Help installing a 4dtv-920 receiver

[supernova]

I have a 4dtv-920 receiver by General Instruments that has no wiring diagram or installation manual. The 10 foot dish has only one coaxial wire coming out of the feedhorn and the actuator uses 4 wires (red,pink,white,green) and its made by Von Weis. The LNBF is made by Astrotel Comm Corp and the model is: PM-9/C-V/H. Freq range is 950-1450 mhz with a Noise of 20 and a db gain of 64.

I don't know where to connect the red,pink,white and green wires that are coming from the actuator. The receiver has a few terminals like M1,M2,and above that a terminal with Pulse,+5V,Gnd and a terminal labeled Polarizer at the bottom. I'm new to this so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx.

 

[surfdevil83]

Let me make a stab at this one. You m1 and m2 are your 37 volt wires to power your motor. These will be your two heavier gauge wires. Hooking these two wires up backwards will simply reverse your east and west motor drive. The small gauge wires are you positioner for the motor counter. To check the positioner wires without guesing remove the 4 torx bolts on the end of the motor. They should be labled.

 

[mike74820]

try this from skyvison

http://www.skyvision.com/pages/information_center/PDFs/920_hookup.pdf

 

[supernova]

After checking the link that mike gave me I found out that the cable used in this unit was not original so I decided to take the cover off the actuator and photograph it to make it easier to figure out where those wires go. I made a mistake on the colors of the wires,the colors are Pink,White,Green and Orange.

 

[sergei]

The wire is really red and it's just faded with age.

 

[supernova]

Any idea where those wires connect to the receiver?

Looks like the top 2 go to M1 and M2 but the other two I'm not sure.

 

[tvropro]

Red and White (motor wires) go to M1 & M2. Orange & Green go to sensor (pulse) and ground for the reed switch.

 

[supernova]

Thanx tvropro....I'll let u know how it turns out.

 

[TMair]

As surgdevil mentioned if you hook the two wires up backwards it will reverse the east west limits, mine is hooked up wrong it still works just fine, I just have to remember east is west and west is east, as for the receiver calculating where the next sat should be it works just fine, I have no issues what so ever.
I just wanted to mention that just in case you where worried about it.
Terry

 

[supernova]

As surgdevil mentioned if you hook the two wires up backwards it will reverse the east west limits, mine is hooked up wrong it still works just fine, I just have to remember east is west and west is east, as for the receiver calculating where the next sat should be it works just fine, I have no issues what so ever.
I just wanted to mention that just in case you where worried about it.
Terry

Thanx guys for all ur help. I got the actuator working but when I select different satellites it moves a little then stops so I fed 24 volts directly to the actuator and it moves all the way up and then all the way down when I reverse the wires so the actuator is OK. I still haven't mounted the screen mesh and LNBF and I want to know how to calibrate it after I mount everything back up to be able to tune in the sats available in my area?

 

[surfdevil83]

Sounds like your reed switch is either bad or wired wrong. If the reciever doesn't see a count it won't position. Recheck your wires to the reed switch and make sure you have them in the right spot on the reciever. Direct current to the 37 volt wires will bypass the counter and move the actuator as you have allready done. Also did you try to set your limits yet? Option 6,4,3? They may be set at 5000 for both limits and then the dish won't move thinking it's at it's limit. This is a safety so the dish dosen't roll off the actuator(flop the dish). Hope this helps.

 

[supernova]

I checked the limits and there set as follows:

Dish Pos=4931
East Limit=4239
West Limit=5015

This was set up for 4DTV here in PR so I guess the limits are normal for this area....am I right in assuming this?

 

[surfdevil83]

Your limits look ok to get the dish moving so thats not the problem. You may need to adjust the limits to get the lower sats later. Try this.. go into progam sat. pick any sat to set up, then where is says auto peek dish click it and see if the counter moves or counts the position. If the counter does not move then post a picture of your connection to the back of the reciever. Maybe you have over looked something.

 

[supernova]

Sounds like your reed switch is either bad or wired wrong. If the reciever doesn't see a count it won't position. Recheck your wires to the reed switch and make sure you have them in the right spot on the reciever. Direct current to the 37 volt wires will bypass the counter and move the actuator as you have allready done. Also did you try to set your limits yet? Option 6,4,3? They may be set at 5000 for both limits and then the dish won't move thinking it's at it's limit. This is a safety so the dish dosen't roll off the actuator(flop the dish). Hope this helps.

Earlier in this thread I posted a photo of the Von Weis actuator and tvropro said that the red and white go to M1 and M2 and the orange and green go to Pulse and Gnd which is located just above the M1 and M2 terminal in the back of the receiver. The only thing I haven't done yet is assemble the screen mesh and the lnb cause I haven't found where to put it yet. I want to make sure the actuator is functioning B4 I go thru the trouble of installing this bad boy.

Referring to my photo....is the reed switch in the actuator the device towards the bottom of the photo that has 2 black wires going to the terminal that the green and orange wires are connected to?

 

[tvropro]

Referring to my photo....is the reed switch in the actuator the device towards the bottom of the photo that has 2 black wires going to the terminal that the green and orange wires are connected to?

Yes

 

[supernova]

I guess there's no polarity then so maybe I need to hook up the screen mesh and lnb or could it work without them?

My hope is that I can use the 4DTV receiver to find the sats and then I will hook up my sonicview 360 premier to capture the channels I want from that sat.

 

[supernova]

Surfdevil.....I did what u asked and the counter did move. I then chose another sat and selected "Move Dish to 4931" and the actuator moved and the counter counted for a while this time and then it stopped..... so the actuator is OK.

 

[supernova]

Once I get the dish completely assembled,what do I have to do to start searching for satellites?


I read in another thread about finding G1 and to check ch 11 and 12 for horiz and vert and then leaving it on ch 3 for updates but I can't find G1 at the dishpointer website for my area here in Puerto Rico (lat=18.05 and long= -67.11). Is this Galaxy 1 or have they changed it?

 

[Lak7]

This may help.....
NPS - Your One Call Solution

"G1" is Galaxy 15 @ 133 west

 

[surfdevil83]

Sounds like your getting closer supernova! The first time I set up my cband system I used G1 channel 5 (the classic arts channel) to make sure I was on G1. This channel is anolog and seemed easier to find then digital for setup purposes. The other channel that I use is the sheppards channel on G4@99 channel 16. After you lock G1 leave your reciever on ch3 and watch your channel download option 6,5 my 922 has 4698. Your trip counter and guide will only activate by subbing with someone.