Masthead Amplifier problem

spike47

Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Age
57
My Satellite Setup
Sky dish on Freesat and Aerial on Freeview .both piped down to lounge TV and Bed 1 and a Sat cable to Bed 2 .
My Location
Skelton , Saltburn-by-the-Sea Yorkshire
Hi All

I have just fitted a Labgear 2 Way Masthead Amplifier PUL121 ( Picture Attached ) , to take a feed to a: Lounge TV , b: TV for Daughters Bedroom .
I have a 12 Volt feed from the Lounge TV up to the Masthead Amp , but I am not getting any signal to TV , I have checked the Continuity of the Cables and they check out OK , and I am getting 12 V at the Masthead .
Question , is there a way to test the PUL121 , is there any reading's I can check on it . I have only just bought it and I really wanted to know if there was a problem with the Unit before I try to take it back , if I can that it .

Note : I have taken a 1 way Masthead amp off that worked ok on my Lounge TV .

spike
 

Attachments

  • Labgear PUL121 2 way Mast Head Amplifier.jpg
    Labgear PUL121 2 way Mast Head Amplifier.jpg
    18.2 KB · Views: 132

A nonymous

Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2006
Messages
3,586
Reaction score
913
Points
113
Connect the feed with the power to the other output. On some mastheads powerpass is only allowed up one connection.

Try giving that a go. Failing that its probably a duff mast head amp. I have a tendency to shy away from Labgear stuff if i'm totally honest.

If you have no luck try something like a Vision V20-1220 mast head amplifier.

Nano
 

spike47

Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Age
57
My Satellite Setup
Sky dish on Freesat and Aerial on Freeview .both piped down to lounge TV and Bed 1 and a Sat cable to Bed 2 .
My Location
Skelton , Saltburn-by-the-Sea Yorkshire
Hi Nano

Done what you suggested put power into other connector and it worked fine , I would not of thought to do that , mind you trust me to pick the wrong one .

cheers and thank you very much for your Help .

spike :-thumb1
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,533
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
Very bad of them not to put the right indication on the unit, unless there actually is a failure of the internal circuitry
 

spike47

Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Age
57
My Satellite Setup
Sky dish on Freesat and Aerial on Freeview .both piped down to lounge TV and Bed 1 and a Sat cable to Bed 2 .
My Location
Skelton , Saltburn-by-the-Sea Yorkshire
You must be correct again , I keep getting a signal on the other output to my daughters room but it keeps going off , lounge TV ok , so it looks like it will have to come off and back to screwfix , 30 day warranty up yesterday , but will give it a try .

spike
 

aceb

Specialist Contributor
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Messages
1,537
Reaction score
841
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
Prof Tuner 7301 /
1.25m Gibertini + Inverto B.Ultra/C1W, Moteck H180, 68.5E-67W Ku/C-Band /
1.8m Precision PF + ESX241/Inverto Black Pro, 66E-63W Ku/C-band /
2.4m Fortec Star+Titanium C1W/Pride plate, 49E-58W
My Location
Sussex
As with all mastheads that quote upto 860MHz you might want to consider adding a new bandpass filter because with the imminent introduction of 4G (LTE) it might just save another trip up onto the roof.
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,533
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
spike47 said:
You must be correct again , I keep getting a signal on the other output to my daughters room but it keeps going off , lounge TV ok , so it looks like it will have to come off and back to screwfix , 30 day warranty up yesterday , but will give it a try .

spike
I'm still not certain it's the amplifier unit, the PSU would be providing 12v not only to the amplifier, but back down to the second TV if the circuitry is as per the sticker on the unit.

Can you scan the technical data that comes with the unit ? There might be something up with your daughters TV, shorting out the power supply, possibly the socket that is in the room
 

spike47

Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Age
57
My Satellite Setup
Sky dish on Freesat and Aerial on Freeview .both piped down to lounge TV and Bed 1 and a Sat cable to Bed 2 .
My Location
Skelton , Saltburn-by-the-Sea Yorkshire
Channel Hopper said:
I'm still not certain it's the amplifier unit, the PSU would be providing 12v not only to the amplifier, but back down to the second TV if the circuitry is as per the sticker on the unit.

