HH Motor repair question

[northgeorgia]

I know there was a thread on this about six years ago, but all the photos have been removed...

I have an old 9120 HH motor and a current DG380 HH motor that is probably about to suffer the same fate. The motors seem to have some sort of artificially set "limit" that was not programmed in. I'll give you an example with my current motor. It works fine in one direction (say 83 to 125 W) but will stop at around 80W going east (and 83W is my true south sat, so when it started doing this 30 minutes ago, I can no longer get the eastern satellites). Yes, it does this with both STBs, so the fault is at the motor. I'm going to try to do a motor reset at the DG380 tomorrow when it's light again with the coax disconnect, press both buttons, etc etc. A reset at the motor on the 9120 model didn't work the last time I tried it. A month or two ago, the DG380 failed completely and replacing the LNB solved it (I didn't realize that would affect the motor operation). Anyway, I fear I may soon have two unusable motors. I always use USALS, but even manual operation yields no results.

All of this to say that I'd like to see a walk through of how to disable the mechanical/hardware limits inside the motor as discussed in this thread: http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/sg2100-locked-all-the-way-east.238865/
I do have an sg2100 too, that came with an unwanted dish, but I don't recall it ever working at all. I'd like to get some hands on learning with these unused motors, and hopefully get them working again. I'm still holding out hope that my trusty DG380 will pull through in the morning.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Cham]

Have a 9120 somewhere. It only moved one direction after using it for a few months. Found one of the relays went and I replaced it, it worked for a while after that until something else in that circuit blew. Now it's a doorstop. No experience here with the 380.
I have had an SG2100 for many years, and it still works flawlessly. I might get energetic though one of these days and bring it in to re-grease it and file a bit off of the eastern stop so I can get (maybe) a better signal from 30W.
Also have an HH120, it took a beating running a 1.2m dish, actually broke the casting in a wind storm. It still works but the bearings are getting loose again, I think it's almost worn out. It must be 10 years old...

 

[Jim S.]

My DG280 quit going one direction, everyone said it was a bad relay but I couldn't find a replacement for some reason. Luckily I found someone selling surplus circuit boards for about half the price of a new motor.

The replacement has been flaky for a few years though. Whenever I shut off my receiver, it won't position itself reliably the next time unless I send it to zero first. Sometimes it'll go OK one direction but get lost going the other, other times it'll get lost on the very first move. Does anyone know what the heck would cause this?

(It did seem to work OK in DiSEqC 1.2 mode the last time I tried, but I really don't have the patience to set up the whole arc that way, especially since I don't own any receivers that don't have any annoyances in the DiSEqC 1.2 menu. My A3 wants to send the motor off to a pre-programmed position as soon as I select the mode rather than starting from where USALS left it. My not-to-be-named receiver doesn't do that, but does kill the signal meter every time I move the motor until I change transponders!)

 

[Magic Static]

Ku motors drive me nuts. Especially in multi dish and switch setups. They usually need more power than they get through all the connections, switches and sharing with LNBFs. Better to look for separate power solutions for the motor. My SG2100 became somewhat reliable after modding it for separate power. Failing that, abandon the use of USALS and go for DiSEqC 1.2. It may sound like a PITA but once you have it done it works better. Best solution I found was to stop using those Ku motors in favor of a linear actuator setup.

 

[northgeorgia]

Ku motors drive me nuts. Especially in multi dish and switch setups. They usually need more power than they get through all the connections, switches and sharing with LNBFs. Better to look for separate power solutions for the motor. My SG2100 became somewhat reliable after modding it for separate power. Failing that, abandon the use of USALS and go for DiSEqC 1.2. It may sound like a PITA but once you have it done it works better. Best solution I found was to stop using those Ku motors in favor of a linear actuator setup.

I wondered about using a linear actuator on a 90 cm dish, but didn't know how effective it would be on the arc on something that small.

 

[Magic Static]

I wondered about using a linear actuator on a 90 cm dish, but didn't know how effective it would be on the arc on something that small.

That is where you use your high school geometry You attach the actuator arm far from the axis of the polar mount so a lot of movement in the actuator moves the dish only a little. Move the actuator arm out until you get the desired accuracy (counts per degree). Or as I have done, modify the sensor in the actuator to give you more accuracy.

 

[northgeorgia]

The 380 is working as of this morning after some disconnect/reconnections and hardware reset at the motor, along with some fiddling with the East/West buttons. But I fear its time is near... If anyone has photos/videos of a linear actuator attached to a 90 cm dish, I'd love to see that. Visuals help me imagine the process and end result! And it sounds like a long-term solution.

I'm still curious about the 9120 and the 2100; it might be educational for me to open up those bricks, but I'd love any comments or photos along the way. Otherwise, I'm the boy who tinkered with the pocket watch to see what was inside and couldn't put it back together again.

 

[Magic Static]

I have a file with pics that I posted here years ago. I don't seem to be able to find it I referenced it in this thread but can not link to it any longer.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/external-power-to-a-hh-motor.337417/#post-3452179

 

[KE4EST]

I have a file with pics that I posted here years ago. I don't seem to be able to find it I referenced it in this thread but can not link to it any longer.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/external-power-to-a-hh-motor.337417/#post-3452179

Do you still have those pics somewhere to re-post them?

 

[Magic Static]

Do you still have those pics somewhere to re-post them?

I am sure I do but I will need to fire up my network data array and search it. It is not on my computer right now.

 

[Magic Static]

I found the file I was thinking of but not the pics that I was remembering. I will have to search a little more.