HH-90 Acting Erratic

[SatPhreak]

My Stab HH-90 started acting erratic last week. It would over shoot or under shoot, and some times not move at all. I pulled the motor out of the equation, and moved my 90cm dish down to the pole my 60e dish was on and manually aimed it at 103w.
Next step is to bench test motor and tear down if still moving erratically.

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[SatPhreak]

Well after testing, it seems to stop at the same spot for each satellite. But I did have 3 times where it didn't move at all. This was tested in my apartment with the motor upside down and no load (no dish). Maybe time to get a screwdriver that fits this motor and pull it apart. Hopefully it just needs grease or bearings to fix this 11 year old motor.

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[KE4EST]

It could also be the power supply in your STB getting weak.

 

[SatPhreak]

I've tried it with my microHD and V8 golden and it does not move always. I think it must be in the motor.

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[Cham]

I've found that often a bad connection or poor feedline can cause erratic motor operation. Poor shielding connections (inside the connectors, maybe poor crimp or not enough shield wired in the crimp/compression area) or the use of copperweld center conductor (corrosion and poor/worn copper coating causing exposure of steel inner layer and air/moisture contact) creating increased DC resistance and causing rf noise that can mess up the signals going each direction.
Likely a good idea to check each connection for any signs of corrosion, and make sure any in-line connections between the motor and STB are tight and the center conductors fit snugly into sockets and no signs of water ingress.

If you can temporarily use a different (new/known good) cable with no connections between the STB and motor and test might be an easy way to eliminate the cable as a problem.
Good luck!

 

[SatPhreak]

I tried with a new 6 foot cable and connectors. First tried it outside from motor to microHD, could not get it to move right everytime, tried it with the new cable inside the apt and 3 times it would not move.

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[jorgek]

When you open up the motor, check that the 2 screws that secure the opto-isolator are tight.
The screws became loose on my HH90 causing erratic movement.

 

[Cham]

Agree with jorgek, might be worth taking it apart and checking it out unless it is still covered by warranty... Could be a bad solder, loose plug/connector inside, etc. Appears not to be a feedline issue with the testing indicated above. Hope you find the issue!