Best Way to add a Diseqc Motor to 90cm?

kemo

Hi guys, glad to have found this great forum! I have spent the last few days reading through the posts and have been brushing up on all things Fibo.

My dish is an original 90cm Fibo and now that my old Echostar AD3000 has gone (I only used it to move the dish during the last few years) I need to add a diseqc motor to it, so that my recently aquired Humax HD2000 receiver can drive it.

Now, I have seen the wonderful modifications on here and on gregorian-users.com. and it seems there are 2 ways to go:

Method 1) Keep existing Fibo dish & mount and add the diseqc motor above it, so as to drive dish about the main pivot point

Method 2) Remove Fibo mount, set up a conventional Diseqc mount from scratch and bolt just the Fibo dish to it.

I have a Moteck SG2100a ready to use for the job.

So..... I am hoping you experts can give me some advice regarding the pros and cons of either method.

Many thanks in advance!

CROSSBONES

The easiest way is to mount the dish directly to the disec motor, but then you have to try and find a fixed dish clamp. Unless you make your own.

The best way is to add the disec motor to the fibo mount. If you have access to a machine shop or know any one that could make the mod, then your half way there

Snuffer

With a ASTON SATSEEKER 200 you can use the orginal 36 Fibo motor.

This make's from you Diseq the 36 volts commants so why you need a diseq system??

johnsattuk

Or any of 'Vbox' types will do the same thing. I use a 'Gbox V3000' on my 1.2 Fibo

Oldgeezer

kemo

Thanks for the advice folks! I am definitely going to add a diseqc motor.

I have 2 original Fibo motors and both are now broken. I have already been down the V-box route, done the 5V modification, and this worked for about 10 minutes before I lost positional readout and just got 'E2' from the V-box.

So now both of my motors have failed optical sensors.

I am not sure how good my wiring is from receiver to dish motor, and do not really want another box (V-box) if I can avoid it. Also electronics are not my strong point! So I have come to the point of giving up on the original Fibo motor setup. Apologies to the purists out there

It strikes me that diseqc is the way to go seeing as all modern receivers use this protocol. I have also just taken delivery of a brand new Moteck SG2100a, so there is no going back

I have access to an engineering workshop so fabrication/modification is not a problem. Looking at the 2 options, as Crossbones says, adding the dish to a diseqc mount seems the easiest option and this is the way I currently favour.

Crossbones, just wondering why you say "The easiest way is to mount the dish directly to the disec motor" but then say "The BEST way is to add the disec motor to the fibo mount". This is essentially what I am trying to find out, why is adding the diseqc motor to the Fibo mount better???

I have seen a couple of photos of the 'easier' option at gregorian-users.com but they are close-ups taken from above. Can anyone point me in the direction of more photos showing solutions to bolting the dish directly to a diseqc mount?

As I see it, I just need to fabricate an 'interface' that bolts to the back of the dish and is then capable of being clamped to the diseqc motors drive pole, or am I missing something.........

I will be using my original (rusty!) wall mount which effectively gives me a c.50mm vertical pole that stands off the wall about 500mm. If I can work out how to add a photo here, I will stick one up. Although this rusty mount has served me well over the last 10 years or so, I think I will strengthen/replace the diagonal supports (and paint it!) while I am doing the diseqc conversion.

So, many thanks for your input so far and if anyone can point me in the right direction of more photos or point out why my prefered option is a bad idea, I would be very grateful!

Cheers!

dorsetbob

Hi

Have a look a these pictures from Rav's setup
My First Satellite Installation

Hope they help

Bob

kemo

Many thanks Bob, great stuff! I have just downloaded the pics and am off to have a closer look.............

Cheers
Keith

dorsetbob

Hi Keith
Fibo 90cm Dish Fixed Mount Bracket
Try this thread as well
It will give you an idea of the type of mount you are looking for.

Bob

kemo

Hi Bob, so by the looks of that you can actually buy the fixed bracket and just use that?

Is that what you did? and if you don't mind me asking, did you get one yourself from Germany and how much did it cost?

Cheers
Keith

dorsetbob

Hi Keith

That's right you can buy the fixed mounts.
I didn't go down this route myself.
I was having some problems with the Fibo motor and was thinking about it.
After some searching through the threads I found the answers for a fix and so far things have been OK.
I havent got the facilitys to do any modding.
So its just a case of repairing what I've got.

Bob

kemo

Thanks Bob. I will look into the cost of getting the fixed mount from Germany. If too expensive, I will make my own from some hefty alloy. Cheers again!

dorsetbob

Hi Keith

Thought this might be of use to you too
http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellit...ual%5B1%5D-pdf

Hope you don't mind,but if you are looking to get rid of your Fibo motors I would be intrested in taking them off you hands.

Bob

CROSSBONES

Like I say easy to mount the dish as rav has in his pics. That is what I ment by the fixed bracket.

But It would be good to keep the fibo polar mount and have the disec motor mod option.

If you no longer require your Fibo mount, I would be happy to take it off your hands for a few gold coins