Echostar 7000 Cband Receiver Problem

[Lone Gunman]

I've got a problem with my old Echostar 7000 receiver. I got my SAMI dish up a couple of weeks back and like a dumbazz I didn't read the instruction booklet and wound up with the motor leads on the reed switch circuit and messed up the one in the SuperJack actuator on the dish and also the spare VonWeise I have here in the shop.
Ordered new switches and got them in yesterday and today but neither will work, ie, I get no counts when I move the actuators in either direction. I even went in and deleted all the old crap that was in the memory on that receiver and now it still won't count as it is asking me to set the East limit but when I move the dish the 5000 count never changes.
According to the user manual that circuit is suppose to have over current protection so one would “assume” that when 40 volts went through that circuit and hosed up the reed switch that is didn't completely wreck that entire circuit? I've got 7 volts at the + lead on the receiver and I've also got that voltage going into the switch on the actuator. I even went so far as to wire up a micro switch in that circuit on my VonWeise and activated that manually trying to simulate the on off pulses that the reed switch would produce but still no count change on the screen?
So I'm at a point that I've tried everything I know to try and still don't have something that I can use. Anyone have any suggestions of something to try that I haven't already done?
Thanks

 

[truckracer]

i am guessing here...i am assuming you did all the basics like check the wiring leading from the receiver to the dish.
i am not sure you can flip a micro switch fast enough for the receiver to recognize it as a feedback pulse.

i would take the receiver out to the dish and hook it up with a small piece of cable and take a tv so you can see.

if thats not the case maybe check your magnet wheel. be sure the new switch is close enough to the magnet wheel so the little reed moves back and forth inside.
let me know how it goes.

 

[FaT Air]

i am not sure you can flip a micro switch fast enough for the receiver to recognize it as a feedback pulse.

I've done it hundreds of times. didn't even use a switch, just some bared wires. For a visual I've put "grain 'o' wheat" lamps, or LEDs(with resistor), on them while operational.
One way to find out if the jack and reed switch are ok is to put an analog ohmeter across the sensor leads (use Rx1 scale), and use a battery to run the motor. Nothing else connected. If the meter needle swings back and forth while the battery is connected to the motor leads, should be good to go. If you have no swinging needle, check the magnet wheel and switch. If you get swinging needle and still no counts when reconnected to mover, suspect something got fried in the sensor circuit in the mover. A sensitive nose may confirm it. A careful visual inspection may find it.

 

[Lone Gunman]

FYI, I've used two different cables on these. I've got brand new 75ft Cband ribbon cable still above ground running out to the SuperJack that is mounted on the dish and I do have signal voltage to that reed switch at the dish. I've also got some 14-4 IT wire that is both shielded and grounded that I'm using in the shop to run the VonWeise so the two different actuators are using two different wire deals and as I said, I've had both actuators connected to that receiver at different times with the same results on both.

I've also got a DSR920 that is hooked up to my 10 footer but I hate to mess with that one as that system is what I'm using for TV and I don't want to break that one too.

I was wondering if there was something in the receiver itself that has to be setup for the count deal but there's nothing in the owners manual saying that has to be done.

When I press the run button, the actuator will run either east or west for about 2 or 3 seconds and then shut down showing me an actuator error on the TV. Everything else on that receiver still works as I did manage to get tuned in on 99w ch16 today and got a great picture. Got some much needed religion as well as this thing is beginning to get to me.

Dunno, I'll work on it again tomorrow and try that stuff but at this point I'm beginning to think it's a lost cause. Oh, and that Echostar receiver was working fine when I pulled it to install my 920 back around 1995 or so.

And thanks for the replies guys!!

Lone Gunman

 

[Kallesatman]

When I press the run button, the actuator will run either east or west for about 2 or 3 seconds and then shut down showing me an actuator error on the TV. Everything else on that receiver still works as I did manage to get tuned in on 99w ch16 today and got a great picture. Got some much needed religion as well as this thing is beginning to get to me.

The reason your actuator stops as mentioned above is because the receiver sees no pulses generated from your reed switch. When you had the motor drive wires connected to the reed switch on the actuator, what were the sensor wires connected to? It is possible that the load on what should have been the sensor wires if they were connected to the motor it could have damaged that circuitry. Just a thought. I know that when I had sensor problems, mine was wired correctly, the motor would work for a few rotations but due to the lack of pulses it would then go into error conditions. Hope you find the problem. I for one would be inclined to open the receiver ( I'm a techy ) and check for fried components in that part of the circuitry. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[truckracer]

Sounds like you have done everything right- I am thinking your receiver may have something wrong with the pulse count circuit. Do you own a vbox?

