How to replace a faulty lnb for new one

S

scubagit

Member
My Satellite Setup
sky+hd
My Location
South shields
Hi,

My Sky+hd viewing is playing up when it rains which is most of the time, Sky engineers came out to test my line and the box, everything was ok.
he looked at the dish and would not go up on the flat floor without first wanting to drill huge holes to fix himself and his harness to the wall, and gave me a new LNB, said to get a tv installer to do it.
my question is if l fit the LNB myself, is there any settings to do with the box or doe's it set itself up. The new unit is a quad LNB and identical to the old one
 
Assuming that you can access the flat roof safely.

You just need to swap it over, after switching the box into standby and then off at the plug at the wall.
 
Sky engineers told you to call out a TV installer to replace the LNB? Did they charge you for this advice?
 
Fitting them is straight forward, once switched off the receiver at the socket, remove the plastic peg in the lnb arm, unscrew the cables from lnb and the lnb will come out the metal arm.

Then do the reverse to how you removed the old lnb.

on your old lnb are there any free outputs as try these before changing the lnb.
 
Extraordinary performance by Sky.

And there is a good chance it isn't the LNB anyway - symptoms are also consistent with a slightly misaligned dish (Sky are not known for securing mounting plates with the right number of bolts), water ingress into cable (again, due to Sky failing to seal the cable connections on older LNBs or to make use of the pull-down rain shield on newer ones), or with progressive deterioration of the power supply smoothing capacitors in Thomson (and some other models) boxes.

I should contact Sky and say that you will follow their advice, but before you call someone out could they guarantee that they will pay any costs you incur as the result of their (poor) advice.
 
Captain Jack said:
Sky engineers told you to call out a TV installer to replace the LNB? Did they charge you for this advice?
Click to expand...


No, on both counts, I complained about how long l'd been a customer for and been forgotten about, the call out was done for free. if l call someone out then yes it will cost me.
 
You should take note of the serial number of the LNB in your hand, and collect the one brought down by whoever you employ to replace it.

Chances are (as Tivu mentions) the dish may only need alignment.

Conversely of course, whoever you employ might just replace the LNB and leave the dish misaligned......
 
Thx for the advise folks, when it stops raining say maybe the weekend, I'll give that a go.
Getting on the roof is no problem, its my garage roof.
 
Garage roof? Surely, that's not very high? In which case, I am surprised that the Sky monkey wanted to drill huge holes for a "harness"... Definitely try realigning the dish yourself - only needs a light nudge in one of the 4 directions to get a better signal. First mark the existing position with tip-ex or similar so you can go back to the starting point if it goes wrong.

Of course, the LNB could still be faulty, and so could the damaged/old cable or a faulty receiver. But try this first, as it's free!
 
Hi,
I fitted my brand new LNB, plugged the satellite back in, looked at the signal and there was none.
so went into setting to reset the LNB and again nothing its as if its a dud.
I don't really want to do a system reset as the old one still works just in case it deletes everything, what do you think?
 
"Resetting the LNB" is BSkyB kiddology .............. it's nonsense.

As you now have nothing, I think your next step is to remove and refit both F plugs and then reconnect the cable with caution, ensuring that the centre core does not miss the female receptacle and get bent over causing a short and that there are no wisps of braid floating around that could also cause a short.
 
Could you have moved the dish, even slightly, when changing the LNB?
 
Nope, because now l have put the old one back on, which works fine when its not raining, just breaks up then goes off when the rain comes.
its as if sky have to pair the box and the LNB up, with the the coded number on the back.
 
No, the LNB isn't matched like that!

You don't need a "Sky" dish, "Sky" LNB or anything other than a "Sky" box (and Card, as appropriate) to get a working system.

May I suggest that you get someone to watch the box/TV while you very gently apply a little sideways pressure to the LNB arm, first one way, then the other.

If matters improve one way, then there is a misalignment.
 
I think your Sky engineer might be wrong and there might be damage to the cable, due to water ingress, rain getting into the cable, and/or LNB, through a loose connection or poorly fitting seal. Either that or your dish might be slightly out of alignment, causing you to lose signal when raining.
What are your signal strength/quality readings with the old LNB? Check a few channels including the Horror channel.
 
scubagit said:
Nope, because now l have put the old one back on, which works fine when its not raining, just breaks up then goes off when the rain comes.
Click to expand...

Are the LNBs the same make/model ?

If it is different in any way there is a chance the new one is not aligned on the original focal point for best reception.
 
you got a point there about same make/model, look the same, markings worn off, but a different shape, mine is the old version around 6- 9 years old so it could be a upgraded version of my old one. New model is a Sky visiblewave 4lp
As for signal quality, about 60% &
Signal strength same but jumps up and down
when installed the new model, there were no signal strength and quality.
Horror channel fine
 
How much does the signal quality jump up/down?
Can you take some pictures, of the dish/LNB, and upload them?
 
Tivù said:
"Resetting the LNB" is BSkyB kiddology .............. it's nonsense.
Click to expand...
Actually resetting the lnb resets the lnb settings to their default values - and can very occasionally help if the settings in the box have been corrupted.
 
Is the problem here down to the extra weight of the new lnb and cabling causing a poorly aligned dish to go even further out of alignment.
 
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