Motek Vbox ii

[Lone Gunman]

Anyone have any experience with one of these dish controllers?

Looks like DMS Int is importing them now instead of the Vbox 7 that gave people so many problems a while back.

 

[FTA4PA]

Anyone have any experience with one of these dish controllers?

Looks like DMS Int is importing them now instead of the Vbox 7 that gave people so many problems a while back.

No experience but it would definitely be nice to have a good replacement for the Vbox7. I found two different sets of specs for the Vbox II though. DMSI says 99 positions and 2.2A current (3.5A for + model) while Moteck says 60 positions and 3.5A current (4.2A for the + model). Which is correct - one would assume Moteck's?

• http://www.dmsiusa.com/v-box-positioner/ and the manual (http://www.dmsiusa.com/files/7714/3335/5217/manual_book.pdf)

• http://www.moteck.com/ProductDetail.aspx?CategoryType=B&CategoryId=1&ProductId=299

 

[Lone Gunman]

That manual looks very much like the one for both the Vbox X and the Vbox 7?? Probably the same internals. Curious about the positions thingie though as 60 might not be enough for some ppl.

Hopefully these will start showing up on fleabay soon as I'm in need of a spare now since lightning destroyed one back a couple of months ago.

I also heard DMS is bringing back the combo C/Ku LNBFs too.

 

[FTA4PA]

Hopefully these will start showing up on fleabay soon as I'm in need of a spare now since lightning destroyed one back a couple of months ago.

I see that Dave at Gotcband has them.
http://gotcband.com/collections/motors-actuators/products/moteck-v-box-ii

 

[Lone Gunman]

Here's a better price than that. http://www.ebay.com/itm/VBOX-Satell...383971?hash=item58cf1507a3:g:RosAAOSw5ZBWFeHZ although it's from that guy in Canada that has been kinda weird in the past?? Never bought anything from him to date because of that but I might have to give him a shot.

Money saved is the same as money earned when you're on a fixed income! $10 along with the Kroger discount will buy enough gas to run my 91 Geo Metro about 300 miles, which will last me about 2 months.

 

[armadillo_115]

I beat that. Wish I had bought 2 back then because the seller doesn't list them any more.But I had no idea if it was even worth the low asking price.I think it is a clone rather than an original VBox7 but it works good so far except where 1 plastic wire clip holder broke and needed a jerry-rig.

VBOX 7 SATELLITE DISH MOVER C BAND KU BAND 99 MEMORIES DISEQC BOX 1.2 POSITIONER
( 181759199664 )
ORDER DATE
Jul 07, 2015
ORDER TOTAL
US $36.99

I told y'all I was tight! lol

 

[Titanium]

I can confirm that there are two versions of the Moteck Vbox II being sold in North America with different power output ratings. To make this even more confusing, some listings are cut and paste for the 220Vac specs and amperage rating instead of the 120Vac spec.

Check with any seller as to the rating of the unit if you are considering buying!

 

[FTA4PA]

I can confirm that there are two versions of the Moteck Vbox II being sold in North America with different power output ratings. To make this even more confusing, some listings are cut and paste for the 220Vac specs and amperage rating instead of the 120Vac spec.

Check with any seller as to the rating of the unit if you are considering buying!

Thanks for the info Titanium!

 

[Lone Gunman]

I beat that. Wish I had bought 2 back then because the seller doesn't list them any more.But I had no idea if it was even worth the low asking price.I think it is a clone rather than an original VBox7 but it works good so far except where 1 plastic wire clip holder broke and needed a jerry-rig.

VBOX 7 SATELLITE DISH MOVER C BAND KU BAND 99 MEMORIES DISEQC BOX 1.2 POSITIONER
( 181759199664 )
ORDER DATE
Jul 07, 2015
ORDER TOTAL
US $36.99

I bought my last one from KE4EST last fall for about that same price. I checked with him about a month ago and he says that he's not going to sell the Vbox 7 anymore because they were junk?? Mine has worked very well except for the occasional "shift" due to count numbers getting off, but, at that price I'd like to have another one of those.

 

[KE4EST]

Yes, there were pretty much hit and miss. I had several returns on that batch,so I stopped caring them. In taking a couple apart and looking, the transformer was smaller than the ones I had from a couple of years ago.
Depended a lot on the individuals set-up. Some motors pull more current and if they customer had a heavier dish, it was just not keeping up and over heating.

 

[Lone Gunman]

UPDATE: Contacted another FTA vendor about the Motek Vbox II and the combo C/Ku LNBFs that I though DMSI was selling again. Come to find out that DMSI did have this stuff for sale, but they sold it all a couple of months back and they DO NOT PLAN TO RESTOCK IT!! You get that! They are basically getting OUT of the satellite system parts business.

Great?? So they helped run WSI out of business with the lawsuit over the DMX741 and now they're pulling the plug and leaving us high and dry?? You just couldn't make this s**t up!

 

[Titanium]

Not new information for most of us in the industry. DMSI has been gradually phasing out their satellite products over the past three years and downsizing their facilities. Most items have gone out of stock and when contacted, they have indicated that they have no plans to reorder. The focus seemed to have shifted to primarily meters.

