Can HH motor be mounted upside down?

[mr3p]

I've mounted a prime feed dish on my HH motor and it tracks fine however the bracket I'm using doesn't allow me to adjust the elevation sufficiently without making contact with the top of the HH motor housing. I could make a new bracket although it would seem easier if I could flip the motor upside down (rotate 180 degrees) and rotate the tube 180 which would resut in the proper orientation similar to a Stab HH100/120 motor. So the question is has anyone used an HH motor in a upside down orientation. I understand I will have to work out the USALS/Diseqc cmds and may have to use E instead of W although I'm mainly wondering about the different stress on the arm. I'll probably try it but figured I'd ask first.

 

[GreatFTA]

I believe I had seen some threads that showed pictures showing the SG2100 turned upside down. Go to Search This Forum and type in what you're want to know.
Back when I did research on building a mounting frame for adapting my Primestar to the SG2100 motor, I remember seeing a setup like what you're talking about.

 

[GreatFTA]

You must live where you really had to tip the elevation up alot to get the satellites. Can you get a picture of it and post it? Maybe one of us can give you tips on correcting this problem without doing what you're talking about.

 

[mr3p]

Thanks for you help. Please see attached picture.

I need ~50 deg elevation. By raising the mount on the arm I can get ~40. If rotating the motor doesn't work, I could shim the bracket although it will create stress points and I'd probably be better off just fabricating/modifying the exsisting bracket.

 

[guacharaca]

That bracket is certainly not good for countries close to the equator. (Or would the adjustment in the motor settings satisfy the vertical requirement?).

I would go with fabricating/modifying the existing bracket. Often bearings on motors are designed for the motor to be in a certain position.

 

[mr3p]

That bracket is certainly not good for countries close to the equator. I would go with fabricating/modifying the existing bracket. Often bearings on motors are designed for the motor to be in a certain position.

LOL. I'm in Southern California, I'd be done and watching TV if I lived in BC
I do understand and agree with your thoughts on the motors limitations.

 

[SATisfied]

Would it be possible to use an offset bar on the round bracket instead of a straight bar....that would give you the clearance you'd need to get the elevation set properly without it hitting the motor.

 

[Larobpra]

Looks like an awful lot of dish for a motor designed for a smaller offset dish.

 

[mr3p]

Looks like an awful lot of dish for a motor designed for a smaller offset dish.

It is, where would the fun be if it wasn't.

 

[mr3p]

Light rain here today so can't do much outside. I did reverse the arm on the motor and it appears to be rotating nomally although I have no idea if it will work in a reversed position.

 

[mr3p]

Would it be possible to use an offset bar on the round bracket instead of a straight bar....that would give you the clearance you'd need to get the elevation set properly without it hitting the motor.

Its a good thought and I considered doing this by shimming out the bottom contact points where the crossbar attaches to the round bracket. While it would work it would create extra stress on the upper crossbar attachment points as they would no longer be flush and I think the holes would probably need to be slightly enlarged to accomdate the angle.

 

[mr3p]

had a few minutes without rain to test it out flipped upside down and it appears to be tracking along the correct arc. I did have to change my location and sats from W to E but otherwise so far so good although whether the motor can function, particularly with a dish at its weight limit remains to be seen.

 

[Larobpra]

I think another concern would be the elements getting in and ruining the motor.

Is that dish one of the WSI 6' specials?

 

[geekt]

Would it work to open it up and switch the contacts to the motor, rather than having to switch west and east?

 

[mr3p]

Would it work to open it up and switch the contacts to the motor, rather than having to switch west and east?

Its funny you mention that as I wondered about it just after I realized switching W->E worked but I wasn't sure it was as simple as reversing the leads to the motor. After thinking about it some more I figured out that changing just my lattitude from N->S allows me to keep all the sats at W so its not that much of an issue. I'm going to first re-attach the dish on the motor and see if it works. If it does, I'll consider opening it again and having a look. The swiveled arm position makes access to the cable connectors much less cramped although they are now exposed being on the upside. I have rubber cable jackets which should help and I'll probably try and cover any openings on the housing to minimize the chance of moisture entering.

Larobpra: Yes it is one of the WSI 6ft dishes. They are very lightweight which is the only reason this is possible.

 

[Anole]

see picture (guess you'll have to zoom way in on it)

Would it be possible to mount bar A on the back side of ring B?
... or ...
Would it be possible to mount bar C to the back side of bar A?
... or ...
if necessary, perhaps both.

I don't fancy running the motor upside down.
There may be drain holes that won't drain.
But, ingress of water around the connectors and the shaft would be a problem.

 

[mr3p]

Thanks for the suggestions Anole. While I might be able to do one of your suggestions, there isn't sufficient clearance for both and it would still mean that the brackets aren't flush and the angles would create stress points. The easiest way I think to accomplish the same would be to add a bracket or shim out the bottom to increase elevation although the same issue would exist. I agree, that water intrusion is a potential concern. Based on the position of the small existing holes, I didn't think they were for water drainage (maybe ventilation?) as they really aren't at the dependant edge. If water drainage was the only issue I could always drill an extra hole(s) and place a cover over the opening of the arm. I'm not even sure if it will track in this position but I'll probably try it out.

 

[Anole]

where there's a will . . .

. . . somebody's got to die! -

I'm pretty sure you can get it to track upside down...
And as long as you have it that way for now, by all means, do explore those avenues.

As for bolting up the metal the way I suggested, here's a fix... -
- Get a vice to hold each end of the horizontal cross bar to be tweaked...
- put a big wrench in the middle of the bar (square tubing)
- twist it slightly -

Alternately, put one end of the bar into a vice, apply the wrench to the middle and twist.
Repeat for the other end/middle, so the two ends lay flat and the middle has the required angle.
I see this being a 5 minute tweak, so don't make it into an all-day event. -

 

[mr3p]

thanks again for the suggestions. wish I could say upside down worked but unfortunately it couldn't handle my LOS. I could go ~35 degrees off center however unfortunately beyond that I couldn't return to center. So I'll retun the arm to normal and probably go the other route and modify the bracket as the motor functions with full range in normal position.

 

[fastscirocco]

I've got an idea that would move the dish farther away from the HH motor which should give you the space
to adjust the angel of the dish, I'll do my best to describe it.

Instead of mounting the dish using the mount in the normal position, make two spacers which can be placed behind the mount on either side of the V area. The spacers may be able to be made out of square tubing, the sized needs to be just big enough to provide a space for the tube to be clamped into.

Each spacer would have 2 holes to allow the U bolts to slide through and fasten to the mount.

I think that would give it enough strength, but for more strength you could either weld a steel plate to the outside
side of each spacer or stack a piece of angle iron onto each spacer.

Make sense?

FS