I forgot. We have a cold front stalled on top of us with sun and thunder and rain clouds right there so to speak, and now it's almost dark. I'll check for voltage Brian. I can't do it now but I'll try tomorrow between rain.
Gbox + Von Weise actuator with optical sensor
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The CK1S Combo C / KU-band LNBF, or a good C/Ku. My DMX741 has went goofy with drift.
Should have a small quantity of the CK1s with PLL KU section on Monday.
Great! I'll try and get one ordered early!
I was up early and plain forgot to order! I just ordered the CK1S. I hope it fixes my drift issues.
Hey Brian,
I knew the CK1S needed a switch and I have one, somewhere else apparently! I thought I knew where one was because it said "Sadoun" on it but it's just a splitter. I have another one but it is nowhere to be found so I just ordered two of your Pansat switches (this is not happening again!). I know I'll find it now that I bought some but I need a spare or two anyway.
So anyhow, I can't get Decades/H&I etc stable though it is much better with the new LNBF. Decades now breaks up a lot and it used to be a picture popped in once in a while. METV HD was jumping around between 63-65-67-70Q and now it's a solid 71Q (85S 71Q). I tweaked the dish every which way with the old LNBF and the new one and nothing will stabilize Decades. Back around March or May it was unstable for everyone then it worked for me in cooler temps. Maybe it is them having a problem up there? I'll start a thread on that.
Back to the actuator. I do have a scope and I guess I'll drag it out. The Uniden UST-730 I have puts out 12v for the sensor and I'm really glad I did not wire it up without checking it. I changed the sensor board to another one that was dead so I put the old one back. After hooking it back up it ran great for about 10 minutes, then errors constantly. It seems when it heats up it starts erring. It worked so good for months with a slight count loss over time, then bam, errors. I thought well, a loose wire, seen that before but that's not it. I told my wife back in the day we didn't care, anything was better than moving it by hand!
I just got a remote extender and used it a couple of months, sure was nice saving all of those trips to point the remote at it. Now I have to go error it along to get where I want to go and it's hard on the relays, 20-30 clicks to get there instead of one long move. I'm about ready to go with the ASC1 and put my Chaparral Corotor II back on it and go from there. I have never liked the LNBFs (no offense against yours, just don't like change) and always liked the full skew control etc. I want the ASC1 anyway. I just bought some expensive photography equipment or I'd order it right now.
Anyway, someone would think I don't know a thing I'm doing but I'v been doing it a long, long time and never had these kinds of actuator problems! I'll get it but I sure am ready to be done working on it. Back to break time (actually watch some TV). Thanks again and the LNBF works good, C band anyway. If I could find my receiver box I bet my switch is in that and I do have the box.
I knew the CK1S needed a switch and I have one, somewhere else apparently! I thought I knew where one was because it said "Sadoun" on it but it's just a splitter. I have another one but it is nowhere to be found so I just ordered two of your Pansat switches (this is not happening again!). I know I'll find it now that I bought some but I need a spare or two anyway.
So anyhow, I can't get Decades/H&I etc stable though it is much better with the new LNBF. Decades now breaks up a lot and it used to be a picture popped in once in a while. METV HD was jumping around between 63-65-67-70Q and now it's a solid 71Q (85S 71Q). I tweaked the dish every which way with the old LNBF and the new one and nothing will stabilize Decades. Back around March or May it was unstable for everyone then it worked for me in cooler temps. Maybe it is them having a problem up there? I'll start a thread on that.
Back to the actuator. I do have a scope and I guess I'll drag it out. The Uniden UST-730 I have puts out 12v for the sensor and I'm really glad I did not wire it up without checking it. I changed the sensor board to another one that was dead so I put the old one back. After hooking it back up it ran great for about 10 minutes, then errors constantly. It seems when it heats up it starts erring. It worked so good for months with a slight count loss over time, then bam, errors. I thought well, a loose wire, seen that before but that's not it. I told my wife back in the day we didn't care, anything was better than moving it by hand!
I just got a remote extender and used it a couple of months, sure was nice saving all of those trips to point the remote at it. Now I have to go error it along to get where I want to go and it's hard on the relays, 20-30 clicks to get there instead of one long move. I'm about ready to go with the ASC1 and put my Chaparral Corotor II back on it and go from there. I have never liked the LNBFs (no offense against yours, just don't like change) and always liked the full skew control etc. I want the ASC1 anyway. I just bought some expensive photography equipment or I'd order it right now.
