Openbox No Signal Problem.....help needed

[8valve]

I need some help on a no signal problem, that I cant figure out. But first the background;

The FTA system in my shop is made up of left over C and KU band equipment.
The Dish is a C/Ku 10 footer with chaparral co-rotor, chaparral C and Ku LNB's. I use the Chaparral Sierra analog receiver as a Mule to drive the dish and polorotor.
The actual receiver is a old Coolsat 5000. The system works like a dream with signal quality levels of 80 Plus. The only problem is the Coolsat 5000 can not receive HD programming.

Recently I bought a new receiver for my home, thus making my Openbox S-9 surplus. Yesterday, I took the Openbox S-9 to the shop. It was going to replace the Coolsat 5000 so I could receive HD programming. Since the S-9 is not controlling a motor drive, I shut off the Motor in the menu. The LBN LO frequency on the Old Chaparral C & Ku LNB's is 10750, same as the system in my home, so the frequency is correct. I even tired other LNB LO freqs listed in the S-9 Menu...nothing. I tried the S-9 with the motor turned off and on.

I unhooked the working Coolsat 5000, which I was watching today and connected the Open Box S-9. Zippo.....no signal on any Satellite. It sits there with no signal not receiving, yet all menus and memory work fine. I took the S-9 back in the house and hooked it to my home system.....it works fine in the house. I rehooked the Coolsat in the shop.....it too works fine. Tried the S-9 one final time, no signal whatsoever.

Can anyone help with this problem. Does not make sense to me.

Thanks
8Valve

 

[Titanium]

Each satellite in the list will need to be configured for the correct LO. C-band satellites will use LO frequency 5150 and Ku satellites LO 10750.

How are you shutting of the motor in the S9? Turning DiSEqC 1.2 or USALS OFF or turning off the LNB Power?

How are the C and KU band LNBs powered? By the Chaparral or the S9?

How is the S9 connected to the satellite dish C and KU LNBs? Maybe a drawing? Splitters and 22KHz switch? If so, is this switch path programmed into the S9?

 

[8valve]

Each satellite in the list will need to be configured for the correct LO. C-band satellites will use LO frequency 5150 and Ku satellites LO 10750.

How are you shutting of the motor in the S9? Turning DiSEqC 1.2 or USALS OFF or turning off the LNB Power?

How are the C and KU band LNBs powered? By the Chaparral or the S9?

How is the S9 connected to the satellite dish C and KU LNBs? Maybe a drawing? Splitters and 22KHz switch? If so, is this switch path programmed into the S9?

C Band is not used in any way at this time.
All sats are programmed for a LNB LO of 10750. This is the same as it is in my home, where it works
KU LNB is powered by S-9
S-9 is a home run direct to the LNB.. No splitters or 22KHz switches

(2) Coolsats work fine on the shop system. A old GeosatPro works fine on the shop system. The Coolsats , Geosat Pro and the S-9 work fine on the system in the house. This is what has me stumped.

Thanks for your reply
8Valve

 

[ynnedibanez]

is it possible that the lnb on 1 of the dishes is positioned with horizontal and vertical polarizations reversed?

n/m i just noticed all receivers work at your house.
my original thought was that maybe on the s9 the h tps and v tps were scanned in backwards so it didn't pick them up at your shop.

 

[Titanium]

Try this: Connect the KU KNB to the Coolsat 5000 then loop out (or with the Chaparral with a splitter) to the S9. Does the S9 work now?

LNBs operate best when powered with 18-20Vdc and likely draws 150+mA. It is possible that the S9 power supply is failing and can't support this load, especially at 13Vdc.

 

[8valve]

Try this: Connect the KU KNB to the Coolsat 5000 then loop out (or with the Chaparral with a splitter) to the S9. Does the S9 work now?

LNBs operate best when powered with 18-20Vdc and likely draws 150+mA. It is possible that the S9 power supply is failing and can't support this load, especially at 13Vdc.

