HELP! Motor acting up!

[iafirebuff]

THANKS! I will go try that.

I just replaced the coax, no luck I will go check the arn out. I just tried to aim at 121w where the Dish Logo is usually strong, I can only get 20% signal strenght. Going to Diesqc 1.2 and 20% is the highest. Will be back!

 

[colbec]

Another idea is the latitude setting on the motor. Say you are off by a couple of degrees, when you are in the middle of the arc this will have no effect since the arc is basically flat at that point and you have zeroed in on that part of the arc. At the extremes however the arc of the motor will be either above or below the Clarke Belt on both sides due to the geometry of the motor arm. This could happen even if the post is plumb.

 

[voomvoom]

Just a thought Larry, but when my Pansat gets TP overload, it acts very "Quirky". This sounds very quirky to me, you never know? Whatever it is, it's probably something simple, that you're overlooking.....

Al

 

[iafirebuff]

OK, I am very cornfused now. I totally took everything apart and started from scratch. I even mounted the motor in a different spot on the post. Post is plumb/level all the wat around and solid. Everything was check for tightness, new cables and new lnb used. Aim dish/motor to true south. Then I peaked it for my TSS. Awesome strength, Doc Scott around 60-70% and Azetec channels 80%. USALS is dead on up until 113 or 116 (SatMex) and down to 72w all dead on. ANything beyond those limits no go. Even moving the dish manually, nothing. THe dish is moving, but I get nothing.

So, I take the Satpros out, and I am not sure as the intructions are not too clear, but I can get it to move the motor and it looks like it is in the right location, and nothing. I hook the Fortec to my Primestar that is aimed at G10 and G10 works great. So, I am lost! There are no LOS issues. The only thing I have not done is changed motors (I only have one). But the motor moves to the appropriate location just fine. THe post is just as plump/level as it was before last winter, and nothing else appears to change.

I totally redid the dish and motor like I was starting from scratch, so if it was of, I would have thought it would not have the exact same problem as before. OK, sorry for the long post. I might just have to go back to stationary dishes......I am baffled! Thanks all for your ideas!

 

[iafirebuff]

I have factory reset the receiver several times. My problem is consistant, so I am overlooking something

Just a thought Larry, but when my Pansat gets TP overload, it acts very "Quirky". This sounds very quirky to me, you never know? Whatever it is, it's probably something simple, that you're overlooking.....

Al

 

[colbec]

Sorry to keep on at this but ... The SG2100 has two scales for inclination of the motor arm. One is elevation and the other is latitude. While setting latitude it is easy to use the elevation scale in error. In my case my latitude setting is 44, but when set the elevation scale reads 46....

 

[iafirebuff]

Yep, the elev. is dead on also. This motor has been set up since last summer. It has been in the current location since last fall. Any adjustment in elevation decreases the signal while peaking at True South Satellite. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[iafirebuff]

What's weird is that I did not have this problem before I reset my motor yesterday. I was off by one or 2 bumps with Diseqc 1.2, but everything was working. Now just a thought, maybe I have this wrong, but when I set the motor/dish up, I first aimed it at my true south. This is the point I have the motor reset to 0 on the motor arm scale. I assume this is what the receiver refers to as "reference"? I then used USALS to motor to my True South Satellite. From this location, I then "peaked" the dish for maximum signal. after this, I am able to select a satellite and the dish moves to it, I scan it in and waa-laa, it works. EXCEPT west of 113 and east of 72.

 

[colbec]

Waterloo is 42 N which makes your motor elevation 48?

 

[iafirebuff]

I don't recall what the elevation is set for, but that sounds right. I did double check it and it had not moved any. I have not moved the motor settings as they worked just fine yesterday. This problem cropped up yesterday when I reset my motor and re-zero'd it. That is why this is not making sense. THis problem has been consistant even before I took everything down and started from scratch. So I am at a loss. The only thing that is different is that the motor got reset/zero'd yesterday and I have had this problem since.

