DG380 and FortecStar 1.2 meter dish problems

[kirara386]

I have a DG380 and FortecStar 1.2 meter combo that I purchased a few weeks ago. I've gotten it aligned and tracking the arch correctly but I'm having a problem with east and west movement of the dish.

The motor is able to move the dish 50 degrees from my true south and still come back (any further than that and it needs to be "helped" to go east again). My real problem is that I can only go 20 degrees to the east before the dish needs to be helped to go back to the west.

I'm using it with my AZbox, but I've also tried it on my Sonicview and my Coolsat with the same results. There are no switches in the setup. The cable run is about 150'. I've been testing the motor on horizontal tps as well.

Thanks

 

[turbosat]

Did you find this thread, I think it is the same dish you have, but a different motor. The problem sounded the same when I read your message.....
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/199355-stab-hh120-only-moved-30-w-e.html

 

[kirara386]

I've seen that post before, but it was before I was having this problem. I hadn't thought about flipping the bracket. I'll have to try that and see what happens.

 

[crackt]

i have the same issues with a dg380 / fortec 1.2m except mine moves further east than west. i gave up on getting it to work proper. i thought the dg380 was sposed to be the king of hh motors. im gonna mod a polar mount for a channel master and if it works well im gonna ditch the dg380 all together. my sg2100 had less problems with the 1.2m which i thought odd.

crackt out,.

 

[kirara386]

i have the same issues with a dg380 / fortec 1.2m except mine moves further east than west. i gave up on getting it to work proper. i thought the dg380 was sposed to be the king of hh motors. im gonna mod a polar mount for a channel master and if it works well im gonna ditch the dg380 all together. my sg2100 had less problems with the 1.2m which i thought odd.

crackt out,.

I've read posts on this and other forums with others having similar problems but other than a screw that needed to be replaced I haven't seen any solutions. I just bought my motor in December so it should be new enough that it doesn't need the screw (at least you would think).

I did try flipping bar "A" from the post turbosat linked and I was able to gain 5 more degrees east, with no change in the westerly movement.

 

[Sadoun]

I've read posts on this and other forums with others having similar problems but other than a screw that needed to be replaced I haven't seen any solutions.

It is a simple screw replacement. PM your address and I will mail you the screw and instructions.

The screw you will need to replace is the bottom one on the following picture:



A batch of motors were shipped with wrong screw (the one on the left and the black one)
The correct screw is the one in the middle of this picture:



The correct middle screw measures 22.53 mm
​

​

 

[turbosat]

I wonder what that dish/mount weighs? Sounds like a weight problem to me, how the weight bears on the pivot of the motor shaft. I have a 380 but have not tried putting anything heavier on it than a 1m primestar dish, even with the stock mount on that dish, it came in under 24lbs.
But I took the heavy mount off and made something lighter. I suspect the whole thing just is too heavy for your motor, but until you weight it all you won't know for sure.

Edit: Sadoun's Chief Engineer has addressed the problem. (and for the weight-I was thinking about the 1.8M dishes, which would be heavier than your 1.2m ). The 380 manual says it handles up to 1.2m dishes!!

 

[kirara386]

PM sent

 

[kirara386]

I wonder what that dish/mount weighs? Sounds like a weight problem to me, how the weight bears on the pivot of the motor shaft. I have a 380 but have not tried putting anything heavier on it than a 1m primestar dish, even with the stock mount on that dish, it came in under 24lbs.
But I took the heavy mount off and made something lighter. I suspect the whole thing just is too heavy for your motor, but until you weight it all you won't know for sure.

The dish is fairly heavy. It is definitely a two person job to get it up on the motor shaft as it is awkward to lift by yourself. The dish without the floor mount is supposed to be 31lbs according to Sadoun's site.

 

[Sadoun]

I wonder what that dish/mount weighs? .

OP mentioned it was a Fortec Star 1.2 m. The DG380 should handle that dish easily.

 

[crackt]

hey sadoun, will it void my warranty to change the screw ? i was gonna sell the motor but if this is a warranteed solution ill pm you my address. it did seem like the gears got tight at a certain point. like the motor was working just the auto backlash was too tight. it may be easier to just list the screw specs and i could source one locally. anyways pm sent as well. ill be happy if it works. very happy.

crackt out,.

 

[chapelrun]

Is there anyway to tell if you have a problem unit?

It is a simple screw replacement. PM your address and I will mail you the screw and instructions.

The screw you will need to replace is the bottom one on the following picture:



A batch of motors were shipped with wrong screw (the one on the left and the black one)
The correct screw is the one in the middle of this picture:



The correct middle screw measures 22.53 mm
​

​

This is really good information!! I have a DG380 and think I might have the same problem. How can you tell if you have a problem unit? Do I have to take it apart to find out for sure?

 

[Sadoun]

This is really good information!! I have a DG380 and think I might have the same problem. How can you tell if you have a problem unit? Do I have to take it apart to find out for sure?

Yes, you could remove the motor cover without even taking the motor off the pole or dish.
If you can reach the 3 cover screws located at the bottom of the motor,
unscrew it.
Take cover off.
Remove suspect screw
Measure it. If it is more than 22.53 mm or colored black, then you have a bad screw.
let us know and we will mail you the right screw.

 

[kirara386]

I finally got around to replacing the screw in my DG380. Unfortunately it did not solve my problem.

The motor still drives west and comes back with no problems, but it performs miserably when it goes east. It just refuses to go back west once it's moved about 20 degrees east of my true south.

Back to the drawing board I guess

 

[Lak7]

Try having a Horizontal TP selected, see if that helps.

 

[kirara386]

I have had a horizontal TP selected. I even took a power inserter out to dish and hooked everything up so that the motor was getting 18v (I was thinking maybe my cable run was too long) and it still did the same thing.

I've also tried putting the dish in different positions on the motor shaft and flipping the the back bar as suggested in an earlier post. So far nothing has worked.

 

[brentb636]

What about manually moving the dish with the pushbutton ? Is it possible the limits are set ?

 

[Sadoun]

Check your connectors and cable. Check the voltage at the motor end of the coaxial cable. It is possible the motor is not getting sufficient power / DiSEqC signal from the receiver.

 

[crackt]

I have had a horizontal TP selected. I even took a power inserter out to dish and hooked everything up so that the motor was getting 18v (I was thinking maybe my cable run was too long) and it still did the same thing.

I've also tried putting the dish in different positions on the motor shaft and flipping the the back bar as suggested in an earlier post. So far nothing has worked.

how does the motor operate in the east side when there is no dish mounted ?

crackt out,.

 

[kirara386]

What about manually moving the dish with the pushbutton ? Is it possible the limits are set ?

I've run it with both the push buttons on the motor and the receiver with the same results.

I'll have to dig up my voltmeter to see if I can test the voltage coming through the cable. The motor runs really well on the western side of the arc, it just seems to have trouble on the eastern side (it will go all the way to the east it just won't come back).

I haven't tried the motor with the dish off. It is one of the things I've been thinking about doing. I just haven't gotten around to removing the dish to test it.