I have bought a few of the G-boxs now an have to say that they are a lot more accureated than the V-boxII that I have used before getting my 1st order in of Jan 08 3 of them back then, an have not had a problem at all. then order more back in june of 08 also great product.
1 is on 10 1/2 foot Mirco Dine very heavy dish well over 450lbs, 1 on 10 foot SMC Channel Master also a very heavy dish, have 2 on 10-foot channel Master mess dish, another 1 on a 12-foot Cosmo. an every 1 works flawless to the T. they drive big dishes great.
now on my last order that came in back in Dec-08, seems that quality control is missing some things or they where just in a hurry to get them back in stock. had 2 come in on that order. an at first thought that Sadoun sent me some return G-boxs, all of the previous 1s when you power them up displayed 000 on the face, but these displayed numbers like 176 an had locations program in them. but both work just find execpt 1 of the buttons doen't work on 1 of the boxs, an on both it seem that the transformer was never screwed down, because you can hear if you move the box, heavy clunking inside the G-box, an both are that way, now i have looked at the case an tryed pop the cover to fix it but don't want to crack the case. so just sold the customer mine an kept the clunkers for me.
an have to agree with Brettbolt on the terminal strip where you're actuator wires go very chincey, an strip will move on you when you are installing the wires into their clips, almost should be case mounted, or locked into back of the case, an a better grade strip to not hinder larger wires going in.
now on another note, "counts" the G-box will count over 2000 counts from center, an will be right on that satellite also. now this is 1 thing that I was worryed about, when I just finished up a 1.2 meter offset ku-dish on a old horizon to horizon mount, an it orginaly had a 10k pot for counting ohms back to the receiver. an built a gear reduction driving a home made 22 magnet wheel, driven off the worm drive. an from center (a due south satellite) to the east over +2200 counts, an back to center to west -2200 counts. an it counts a high count flawless, you can not even see the last digit on the G-box when it is moving, just a blurr cause its counting so fast. now it is still on my testing pole, an can only view from telstar-12 to galaxy-18 at that location, but have been running it for over a month an G-box is working it fine.
now I have read treads where people have had problems with their G-boxs, not counting, going DOA after moving a dish for a wile, but they also would say that their old c-band worked it great. (I have "NEVER" ran into any such problem like that yet) but a lot of you're older receiver where more forgiving, an also will have breakers or fuses for acuator amp draw. but would have to ask them if they had to reprogram their satellite back in in a year or so.
Now on a Tech side.
what tends to happen with older motors when parts that get worned or not greased on a regular basics, their amp draw will go up, an it will reach a point where it is too much for what ever is suppling its voltage, had this problem with a customer with a 920 back in the 90's an didn't want to spend the extra $ for a new actuator. but he did 2 months latter when he burn both relays out in the 920. now actuators or H to H motors will draw 1 to 2 or little over amps on start up, an should run any where from 1/2amp to 1.5amp on running, now this will vary if it is pushing or pulling a dish. but I have seen old actuators or H to H motors that need to be replaced go as high as 8amp on start up, an run a 4 to 5amp this is sure death for any receiver or motor controler over time. that is why a simple maintence on you're system an check up from time to time will save you $ in the long run.
but I do have to say that they work very well, an the Powertech G-box V3000 is a nice product. it will let you take a mpeg receiver hook it up to a C & ku-band dish an let that mpeg receiver have total control of what it is hook to. an my wife loves me more for having the G-box, she has gotten lost so maney times before changing satellites along with polarity, to where she did not use the mpeg receiver but now she does, an can work it very well.
Thank You for a nice product, an hope this helps so you can make the G-box better.
