W** Polar Mount, actuator arm and wiring

[Kraven]

First off, the original instructions for the polar mount were poorly drawn up and unnecessarily confusing; when looking at the assembled mount, the end result didn’t warrant all that frustration trying to make sense of the instructions.

How does the mount look? Am pretty sure I nailed it.




Further thoughts: When adding the actuator arm, am going to add a 1" spacer on that L shaped bar to make the arm level.

Also had a b**** of a time trying to add the nut w/ nylon insert on top of the mount. I couldnt get it to go all the way down so I swapped it w/ a regular hex nut.



For the base, instead of simply fastening the 4 bolts onto the pole, am thinking of drilling 2 holes on the pole then securing 2 bolts right through to eliminate any possible movement/twisting. thoughts?



Question: Does the actuator arm require any special type of wiring, or can some general electrical wiring from the local hardware store do? "Nearby" Sat store is selling actuator wiring for 90cents a foot... but this can easilly add up.

Cheers, K

 

[Babadem]

See here for the type of wires you need for the actuator. While over there you may want to read up how to setup the WSI 6ft special. Lots of info there.

 

[dougruss]

You should of had a least 4 Nuts leftover................

those need to go to Mast Bolts, they are used as "Jam-Nuts" to keep those bolts from turning, over time.

 

[Kraven]

Thanks for your input. There are no left over nuts so back to the hardware store (this makes 8 missings nuts in total).
Cheers, K

 

[johann12]

For the base, instead of simply fastening the 4 bolts onto the pole, am thinking of drilling 2 holes on the pole then securing 2 bolts right through to eliminate any possible movement/twisting. thoughts?



I would not drill holes through the pole. If you have to move/adjust the polar mount at a later time it would be hard to do so.

 

[Kraven]

Good point.

Cheers, K

 

[primestar31]

For the base, instead of simply fastening the 4 bolts onto the pole, am thinking of drilling 2 holes on the pole then securing 2 bolts right through to eliminate any possible movement/twisting. thoughts?



I would not drill holes through the pole. If you have to move/adjust the polar mount at a later time it would be hard to do so.

Then again, if the polar mount is peaked perfectly before he drills and bolts right through all of it, it'll never get out of adjustment. Unless he didn't cross-bolt the pole before cementing it, and the actual pole twist due to high winds.

I used to drill and bolt through. Then I realized if there were ever winds GREAT enough to spin the dish, I'd rather have them do that and fix it later, then to force the dish itself to hold out against winds that great. I'd think the dish would lose... Think of a wind generator turning into and out of the wind. When the wind gets too much, it turns out of the wind and slows down without destroying itself. The c-band dish is just the same...

 

[rv1pop]

Then again, if the polar mount is peaked perfectly before he drills and bolts right through all of it, it'll never get out of adjustment. Unless he didn't cross-bolt the pole before cementing it, and the actual pole twist due to high winds.

I used to drill and bolt through. Then I realized if there were ever winds GREAT enough to spin the dish, I'd rather have them do that and fix it later, then to force the dish itself to hold out against winds that great. I'd think the dish would lose... Think of a wind generator turning into and out of the wind. When the wind gets too much, it turns out of the wind and slows down without destroying itself. The c-band dish is just the same...

YES. My 10ft Winegard Pinacle dish ripped off the mounting brackets. The first time it just pulled the whole mount and all off the pole, and the pole out of the ground. I tightened it down so it could not twist and added more cement. The next and last time, it pulled the post with mount intact out of the ground, then broke the stainless steel bolts and the brackets and buckled the dish.

 

[Kraven]

For the vbox and actuator arm, would 18gauge speaker wire do? Am aware I'd have run a pair and would need to sheild them from the elements.

Cheers, K

 

[primestar31]

For the vbox and actuator arm, would 18gauge speaker wire do? Am aware I'd have run a pair and would need to sheild them from the elements.

Cheers, K

Yes, that speaker wire would work. However Home Depot underground sprinkler wire may be better, because it already has a pvc coating allowing it to be buried directly if you want. The wires for the + and - 36 volts on the motor need to be a heavier gauge depending on your distance from your controller to your dish. Those are the only 2 that need doubling-up if you use 18 gauge. To be sure, those wires should probably really be at least 12 gauge, but double 18 ga will work close enough for the intermittent use.