Help Required Question: Whats the Best non-metallic white car paint for a satellite dish?

[danaddison]

Question:

Whats the Best non-metallic white car paint for a satellite dish? as im planning on painting my current dish, looking for ideas where to get the white paint from and plan on painting the lnb arm in blue and the mount black etc to make it look new etc thanks

 

[jeallen01]

Frankly I don't think the brand will make a lot of difference - just choose the cheapest shade that matches what you want - and preferably blends in with the background behind the dish so as to help the dish "disappear" to minimise the chance of drawing attention to it.

OTOH, do make sure you clean the dish thoroughly before painting, ensure the primer is chemically suitable for the material of the dish and feedarm - and don't obliterate any "angle scales" etc., or clog up any adjustment mechanisms.

FWIW, I personally prefer my dishes to literally disappear as far as possible and so used matt-paint in "matching colours" - and have on occasion thrown cammo netting over some of them so that they blend in with the trees behind to avoid "attention" from the local authority!

 

[danaddison]

Frankly I don't think the brand will make a lot of difference - just choose the cheapest shade that matches what you want - and preferably blends in with the background behind the dish so as to help the dish "disappear" to minimise the chance of drawing attention to it.

OTOH, do make sure you clean the dish thoroughly before painting, ensure the primer is chemically suitable for the material of the dish and feedarm - and don't obliterate any "angle scales" etc., or clog up any adjustment mechanisms.

FWIW, I personally prefer my dishes to literally disappear as far as possible and so used matt-paint in "matching colours" - and have on occasion thrown cammo netting over some of them so that they blend in with the trees behind to avoid "attention" from the local authority!

um its in my back garden near a fence and you can see it bothsides, walking down a path not far from mine and from the main road, if anyone says anything i just say its for research ;) lol

 

[jeallen01]

All I'm suggesting is to make it as unobstrusive as possible to avoid drawing attention to it, OR any other dishes you might want to erect in future!

OTOH, if that's not a concern then paint it in a bright shiny colour to let everyone know about it!

 

[ozumo]

um its in my back garden near a fence and you can see it bothsides, walking down a path not far from mine and from the main road, if anyone says anything i just say its for research ;) lol

Be aware any dish with a dimension greater than 100cm will require planning permission - more-so if it is visible from the street.

 

[danaddison]

Be aware any dish with a dimension greater than 100cm will require planning permission - more-so if it is visible from the street.

i have a dish think its about 100cm noone has said anything about it to me, if they do i just say its for a project or research im working on or just say im "looking for alien signals" lol they dont mind anyways as long as it looks tidy and doesnt damage there fences when its windy

 

[statalite]

i have a dish think its about 100cm noone has said anything about it to me, if they do i just say its for a project or research im working on or just say im "looking for alien signals" lol they dont mind anyways as long as it looks tidy and doesnt damage there fences when its windy

If you change it for anything bigger that 100 then be prepared for enquiries. Just friendly advice on what might happen from the planners or neighbours.

 

[danaddison]

If you change it for anything bigger that 100 then be prepared for enquiries. Just friendly advice on what might happen from the planners or neighbours.

ok thanks but the answer would be looking for alien signals... just say im researching

 

[ozumo]

ok thanks but the answer would be looking for alien signals... just say im researching

To which the reply will be you still require planning permission.

 

[jeallen01]

To which the reply will be you still require planning permission.

Maybe, maybe no...........

TBH, I think a lot will depend on how concerned or not your neighbours are about your dish(es!), and how "otherwise busy" or not your local authority is....! I don't seem to "suffer" either of those issues: the neighbours either cannot see them or, if they can, then they aren't bothered, and the local council has much bigger issues on it's plate, notably a local housing shortage resulting in a load of almost certainly illegal "bed in a shed" properties (I complained about 2 or 3 of those in the same and adjacent streets but the council appeared to totally ignore me!).

You might say that I'm a bit of a hypocrite to make those complaints "in the circumstances", but it's a lot less obtrusive, has less "social impact", and it's easier/quicker, to remove a dish or two than it is to allow people to build those properties and then turf residents out of them. When I made those complaints a couple of years or so ago, I was prepared for the "possible consequences" but nothing seems to have happened on either "issue"!!

 

[Terryl]

I would use a flat finish paint, as a glossy finish would reflect too much Sun light (and IR) onto the LNB, it could fry it.

Remember the Sun gets right in-line with the dish at certain times in the day.

 

[jeallen01]

I would use a flat finish paint, as a glossy finish would reflect too much Sun light (and IR) onto the LNB, it could fry it.

Remember the Sun gets right in-line with the dish at certain times in the day.

Most of us in the UK would normally choose a Matt finish paint (to which I referred earlier), and I simply used a suitable spray primer as that is (almost?) always matt anyway, and never needed/wanted to use a gloss finish.

As for the "sun effects", we haven't historically had really strong sunshine very often in the UK because our lowest Latitude locations are only around 50N and LNB failure due to that cause is thus relatively rare (most failures are probably either relatively early in the "bathtub curve" due to burn-in component failures, or late in the curve due general "old age" wearout), - although, maybe with global warming, that will become more common? OTOH, that's certainly a known issue further South in Europe.

PS: if anyone has not come across the "bathtub curve" then take a look here on Wikipedia! (BTW, I found out about that about 50 yrs ago in a job interview at Black & Decker in W. London - I didn't get the job)

 

[Terryl]

If you get Sun fade (happens twice a year) at your location for whatever satellite your looking at, then that would be the highest heating of the LNB by the Sun.

I did an experiment a few years back with an old dish, (one meter fiberglass) lined the front with aluminum foil, (silver side up) with proper tracking I melted lead at the focal point.

 

[Analoguesat]

ok thanks but the answer would be looking for alien signals... just say im researching

Doesnt matter what excuse you give - you still need planning permission if the council get officious. Which can be time consuming & expensive, with no guarantee of success.

And if you refuse to remove it when asked to the council can come onto your property, remove the dish then charge you for the work they have done!

A lot of councils dont care, especially if noone complains - at one time I had 9 dishes up in the garden at our previous place, but they were well hidden behind an 6 foot hedge. They were up for years & no one ever said anything.

 

[gdf68]

Decided to take this all down with the motor being knackered.
Can I paint my unbranded grey dish with sandtex microseal masonry paint , I'll clean it first. What do I need to prime it with or can I just give it 2 coats.
That's , hopefully
If I actually get this thing working later

 

[jeallen01]

Decided to take this all down with the motor being knackered.
Can I paint my unbranded grey dish with sandtex microseal masonry paint , I'll clean it first. What do I need to prime it with or can I just give it 2 coats.
That's , hopefully
If I actually get this thing working later

Not sure that anyone has used Sandtex paint for a dish, and you'd have check with the paint manufacturer to ensure that it does not contain any metallic particles
Unless the dish is steel and has signs of rust then I don't think it needs priming as such, but then again I've used red oxide primer and/or non-metallic undercoat spray as a disguising coloured finish and without any known issues (as I have said before!)

 

[Terryl]

Any paint with metalic particals in it would not affect the signals, I have used aluminum based paint to restore fiberglass dishes and metal dishes, you just paint over the aluminum paint with a flat finish paint.

 

[gdf68]

So what's is it yes or no ,

On the safety sheet these ingredients listed