Fibo 120 frozen

[Toyboy]

Would I be right in assuming that the underlying moral here is "When really cold/icy weather is forecast, park dish at 28E in order to avoid WifeAnger"?

Sly+ has it's own 60 cm solid dish, well away from by hobby Fibo. Wifey thinks it's for gathering heat from the sun to power the Sly box, doing our part for climate change. ..She thinks Thor means keeping the ice off the Sly dish. It is a hot dish, but not for that reason

 

[Lazarus]

:-jumpsmile

 

[Toyboy]

I'll bet there are many people panicking now and planning to get a small dish for 28e after this snow thaws and before the next cold snap starts. :-googly
If you want to be really safe, try the towel technique till it warms up a bit, then try moving it. Then park it on your favorite sat until the weather improves.

Consider getting a spare backup motor for use if the other one fails. It may fail when you need it most and when all the sat shops are closed, like on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Good idea but who sells a back up motor ?

 

[hexah]

Quite a few places sell the 1224 H-H motor. Google for them.

Or you could adapt a polar mount and convert to a linear actuator.

Or you could just have that spare dish and spare LNB standing by for emergencies. Everyone should have at least one backup LNB. What would happen if your LNB died at 9pm on Christmas Eve? What would happen if the actuator fell off and hit the ground, fatally wounding the dish, at 9pm on Christmas Eve?

I even have a spare mounting space on the wall here. It is reassuring to know that if disaster strikes I can have a spare 80cm dish up and working in 10-15 minutes.

 

[Channel Hopper]

For those unfamiliar with the 36v actuator, the join between the arm and the case was a weak spot. The rubber would quickly start to crack through use and heat. Rain would eventually work through. It was not unusual to take off the back cover (to get at the connections) and have a cup full of rusty water fall out! Over your trousers, of course, due to forgetting it would happen.

Hence the need for the cover, which extended to the bolt connecting the jack to the dish. Self amalgamating tape provided the watertight seal.

Sadly, I haven't seen them for sale recently even though I regard them as essential.

What do you mean 'was', most round here still use them, thanks to a couple of installers still not convinced DiSEqC all the way to the dish is the way to go. A lot of distributors flog motors and other stuff that make money, they are really not bothered about keeping a decent system running for more than a few months.

In most of my installs, I would fit a rubber gaiter from a motorcycle suspension system. For about a tenner off eBay (search fork / motorcycle gaiters), and of course it's BOGOF when you use them on a satellite system unless it's dual-axis.

(just realised, nobody needing one is going to read this as it's on the FIBO thread :-googly DOH!)

 

[hexah]

That is a cunning adaptation, better than the plastic bag lash up I used for a while.

Diseqc motors are not remotely in the same league as 36v.

I have been thinking about using a universal polar mount, 36v and v box for quite a while due to the wind over autumn-winter-early spring which is about 6 months of the year. Diseqc motors are fine in summer but worrying in winter.


:-fcm

 

[Smile from Holland]

Good idea but who sells a back up motor ?

Watch eBay for a while. Fibo motors are sold now and then. I have two Fibo motors spare, but I advice you to look in the UK. The shipping costs from the Netherlands to the UK are high. You don't really need it at the moment, so you can wait for one for a nice price. A Fibo motor is often sold for about £25.