 

[Lone Gunman]

My electronics experience is rather limited. I've got a data logger on my race car that I installed myself that has speed sensors on both the engine and driveshaft but they work a little different and use hall effect switches instead of reed switches. I have changed leaky capacitors on a few computer motherboards but it's not something I like or wanted to do.

Got no Vbox yet as this SAMI still has the Chaparral C feedhorn on it with a servo. I've got a DMX741 that I want to try but wanted to see how the Chaparral performed first so I'd know how good or bad that DMX is. You know, an A/B test type thingie.

There's two Houston Tracker receivers (they made this Echostar 7000) south of me for a reasonable price. I may just spring for one of those just to have as a backup.

And thanks again for your help guys! Although we haven't fixed it, at least I can get input from someone on the outside looking in, which usually is a good thing. Sometimes I can't see the forest because of the tree that is directly in front of me! :up

 

[FaT Air]

Here's a little circuit I had built in a little plastic box for checking actuators BITD. Just one switch and a light bulb(lamp) It's still around here somewhere.(?) Will not work with hall effect sensors, only reed switch.

 

[Lone Gunman]

OK, just for the record I pulled the GOOD VonWeise actuator off my 10ft Winegard dish today to change it out with the one I replaced the plastic nut with the bronze one in. BEFORE I did anything else with that actuator I set it up on the bench and connected it to this Echostar reveiver and it STILL wouldn't register counts! So, that receiver's count circuit must be toast! Took the reed switch and magnet wheel off that one and put it on the rebuilt one then mounted it back on that BUD and all is well with virtually zero slack even crossing over due south. NOW I'll sit down in the next day or so and tweak in all those birds near the top of the arc that I was having problems with before.

At least something went right today!!!

 

[beavs2112]

since you mentioned a DMX741 i thought you might find this thread interesting :
http://www.satelliteguys.us/c-band-satellite-discussion/171214-dmx741u-c-ku-lnbf.html

 

[Lone Gunman]

Interesting read Beavs as I do have one of those.

So after reading that thread I stuck that thing in my SAMI that's connected to my Pansat 3500 to compare S and Q. The Chaparral C only gave 88%S and around 90% Q but now I've got somewhat of a problem as on the switch housing the 741 says that the LO for this LNBF is 9750/10600? I've tweaked on it with LO settings like what's printed on the LNBF and also I've tweaked on it with a regular LO 5150 setting and the 5150 setting gets the best S and Q. With 9750/10600 I can only get 75% S and zero Q while the 5150 setting gets 89% S and 99% Q??

So what I'm seeing here is that the wrong settings actually show a better Q?? Or am I doing something wrong on this also??

Thanks

 

[beavs2112]

let me check something quick. just gonna verify you have the 741U. that model is different from the 741.
for my 741 i have my receiver settings at c lo at 5150 and my ku at 10750 with 22khz on. the 22khz is what the receiver uses to tell the lnb to switch from c to ku.

 

[beavs2112]

i realize this is off topic but yes you have the 741U model by the sounds of things. may i enquire as to why you purchased the 741U model instead of the 741 model? the U stands for universal frequency ku lnb as opposed to standard frequency ku lnb model dmx741. are there specific ku universal frequency channels you are looking to receive? if not maybe the easiest thing to do is exchange the 741U for a 741.

maybe the reason you have no signal on the ku side is on the 741U you have to have your receiver programmed to use diseq switching to tell the lnb to switch from c to ku. probably your sat/antenna settings in the pansat don't have diseq turned on. or you may not have the small rg-6 jumper connected on the 741U from the ku lnb to the c lnb. on the 741U diseq port 1 is c-band and diseq port 2 is ku band.

i am not familiar with that model of pansat so i think you're might have to create new sats in the pansat for the ku stuff. that was one of the reasons i stayed awat from the 741U because it is more complicated and time consuming to get your receiver settings and 741U all matched up and working harmoniously. so if your pansat doesn't have a 9750/10600 lnb setting option you may have to create a third sat in the pansat for each orbital bird location. for example ..... sat # 1 c-band diseq port 1 l.o. 5150. sat # 2 ku band diseq port 2 l.o. 9750. sat # 3 ku band diseq port 2 l.o. 107600.

 

[Lone Gunman]

Beavs that Pansat DOES have the LOs that are needed for this LNBF Ku side. This one also uses Diseq switching instead of 22hz. The reason I bought this one was because I didn't know what I was doing at that time, not that I know that much more now though. I was looking for one that would do circular and was under the impression that the U one was circular comptible whereas the regular 741 was not? Ennywho, If I can make this one work then she's a keeper especially since it's already mounted on the dish and I doubt they'd exchange it now.

There is another LNBF post up the board that I put some additional questions in cuz we've gotten WAY off topic on this one.

Oh, and have more analog receivers coming soon as a guy I know checks to see what he has left. Should know something by weeks end I hope.