Anyway, someone would think I don't know a thing I'm doing but I'v been doing it a long, long time and never had these kinds of actuator problems! I'll get it but I sure am ready to be done working on it. Back to break time (actually watch some TV). Thanks again and the LNBF works good, C band anyway. If I could find my receiver box I bet my switch is in that and I do have the box.
If the LO frequency had drifted on the old LNBF, the transponder frequencies may be incorrect if they were previously scanned in.
Did you delete the old transponders and blind scan after installing the new LNBF?
Did you delete the old transponders and blind scan after installing the new LNBF?
Yes, and I manually edited them up/down one to see if anything was better. I guess it could be in the receiver too but I have cooled it good with a fan and everything and it wouldn't stabilize. A while back after a storm it got down to about 68F and I watched Decades all night. I'm pretty certain it is heat related and not water in my cables. In the spring I thought it was wind but on a calm day it was unstable and seems to stabilize only when the temp outside is at or below about 67-68F.
Hello again Brian,
It may be too early to call but I'm pretty sure I got the actuator fixed. It's never worked more than 5 minutes without an error once it started giving me problems. So, I've checked wiring and even the connections inside the Gbox. So we have a solid connection from the Gbox to the actuator...no, maybe not.
I forgot about the limit switches! Yep, dirt in those would cause it not to move as fast as expected and produce an error. I pushed them open (the little tab to make a hole to the inside) and blasted them full of contact cleaner and worked them about 50 times each. This actuator has been sitting since about 2000 or so. It's been running over a half hour and I've probably wasted a mile of dish movement but it hasn't failed yet!
I'll report back how it goes but I really think that was the problem and I know it may come back if the switches are iffy. If it runs a couple of days I'm probably good. If it starts doing it again I'll direct wire past the switches and see how that goes. It was one of those things that aggravation wasn't helping so I started thinking, where could the chain be broken at?
I appreciate your help and I ordered a Freesat V7 from the same people you did. I also got the WiFi dongle that was reported to work good with it from the same seller. Now I'm off to find the A/V RCA cable for it because I send it to the other room through an RF modulator, not real worried about picture quality and it's plenty good to watch. As for Decades, something fishy is going on there, maybe they're messing with us?
Oh, one question about the V7. Does it do HDMI and composite at the same time? That's a must for me unless I just buy a second one which I'll do anyway fairly soon. It's still going...thanks again.
It may be too early to call but I'm pretty sure I got the actuator fixed. It's never worked more than 5 minutes without an error once it started giving me problems. So, I've checked wiring and even the connections inside the Gbox. So we have a solid connection from the Gbox to the actuator...no, maybe not.
I forgot about the limit switches! Yep, dirt in those would cause it not to move as fast as expected and produce an error. I pushed them open (the little tab to make a hole to the inside) and blasted them full of contact cleaner and worked them about 50 times each. This actuator has been sitting since about 2000 or so. It's been running over a half hour and I've probably wasted a mile of dish movement but it hasn't failed yet!
I'll report back how it goes but I really think that was the problem and I know it may come back if the switches are iffy. If it runs a couple of days I'm probably good. If it starts doing it again I'll direct wire past the switches and see how that goes. It was one of those things that aggravation wasn't helping so I started thinking, where could the chain be broken at?
I appreciate your help and I ordered a Freesat V7 from the same people you did. I also got the WiFi dongle that was reported to work good with it from the same seller. Now I'm off to find the A/V RCA cable for it because I send it to the other room through an RF modulator, not real worried about picture quality and it's plenty good to watch. As for Decades, something fishy is going on there, maybe they're messing with us?
Oh, one question about the V7. Does it do HDMI and composite at the same time? That's a must for me unless I just buy a second one which I'll do anyway fairly soon. It's still going...thanks again.
It turns out I was right, it was too early to call. It was still having problems when it warmed up in the daytime. I took the whole sensor board out and made a magnet wheel and used a glass reed switch. I thought and looked at it, and thought some more about how to encase and mount the reed switch. I was over engineering it a bit at that point.
The glass reed switches look like a resistor so I just bent the leads (very carefully) into the right shape to put the ends right under the screws where the sensor wires go. It's bent so it stands out and up under the wheel just right! I used a seasoning salt lid to make the wheel, one of the bigger ones. Just cut the threaded part off and you have a perfect size disc. My Von Weise has the optical wheel and the 1/4 shaft sticks up through it a bit, just enough that I made a hole in the disc and forced it on. I didn't need glue or anything and it's a nice tight fit and holds good. The optical disc braces it a bit too from the bottom.
