat and keep watching HBO or another subscribed channel!
 
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Please start a new thread about the loss of signal if it happens again. No need to post each week letting us know you don't have any problems.... :)


OK, Brian, now you and everybody else can say "I told you CAT 5 would not work!"

Had a small thunderstorm come through this morning and at every flash of lightning I lost the signal, and at its worst, I never regained it, the flashes were coming so often!

CAT 5 was good enough for my old 4DTV but it is not going to work with my ASC 1 !

As this is the last post in this thread, let us go back to cars!

My customers are always asking my what gasoline to buy? I prefer Chevron myself, I tell them! But any TOP TIER gas is fine.

But what grade of gas? I always buy (cheap) ( mid grade) (premium) they say! I then ask them to look in their owners manual for that answer, because I have no idea of what each car was designed to run on! ( or as stated in more than one manual that I have seen - DO NOT USE PREMIUM ! ) ( I have also seen PREMIUM REQUIRED )

Believe it or not, most of them had it backwards! Those with the cheaper cars were running premium and just not running right ( hard to start hot, besides bad gas mileage )

I will not comment on the others that should be running premium ($) other than to say that the owners manual can surprise you! Some cars that you would expect to see PREMIUM REQUIRED will say cheap gas ok, mid grade recommended! ( I left octane #s out of this to keep it simple)

The Titanium ASC 1 requires PREMIUM wire braided shielded wiring!

Southwire (By-the-Foot) 22/2 Gray Stranded CU CL3R Shielded Security Cable-57572199 - The Home Depot

I will be getting some of this, at least at .18 cents a foot it is less a sticker shock than this stuff was!

DX Engineering CW1812OR Heavy-Duty Spec Rotator Cable DXE-CW1812OR

I think that was $ 1.15 a foot.

Brian posted this, #306
The WireMan - Rotor cables and control wires - pricing

.79 cents a foot.
 
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Sorry Zack, calling this out as incorrect information. This servo movement has nothing to do with the ASC1 controller. Satellite ribbon cables are no longer available, so we need to use something comparable. Satellite ribbon cable had shielded distribution bundles. Would you consider satellite ribbon cable to have been premium? Up until recent years, it was used on every BUD install.

The servo is moving when the RF interference is interpreted as positioning pulses. This is a problem with PCM servo polarity motors since the 80's. A controller will only reissue a position callout when a polarity or satellite change is made.

Glad I could help you identify the problem. Please Google PCM motor robotics interference for good reference articles on using shield cables to prevent unwanted positioning or stuttering.
 
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I'm new here. Also owning an ASC 1. All cabling is good quality.
Due to the nature of CAT cable I know it's not very suited for DC signaling. Does great in long runs for Ethernet due to TCP/IP protocol.

But I too wonder how long the relays in my ASC 1 will last. Getting my C-Band dish moving and peaking does hammer the relay points quite a lot.
Brian, I'm the one who told you of the simple LED indicator circuit I made to tell me if the dish was moving east or west from across the living room. It's slick.
Hoping the relays live a long time. I've got a little over 100' run out to the dish. All is well. I lose or gain a few counts here and there. Hall effect time I guess.

In my 17+ years in the industrial automation industry I swapped piles of relays. Even made circuits last longer by bridging DPDT relays using a pair of points connected together.
But I can only remember having to swap out a few solid state relays ever. Usually from machinery that had a shorted DC motor.
So, if during the warranty period my ASC 1 runs fine as wine (which I'm expecting it will)...cool!
But if in the future a relay pukes, in goes a pair of Crydom or equivalent SSR's.

They say first impressions are the best. Speaking with a professed hobbyist on the phone like Brian was good.
That alone made me decide on the Edision mio. It got here and have been having tons of fun with it.

I'm sure I'll be popping into the mio discussions.
 
:welcome to SatelliteGuys arlo!
Yep, don't let one fluke instance, make your mind up about relays in the ASC1. I have ran 'em for years now and no issues. These relays are over rated and designed for hundreds of thousands of actuations.
 
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