HELP! Motor acting up!

[iafirebuff]

ok, I got a tough one. I been having problems with my signal strength, and have had to bump it a notch or 2. So I went out today to reset the motor, and check things out. The pole is plumb and level perfect. So, I reaimed dish/motor, reset receiver and motor, entered lat/long. Go to my TS (peaked to it) and perfect. Go to IA5, USALS perfect (has been off by 4 or 5 "bumps". I can go to the Satmexs fine then I go to G10, and nothing! I manually move dish both directions and nothing. On the other end I can get 72 all USAL perfect, with no adjustments but 58w is a no go anymore. Not even manually. So, what do I do? My habds are froze - been out 2 hours. THanks for any tips!

 

[iafirebuff]

OK, I can get the following: 72w to 113w. All with USALS. One a few birds if I manually move 1 bump I can increase signal. I cannot get anything to the east of 72w or to the west of 113w. I even tried manually moving the dish and get nothing! Early today all was good. Motor and receiver has been reset numerous times. I am lost! ANY ideas?

 

[gabshere]

larry several things it could be , one i vote for cold
i know several people here will say they haven't had any problems with the cold. and i don't have problems besided not being 100 % on arc (hey i'm waiting for warmer weather) but i notice mine acts slow when its cold outside and with the recent weather/temp change that the only thing i can think of other than loose connection. but i will keep thinking

also did you do a channel save , i have noticed once that when i saved the channels and what got uploaded back had some changes like switched motor controls just some slight things.

 

[iafirebuff]

Thanks for the input! I have not done any channel saves or such. As for cold......it is actually warmer here than it was this past winter. So I don't think it's a cold thing. Now here is something weird......After I got the dish/motor realigned and reset, a few of the satellites I needed to go to Diseqc 1.2 and bump a notch to get best signal. Now, I am going back andscanning each bird......I have to set it to USALS to get best signal. What I had it set to before is no lower signal. I still can't get east of 72 or west of 116. Not even manually moving the dish. What can that be? I tried hooking up the SatPros to my motor, but I need to get the directions out and figure how that works, so I did not have luck with that. So to sum it up, 72w to 116w I get everything with a strong wignal, all his with USALS. the rest is no go! LOS is not an issue. Totally lost!

 

[gabshere]

did you get more before ... and it was all USALS mine kinda acted like that .... you know i could get 79-105 i messed with it and tweaked it nothing let it sit a month and went back and scanned now get over to 72. do you think your mount might have shifted a bit while you was resetting... or your dish pull out of align
it actually sounds like it is off arc like mine is i get the middle and its off on the ends

 

[SatinKzo]

My motor went screwy today too. I have a sg2100 and this evening after using my setup all last night, the thing would not even move. Checked everything out, powered off and pulled plug on receiver still no movement.
Went out to dish, manually moved it with the button and zero'd it again, then reset it. Came back in, reset the receiver and adjusted things a bit and it worked.

Here is SW Mich, like many of you in the midwest all I can think is the screwy weather changes and warm up, cold snaps plus the wet snow and winds maybe had something to do with it. This is my first winter with this setup, but I haven't had any problems like that since I got everything setup. Granted it has not been a typical winter either.

 

[iafirebuff]

I went and realigned the dish/motor assembly and repeaked it to my true south satellite. Nice strong signal. Before I got 43w to 148w with USALS. Then after I tried to get 30w I had to use Diseqc 1.2 and tweak each satellite. Well I would have to retweka them about once per week so that is why I went out today to reset it up. At first all the satellites were strong with USALS, then a few I had to go in an use DISEQC 1.2 to get the strongest signal. BUT now, USALS is back as being dead on, but I still can't get east of 72 or west of 116. Not even manually! The dish looks like it is moving to th right position, but nothing at all on the receiver. And all the other satellites are dead on USALS. I am really confused!

 

[SatinKzo]

when you say you can get it past a certain point manually, do you mean diseq1.2 or by pushing the button on the motor?

 

[iafirebuff]

The motor physically moves and by the looks of it it appears to be going to the right locations, but my receiver acts like there is no signal. The receiver has no problems moving it to the appropriate location, but once there, there is no signal. If I manually (diseqc 1.2) move the motor, it moves, but again, it appears to not have any signal.

 

[SatinKzo]

ok I thought you couldn't get the motor to physically move past those points. So you can move but not signal past 72 or 116, but between those 2 points, you do get signal?

 

[iafirebuff]

Yep, between those points I get perfect signal using USALS. Everything is right on. Beyond those points eventhoug the dish moves, it is like the receiver is dead.

 

[SatinKzo]

Yeah, that is weird , I know it's a long shot, but is it remotely possible, the cable to the lnb from the motor is flaking out?

 

[iafirebuff]

That is worth a try. I might have to try to replace that tomorrow. I am at a loss!

 

[SatinKzo]

Honestly, that just seems like the only logical thing left to try if the motor is moving, I would have to assume the cable and connections are good to the motor, maybe just some thing weird is happening to the coax when you go E/W too much from reference.

 

[iafirebuff]

That would make sense. I will make up a new cable tomorrow and swap that out. THANKS for your help!

 

[SatinKzo]

Well, I didn't help much other than just being an outsider who isn't assuming anything. I hope that is all it is, either that of the Easter bunny is playing tricks on you. Good luck.

 

[iafirebuff]

I hope so too. It is real weird. Will keep you posted Have a nice Easter!

 

[Anole]

cold it be...?

Interesting thread.
I do love a good challenge.

Actually, I found a bad coax connector under the eaves at a grounding block yesterday, but it was 100% open, 100% of the time.

Everything about the troubleshooting sounded good, except the "motoring over manually" part.
I wonder if you would get back to where it worked along the center of the arc first, then...
Go via USALS to the next bird, whatever that is...
Then, try the old trick of lifting the dish slightly with your finger, lowering it slightly with your finger, and the same for left-right movement.
...all while watching your receiver for a signal...

If any of those tricks get your bird back, I believe there are published proceedures for realignment.
...assuming that's what's wrong, of course.

I try to read about everything posted so I can solve these problems when they happen to me, and this sounds right.
Of course, I could be way off track here.
Hope it helps.

 

[iafirebuff]

Thanks for the input! I have tried that. Slightly moving the dish, etc no signal, no blips nothing. The other satellites all have the same signal strength as they had when everything was working 100%. I also have reset up the dish and motor like I was installing from scratch. I am going out soon to put a new cable on between the lnb and motor. Will be back!

 

[colbec]

Another outside possiblility is that you have slightly loose lnb arm. Say you are pointed in the middle of the arc. The arm is affected least by gravity at this point. However at the extremes of east and west when the dish is skewed, if the arm (correct me if this is the wrong term) is loose then gravity could pull it off the focus of the dish.