Every time it rains i lose my satellite signal (even when its cleared up)

[AndrewW]

Just before Christmas we had a few big storms with lots of rain and high winds.

During the storms I was not surprised to see Sky breaking up, however after the storms had finished and the skies were clear, I still had no signal from either of the two channels. Previously I was used to signal strength of approx. 90% with signal quality of 100% on both channels.

Following a number of reboots (including disconnecting the LNB cables from the back of this sky dish). There was still no signal and neither of the channels were locked.

Given it was almost Christmas and I would not get any repairs for a week of or out of desperation I prodded the dish with a long stick, apart water falling from the sky dish, in particular a large drop from the LNB, the signal returned to normal immediately. I did not prod the dish hard enough to move the dish.

Now ever time it rains I lose both channels? Are there any known faults with water getting into the LNBs?

 

[Lazarus]

Generally, it's water getting into the cable(s) that causes problems: Ingress either via the F connection or through damaged insulation elsewhere.

However, in this case, I suspect it is misalignment of the dish that is at the root of your problems.

In second place as the possible cause is failing Power Supply Capacitors in your Sky Box.

 

[Topper]

Welcome and happy new year.
There are many scenarios that can display similar symptoms as described. The first this springs to mind is the lnb cable waterproofing being non existent or the 'drip loop' not having been formed prior to entry to the lnb. Not really sure what you mean by water falling from the dish, what size is it, who installed it? Perhaps you could post some snapshots to help us diagnose the problem.

 

[AndrewW]

I agree that it could be misalignment, however i would have thought i would have had partial signal loss and not not total signal loss, which would not return to where it used to be after a gentle tap.

You mentioned the PSU issue, which I had in the past with an older dish and old non hd skybox. I used a mod kit to rectify that.

However checking their site they don’t seem to have any kits for the sky+HD box I have. Does this mean the PSU are not susceptible (well not as frequently any way).


When its stops raining again, I will check the F connection

 

[AndrewW]

Welcome and happy new year.
There are many scenarios that can display similar symptoms as described. The first this springs to mind is the lnb cable waterproofing being non existent or the 'drip loop' not having been formed prior to entry to the lnb. Not really sure what you mean by water falling from the dish, what size is it, who installed it? Perhaps you could post some snapshots to help us diagnose the problem.

Standards SKY +HD satellite installed by sky approx 2-3 years ago

 

[AndrewW]

One point which keeps nagging at me is is , if only one of the F connectors is allowing water ingress, why do i lose both channels ???

 

[timo_w2s]

Could be the dish is misaligned and knocking water off the dish, and especially LNB cover, gives you enough signal to temporarily fix the issue until it gets wet again.

 

[AndrewW]

potentially, but how accurately do you need to align dishes? Is pointing them in the right direction sufficient to get a signal, and then more fine tuning to get a better signal, or is the alignment so fine that even if you are a tiny amount off there is no signal?

 

[Analoguesat]

You need to be within a degree or so horizontally & vertically. Say roughly half the width of the lnb cover.

 

[hexah]

Depending on where you live the dish could be too small, a Zone 2 is always a better bet. The latest Zone 1 is bigger than the Zone 1 of a few years ago.

All f connectors and unused f connector sockets should be sealed with self amalgamating tape.

 

[AndrewW]

Your last comment is interesting, not sure if you can see, but none of the F connectors are sealed

 

[Lazarus]

But there is a pull-down raincover, so that'll do the job well enough.

I still think this is an alignment issue.

 

[hexah]

I have never been convinced by those pull down rain covers. They will help but wind blown rain, mist, fog, low clouds, blown snow and ice can get through and do damage.

With excessive use of A2 stainless steel, black pvc and self amalgamating tape I can report that everything is ship shape and bristols fashion here sah!

 

[Tony1A]

I have seen many Sky installed dishes with no amalgamated rubber tape on the F connectors. Do Sky think that just the raincover will suffice? I think not.

 

[hexah]

They probably want it to fail early so they get more money off people by replacing it with another piece of crap which will fail early etc etc.

 

[T1154]

Curiously I have had more trouble with taped connections than with un-taped ones ,which I put down to condensation causing complete corrosion of the centre conductor in at least two cases. Now I never use tape on the connections to the lnb and I've had no further trouble!

 

[AndrewW]

The problems i was having went away all on their own, so I did nothing until they came back but a lot worse. i.e even on a nice day i had no signal.
I climbed up to the dish when i removed the cover, on the unused connection (4) i found a strange wet substance, about the consistency and the and colour as grease. This was across both parts of the connection inside and outside. I wiped that off just in case it was causing some type of resistance across the terminals.
Checked the connections and they were firm, but i removed them anyway , bend the end of the core a little and put them back.

Now everything works fine......

 

[timo_w2s]

The problems i was having went away all on their own, so I did nothing until they came back but a lot worse. i.e even on a nice day i had no signal.
I climbed up to the dish when i removed the cover, on the unused connection (4) i found a strange wet substance, about the consistency and the and colour as grease. This was across both parts of the connection inside and outside. I wiped that off just in case it was causing some type of resistance across the terminals.
Checked the connections and they were firm, but i removed them anyway , bend the end of the core a little and put them back.

Now everything works fine......

The strange wet substance was probably silicone grease to stop moisture getting in to the LNB...

 

[Lazarus]

Interesting.

Glad it all seems ok now.