i am having the reed count on the actuator changing from day to day.

[chaskuchar]

i dug out the o-scope and looked at the signal from the actuator reed relay into the gbox and it looks good. it is getting boring having to reset the satellite position almost every day. and it don't necessarily go the same way? maybe 20 counts on the gbox 3000. will watch and see if the count goes the same way each time. maybe the magnet wheel is slipping in the motor or something like that? anyone have a problem like this? thanks, charlie

 

[Nosbod]

Is this the 36 inch actuator you are running with 18 guage sprinkler wire. If so that's a big arm, and will need heavier wire than 18 guage to run it properly. I f you have 6 strands running out to the actuator try twisting 2 strands together for each side for the power. That will leave you 2 wires for the reed. 36 inches is a long arm and it takes a lot of power to drive it.

 

[chaskuchar]

i do have two idle wires. i will double up those 18ga wires. the info sheet recommended 16 ga. i didn't think that would affect the reed count though. maybe it makes it go slower and then miss some counts? charlie

 

[FaT Air]

If it's not losing pulses, could it be the actuator slipping in it's mounting?

 

[chaskuchar]

today hooked up the other pair of wires. had to trudge through 6 inches of new snow to do it. and increased the arm length for the actuator to mount to, about three inches. discovered that the bracket holding the actuator arm was not very tight. fixed that. post in the ground has not set yet and moves a little bit. thats where i think my problem is. we haven't had any rain for a couple of months so my post is not set in tight. will try to pour 5 gallon bucket of water on the cement and dirt around the post and then when it freezes it shouldn't move till spring. if i can figure out how to post a picture i will do it... charlie

 

[chaskuchar]

still working on the dish to get it to go back to the same spot day after day. i have determined that moving the dish slightly does not have much effect on the counts. however, going from 72w to 125w and then back will change the count. i have found out that tilting the actuator on the 'gymbals?' moves the dish east and west. there was a slight incline from the two points the actuator is mounted. took some of the tilt out and got a noticeable improvement in the count difference. hope for warmer weather to work on this problem. charlie

 

[Blindowl1234]

Chas, Well maybe we're having the same issue here. I've never solved it though! 24" arm with an 8 foot Fortec dish. If I tell the Gbox to go from 72W to 125W it will be off about 4-5 clicks every time on each bird I go to. I've checked everything and all the brackets are tight. I've been stumped on this one for a long time and just learned to live with it I guess...I thought of replacing the 24" arm with a 36" of better quality maybe....Blind

 

[chaskuchar]

i have the 36" arm. about 50 degrees today so i am oiling the gymbols and moving them around. am going from 72w to 125w and not having to do more clicks. however, montana pbs is still giving me fits. i just adjusted for montana pbs and i lost amc9, 85w but still getting 72w ok. do you think the microhd could fix my problems? charlie

 

[FaT Air]

>> ~97.49W and 72W comes in OK, but lost 85W, also 125 is now OK. <<
Is 72 just OK, or is it at it's maximum?
I'd spend more time aligning the dish (maybe,until it's tracking a nat's A55 across the arc) before spending $ on a receiver. A different receiver cannot make up for tracking deficiencies at the dish. Also, Check declination by doing an azimuth adjustment on the east and west side. Compare the mounts position on the pole at each. If not =, declination is off. Best to do this at satellite locations equidistant from your center. Time spent on the dish pays off in the end.

 

[chaskuchar]

lol. i was mentioning the new receiver because my birthday is march 1 and thats the anticipated market date. i think my declination is ok. 97w k-band is kinda my test bird. if i go to 55w it is solid, then go to 97w and solid. then go to 125 w and it is solid, then go to 97w and no signal until i click it east a few clicks. but if i go east of 97w and then come back, usually it is solid. don't think that it is a dish problem other than the actuator right now. other than that, i need to buy a different actuator that works... charlie

 

[FaT Air]

Ok, I misunderstood.
Yeah, moving to a sat from one direction works, the other is a couple of clicks off. Got that here also. It helped some to hang a weight (brick) on the east lip of the dish. At least for the most watched portion of the arc. I'm using 22 inches of the 24 inch actuator going from 55.5°W to 137°W. Considering a 36 inch, with the attachment to the dish moved further off axis to minimize aiming inaccuracies, and provide more count's per degree.

 

[papabruski]

I thought I was experiencing a major change in counts, so this thread attracted my attention. Then I discovered that wind in last few days moved the dish off course on the pole by about 1/4inch. That meant that 137.0w was located on the V-Box at 135.0. I have a register mark on the pole and the mount so that setting it back took just a few minutes.

 

[gabshere]

i had a problem like this a few years back . it was with the v-box (3 maybe) and a vonweise actuator . i suspected first that it might be the v-box cause several reported no problems with a g-box type mover. I think the g-box actually double the count . then i thought it could be that the actuator might not have a high enough count per inch ( lets say) i was only getting 32 counts where i think 40 might have been. needed. I never solved the problem cause i didn't have time to finish the project . but i did buy the parts to test with. i was planning on adding a second reed sensor to the opposite side of the magnet wheel in effect doubbling the count from the actuator.

my problem was when going from a west satellite to my south satellite it would have a set # of counts ... this number wouldn't vary but when i returned from that south satellite going back to the same west satellite it would lose a few counts usually 1 or 2 clicks / counts. Doing so would through the v-box off on its count so it couldn't return to exactly same count location each time. I don't know if on the return , maybe the v-box didn't receive several counts from the sensor at the actuator or not . it only happened going back west. nothing i did could correct the problem at the time. i repositioned the sensor closer to the magnet wheel, changed out the sensor tried adjusting the magnetic wheel. re-adjusted the actuator mounts. re wired the whole actuator. my only conclusion on it at the time was that some way the v-box wasn't as sensitive counting each way. but thats just me guessing ....

 

[chaskuchar]

gabshere, those were many of the things i was looking for in moving from west to east and vs. so far, moving east to west from 55w to 137w was pretty good, did a blind scan yesterday and only messed up on a couple of k band satellites. i have 39 satellites scanned in my blind scan. have a solomend/openbox9 with 7.5 dish with powerjack 36" actuator. charlie

 

[chaskuchar]

i think i am making real progress on getting the dish to stop on the satellite from both directions. first, i tightened all bolts again. some were snug but not tight on my adjustments. i have lengthened the arm which the actuator connects to on the dish itself but didn't move the connection on the post. that introduced instability and in a warmer time of the year i will lengthen that connection so there is more of a bigger triangle between the post, dish and actuator. right now i have a couple of bunge cords connecting the actuator connection on the dish on one end and the post on the other end. that provides the stability i need to be accurate. education does not end, even after you retire from working for 55 years... charlie

 

[chucknmo]

if you still have old actuator see if there is any slop in it, this can be done by grabbing edge of dish and moving E to W (if tube has slop then it must be replaced)
another solution is the magnetic wheel next to reed switch sometimes breaks looe and spins freely( this can be glued)

 

[inwo]

Mis-counting is common problem.

Can you post a picture of your reed/hall/optic switch?

Spacing from magnet can be critical. (bounce)
Sometimes the angle. Turn barrel 1/4 turn or reverse a plug-in type.

Often just poor design or weak magnets.
Counts per second are more important than counts per inch. Controller has debounce in sw optimized for a certain period. It will ignore pulses out of expected range as noise.

Use shielded pulse cable, coax, or spacing to keep motor noise from counter.