Pansat AP600

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wvman

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Sep 19, 2014
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When I got into FTA, one of the first things I noticed was the lack of available equipment for C-Band. Eventually, I ran onto the Pansat AP600 stand alone motor drive box. I hadn't stumbled on to the Titanium ASC1 yet. I did however find a Pansat AP600, which turned out to be a real problem child. It had a screwball selection of characters to name the satellites, and its memory is worse than mine.

Actually, it was the driving force behind my decision to use multiple dishes. Giving it the benefit of the doubt, I decided the problem was the sensor wires, so I ordered a hundred feet of quality 2 conductor shielded wire with a drain wire and I buried it 5 feet from the main motor wires and even ran all the way around the house and entered well away from the main motor cable. At first, it seemed to help.

Then it drove the dish against the pole and blew the main fuse. (My fault for not setting the physical limits) I must say, it was quite a chore to find a new fuse. It's a short 1/2 amp glass fuse that almost no one carried. I ended up ordering them from Missouri, which took 2 weeks. When I got the fuses, I started to re-program the unit, and half way through the process, it went bonkers clicked and went off.

It would not come back on until I unplugged it and plugged it back in. When I started to move the dish to see if it had held the positions, I found that it had reset the E&W limits and wouldn't move either way. I reset it again, and the same thing happened again. I then got out my old Uniden receiver, hooked it up and it worked flawlessly. At this point, I stuck it on the shelf and forgot about it. A year later, I decided to give it another try. To my amazement, I hooked it up, programmed it, and it worked for about a month before going berserk again.

This time, it made a weird thump inside the unit, go off display and all, and would not come back on until I unplugged it and plugged it back in. Now, it will not make it through the programming process before going berserk again. This thing has been a piece of junk from the start. I should have returned it, but I didn't, and now it's basically a boat anchor with no warranty. I saw these boxes back when I was in business, but never used them because there were so many others to choose from.

I wouldn't advise anyone to purchase on of these. Since I'm wanting to keep one dish mobile, I am going to order and ASC1 for that purpose. I hope this thread will keep someone else from wasting their money and time on this piece of junk. Live and learn.
 
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Those have been discontinued a few years. You still see them around though. Not only are they very low end dish movers, they can't decode DiSEqC commands.
Another reason I would never recommend anyone buy one, is the fact that you can't automate your setup.
With a Vbox or ASC1 you can program it so when you tell your receiver to go to a channel on a satellite that you are not currently on; the receiver will send a DiSEqC command to the ASC1/Vbox and it will decode that and move the dish for you. With the AP600 you have tell the receiver where you want to go, then go to the AP600 and tell it to move.
 
Those have been discontinued a few years. You still see them around though. Not only are they very low end dish movers, they can't decode DiSEqC commands.
Another reason I would never recommend anyone buy one, is the fact that you can't automate your setup.
With a Vbox or ASC1 you can program it so when you tell your receiver to go to a channel on a satellite that you are not currently on; the receiver will send a DiSEqC command to the ASC1/Vbox and it will decode that and move the dish for you. With the AP600 you have tell the receiver where you want to go, then go to the AP600 and tell it to move.

You are correct, but for what I was going to do, a basic box would have been sufficient. I only plan to move one dish for exploration purposes to see what's on other satellites. I still want one dish mobile for that purpose. I have extra dishes, so it's no big deal to bring another online. I still have 3 empty inputs on my switch. However, I expected more out of a new motor drive box, and I was really disappointed with this one.

I'm getting ready to teat myself to an early Christmas present and order an ASC1. I need another toy to play with anyway. :)
 
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