Another one bites the dust.....

[sonnetpete]

So there I was, trying to service the motorised dish (it had shifted slightly after those pre Xmas storms) and wondering why some channels on Thor were missing. Answer? Another Black Ultra (three in as many years) has gone faulty with no output on vertical TP's. It seems they don't like the extremes of temperature in Northern France as my first one went faulty (no output at all) after a bout of high summer temperatures. I hadn't been using the motorised set up for a while so it may well have gone during the very low temperatures last month. Luckily I have a spare cheap & cheerful LNB I swapped it for. Ah well, something else to pop onto the credit card.

 

[Lazarus]

Yours is by no means the first tale of low MTBF woe with the Black Ultra that I've heard: That said, getting one is still top of my "next toy" list - once I've got the Car ECU Interface currently on order set up and working.

 

[rolfw]

Well I hope that isn't a sign of things to come, have quite a few out in the field.

 

[sonnetpete]

Well, for your sake Rolfw I hope not. Extremes of temperature is the only vague common factor I can think of. I don't think I'll bother with another twin, seeing as it's failed on both outputs.

 

[satelliteman]

How long they lasting?
Just had one installed over in Lanzarote.

 

[Ghostleader]

Well I hope that isn't a sign of things to come, have quite a few out in the field.

Tell me about it, thats all I use, in central Scotland we have had minus 20 towards the end of 2011 & all mine on my installs are still working, I use to use Technomate 0.1 Super LNB's, but there neck was a bit short length wise for my liking.

 

[william-1]

My 1st Inverto Black Ultra 0.2 expired after 11 months & 2 weeks as it was guaranteed for 12 months I contacted my supplier he asked me to return the faulty Lnb (No signals on Horizontals or verticals) & sent me out a new one within 7 days free of charge I now have a spare just in case

 

[sonnetpete]

How long they lasting?
Just had one installed over in Lanzarote.

I can't remember when they came out, but I think I got my first one less than six months after and this is my third failure.

 

[aceb]

My Black Ultra single died after 15 months, Inverto offer a 2 year warranty but try getting them to honour it! They have a nice habit of selectively ignoring all forms of communication and if it wasn't such a good product I'd not give the scumbags another penny. The time it would have taken to pursue the issue along with the cost of returning it meant I just binned it. As it was the price of them had nearly halved since my original purchase so I got a new one from one of the board sponsors and have just purchased a third as a spare for when this one goes. I'm not actually sure what killed the original but I presume static because it happened at the time of a storm.

 

[wod]

had mine since 26th may 2010 and it works fine no issues at all, this is the twin version.

reading this thread, i did for a second start checking to make sure nothing was a miss.

i do have a couple of spares mti supreme line and smart titanium incase, those are quads though.

maybe the factory quality control slipped on some batches due to popularity of the lnb to get stock out the door ?

 

[hvdh]

aceb my thoughts exactly. About once a year the IBU single on my 100 cm Triax/Moteck dies without any particular event (giving 0% signal, with a few mA current remaining).
Then I just replace it like it's normal, there's no other choice because the weak signal performance is the best.
On the T-90 I still have many old (wide) Alps LNB's that may have drifted a few MHz (that I correct in the settings), but last almost 10 years.

Edit: maybe we should mention what type exactly fails (single/twin/quad). Maybe the singles fail more often than the twins?

 

[Robbo]

Yep, I've used loads of them too, only had one fail,and it did so within minutes of firing it up. Had a twin on my dish too for a couple of years as well,through lots of cold weather, still working fine. Fingers crossed.

 

[Huevos]

Well I hope that isn't a sign of things to come, have quite a few out in the field.

I´ve been installing them for about 3 years and haven't had a failure yet.

Pete, what receiver are they connected too? Has it got inreased voltage to LNB switched on in the setup, or something like that.

 

[sonnetpete]

Pete, what receiver are they connected too? Has it got inreased voltage to LNB switched on in the setup, or something like that.

This last one (a twin) was connected to the DrHD F15 with no increased LNB voltage. The other two failures (singles) were connected to the VU+ Solo, again without extra voltage. I was beginning to think it may be a poor batch but there was quite a time in between purchasing each LNB.

Edit : Actually Huevos, I've got three on the multisat set up, without any bother. I'm going to swap the Ultra currently on 16°E (not needed on there now) for my spare currently on the motorised dish. If it then fails at least it gives me a clue that it may be the DrHD or the larger dish that's the cause.

 

[timo_w2s]

I've got a Black Ultra Twin on a dish in Finland that has survived two hot summers (for Finnish standards - over 30C) and a couple of cold winters (below -20C) and so far it's been OK. Fingers crossed...

I've also got 3 Black Ultras (a twin and two singles) in the UK but they are only about 8 months old.

 

[Burnham Beech]

My 10 year old MTI Blueline 0.6 db LNB is still going strong on my ancient 80cm dish here in NW London.

And I don't know of any channel that the current crop of 0.1/02 db LNBs can pick up on an 80cm dish near here that the MTI doesn't pull in!

 

[sonnetpete]

Well, I've swapped the Black Ultra I had on 16°E and the budget LNB I put on the 1.2M dish over, I guess now it's just a case of wait and see. I have ordered a replacement (spare) Black Ultra this morning.

 

[timo_w2s]

My 10 year old MTI Blueline 0.6 db LNB is still going strong on my ancient 80cm dish here in NW London.

Yeah they don't make them like they used to, but at least LNBs are pretty cheap these days. I remember the days when a £60 LNB was considered a budget LNB with a noise figure closer to 2db and did about 1/3 of the KU band...

 

[Trust]

I use also one for 3 years on my 120 fibo , no probs at all .
This dish is driven by a 36 v motor and a separate positioner , no diseqc looptrough .

Years ago I killed 2 lnb's (no BU) by connecting them to my Nokia 9500 and Moteck diseqc motor .
Turning on a hor. TP (18 V) especially coming from positions far east or west (heavy load for the motor) , did reboot the nokia . (error LNB short)
This kills 2 lnbs , probably the nokia tried during turning , to "keep-up" the lnb power but at the moment the motor stops , there is an "overshoot" that kills the connected lnb .
Both lnb's did'nt switch to high band anymore .

Can you confirm that all the faulty BU's are used with diseqc rotors ?

 

[sonnetpete]

...Can you confirm that all the faulty BU's are used with diseqc rotors ?

Yes, those that have faulted have been connected through my Clarke Tech motor (using USALS) and initially hooked up to a VU+ Solo then latterly a DrHD F15.