Here's a confusing one

brewby

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I moved house a few weeks ago and took down my dish, motor, and pole (on t&k brackets)
Used an existing sky dish to start with but my Openbox S9 did'nt like it (no vertical switching)
Put the pole up then put the dish on the pole until I had time to do the motor, everything fine on 28.2e.
Saturday I decided to put the motor (Stab HH90) up and then the problems started, the pole is on a south facing wall so no problem finding south (for Thor) set the dish at the recommended elevation, set the motor at the correct latitude, easy enough using an android app! and nothing, did the usual adjusting (up, down, left, right) nothing, took the motor off, put the dish back for 28.2e and put the motor in-line, switched on and fine!!!, drives ok off the pole, signal from the lnb fine when not on the pole! drives when on the pole but no lnb signal!!

I'm confused, the motor is blocking the signal when on the pole but not when laid on the floor inside the house.

I said it's confusing

Any pointers gratefully accepted
 

Vipersan

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You say the motor drives ok ..when mounted on the pole ?
So what happens if you drive ..or manually position the dish/motor assembly to a known good sat position ...say your due south sat ..and then connect the openbox directly to the lnb ..bypassing the motor ..which was previously aligned before the motor bypass was done ..
Do you get a signal then ?

If the motor is simply placed in line in the house and does not restrict signal from Astra at 28 deg ..on a fixed setup then It cannot be faulty and restricting or blocking signal..
Do remember the signal from your due south sat is considerably weaker than 28 East ..so requires much more accurate alignment..
An android app is fine for getting a rough position ..but is little more than guesswork on weaker sats ..
You need a meter ...even a very basic one to align properly.
I suspect this is your problem..and you are expecting it to be as easy to set up as Astra28..and it wont be..
rgds
VS
 

rolfw

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The android dishpointer augmented reality app can be way out (I have experience of this), better using the dishpointer google maps based app http://www.satellites.co.uk/dishpointer/ then using the standard procedure for fine alignment. From what you have described, it is as VS says, your dish in incorrectly aligned.

Two setup guides.

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/topic/57976-pictorial-setup-guide-for-diseqc-motorised-dish-installation-downloadable-pdf/
http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/topic/90782-quick-reference-motor-installation-setup-guide-pdf/
 

Vipersan

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As an afterthought ...it is a pity you didn't just lift the dish/lnb and motor off the pole together and reave them that way until you re-installed it ..
Assuming you house move was no more than a few miles ..just reassembling on a plumb vertcal pole ..would have left only one major adjustment to make ...ie rotation of the entire assembly around the pole to find your due south..
Everything else would have required ony tiny adjustments thereafter.
I suppose it's possible that permanent marks and impressions have been left on all surfaces where bolts have been tightened ..or maybe rust marks etc ...which you could use as a reference to get close to correct..
But this assumes you haven't moved totally out of the area to the other end of the country ..say..
If so ..start over as Rolf suggests....
Best of luck..
VS
 

brewby

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Thanks for the replies chaps, I have installed the same motor/dish on my last 3 houses without problems and only once used a meter too be honest, there's no 'line of sight' problems, have used dishpointer as well. I have set the dish on the pole to Thor and acheived an 85% signal strength. I
I set the motor body to south and drive it to Thor then put the dish on set at the suggested elevation from dishpointer I get 44% signal intensity and 10% signal quality, this does not alter wherever I move the dish, I also did the same on 28.2e, 13e, and 19.2e all exactly the same levels.
I would have thought I would get some change in either intensity or quality but nothing alters, this gives me the feeling that when the motor is mounted something stops the signal from the lnb, I appreciate that a meter is a better way to find a sat but I've never had this problem before, The motor will drive no problem (inline or on the pole) but signal only gets through when it's off the pole, is it possible that an earthing fault has developed in the motor? I've got an old Stab HH120 I might have a try with, though I think it's knackered, I'll have a go at the weekend,
 

Vipersan

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If you are convinced the motor is affecting the signal ..
Why not try my first suggestion ..
ie ..once you have the dish pointing at the correct sat position ..simply disconnect the motor electrically ..and connect the lnb directly to the receiver..
If the motor is the issue then signal levels will immediately return to what you expect ..assuming cabling and lnb are ok..
rgds
VS
 

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Sounds like a poor connection at the motor end of the LNB cable - Hopefully the plug rather than the socket!
 

Mickha

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Have you tried bypassing the motor, once it's installed, by connecting the cable directly to the LNB? If you have did the signal quality improve or remain the same?
 

brewby

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Vipersan said:
If you are convinced the motor is affecting the signal ..
Why not try my first suggestion ..
ie ..once you have the dish pointing at the correct sat position ..simply disconnect the motor electrically ..and connect the lnb directly to the receiver..
If the motor is the issue then signal levels will immediately return to what you expect ..assuming cabling and lnb are ok..
rgds
VS
Will do, the cabling checks out for continuity and voltage to the motor and to the lnb when the motor is inline but off the pole, I need to get up on my ladder at the weekend, can't quite reach the lnb from the window.
 

brewby

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Tivù said:
Sounds like a poor connection at the motor end of the LNB cable - Hopefully the plug rather than the socket!
Yes it does, it's odd that throughput is fine off the pole though, got to keep trying.
 

brewby

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Mickha said:
Have you tried bypassing the motor, once it's installed, by connecting the cable directly to the LNB? If you have did the signal quality improve or remain the same?
Gonna try it out at the weekend, hopefully it will be dry
 

Channel Hopper

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brewby said:
I have set the dish on the pole to Thor and acheived an 85% signal strength. I
I set the motor body to south and drive it to Thor then put the dish on set at the suggested elevation from dishpointer I get 44% signal intensity and 10% signal quality, this does not alter wherever I move the dish, I also did the same on 28.2e, 13e, and 19.2e all exactly the same levels.
I would have thought I would get some change in either intensity or quality but nothing alters, this gives me the feeling that when the motor is mounted something stops the signal from the lnb, I appreciate that a meter is a better way to find a sat but I've never had this problem before, The motor will drive no problem (inline or on the pole) but signal only gets through when it's off the pole, is it possible that an earthing fault has developed in the motor? I've got an old Stab HH120 I might have a try with, though I think it's knackered, I'll have a go at the weekend,
I've a hunch that the motor has finally given up, unless you have inadvertently swopped the cables into the motor connections by accident - or shorted the LNB cable to the pole - I once tightened one of the motor clamps onto the LNB cable (only once mind).
 

brewby

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Channel Hopper said:
I've a hunch that the motor has finally given up, unless you have inadvertently swopped the cables into the motor connections by accident - or shorted the LNB cable to the pole - I once tightened one of the motor clamps onto the LNB cable (only once mind).
Have to say I've pretty thorough when setting it all up, even to the extent of colour tape marking the cables (sad really) may have do some live continuity testing when its on the pole to see if voltage is seeping to earth and taking the signal with it, hey ho these thing are sent to try us are'nt they
 
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