Motor woes

[primestar31]

It was the cold. Came home from work, fired up the Amiko, told the motor to go to 103 and boom, it went. I now know not to try moving the dish in extreme cold.

Back in business, baby!

Heat tape... Or have Polgyver engineer a couple mirrors aimed at the Sun, and at the motor to keep it warm, lol

 

[iBoston]

I didn't see anyone bring this up, but did you verify your long/lat coordinates within the satellite receiver didn't get corrupt?? Check to verify that is correct.

Also, when my unit stops working, i go into the setup menu to the satellite positioner option, and scroll down to the option to goto 0. That has always fixed me up in the past. I also needed to be patient as it could take up to 5 minutes to tune in.

 

[Cham]

I use my diseqc motors down in the -30C range and they work fine, just a bit slower. I did replaced the grease inside to a much higher grade that remains somewhat fluid at cold temps, the grease that comes with them literally freezes when it gets cold (maybe it's water based?) made for the tropics I guess.
If the grease is too stiff it overloads the motor, dropping the voltage, and may reset the unit to zero at the position it reset at.
Did the same with my linear actuator on the C-band dish many moons ago, it wouldn't work either at cold temps but works ok now.
Yes I try to minimize motor use at really cold temps (below -20ish) just because it is still likely harder on the components than when warmer.

 

[a33]

It was the cold. Came home from work, fired up the Amiko, told the motor to go to 103 and boom, it went. I now know not to try moving the dish in extreme cold.

That sounds like a very definite conclusion.

Of course, you are the prime judge in this case, but from what I've read in this topic, I'd say it coincided with the cold, and some 'manual' finetuning?
When you replicate this problem everytime that it is cold, it'll likely be the cold. But how 'coldness' in itself would cause a motor to be 8 degrees off, I don' t quite understand (yet).....

Greetz,
A33

 

[comfortably_numb]

some 'manual' finetuning?

As posted above, the problem fixed itself with no intervention (or fine tuning) on my part. So, what other conclusion would one come to other than the motor was affected by the extreme cold?

 

[jorgek]

I have also upgraded the grease in my Stab 90. Also when its very cold, -20, I use H frequencies rather than V. As you are all aware the higher 18 volt H moves the motor faster and better in the cold.

 

[jorgek]

The lack of reset buttons on the Stab 90 has never been an issue. Besides when its -20 the last thing I would want to do is climb up a ladder to push a button. Have always been able to reset motor from the receiver.