WSI was responsible for their own demise. While Robby was a nice guy, his business practices often lacked integrity and opening a second, high overhead warehouse in Southern California was one of the final nails in the coffin . Also, many products were not properly tested or vetted before release. The QC problems were quite a problem.

The war between WSI and DMSI was a race to the bottom of the pile and in my opinion, ultimately did major harm to the North American FTA market. Each tried to offer a lower priced product to hurt the other's market and ultimately brought in cheaper junk in order to compete.

 

[KE4EST]

Agreed. WSI, dug their own grave.

 

[Lone Gunman]

Well, the lack of reasonably priced replacement parts will be the final nail in the coffin for me. I got out of drag racing in the spring of 2015 because I could no longer afford it and now, having recently been diagnosed with Lupus, Poly Arthritis and Sjogren's Syndrome, which will require special medications for the rest of my life things aren't looking good on the FTA Front for me either.

As I said, you just couldn't make this s**t up!

EDIT: Sorry about the whining. I won't bring it up again.

 

[KE4EST]

Sorry to hear Lone. No apology necessary, forums are a place to state your opinions.

 

[Titanium]

Well, dishes, LNBFs, switches and receivers are cheaper than ever.... You should be good to go in FTA for a while!
Sorry to hear of the ailments! Suck to age. The battle scars add up! As Michael said, No apology needed for your opinion!

 

[Babadem]

Sorry to read about your health issues, Lone Gunman. Hang in there!!

 

[Lone Gunman]

UPDATE:

Well, since I needed a spare I finally bit the bullet and ordered one of those expensive Motek Vbox II dish controllers. Got it yesterday and proceeded to install it on my Winegard system to see how it works, BUT, before I disconnected the Vbox 7 from that dish I did record the numbers from the East limit to the West limit, ie, zero count at the East limit and it registered 993 counts to the West limit.

After that check I ran the dish back up to the middle of the arc before I disconnected the Vbox 7 to make sure I wasn't near the end of stroke on either end. Remember, not all these boxes have the red and black terminals wired the same on the inside so make sure you always go to "mid stroke" before changing the dish controller out. FYI, if you run the actuator with the polarity reversed it bypasses the EAST and or WEST LIMIT SWITCHES and can damage the gears inside if it bottoms out against the housing.

The electrical connections on the Vbox II are almost IDENTICAL in appearance and location to the ones on a Powermax Vbox X except there is a METAL plate where those connectors are mounted on the Motek unit. The Vbox X connectors were mounted in the plastic housing. So I connected the sensor and motor wires on it and turned it on. The vertical display on these is really nice as the reflection I get with the curved one on Vbox 7 I have to tape a "visor" on it because of the overhead florescent lighting here in the shop so I can read it.

Positions? The sales ad said 99 positions, but the box it came in says 60 Memories and the user manual says 60 positions? Contacted the seller and he assured me there were 99 POSITIONS available so I'll leave it at that. Chinese English I guess, hey. Either way there's more than enough for this system.

The remote for this Motek unit is IDENTICAL to the remote for both the VBox X and 7 controllers except for the "Reset" button being only available on the X controller remotes. On the Vbox 7 and the Motek you have to insert a pencil in the hole to reset the count. Both the Vbox X and 7 remotes work with the Motek controller as well.

So I looked out the window and pressed the East button and the dish moved East so I was good to go. I ran the dish to it's East limit and reset the counter to zero. Then I ran to the West limit and the count there was 988 so it was only 5 numbers off the Vbox 7 numbers. Good to go again!!

Programming satellites in the Motek Vbox II is basically identical to the Vbox 7, so, I used my setup sheet and programmed all the satellites in using the number count from the 7 controller and after that was done it seems to be working exactly like the Vbox X and 7 I had on this system before. Oh, and for those of you who have owned a Vbox X, the feature that shows you where positions are while you are trying to peak a signal are also in this Motek unit, which is a nice feature that was missing on the Vbox 7 controller.

So the bottom line is that although this Motek Vbox II has a different name and look to it, in function it's almost identical to the Vbox X that WSI sold a few years back.

My only complaint so far is the cost (surprise ) as I don't remember paying more than $39 for either the Vbox X or the 7 controllers in recent years.

 

[Magic Static]

Programming satellites in the Motek Vbox II is basically identical to the Vbox 7, so, I used my setup sheet and programmed all the satellites in using the number count from the 7 controller and after that was done it seems to be working exactly like the Vbox X and 7 I had on this system before. Oh, and for those of you who have owned a Vbox X, the feature that shows you where positions are while you are trying to peak a signal are also in this Motek unit, which is a nice feature that was missing on the Vbox 7 controller.

So the bottom line is that although this Motek Vbox II has a different name and look to it, in function it's almost identical to the Vbox X that WSI sold a few years back.

My only complaint so far is the cost (surprise ) as I don't remember paying more than $39 for either the Vbox X or the 7 controllers in recent years.

This is good to know. Along with the feature you pointed out. The late model VBox 7 and GBox did not check their landing count like the VBox X. If the motor overshot the position it would backup to the correct count/position. The Late VBox 7 and GBox display the position they were sent to irregardless of where they end up. When you use the manual buttons to move the dish the unit does not display position assignments. The early VBox 7 had a metal I/O plate on the back also and worked like the VBox X.