I installed one of the older dishes by myself at my house a couple of years ago, but I recently moved and wanted to try my hand at installing a slimline at my new place.
Bought a dish off of ebay, and got it mounted ok, but was unable to get a signal, so I decided to buy a signal meter. Got an accutrac-22 probecause it seemed like a good deal. I've since read that there are better one's out there, but this one should still work. When I hooked up the meter to my dish I got an "over current" error. Read online that the error meant that I had a short in either my meter, my cable, or the lnb. I took my meter over to my friends place who has a working slimline. I coupled his cabling to my cable and then into my meter and it seemed to work fine (I got a signal reading NOT an error), so I decided it couldn't be my cable or my meter that was the problem, it must be that I had a bad LNB.
I ordered a replacement LNB. Before bothering to hook the LNB up to my dish I tested it with my meter and I got an "over current" error again. Thought it was unlikely that I had received two bad LNB's. I borrowed another friends old dish. It's not a slimline. I hooked his LNB up to my meter (the LNB wasn't attached to a dish) again using my cable and I got a really weak reading (I was inside), but no error. That seemed like a good sanity check that my meter was working properly. I decided that I must've managed to get 2 bad lnb's in a row. I must have bad luck. Third time's a charm right? Returned my 2nd LNB and ordered a 3rd one from a different seller, just got it today. Hooked it up to my meter and yet again "Over current". So now I'm left wondering, is it possible that I'm really unlucky enough to have received 3 consecutive slimline lnb's that are bad, or is there something else that I'm doing wrong. My meter has worked both times I've tried it on known good LNB's, and given me over current error's on the 3 LNB's that I've bought.
I've tried using my meter both connected to a receiver and using it's battery power. I get the same results either way.
So, I have a few questions... 1. Am I right in saying that it shouldn't matter if the LNB is pointed at my dish, pointed at the sky, or just sitting on my kitchen table detached from the dish? In all cases, I really should not be getting an over current error on a good LNB correct?
2. Anyone have any idea the failure rate of LNB's? I've been buying them on ebay. The first one came with a dish I bought on ebay the other two were replacement lnb's on Ebay? Maybe I'm trusting ebay too much, but it doesn't seem too likely that I'd get three bad LNB's in a row!!
3. Most important question here... Anyone have any ideas what's going on here? Any suggested remedies?
My next step I suppose is to get back on my roof and to try to use my 3rd LNB and do an install, using my receiver's signal reader to help me align my dish. I'm thinking that before I return this LNB and assume that it doesn't work, I might as well give it a shot. Then if that doesn't work, I guess I return this one and try to order yet another one.
Any help/advice would be great. I've been very patient and persistent, but my patience is starting to wear thin!
Bought a dish off of ebay, and got it mounted ok, but was unable to get a signal, so I decided to buy a signal meter. Got an accutrac-22 probecause it seemed like a good deal. I've since read that there are better one's out there, but this one should still work. When I hooked up the meter to my dish I got an "over current" error. Read online that the error meant that I had a short in either my meter, my cable, or the lnb. I took my meter over to my friends place who has a working slimline. I coupled his cabling to my cable and then into my meter and it seemed to work fine (I got a signal reading NOT an error), so I decided it couldn't be my cable or my meter that was the problem, it must be that I had a bad LNB.
I ordered a replacement LNB. Before bothering to hook the LNB up to my dish I tested it with my meter and I got an "over current" error again. Thought it was unlikely that I had received two bad LNB's. I borrowed another friends old dish. It's not a slimline. I hooked his LNB up to my meter (the LNB wasn't attached to a dish) again using my cable and I got a really weak reading (I was inside), but no error. That seemed like a good sanity check that my meter was working properly. I decided that I must've managed to get 2 bad lnb's in a row. I must have bad luck. Third time's a charm right? Returned my 2nd LNB and ordered a 3rd one from a different seller, just got it today. Hooked it up to my meter and yet again "Over current". So now I'm left wondering, is it possible that I'm really unlucky enough to have received 3 consecutive slimline lnb's that are bad, or is there something else that I'm doing wrong. My meter has worked both times I've tried it on known good LNB's, and given me over current error's on the 3 LNB's that I've bought.
I've tried using my meter both connected to a receiver and using it's battery power. I get the same results either way.
So, I have a few questions... 1. Am I right in saying that it shouldn't matter if the LNB is pointed at my dish, pointed at the sky, or just sitting on my kitchen table detached from the dish? In all cases, I really should not be getting an over current error on a good LNB correct?
2. Anyone have any idea the failure rate of LNB's? I've been buying them on ebay. The first one came with a dish I bought on ebay the other two were replacement lnb's on Ebay? Maybe I'm trusting ebay too much, but it doesn't seem too likely that I'd get three bad LNB's in a row!!
3. Most important question here... Anyone have any ideas what's going on here? Any suggested remedies?
My next step I suppose is to get back on my roof and to try to use my 3rd LNB and do an install, using my receiver's signal reader to help me align my dish. I'm thinking that before I return this LNB and assume that it doesn't work, I might as well give it a shot. Then if that doesn't work, I guess I return this one and try to order yet another one.
Any help/advice would be great. I've been very patient and persistent, but my patience is starting to wear thin!
