9 mo old VBoxII gone bad.

[hd fan]

When blind scanning today with the new AZBOX Prem + , the VBoxII now shows Er2 If I try to move the dish in 1 direction. If I press the other direction key it works ok and I hear the 36V relay click but with the other direction key it does not click at all. I obviously have reseted and power down and even reversed the motor wires therefore that is why I say 1 direction or the other direction rather tha east or west.

It is only 9 months old , still under warranty I guess (If I find where the guys at Transat Electronics are since they are out of business now) but I wonder if there is a solution to the problem or if someone has had the same issue.

In the mean time I am just reversing the wires manually if I need the Dish to go in the opposite direction. I wonder what could have caused this because it happened out of the blue. First the AZbox Premium plus not finding everything when blind scanning like my old CS6000 indeed does and now this. I will appreciate if someone has some ideas on this.

 

[hd fan]

Well , there are acctually 10.9V DC on the sensor output , so the question is?. How come the sensor is still working fine and the dish moves both directions if I reverse the motor wires?. It is my understanding that there is no supposed to be any DC voltage on the sensor wires at all!. Or am I wrong?

I have disconnected everything now to avoid any damage to the motor. Time to watch OTA then for the next few days I guess.

 

[beavs2112]

hey hd fan. what does the err2 mean? does it mean limit reached? i have a az premium plus with 5020 software and after i do a blind scan the azbox sets the lower limit on my v-box x. the vbox shows LL. so i just rest the limits after a blindscan. a PITA IMHO.

 

[richyrich]

Counting and duckets

When blind scanning today with the new AZBOX Prem + , the VBoxII now shows Er2 If I try to move the dish in 1 direction. If I press the other direction key it works ok and I hear the 36V relay click but with the other direction key it does not click at all. I obviously have reseted and power down and even reversed the motor wires therefore that is why I say 1 direction or the other direction rather tha east or west.

It is only 9 months old , still under warranty I guess (If I find where the guys at Transat Electronics are since they are out of business now) but I wonder if there is a solution to the problem or if someone has had the same issue.

In the mean time I am just reversing the wires manually if I need the Dish to go in the opposite direction. I wonder what could have caused this because it happened out of the blue. First the AZbox Premium plus not finding everything when blind scanning like my old CS6000 indeed does and now this. I will appreciate if someone has some ideas on this.

It seems that you may have an internal PS problem. First, the sensor power voltage should be around 5vdc, this makes me think that the switching (reed counter) is applying an extra voltage to the 5vdc reed sw count supply. This could also make an error (your er2), while still counting. Do you read this 10.2 v as the output, or the "return", which is usually called ground? The output, when the switch on the motor makes contact, can be read as "loss of 5vdc", which then has this trigger chip (i'm a little unread in their type, name, number, etc.) that reads a count into the micro, which it then sends to the fast memory "count read, add or subtract one" from the number held in "xyz space". Then the system knows it has moved "however much", or many counts each time it gets up and moves the moto.

Do you have a 4DTV? Many C Banders use their Moto, cause they made them so well in the motorized system movement of the 80's and 90's...:

 

[hd fan]

thanks for the replies.
beavs2112, it did that a few times but that is not the problem now.it is in the center of the arc now so it is not the hardware limits either. er2 means no pulse detected , obviously since the motor terminals does not put 36V , the motor does not moves either in that specific direction.

richyrich, no 4dtv neither an analog receiver. How I which I had it since I help a co-worker install and aim a 12 ft mesh dish with a GI analog receiver as controller and that old rusty Von Weisse motor moves the "black monster" without making any noise and effortlessly while my "new" system makes 3 times more noise. I measured 10.9V DC between the sensor terminals in the back of the controller with the cables disconnected. Are you saying it is supposed to be only 5V DC between both sensor terminals in the VBoxx II?.

