A Strange Problem with my Dish 500 system

D3thKn1ght

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Original poster
Jul 16, 2008
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This is long but please hear me out:

Ok. So I have two Dish 500 systems that have been used in my household for about 4 years or so. One if used for a bedroom and one is used for the living room. Every now and then I like to move one of the receivers to my room so I can watch TV in my own room. This has been working out fine for quite some time now. Eventually I actually installed a splitter in the other bedroom and put a coxial cable from it to my room. That way I don't have to set up a single coxial cable every time I want to watch TV in my room. Just two days ago I moved the receiver from the living to my room to watch my usual routine TV. It worked just fine. Later that night I put the receiver back out in the living room and reconnected everything. When I powered on the receiver it kept trying to acquire the satellite signal. The progress just stayed on 0 of 5. No matter how hard I tried I simply could not get the receiver to get a satellite signal anymore. I even tried changing coxial cables. I tried about 4 different ones and still had the same result. The strange thing was, the second receiver I have still worked perfectly. I even took the second receiver and put it out in the living room, powered it on, and it worked just fine still. So then I got a strange idea. I took the splitter out of the bedroom and installed it in the living room. Then I connected the bedroom receiver to the splitter, and the living room receiver to the splitter as well. To my surprise, both receivers worked fine. Then I disconnected the bedroom receiver from the splitter, and the living room one then stopped working. Then I reconnected the bedroom receiver to the splitter again and the living room one started working again. Heres whats even stranger. While I still had this whole setup going I tried just turing off the bedroom receiver. And surprisingly the living room one still continued to work. Then I unplugged the bedroom receiver and well... the living room one quit working. Then I plugged it back in and the living room one was working again. So I am REALLY stumped here. So yea. Theres my story. Can anyone tell me what in the world is going on? Please, and Thank you!
 
I shudder whenever someone uses splitter in the same sentence as satellite signal. :D A standard splitter can NOT be used in a satellite signal line if you want it to work correctly. One receiver = one line directly to the dish or Dish-approved switch.

Did you run a check switch each time you moved the receivers about?
 
Yea I did. For the living room receiver (which is the one that isn't working properly), if I have the receiver plugged into the single connection (with no splitter), it will always just result in a "No switch box detected". But if I have both the living room one and the bedroom one plugged into the same splitter everything works. A signal is detected and everything is fine. But my question is, what could have possible happened to make it so that the living room receiver can no longer receive satellite signals like is usually would without a splitter. It just all of a sudden started doing this about two days ago.
 
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What I think happened is these receivers aren't made to be moved frequently, they are made to be left in one spot. it has been my experience that if you put and remove the SAT IN line too much, or screw it on to tightly it will break a soilder-point inside. in short replace the receiver is the only option.
 
Ok... well here's another thing. The bedroom receiver is the one I had moved the most frequently. I almost never had to move the one in the living room. But the bedroom one works perfectly. No problems what so ever. And if the solder point had become loose I don't think the living room receiver could even get a signal at all. But yea.
 
Your receiver is no longer putting out voltage to power the LNB. It probably shorted out by being on the splitter and eventually trashed some internal component. However, when you put the other receiver and that receiver on the splitter, the other receiver is providing voltage to the LNB, thus allowing a signal to flow down the line since the LNB is now back in operation with supplied voltage from your functional receiver. When you turn off the receiver, it is still applying voltage to the line, this is why your bad receiver continues to work. When you unplug your good receiver, the flow of voltage to the LNB is disrupted, and since your bad receiver isn't supplying voltage, the signal is interrupted.

You basically hosed your receiver by using a splitter on the satellite line.

Try using a volt/ohm meter and measure for 18 volts coming out of the SAT IN barrel of your bad receiver. I bet you get less than 12 volts, most likely 0 volts.
 
BOTTOM LINE........IF you insist on continuing this "splitter" arrangement, you WILL damage the receiver. Take the time to run another RG6 satellite 3GHZ coax to your switch. Anything worth doing is worth do right.
 
Ok. Yea. That makes sense. I could have hosed my living room receiver by using a splitter with it. I can go with that. But some stuff still just doesn't add up. I mean. I've used the bedroom receiver for weeks now on a splitter. In fact, the thing is still working perfectly fine. Heck, it's even on a splitter right now as we speak working just fine. But then the living room one quits working after ONE time of splitter use? I mean, seriously. How could that have happened. But yea. Ok... well now that you guys have told me about this I'm gonna go take the splitter off the bedroom receiver before that one gets hosed as well.

But like I said before. The living room one was working perfectly in my room on a splitter. Then the moment I unhooked it and took it out into the living room again it quit. So yea. But ok. Is there any site I can go to, to maybe fix the problem myself. I've got nothing to lose by taking the receiver apart. The warrenty is LONG gone by now anyway. So yea.

And if not, there has to be something out there that could provide voltage to the LNB. You know, something besides a receiver. HAHA! Well, maybe thats wishful thinking. But I'm getting desprate here! Ok... well thanks for the replies guys. I'll probably end up having to cancell one of the smart cards and getting two more new receivers from Dish Network. *sigh*. Aw well.
 
