Identical dish positioner setup

[armadillo_115]

I have another DiSEqC box arriving next week. I want to test it on the main dish a bit before installing it on the bedroom dish. That way I won't risk buying cable and pulling it under the house for a bad box. (It's also important that I verify the box is good before mama knows that I bought it. )

Using DiSeqC, not USALS: Is there a simple/fast way to duplicate the Sat positions/counts like on the original box...or do I have to go thru an initial setup again?

I have both receivers programmed to swap in place, Now I want positioners that can be switched back and forth without getting out of position.

(I realize the new positioner counts WILL be different once installed on the other bud)

Thanks folks!

 

[KE4EST]

Some flavor of vbox/gbox...No.
ASC1...Yes.

but, which box is it? Brand? Model? etc.

 

[armadillo_115]

Cheap DMSI VBox 7. (At least the cardboard box says VBox 7. I don't believe my original said 'VBox 7' anywhere.)

Oh well... it would have been nice if there was some way to copy the memory between boxes. But I figured there wasn't. Thanks!

 

[KE4EST]

No it is all stored in a EEPROM on the board. There are ways to extract data from it and put on another, but that gets really complicated and beyond the scope of this.

 

[Magic Static]

Since you can't load the software in a VBox, this is how I do it. I have all the position numbers and the corresponding counts written down. I have a "bench test motor" with no actuator arm and I removed the limits from the position sensor. I hook up the new VBox to the test motor and easily and quickly scroll thru the counts and program the DiSEqC 1.2 position numbers. Then run the new VBox to the current position of the old one. Ready for swap

 

[armadillo_115]

That sounds good, Magic Static.

No need to hook the receiver and coax up, right?

I have a spare motor...assuming it doesn't have to be an exact match to the motor on the dish.

 

[KE4EST]

I have a spare motor...assuming it doesn't have to be an exact match to the motor on the dish.

No, and that it an excellent solution! You know with Magic in his name, he knows all the tricks.

 

[Magic Static]

No need to hook the receiver and coax up, right?

Exactly. I just use the VBox remote to do the job.

 

[armadillo_115]

Magic should write up a brief tutorial for this... it would make a great sticky!

I did a forum search before asking...but it is hard to find info sometimes, even when it exists somewhere in a thread.

 

[Magic Static]

I have mentioned using a bench motor in other threads. But mostly about sensor related subjects. Some good pictures in this thread..
http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/thr...th-possible-optical-sensor-how-to-fix.363532/

 

[armadillo_115]

Thanks Magic Static, that worked well! I got all Sats programmed in and it was switching Sat positions well on the bench. The positioner was new in the box as advertised.

And then...

BOTH coax connector on the back of the box were only pushed in the holes! Fell out when I started to screw the first coax in. One stinger wire snapped. Now that's some quality Chinese workmanship! lol

I soldered the broken stinger and epoxied the connectors back in place. Hopefully they will hold with some strain-relief.

Makes me wonder how well the rest of the box was put together.

 

[armadillo_115]

Got the connectors fixed. (For now, anyway) Hooked up the new box and it was acting flaky. Popping errors and such. At one point it ran away and flopped the dish.

I wasn't in the mood to mess with it too long so I put the original positioner back in-line. Since the counts were off after the flop, I had to re-enter all positions again. Everything went well thru 127W. When I tried to hit 131W, it would error out and not travel far enough west. After that, it would only motor east. The box was very hot to touch.

I shut everything down, and checked the wiring connections at the actuator. All seemed ok. I jiggled them around a little and went back to the house.

IDK if jiggling the wires helped or if letting the positioner cool down helped.At any rate, everything seems to be ok now with the original positioner. I was able to add 131w - 139w and it is motoring in both directions fine so far.

I suspect a bad wire connection at the actuator. Time and further testing will tell. I have been getting a rare error the last couple of weeks, but the dish would always go on and move on the second attempt.

I'm not trying the new positioner again until I KNOW everything else is copacetic. I've about learnt my lesson on this cheap crap.