 

[skysurfer]

When blind scanning today with the new AZBOX Prem + , the VBoxII now shows Er2 If I try to move the dish in 1 direction. If I press the other direction key it works ok and I hear the 36V relay click but with the other direction key it does not click at all.

very likely bad solder joints in that cheap POS. At least that what was wrong with mine when it exhibited the very same symptoms.

I got lucky and found the right solder joint and it works fine now.

 

[Strino]

I don't have a solution to your problem, but I can pretty much assure that Transat Electronics will not be able to help you. You're right, they are out of business..... because they were shut down. The people at Transat were involved with running card sharing servers for KBox receivers. Johnny Law, Dish and Bell put a stop to it.

For what it's worth -- if you have your sales receipt for the VBox, and get a hold of the company directly they should be willing to assist.

Good luck!

 

[hd fan]

Thanks for the replies, I just wanted to get an idea what the problem might have been and the likeliness of it happening again. I have everything, so I will contact the manufacturer directly.

 

[FaT Air]

If that doesn't pan out, I open it and re-solder the relays to the board. Wouldn't doubt that is the problem. Although, a bad relay, or driver transistor, that's supposed to energize the relay, isn't out of the question. Counting OK in one direction suggests that the 10v on the sensor is normal.

 

[richyrich]

thanks for the replies.
beavs2112, it did that a few times but that is not the problem now.it is in the center of the arc now so it is not the hardware limits either. er2 means no pulse detected , obviously since the motor terminals does not put 36V , the motor does not moves either in that specific direction.

richyrich, no 4dtv neither an analog receiver. How I which I had it since I help a co-worker install and aim a 12 ft mesh dish with a GI analog receiver as controller and that old rusty Von Weisse motor moves the "black monster" without making any noise and effortlessly while my "new" system makes 3 times more noise. I measured 10.9V DC between the sensor terminals in the back of the controller with the cables disconnected. Are you saying it is supposed to be only 5V DC between both sensor terminals in the VBoxx II?.

Yes, sensor voltage, in the correct form, is 5 v DC normally, although I have seen some higher and lower when the cables are hooked up. Check your sensor (reed switch) at the dish. When it is in open condition, the voltage there too should read 5vdc on the Sense line. It should read this voltage with the wires disconnected inside also as you have said. There is also a 5 vdc terminal on the box. This should be marked for a hall effect sensor, and is not used if you have a reed switch on the motor. Hall Effect sensors use 5, and pulse, and ground. The pulse is usually marked "sense" because it really is a "if ground" detected, count, placement; of the counting devices inside the V box, and has very little amperage applied. Reed switches only use the 5 and ground, and if you hooked 5 and ground, then you've only blown your reed sw out at the dish, and only need to replace it to be in "auto" again...

Whoops, I'm trying to think too hard here, again. The 5 volts is on the 5v-11v terminal, used by only hall effect sensors, not used by the darm with the reed switch open/closed type counter at the dish arm...the "pulse" is about the "o i forget" volts, detection of ground applied and a reed switch uses pulse, or sense; and ground (pls/gnd) terminals. Applying the 5 vdc to a reed switch type sensor will fry it, no doubt. I think the voltage is 5vdc on the sense line too, but if you try to read it, it will short the line slightly enough to go to 0 vDC, and give you a funny reading on your meter, because that is what it is supposed to do. Man, I almost gotta be there to figure myselfs mindy out...

 

[hd fan]

Ok the problem was the relay, it was stuck for some reason. After checking some voltages and seeing that at least the voltage regulators (7805 & 7812) and the relays had the appropiate voltage I decided to try the old solution from back in cuba with those old russian designed , cuban factory assembled B/W TV's , which is hit him on the side and it will start working again. So I hit with my finger several times the relay that was not clicking until it started to click again. I am back in business again , time to set the postions for the new Azbox then. In any case the warranty will expire in November anyways and like the saying says , mas vale malo conocido que bueno por conocer , lol.

Thanks for the replies and help.

 

[FaT Air]

If it acts up again, a suitable replacement might be found at digikey.com