Time to upgrade dish mover box and actuator

[Radioguy41]

It's time to upgrade my BUD (7.5' KTI) hardware. I need a new dish mover box and a new actuator (current Von Weise is more than 20 years old). My 4DTV is getting really long in the tooth and is starting to act a bit funky. Soooo, recommendations? ASC1 no longer available? The new V-Box any good? Who carries actuators?

 

[FTA4PA]

It's time to upgrade my BUD (7.5' KTI) hardware. I need a new dish mover box and a new actuator (current Von Weise is more than 20 years old). My 4DTV is getting really long in the tooth and is starting to act a bit funky. Soooo, recommendations? ASC1 no longer available? The new V-Box any good? Who carries actuators?

I haven't seen an ASC1 available for a long time - sad too because they were a great piece of equipment. You can still find VBox movers but they are nothing compared to an ASC1. If that's all you can find though Rick's has the PR1200 model. Not recommending it, just offering it as an option:

PR1200

As a far as getting a new actuator you can get them factory direct here:

High Quality Maxi Acme Screw Actuators - Venture Mfg Co.

Venture Mfg Co. is best for satellite maxi ACME screw actuator used for home satellite TVRO industry. Contact our representative today for reliable satellite maxi actuator and get easy installation as per your need.

www.venturemfgco.com

Heavy Duty Ball Screw Actuator, Custom Designed Actuator Ball Screws - Venture Mfg Co.

Venture Mfg offers ball screw actuators available in standard models and custom design to meet several industrial needs. Get a quote for Screw actuator!

www.venturemfgco.com

Third party seller on eBay (not being sold by Venture, no returns so possible warranty issue?):

24" Venture Maxi acme screw C-band actuator arm jack motor Big Dish BUD mover | eBay

Pilot guide prevents binding and scraping. Venture Maxi 24" 1000 lb Load, 32 Pulse Actuator Arm. for all types of climates, strong and rugged the Venture Maxi will. Feed Back Whisper-quiet long-life operation.

www.ebay.com

Good luck in your quest!

 

[ZetaMale]

It's time to upgrade my BUD (7.5' KTI) hardware. I need a new dish mover box and a new actuator (current Von Weise is more than 20 years old). My 4DTV is getting really long in the tooth and is starting to act a bit funky. Soooo, recommendations? ASC1 no longer available? The new V-Box any good? Who carries actuators?

The dish mover sold at Ricks gets the job done but there's a delay before it'll power up the actuator. That kinda throws off the "timing" of the receiver. Many times I have had to click on stop on the vlc app and then click on play before I got a picture. Usually when going to Canadian satellites. Other than that, I don't know of any new BUD dish movers.

 

[Radioguy41]

Thanks for the responses guys. Anyone else have experience with the new PR1200 V-Box?

 

[Radioguy41]

OK, I bit the bullet and ordered a V-Box PR1200 and grabbed a nearly new used Superjack 24 I found. I'm anxious to see how the V-Box works. I've been moving the BUD with a 4DTV for years now which is a 2 step process; move the dish first then change the satellite on the STB. Be nice to have it all in one.

 

[Captain Midnight]

Thanks for the responses guys. Anyone else have experience with the new PR1200 V-Box?

I have that mover and it works...

For some reason, it acted out during the first few days and the buttons on the box move the opposite direction (E moves dish W, W moves E) but the remote E &W buttons work as intended, not sure why and no one at Rick's forum can answer me.

 

[ZetaMale]

I have that mover and it works...

For some reason, it acted out during the first few days and the buttons on the box move the opposite direction (E moves dish W, W moves E) but the remote E &W buttons work as intended, not sure why and no one at Rick's forum can answer me.

I forgot about that issue. Mine does the same thing with the buttons on the PR. Obviously, I don't use those buttons. I suppose the button wiring can be reversed if you get inside of the box? Since mine's out of warranty I might take the time to look into that.

 

[Captain Midnight]

I forgot about that issue. Mine does the same thing with the buttons on the PR. Obviously, I don't use those buttons. I suppose the button wiring can be reversed if you get inside of the box? Since mine's out of warranty I might take the time to look into that.

I just never could understand why they reversed to begin with.

 

[Radioguy41]

Thanks for the headsup on the button reversal issue. Might save me a headache I just went through with my antenna rotor. Seems the new rotor reversed the connections from the older version and it was driving me nuts why it wasn't going where I wanted it too. I finally opened the box and saw they were reversed inside. Gotta love it!

 

[Radioguy41]

Well, it was nice while it lasted. The nearly new actuator I bought is toast thanks to UPS so it's back to shopping.

 

[FTA4PA]

Well, it was nice while it lasted. The nearly new actuator I bought is toast thanks to UPS so it's back to shopping.

View attachment 153225

Hopefully you can file a claim with them?

 

[Radioguy41]

It's up to the shipper to file a claim. I requested a full refund from the seller (Paypal).

 

[Radioguy41]

Got the refund, found another actuator, should be here next week. The PR1200 V-Box arrived today. Surprisingly heavy for it's size. What's up with the remote? The template shows an East & West button but the template is lifted and underneath there's a 3rd button in between but no opening in the template for it? Is this normal?

 

[mr_rye89]

Not sure about that button…… I’m in the market for a dish mover. Where did you get the pr1200? R!ck’s?

 

[Radioguy41]

Yes.

 

[Radioguy41]

I wasn't sure folks might have understood what I meant about the remote so here's a couple of pics. Note the bottom inch or so of the overlay is not glued down to the remote. If it were it seems to me it would depress that middle button and I have no idea what it might do, like a hard reset for instance. Is everybody's remote like this? Seems odd.

 

[Brct203]

my guess is that the remote is a fairly generic remote that the manufacturer of the PR1200 did not design, and it ended up with unused buttons. As we all know the market for such dish movers is a bit narrow, and it would be understandable that they did not spend much time and money on design . Same thing with the inverted buttons mentionned earlier. Still kinda lousy, I think it would have been better to have th eproper hole in the overlay and leave it unlabled and unused... This sure is no ASC-1...

 

[Radioguy41]

Well, it's all together now; new C1W-PLL LNBF, new actuator, new PR1200 V-Box controller, and new Amiko Mini HD265, and it works like a champ. One thing that has always annoyed me about FTA boxes is they all want to move the dish whether you want it moved or not. If you just go into a menu and select another sat to edit the blooming thing moves the dish. With this setup I set up the V-Box as a stand alone controller and turned off all motor controls in the STB. Granted I have to use 2 remotes to change satellites but that's not that often and I no longer have to put up with the dish moving just because I'm looking at a menu or editing satellite names etc. Works for me.

 

[Radioguy41]

I wasn't sure folks might have understood what I meant about the remote so here's a couple of pics. Note the bottom inch or so of the overlay is not glued down to the remote. If it were it seems to me it would depress that middle button and I have no idea what it might do, like a hard reset for instance. Is everybody's remote like this? Seems odd.

View attachment 153316

I am happy to post this update - Rick very kindly sent me a correct replacement remote so all is well.