I used six 3/16" dia. x 1/32" thick N52 magnets from K&J Magnetics. These here: http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=D301-N52
I glued them on with dollar store rubber cement and they're on there good. I tried slightly larger magnets that were 1/16" thick (N42 & N52) but the switch never opened. They were 1/4" dia. x 1/16" thick D41G-N52's and something a bit smaller than that but the same thickness. The thinner 1/32" ones were just the right strength. I think the width played a big part of this too. N42 & N52 are the strength ratings, the site explains it. There is a lot of cool info there.
The ones I used are very thin and strong and it doesn't miss a count, none, and I haven't had any errors! I linked them above but they are D301-N52's if you look them up by model number. The optical wheel had six slots and six magnets works great. When it was optical I couldn't get it to move by a 1 count, almost never, it'd jump 2 no matter how fast you hit the button. Now it'll count one at a time easily and consistently! Now that I've done it I could make one and install it in a half hour.
It works really good and time will tell if it's missing counts and getting out of sync but I just don't see how it can now. I wish I'd have done this before I ever put it on the dish, it's that good. I have a new Freesat V7 on the way, a new C/Ku LNBF from Brian and a dish that goes where you tell it and I told it to go a few places!
I'm guessing the optical sensor was the problem and it didn't crop up until it had been warm for a while. I installed it in the winter and one day it just went goofy. It was hard to pin down the problem. It would fake you out and make you think you had it fixed when it cooled off but then go goofy when it warmed up. When it rained it cooled off and it worked but I thought it was possibly getting water somewhere, took a while to soak in maybe. Nope, it was heat!
I found all of the info about where to get the magnets etc here in the forums. I also read that 10 or 12 magnets really doesn't noticeably help your resolution. It turns out 6 magnets fits and works good and it's so easy to do, I used all hand tools. I cut the disc out of the lid with a pocket knife and used a file to round the edges and smooth them. Then I just made a hole in the center, slightly smaller than the 1/4" shaft.
I used forceps to grip the lead on the reed switches right up next to the glass, very close to it. If you put pressure on the glass while bending the leads you'll break it so use the forceps! Needle nose pliers are not narrow enough to let you get the leads bent the direction you need them to go and have enough lead left to fit under the screws. Grip it tight so it doesn't turn and form it in sort of a U shape so it'll stick out and up at an angle when you put the ends under the screws. Tighten them down and you have it mounted! Once the cover is on it nothing can break the glass and it works great and is easy to change should you ever need to. Glue your magnets on the disc and force it on the shaft and you're good to go!
I have a nice camera and will get some photos of it posted. Photos will make it much easier to understand what I'm saying and it'll make perfect sense.
I got this 10 pack of reed switches for $3.24 total and got them in 3 or 4 days. When you order the magnets you'll see $15 shipping or something and I almost over looked where you click USPS and then you get $5 S&H. I have a few spares that are too big for this job, but I'll find something to use them for. My friend's 5 or 6 year old son swallowed some that he got from a boy at school and it messed that boy up! Keep them away from children, they stick their intestines together and it's a bad, bad, deal. Emergency surgery and all because the kid lied for days and just said he had a belly ache. Anyway, this is so simple to do and it flat makes it work. It's a two wire system now that the Gbox is compatible with and likes!
And I want to say thank you for all of the help Brian and Magic Static, Lone Gunman, and a couple of others who posted magnet wheel projects. I can't remember who all it was, but it was several. In my case just putting the switch leads under the screws is the way to go. No glue, no tape, no solder and no hassle. It just fits and works. I'll try and add the photos tomorrow, just have to pop the cover off.
Here are the switches: http://www.ebay.com/itm/371323460047
The glass reed switches look like a resistor so I just bent the leads (very carefully) into the right shape to put the ends right under the screws where the sensor wires go. It's bent so it stands out and up under the wheel just right! I used a seasoning salt lid to make the wheel, one of the bigger ones. Just cut the threaded part off and you have a perfect size disc. My Von Weise has the optical wheel and the 1/4 shaft sticks up through it a bit, just enough that I made a hole in the disc and forced it on. I didn't need glue or anything and it's a nice tight fit and holds good. The optical disc braces it a bit too from the bottom.
I used six 3/16" dia. x 1/32" thick N52 magnets from K&J Magnetics. These here: http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=D301-N52
I glued them on with dollar store rubber cement and they're on there good. I tried slightly larger magnets that were 1/16" thick (N42 & N52) but the switch never opened. They were 1/4" dia. x 1/16" thick D41G-N52's and something a bit smaller than that but the same thickness. The thinner 1/32" ones were just the right strength. I think the width played a big part of this too. N42 & N52 are the strength ratings, the site explains it. There is a lot of cool info there.