Brian;
Thanks for the update. Tomorrow, I will try the Coolsat to S-9 in the loop you mention and post back. However this begs the question, Why dose the S-9 work perfect in the house. There it even runs a USALS motor on the dish ?
Whatever the problem, The Window displaying Signal Intensity and Quality on the S-9 Show both at Zero ?

8Valve

 

[KE4EST]

Perhaps the stinger on the end of your coax is shorter than in the house, maybe not making good contact, where the CS5000 is more forgiving in this?

 

[jorgek]

I just turned the LNB power on my S9 to OFF, S is 31% and Q is 10%.

Now with the coax disconnected at the S9 still the same readings.

You must have a bad connection somewhere to the S9 or worse a short to cause 0 for S and Q.

 

[8valve]

I just turned the LNB power on my S9 to OFF, S is 31% and Q is 10%.

Now with the coax disconnected at the S9 still the same readings.

You must have a bad connection somewhere to the S9 or worse a short to cause 0 for S and Q.

This morning, before trying Brian's suggestion to loop the S-9 out of the Coolsat, I did one other test. I have a inline signal meter that shows LNB power/signal. I tried it on the Coolsat 5000, it showed Power and a very high signal. I then tried it on the S-9. On power up, the S-9 .....for a split second....showed power and a good signal. But before the S-9 could lock, the LNB power shut off and of course loss of signal. Yet the S-9 performed normal in the house. Duh !

I help many people on doing diesel conversions on old classic trucks. I go nuts when they have a problem and give me bad Information, either by accident or ?? I must ** apologize ** , I gave you bad information yesterday. Brian asked about splitters or C/Ku switches. I said it was a home run from S-9 to LNB. I really thought it was. But quite a few years ago, I was mess'n with C/KU and hooked up a Legacy Chaparral C/Ku switch fed by a remote Power Supply, for switching. With the Power Supply off the C/Ku switch was in the Ku state. I totally forgot about this, over the years. I disconnected the Legacy Chaparral C/Ku switch and now had a true home run to the LNB.

Walla......the S-9 works perfect in every respect. I have no idea why the (2) Coolsats and the Geosat Pro would tolerate the C/Ku switch and work normal. But for sure the S-9 did not like it.

All is well. Thanks Brian, you were on the right track, my brain was derailed. And thanks to the others who also replied and made suggestions.

Quick question, if I buy a 22KHz switch to switch C/Ku LNB's, what/how does that 22KHz switch signal get generated to choose C or Ku.

Thank you
8Valve

 

[KE4EST]

Glad to hear you figured it out and go it going!

 

[FaT Air]

Quick question, if I buy a 22KHz switch to switch C/Ku LNB's, what/how does that 22KHz switch signal get generated to choose C or Ku.

Satellite Setup screen in the S9. Your choice, 22Khz On or OFF unless you program a Universal Ku LNBF into it.

 

[jorgek]

22khz switches, these are really simple, they look like a splitter but are a simple ON or OFF
switch, 0khz and 22khz are the 2 input ports and one output port to receiver. In the Antenna Setup menu when you have 22khz OFF in your receiver the 0khz port is connected, when you have 22khz ON ( a continuous tone is sent to the switch) your receiver is connected the 22khz port.
This switch is mostly used for hooking up 2 LNBs to one receiver.

Make sure that the KU LNB is a standard rather than a universal. A universal ties up the 22khz tone function in the ON state. If you must use the universal KU LNB then connect it to the 22khz ON port side of the switch but in Antenna Setup, LNB Freq select 10600 and toggle 22K to ON.
Connect the C band LNB to the 0 side of the 22k switch.

This works to connect 2 KU band LNBs to 1 receiver. I don't know if a C band LNB can be connected the same way.

I'm sure others will jump in to help if I am wrong.

 

[FaT Air]

Sorry, not Satellite setup, should have read: Antenna Setup in previous post. I-net has been DOWN since shortly after posting.