How to setup and wire actuator

[cracklincrotch]

I've got a Van Weiss V76-8 actuator. I know which terminals are M1/M2 as it has heavy gauge wire attached and I can make it move after getting it unseized.

The reed switch has an orange and brown wire currently attached. What terminals would those connect to on my analog receiver? I know one goes to pulse, but don't know where the other goes. +5 or ground?

There are also two switches inside the actuator. What do they do?

I'd post a picture but the wife has the camera and she's away until the end of the week.

 

[truckracer]

The heavy gauge wires will be m1 m2, the reed sensor wires are "sensor " and ground or +5 and ground

 

[Comptech]

The two switches inside are your limit switches so that the dish does not go to far and experience the dreaded flop.

 

[cracklincrotch]

The heavy gauge wires will be m1 m2, the reed sensor wires are "sensor " and ground or +5 and ground

So, is it sensor and ground, or +5 and ground? +5 and ground sounds like a short and a blown fuse when the reed switch closes.

Are mechanical limits something I need to set myself by hand, by driving the actuator all the way out and pressing one of them or does the actuator take care of that itself?

 

[Lak7]

I'm pretty sure it's Sensor and Ground

The Mechanical Limits are there to protect the Arm from itself.
You should at least set the the "Soft" limits in the Analog receiver.
After you are comfortable with how the Dish is running, you may consider resetting the Mechanical Limits, sometimes they are a pain in the butt.

 

[1captain]

by all means do not hook the reed switch to +5 volts you will pop it or blow the reed.
now setting the reed switch in a V-76 is easy. top right on motor has 2 gray cam with 2 screws, the further most in is you're lower limit switch (pressed on a shaft an will not move), the other switch closest to the back cover has 2 small screws, just back them off about 1 turn an can move that cam to the right or left as need for setting it, then just re tighten the 2 screws.

 

[Electro960]

Greetings Everyone.

First-time poster here.

Question: How long can the wiring for the actuator be? Distance between the controller and the actuator will be no more than 125' so I hope there won't be a loss in power and signal with this distance.

Also, what is the recommended guage wiring for power and reed switch? Any recommendations on where it can be purchased would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[cracklincrotch]

I'm pretty sure it's Sensor and Ground

The Mechanical Limits are there to protect the Arm from itself.
You should at least set the the "Soft" limits in the Analog receiver.
After you are comfortable with how the Dish is running, you may consider resetting the Mechanical Limits, sometimes they are a pain in the butt.

Sensor (pulse) and ground fixed me right up. The receiver didn't have a lower limit per say. It just stopped driving the dish when the motor wouldn't retract the arm anymore. I was able to set an upper limit.

Should the receiver's counter start at 5400? I'd figure it would start at zero. I can reset the receiver to factory defaults but I don't have a manual and may have to spend a bit more time figuring things out.

The receiver counts 2248 pulses from end to end, with 5400 being the lower and 7648 being the top (before binding on the dish mount.) And I found that half way between those two counts is not the middle of the arc, but found it to be at 5400 + (2248 / 4 * 3) = 7086. Anybody know if this is usual?

I know I've got my elevation and declination's way out. Just realized I'm using the az/el chart wrong. I added the declination to the total elevation at zenith, not subtract. It'll probably track a lot better when that's fixed.

 

[Lak7]

Should the receiver's counter start at 5400? I'd figure it would start at zero. I can reset the receiver to factory defaults but I don't have a manual and may have to spend a bit more time figuring things out.

Really doesn't matter where the counter starts. On a 4DTV, the counter reads 5000 after a reset.

The receiver counts 2248 pulses from end to end, with 5400 being the lower and 7648 being the top (before binding on the dish mount.) And I found that half way between those two counts is not the middle of the arc, but found it to be at 5400 + (2248 / 4 * 3) = 7086. Anybody know if this is usual?

You are fine. Your East and West limits, which are not unusual, but unique to you, are not the Same distance from the middle of your Arc.
You are seeing more sky to the West of your Longitude vs. the East.
You will notice that as you get closer to the center of your Arc, the Pulse counts between Sats will go down.