The ones I used are very thin and strong and it doesn't miss a count, none, and I haven't had any errors! I linked them above but they are D301-N52's if you look them up by model number. The optical wheel had six slots and six magnets works great. When it was optical I couldn't get it to move by a 1 count, almost never, it'd jump 2 no matter how fast you hit the button. Now it'll count one at a time easily and consistently! Now that I've done it I could make one and install it in a half hour.
It works really good and time will tell if it's missing counts and getting out of sync but I just don't see how it can now. I wish I'd have done this before I ever put it on the dish, it's that good. I have a new Freesat V7 on the way, a new C/Ku LNBF from Brian and a dish that goes where you tell it and I told it to go a few places!
I'm guessing the optical sensor was the problem and it didn't crop up until it had been warm for a while. I installed it in the winter and one day it just went goofy. It was hard to pin down the problem. It would fake you out and make you think you had it fixed when it cooled off but then go goofy when it warmed up. When it rained it cooled off and it worked but I thought it was possibly getting water somewhere, took a while to soak in maybe. Nope, it was heat!
I found all of the info about where to get the magnets etc here in the forums. I also read that 10 or 12 magnets really doesn't noticeably help your resolution. It turns out 6 magnets fits and works good and it's so easy to do, I used all hand tools. I cut the disc out of the lid with a pocket knife and used a file to round the edges and smooth them. Then I just made a hole in the center, slightly smaller than the 1/4" shaft.
I used forceps to grip the lead on the reed switches right up next to the glass, very close to it. If you put pressure on the glass while bending the leads you'll break it so use the forceps! Needle nose pliers are not narrow enough to let you get the leads bent the direction you need them to go and have enough lead left to fit under the screws. Grip it tight so it doesn't turn and form it in sort of a U shape so it'll stick out and up at an angle when you put the ends under the screws. Tighten them down and you have it mounted! Once the cover is on it nothing can break the glass and it works great and is easy to change should you ever need to. Glue your magnets on the disc and force it on the shaft and you're good to go!
I have a nice camera and will get some photos of it posted. Photos will make it much easier to understand what I'm saying and it'll make perfect sense.
I got this 10 pack of reed switches for $3.24 total and got them in 3 or 4 days. When you order the magnets you'll see $15 shipping or something and I almost over looked where you click USPS and then you get $5 S&H. I have a few spares that are too big for this job, but I'll find something to use them for. My friend's 5 or 6 year old son swallowed some that he got from a boy at school and it messed that boy up! Keep them away from children, they stick their intestines together and it's a bad, bad, deal. Emergency surgery and all because the kid lied for days and just said he had a belly ache. Anyway, this is so simple to do and it flat makes it work. It's a two wire system now that the Gbox is compatible with and likes!
And I want to say thank you for all of the help Brian and Magic Static, Lone Gunman, and a couple of others who posted magnet wheel projects. I can't remember who all it was, but it was several. In my case just putting the switch leads under the screws is the way to go. No glue, no tape, no solder and no hassle. It just fits and works. I'll try and add the photos tomorrow, just have to pop the cover off.
Here are the switches: http://www.ebay.com/itm/371323460047
Glad that fixed it for you! Nice write up - looking forward to those pics!It turns out I was right, it was too early to call. It was still having problems when it warmed up in the daytime. I took the whole sensor board out and made a magnet wheel and used a glass reed switch. I thought and looked at it, and thought some more about how to encase and mount the reed switch. I was over engineering it a bit at that point.
The glass reed switches look like a resistor so I just bent the leads (very carefully) into the right shape to put the ends right under the screws where the sensor wires go. It's bent so it stands out and up under the wheel just right! I used a seasoning salt lid to make the wheel, one of the bigger ones. Just cut the threaded part off and you have a perfect size disc. My Von Weise has the optical wheel and the 1/4 shaft sticks up through it a bit, just enough that I made a hole in the disc and forced it on. I didn't need glue or anything and it's a nice tight fit and holds good. The optical disc braces it a bit too from the bottom.
I used six 3/16" dia. x 1/32" thick N52 magnets from K&J Magnetics. These here: http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=D301-N52
I glued them on with dollar store rubber cement and they're on there good. I tried slightly larger magnets that were 1/16" thick (N42 & N52) but the switch never opened. They were 1/4" dia. x 1/16" thick D41G-N52's and something a bit smaller than that but the same thickness. The thinner 1/32" ones were just the right strength. I think the width played a big part of this too. N42 & N52 are the strength ratings, the site explains it. There is a lot of cool info there.
