OTHER 1 STB controlling 2 V-Boxes

[stecle]

I am currenly upgrading my system and have a question. My goal is to have a dedicated C-Band dish and a dedicated Ku band dish each equipped with Von Weise actuators. I will have 2 V-Boxes, one for each dish. I want to control both V-boxes using a single STB. Just wondering if anyone here has had success with this?

Thanks

 

[Titanium]

Yes, it is possible. Use a quality committed type DiSEqC switch with good port isolation.

The DiSEqC switch will only establish a signal path via the selected port.

 

[stecle]

Yes, it is possible. Use a quality committed type DiSEqC switch with good port isolation.

The DiSEqC switch will only establish a signal path via the selected port.

Thanks Brian! My GF asked me what I wanted for Christmas. She will be ordering a Mio from you soon. lol

 

[Magic Static]

I have gone the same route, a Ku dish and C-Band dish each on a V-Box controlled by the same receiver. I use a common DiSEqC 1.0 1 X 2 switch to combine them. While this works very well there is a possibility to get your DiSEqC 1.2 position calls mixed up so I made sure that the V-Boxes do not have the same position numbers in them. So my Ku dish positions are all even numbered and the C-Band positions are odd numbered.

And I took the V-Boxes to the next level and put both of them in the same case sharing a power supply. I also moved the DiSEqC switch inside the case thereby eliminating the F Bridges and cables connecting them together. Also built a backup spare unit.

 

[Magic Static]

And there is another glitch you can avoid with the V-Box. Since a V-Box will also respond to DiSEqC 1.0 commands for the positions 1 ~ 4 until it sees a DiSEqC 1.2 command, I don't use positions 1 ~ 4. Every time a power outage occurs the V-Box resets to accepting DiSEqC 1.0 commands until it sees the DiSEqC 1.2 commands. Since you would be using a DiSEqC 1.0 switch to combine the boxes the V-Box would also try to move to position 1 or 2. If they are not used it just ignores those calls.

 

[stecle]

And there is another glitch you can avoid with the V-Box. Since a V-Box will also respond to DiSEqC 1.0 commands for the positions 1 ~ 4 until it sees a DiSEqC 1.2 command, I don't use positions 1 ~ 4. Every time a power outage occurs the V-Box resets to accepting DiSEqC 1.0 commands until it sees the DiSEqC 1.2 commands. Since you would be using a DiSEqC 1.0 switch to combine the boxes the V-Box would also try to move to position 1 or 2. If they are not used it just ignores those calls.

Thanks for your reply. I just want to make sure that I understand this. You don't recommend using positions 1-4. For example, if 139.0°W is normally position 1 for me, I should start with 5?

I guess I don't understand why the V-Box only responds to DiSEqC 1.0 commands for the positions 1 -4, and not 5 and above until it sees a DiSEqC 1.2 command.

Nice work on the retrofits!

​

 

[Titanium]

The V-box can be controlled with either DiSEqC 1.0 (4 positions) or DiSEqC 1.2 (99 positions) protocol. DiSEqC 1.0 only supports port 1, 2, 3 and 4 and typically used for switch control, but V-boxes have added the ability to have 4 satellite positions to be selected by these four DiSEqC 1.0 commands. This was likely done to provide limited motor support for STBs that do not support DiSEqC 1.2 protocol.

 

[armadillo_115]

An alternative thought:
I have 2 C band Buds on separate Diseqc movers. I have never tried to control both with only one receiver as you plan to do. BUT... I have found my systems work more reliably with the Diseqc boxes in stand-alone mode. We change Sats with the Diseqc remotes, the receivers do not have control.

Every receiver I have owned has had some sort of problems when in 'control'. Missing/added counts, runaways, etc. I'm sure some combination of: better grounding, motor cable, better Diseqc boxes, new actuators might resolve all that. But it works just fine like I have it now without the added expense.

Sometimes we forget where a particular channel is located... this way, we can view the channels on a Sat without the dish automatically motoring there.

It also prevents surfing 'Favorite' channels and running the dishes back and forth dozens of times. We now tend to check everything on one Sat before motoring to another Sat. Much less wear and tear that way.

Anyway, that's just what works best here. I have no desire to let the receivers have motor control again.

 

[stecle]

An alternative thought:
I have 2 C band Buds on separate Diseqc movers. I have never tried to control both with only one receiver as you plan to do. BUT... I have found my systems work more reliably with the Diseqc boxes in stand-alone mode. We change Sats with the Diseqc remotes, the receivers do not have control.

Every receiver I have owned has had some sort of problems when in 'control'. Missing/added counts, runaways, etc. I'm sure some combination of: better grounding, motor cable, better Diseqc boxes, new actuators might resolve all that. But it works just fine like I have it now without the added expense.

Sometimes we forget where a particular channel is located... this way, we can view the channels on a Sat without the dish automatically motoring there.

It also prevents surfing 'Favorite' channels and running the dishes back and forth dozens of times. We now tend to check everything on one Sat before motoring to another Sat. Much less wear and tear that way.

Anyway, that's just what works best here. I have no desire to let the receivers have motor control again.

The problem with using the V-Box in stand-alone mode, is that it assigns a number to each satellite. I can't remember which number corresponds to each satellite and I don't want to keep a paper around. A nice feature to add to the V-Box would be the ability to name the satellite (for example AMC 8).

 

[armadillo_115]

Yeah, I just keep Sat positions on a sheet of paper.

I have been meaning to try this, but haven't yet:
Rename Sats on my receiver list and include the position number. For instance:
91W-1
95W-2
97W-3
99W-4
etc

Where the trailing number tells me the VBox position #.

Be cool if it works.

 

[Magic Static]

That's one of the features of an ASC1. You can add the sat name and location to the displayed information. So if you are using the remote instead of DiSEqC you know what sat you are getting.

 

[stecle]

That's one of the features of an ASC1. You can add the sat name and location to the displayed information. So if you are using the remote instead of DiSEqC you know what sat you are getting.

Brian needs to make a dual output dish mover for C and Ku lol