DISH has DHPP for people that must play even when they have no idea what they are doing. For $5.99 DISAH will replace your defective receiver and you can then cancel DHPP. Smarten up and connect your receivers correctly or keep burning out power supplies.
 
DISH has DHPP for people that must play even when they have no idea what they are doing. For $5.99 DISAH will replace your defective receiver and you can then cancel DHPP. Smarten up and connect your receivers correctly or keep burning out power supplies.


i'd be interested to read EXACTLY what the markings/label on that "splitter" are.


also, if its a DP or DPP receiver, that voltage at the SAT IN connector should read 19+ volts, or its trash.
 
i'd be interested to read EXACTLY what the markings/label on that "splitter" are.


also, if its a DP or DPP receiver, that voltage at the SAT IN connector should read 19+ volts, or its trash.

I'm willing to bet its a T-shaped splitter with a black label that says 50-900mhz on it. Gold in color. Those seem to allow voltage to pass, while good quality splitters tend to block the voltage altogether. Eventually, those splitters become problems. I've gone on service calls in the past where a system was functional for years but had one of those under the trailer and for no apparent reason, they suddenly up and prevent the system from working. Doesn't always kill the receiver, although different models seem to have different tolerances for splitters which tend to draw off excess current from the boxes.
 
Wow vesgassatellite. You are absolutely right. Except on mine it says 5 - 900mhz. But yea. I did a little more research on the net and found something called an "in-line signal booster". Is there any chance that something like this could provide the needed voltage to the LNB so that my receiver can function again? Just wondering if anyone knew anything about that. Thanks.
 
Wow vesgassatellite. You are absolutely right. Except on mine it says 5 - 900mhz. But yea. I did a little more research on the net and found something called an "in-line signal booster". Is there any chance that something like this could provide the needed voltage to the LNB so that my receiver can function again? Just wondering if anyone knew anything about that. Thanks.



listen: YOU CANT HAVE A SPLITTER IN A SATELITTE FEED!!!!!!

did you hear me? it doesnt work, or if its does, it CANT last.

run a dedicated cable from the 2nd location of the reciver directly to the Dish. remove ALL splitters from ANY sat feeds from the dish.

got it?
 
He is too thick to get it. He still hasn't realized he burned out the power supply in one receiver and until he replaces that receiver it won't work without another receiver powering the system. If it is a Legacy system with 12 and 18 volts he will only get half the channels. For $5.99 he can get DISH to replace the bad receiver under DHPP.
 
Ok... well here's another thing. The bedroom receiver is the one I had moved the most frequently. I almost never had to move the one in the living room. But the bedroom one works perfectly. No problems what so ever. And if the solder point had become loose I don't think the living room receiver could even get a signal at all. But yea.

And risk shorting out some part of the system by accidentally touching the metal with with the copper or even static electricity should a hand touch the receiver, unless the entire system is powered off, as in no current.
 
OMG! OK! YES! I FREAKIN KNOW YOU CAN"T USE A SPLITTER! YOU TOLD ME THAT ON YOUR FIRST DAMN POST! I GET IT! What I'm asking is, is there any way that I can use something else besides a receiver to provide voltage to the LNB. Because, as I said, my receiver has lost it's ability to provide voltage to the LNB. So is there is some kind of device or something (such as an in-line signal booster) that could provide voltage to the LNB? Because if there is I would be able use my receiver again. Because the ONLY thing wrong with it is it's inability to provide the voltage. So yea! YOU UNDERSTAND MY QUESTION NOW? HUH!?!? Ok... good! sheesh!
 
Dish offers Digital Homr Protection Plan $5.99/Mo. under ir they will replace your bad receiver. You can't get anything cheaper than that. After the receiver is replaced you can cancel the DHPP with no penalty. There is no shipping charge so instead of yelling at us try doing something simple and correct.
 
Yea well. There's just one problem. I never got the DHPP when I signed up to Dish Network in 2001. So basically, I guess I'm just SOLed. I can still order a new receiver though right? And actually just pay for a whole new one? Cause it looks like thats my only option left.

And if that can't work then....well...... I can always try to find one on ebay to buy.
 
DP Adapter has its own power supply. However, the receiver won't be able to connect to it because it won't do the 14/18v polarity switching with the voltage failure.

Although, you can solve this, with a splitter. You have to get a splitter that has one port power passing and it has to be rated to 2300mhz. Holland makes one and it is on DISH' approved materials list. The side that has power passing will be connected to the DP Adapter. The other side connected to your receiver. That way, the adapter powers the LNB instead of the receiver.

The only problem with that, that I can see, would be DiSEqC control to switch between orbital slots. If the voltage output has failed on the receiver, the DiSEqC controller might have failed and the receiver wouldn't be able to select between 119 and 110.

Another potential solution is to use a DPP44 switch as it has its own power supply as well and will drive the LNBs. I'm just not certain that it will pass those signals without the presence of voltage at the Receiver IN ports.

Inline signal boosters work by converting the milliamps to voltage to prevent polarity switching issues on long runs and also use the milliamps to increase gain on the signal. However, since they require power from the receiver, they won't work.
 
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