The ones I used are very thin and strong and it doesn't miss a count, none, and I haven't had any errors! I linked them above but they are D301-N52's if you look them up by model number. The optical wheel had six slots and six magnets works great. When it was optical I couldn't get it to move by a 1 count, almost never, it'd jump 2 no matter how fast you hit the button. Now it'll count one at a time easily and consistently! Now that I've done it I could make one and install it in a half hour.
It works really good and time will tell if it's missing counts and getting out of sync but I just don't see how it can now. I wish I'd have done this before I ever put it on the dish, it's that good. I have a new Freesat V7 on the way, a new C/Ku LNBF from Brian and a dish that goes where you tell it and I told it to go a few places!
I'm guessing the optical sensor was the problem and it didn't crop up until it had been warm for a while. I installed it in the winter and one day it just went goofy. It was hard to pin down the problem. It would fake you out and make you think you had it fixed when it cooled off but then go goofy when it warmed up. When it rained it cooled off and it worked but I thought it was possibly getting water somewhere, took a while to soak in maybe. Nope, it was heat!
I found all of the info about where to get the magnets etc here in the forums. I also read that 10 or 12 magnets really doesn't noticeably help your resolution. It turns out 6 magnets fits and works good and it's so easy to do, I used all hand tools. I cut the disc out of the lid with a pocket knife and used a file to round the edges and smooth them. Then I just made a hole in the center, slightly smaller than the 1/4" shaft.
I used forceps to grip the lead on the reed switches right up next to the glass, very close to it. If you put pressure on the glass while bending the leads you'll break it so use the forceps! Needle nose pliers are not narrow enough to let you get the leads bent the direction you need them to go and have enough lead left to fit under the screws. Grip it tight so it doesn't turn and form it in sort of a U shape so it'll stick out and up at an angle when you put the ends under the screws. Tighten them down and you have it mounted! Once the cover is on it nothing can break the glass and it works great and is easy to change should you ever need to. Glue your magnets on the disc and force it on the shaft and you're good to go!
I have a nice camera and will get some photos of it posted. Photos will make it much easier to understand what I'm saying and it'll make perfect sense.
I got this 10 pack of reed switches for $3.24 total and got them in 3 or 4 days. When you order the magnets you'll see $15 shipping or something and I almost over looked where you click USPS and then you get $5 S&H. I have a few spares that are too big for this job, but I'll find something to use them for. My friend's 5 or 6 year old son swallowed some that he got from a boy at school and it messed that boy up! Keep them away from children, they stick their intestines together and it's a bad, bad, deal. Emergency surgery and all because the kid lied for days and just said he had a belly ache. Anyway, this is so simple to do and it flat makes it work. It's a two wire system now that the Gbox is compatible with and likes!
And I want to say thank you for all of the help Brian and Magic Static, Lone Gunman, and a couple of others who posted magnet wheel projects. I can't remember who all it was, but it was several. In my case just putting the switch leads under the screws is the way to go. No glue, no tape, no solder and no hassle. It just fits and works. I'll try and add the photos tomorrow, just have to pop the cover off.
Here are the switches: http://www.ebay.com/itm/371323460047
Ok, here is a couple of photos. By looking at the first photo you can see the leads of the reed switch are under the tabs but I think I'll make another one with some lugs soldered onto them. It's working fine but I don't like the looks of it, looks like it could move and come loose. You can also see that I chipped the glass on the right side of the switch, didn't know that until I seen these closeups.
In the second photo you can see the whole wheel and the mess I made with the glue. I was putting on and removing different size magnets and when it worked I just left it on there. If you glue on the right size to begin with you won't have that mess. Also, you can see that the reed switch is not fully under the magnet wheel but when you have the switch in your hand just holding a magnet close enough to the lead closes the switch. I guess it magnetizes the lead and pulls it closed. Still, I'd rather have the switch directly under the magnets and lugs on the leads would give me more lead length to bend it that direction. But the fact is this works great just the way it is. The photos were taken with a Nikon D7100 and I processed the raw files so that's why they're so good. I reduced them to 2MP from 24MP for file size.
In the second photo you can see the whole wheel and the mess I made with the glue. I was putting on and removing different size magnets and when it worked I just left it on there. If you glue on the right size to begin with you won't have that mess. Also, you can see that the reed switch is not fully under the magnet wheel but when you have the switch in your hand just holding a magnet close enough to the lead closes the switch. I guess it magnetizes the lead and pulls it closed. Still, I'd rather have the switch directly under the magnets and lugs on the leads would give me more lead length to bend it that direction. But the fact is this works great just the way it is. The photos were taken with a Nikon D7100 and I processed the raw files so that's why they're so good. I reduced them to 2MP from 24MP for file size.
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