Weatherize/Winterize/Rain Protection/Grounding

[mastermesh]

So, now that I've got an order out for a 30" Winegard dish, a roof mount, a SG2100 motor to go with it, and an lnb that can pick up both circular and h/v... what steps do I need to take to get all this stuff protected from the elements.

I'm assuming you can ground the stuff by running a stripped coax cable attached to the parts in to the ground via an old rr nail or something....

I have the reciever (pansat 3500sd) grounded via one of those surge protectors that have coax in and outs...

I've read in a few threads about people painting stuff on the motor to protect it - what do you paint, and is it advisable to do that sort of stuff - do you invalidate a warantee or anything (if there is a warantee?) ... How often do you oil the motor, or do you?

I'm assuming some stuff can be covered with electrical tape wrapped up around it. Does painting a dish, motor or other stuff put more weight on it causing it to go out of alignment (I'd assume no)... Does painting a dish cause it to lose reception or anything? Can you put plastic on some parts to keep them dry? If so which ones? Anybody have a maintanence howto/tutorial/images or anything? Don't want mother nature to ruin this expensive stuff too quickly.

 

[PSB]

How to ground your system......

http://dbsinstall.com/whatis/Whatisgood-5.htm

I use these (I know Iceberg is also trying them now) to weather proof connections, in conjunction with dielectric grease you will NEVER have a problem...

http://www.dmsiusa.com/waterlock.htm

The dish can be painted any color, as long as there is no metalic flakes and is not gloss paint.

 

[Tron]

I painted my SG-2100 mounting bracket because I decided to modify it to use commonly-available 3/8" square U-bolts which can be purchased at ACE hardware.

The one part of the SG-2100 package that could use improvement is the bracket/U-bolts that hold the motor to the pole. The motor itself is very well engineered, and does not require painting or lubrication. However, the supplied U-bolts strip or break VERY easily if slightly over-tightened, and tend to corrode. Therefore I decided to drill out the metric holes in the bracket that the U-bolts fit into so that the bracket could accept 3/8" ACE hardware replacement square U-bolts. For good measure, I painted both the bracket and the replacement U-bolts with grey primer, and have not encountered corrosion since. I live in New Orleans, America's rainforest (or outdoor sauna).

The dish mounting shaft on my SG-2100 had become scarred from removing/replacing dishes during Katrina, so I took it off of the motor (very easy, one hex bolt goes through it with a nut on the other side) and painted it with grey primer as well. Again, no problems since.

 

[Change]

I got some silicone tape from Radio Shack, which bonds very well to itself. Wrap up your connections with this (wrapping in the direction that the connector twists on), and then wrap electrical tape over it. That should keep it fairly weatherproof.