 

[starman345]

Sounds like alignment to me. Are you sure your motor is set to zero, I mean exactly zero? I set mine with a magnifying glass, if its off the least bit you will have problems. Also, after setting to zero and probing the re-set button, don't forget to cut power to the motor or the re-set won't be complete.
You mentioned you could bump the dish and get a better signal on a few satellites, do you bump to improve in the same direction on all of them? If you can get 116 degrees does bumping it in which direction improve the signal, east or west?, at 72 degrees ..east or west? If one end of the arc improves by bumping east and the other end improves by bumping west, then you are tracking too high.
Do this, lift on the bottom of the dish while watching the shaft of the sg2100, does it lift up while lifting up on the dish? Usually there is some slack. It increases with use. Once it gets worn too much alignment becomes a problem, mostly on the far ends of the arc. As you said, you have been having to increasingliy bump the dish to maintain signal over the past while.
Have you checked the mast for plumb when the dish is laying over to 123 degrees and 43 degrees or only when its pointed south?
Can't think of anything else right now, sounds like you covered the bases on everything else, I'm almost sure it has to be alignment.....but, I"ve been wrong before

 

[iafirebuff]

Thanks for the input! The mount is perfectly plumb/level at all settings, and USALS is now dead on for all satellites execpt as noted. Lifting up on the dish looses signal. I have set up the motorized a few times before, all with success. After the motor has been reset, the power to the receiver has been killed as well as the coax removed. Before I did a reset yesterday, I wouldbump the dish 1 or 2 bumps to the west on all the satellites. That is why I went out to reset it yesterday, I was looking to get it back to USALS working 100%. Now I have USALS working 100%, but am dead on the other birds. That is also why I took the dish off the motor, made sure the motor was set to ts, and reset up the dish. It is peaked and tweaked to my TSS, with perfect signal like it was before. All the other satellites are the same signal as before. Then it just dies when I hit e of 72 and w of 116. If I have the receiver out with the dish, if I select 58 w, or 123w, etc, it moves the dish to what looks like the right spot, but I cannot get any reading on the receiver. I move it with Diseqc 1.2 and lift up on the dish, move all around and nothing. I am using strong tp's and such. If I go back to all the other satellites, no problem. This all started when I did a motor zero/reset before I even attempted to realign the dish. I thank everyone for their help! I been checking out everyones ideas!

 

[starman345]

Ok, you have quite a mystery there. I may be reading your last post wrong but...you said you needed to bump the dish west on every satellite to get the best signal, then you re-set the motor....did you mean you re-set the motor to zero? If you need to bump everything west, I think you might try moving the whole assembly on the pole to the west a bit. I know with my setups I can have the max signal showing but be able to move the dish up, down, east, west slightly and still maintain max signal, meaning max signal doesn't necessarily mean you are dead on the arc. Signal meters just aren't that sensitive.
It seems very odd that the last satellites east and west that you can tune don't have lower than normal signal levels...you would think if its alignment being off then it should show as you get closer to the ends of the arc. Of course I'm assuming its alignment, maybe its not.
I wonder if the connector in the sg2100 is loose and is losing contact when you are appraoching the ends of the arc. I'm not talking the coax connector but the actual connector inside the motor. Does the coax flex/bind as the dish is moving?
Have you tried to get a signal from echo 7 at 119? As you know its pretty powerful, if you can get 116 but not 119 then something is definately wrong and not alignment related.

 

[iafirebuff]

Thanks for your input!

I had to bump to get the best signal, but since I have realigned the dish/motor assembly, USALS is dead on. I replaced all coax, and the old did not seem to bind, and I had an extra "loop" of sorts so that it had plenty of room at each end of the arc. What I find strange, is that when I hit those spots, I get nothing, zero, ziltch! I would think if it wasn't tracking I should be able to move the dish r/l or up and down and get something. I checked 121w, as Dish has a barker channel there that always booms in, and I got a signal at 20%, but that was too low to lock on. I have realigned the motor/dish yesterday, and today I actually took the dish off the motor assembly and made sure everything was tight, and started setting up like I was doing it from scratch. The thing that is stumping me is, no matter what I have done, the outcome remains the same. So, I appreciate all the input. I have racked my little brains and wore myself out

 

[Eastcoast]

Hi Larry
Is it possible when you reset your receiver earlier and now select G10 i guess the LNBF selection is standard.Just a thought.

Dave

 

[iafirebuff]

All receiver settings are good, and the same on all birds Maybe I found a new target to shoot at

 

[Eastcoast]

Ok, maybe you'll have to get that 5 inch tv ouside again.lol!

 

[iafirebuff]

OK, more weirdness. I can now get 58w. As for G10, I can now get 11805 at 26-33% so it breaks up. NOthing else on G10. I have only been scanning in satellites all afternoon, and have not done anything to the dish and motor. I wonder why I can get this stuff now? So, do I peak the dish/motor for g10? If I do, what happens to the others? THis makes me think that something is off, but nothing has been moved since I re-did everything and now out of the blue I am getting farther. hmmmm.

 

[iafirebuff]

My tv is more like a little 3" b&w!

 

[iafirebuff]

OK, I went outside, and lifted up on the dish, arm and leaned into it. I loose all signals. I am getting 26-33 and a jump to 40% on 11805 G1o, but nothing else.