Thinking about a motor, have questions

[Inno]

Ok, so I've been doing the FTA thing for a bit less than a year but I have a good background in satellite from the "good ole C-band days". I have a setup right now using 3 fixed dishes (one of which is Dish 500 for the in the clear audio channels) and I'm thinking about getting a motor.
So from what I understand my Pansat 3500SD will control a HH motor via Diseqc or USALS. I'm also understanding that USALS is the prefered method for most as it is the easiest. Is it also more accurate? I guess I'm looking for the pros and cons of either method.
I also understand that there are many many motors out there that will do the job but the difference would be the mounting method and the size of the dish to be moved. Is there also a limitation as to the E/W range of the motor, would one swing farther than another or is that dependent on the rest of the mounting system?
How am I doing so far? I guess what I'm asking is which motor would be both reliable and robust in a northern climate (on the Canada/US border with Minnesota) and heavy duty enough to move a 1.2m offset dish which was originally a Star Choice unit.

 

[mastermesh]

most newer motors out today use both usals, aka diseqc 1.3... Diseqc 1.2 is an earlier standard. Usals is easier to use than 1.2 because it's based on degrees east or west... for instance if you have the motor set up right and tell it to go to 123w it'll do that. With 1.2 you'd have to manually tell motor go a little further east, now west, now east again just a nudge, etc. You can get usals to do the same thing by telling it to go to 122w or 122.5 instead of just go east or west from position x. For the far edges of the horizon 1.2 goes out a bit further than 1.3, so you need to resort to using 1.2 if you reach the max limit using usals (i.e. 1.3). I think the limits on that are done just a safety precaution in the newer standard, but I'm not 100% sure on that...

You mention 3500. I have that receiver too... You can easily swap between 1.3 and 1.2... My max limit is 33 w in usals. I go to 33w in usals, switch to 1.2, store the spot in a position, and then go east 3 more degrees to get to 30w. I then store the new position in 1.2. All the other satellites in my receiver are set up on usals. 1.3 and 1.2 work interchangably... just be careful to not reset your base position in 1.2 since that could fudge it all up and throw all your 1.2 positions out of whack.

Also, if you ever get to playing with editing bin files by saving them to sd card and then putting them in to computer and editing, if your 3500 is like mine, sometimes your degrees will go out of whack a bit when your reload the bin... so either make sure you are right on, or keep track of what's off.

On my dish, wind blows it a bit, so right now everythings about 3.5 degrees off of where they should be. 123w is actually reading in usals as 119.5 w. If I redo the bin it resets that to 123w sometimes. I then have to manually change it in the receiver - a pain, but not too much of a hassle.

 

[Anole]

I'm not expert on the subject, but I'd suggest you look at only the biggest motors for a 1.2m dish.
The specs for the STAB HH-120 are listed here.

You might also benefit from searching through the threads in the FTA section where members have removed the mounts from Primestar dishes to make them lighter for motor use.
Most of the heavy mount is unnecessary, once you get motorized.
I don't know if that would apply to your 1.2, but less weight to fling around will make for a longer trouble-free lifespan.

 

[Inno]

Thanks for the responses. I don't know how the mount on a Primestar dish looks but the one on the Star Choice is pretty minimal in my opinion. I was also thinking that the biggest motor would likely be the best choice for obvious reasons. Other than the capacity of the motor is there anything else I should stay away from when buying one?

 

[gabshere]

i'm pushing both the oval primestar and the bigger round (1m) primestar dish. the round one is heavy and i have removed the mount and fabricated a lighter one. its still heavy. my sg2100 handles it. but i don't know if i would try pushing a 1.2 m with it.

IMO and its just that.... inverted motors seem to handle the weight better than the inverted mount on the primestars(using a sg2100). So the stab120 would probably handle the weight best.

 

[CharredPC]

I had a 1.2m dish and tried mounting it on a SG2100 H-H motor. As long as I didn't go past... oh, 15-20 degrees one way or another, it would work. Anything past that and the poor motor couldn't lift it back up Something that big is better either stationary, or with a MicroBUD setup- actuator, v-box, etc. Yeah, it costs more, but it'll actually work

 

[Inno]

I had a 1.2m dish and tried mounting it on a SG2100 H-H motor. As long as I didn't go past... oh, 15-20 degrees one way or another, it would work. Anything past that and the poor motor couldn't lift it back up Something that big is better either stationary, or with a MicroBUD setup- actuator, v-box, etc. Yeah, it costs more, but it'll actually work

Yeah, that was a thought I had. I do have an old mount and actuator from a 6' BUD and could probably make that work. I also have old positioners from BUDs (I'm kind of a C-band packrat) that I could make work.
I guess I'll make a plan for when it gets a bit warmer. The longer days and warmer temperatures have got me thinking.