Can you scan the technical data that comes with the unit ? There might be something up with your daughters TV, shorting out the power supply, possibly the socket that is in the room
Hi Channel Hopper

I have just checked the voltage to my Daughters room and there is nothing showing ! , I am going to go back on the roof and check the voltage straight out of the amplifier that feeds my Daughters TV , will come back with the results .

thanks to ALL

spike
 

rolfw

Believe it when I see it Admin.
Staff member
Joined
May 1, 1999
Messages
38,292
Reaction score
1,615
Points
113
My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402 HD M2 Ci, DM7000s, Transparent 80cm Dish, Moteck SG2100 DiseqC motor, lots of legacy gear. Meters: Satlook Digital NIT, Promax HD Ranger+ spectrum analyser.
My Location
Berkshire
Just had a look at the tech spec of the amp on the labgear site, not very informative and from the lack of labelling would appear that both outputs should be capable of powering the amp. www.labgear.co.uk/category/amplifiers/masthead-amplifiers/2-way-uhf-mast-head-amplifier/1002/1013/45/#

Best idea is to take it back and either get a replacement, or fit a two way dc pass masthead splitter before your old known working masthead. You may even find that since switchover you just require a passive splitter, which would also be a future measure against possible 4G LTE interference.
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,533
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
spike47 said:
Hi Channel Hopper

I have just checked the voltage to my Daughters room and there is nothing showing ! , I am going to go back on the roof and check the voltage straight out of the amplifier that feeds my Daughters TV , will come back with the results .

thanks to ALL

spike
That may confirm there are two diodes within the unit, able to pass 12v up to the amplier, but preventing 12v from passing back down the second cable. One of those diodes may not be fully soldered on the board, giving you intermittent connection on one port
 

spike47

Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Age
57
My Satellite Setup
Sky dish on Freesat and Aerial on Freeview .both piped down to lounge TV and Bed 1 and a Sat cable to Bed 2 .
My Location
Skelton , Saltburn-by-the-Sea Yorkshire
Hi All

Went on roof AGAIN , and took out the Amp to check it in doors , the weather is atrocious , looked at Connections and the middle one there is no spring clamp inside , well there is but it is wide open it will not have been clamping onto the central copper wire of the cable , I checked the voltage out of it with a wire waggling about inside and there is no voltage output at all , so it seems it has a production fault , with I must had , it has a "PASS" sticker on the back of it ! .

well guy's , thank you all for your help , of down to Screwfix in the morning to get a replacement , fingers crossed 30 day warranty out .

cheers

spike
 

A nonymous

Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2006
Messages
3,586
Reaction score
913
Points
113
I'd get your money back and buy a decent branded one from elsewhere if i'm totally honest.

nano
 

spike47

Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Age
57
My Satellite Setup
Sky dish on Freesat and Aerial on Freeview .both piped down to lounge TV and Bed 1 and a Sat cable to Bed 2 .
My Location
Skelton , Saltburn-by-the-Sea Yorkshire
Hi

Just a update , I got a replacement unit and now up and running , just a couple of points on this crap Labgear shit , it says the voltage can be fitted to either outputs of the Amp , but that is not correct it will only work on the second output from the Aerial input .

And the other point is that there is not a 12 volt supply back down the other output as suggested ! , double checked with meter , no 12 volt ( there is some voltage showing on my Digital Test Meter but it is all over the place mainly in mV and that could just be some static etc from cable ) but TV working OK picking up on DTV over 160 channels . She is in heaven now .

Well guy's I can not thank you ALL enough for your time and help , the moral of the story is , " do not buy cheap shit" and expect the best .

spike
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,533
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
Does your replacement unit have the same issue of only one available injection point ?
 

spike47

Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Messages
14
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Age
57
My Satellite Setup
Sky dish on Freesat and Aerial on Freeview .both piped down to lounge TV and Bed 1 and a Sat cable to Bed 2 .
My Location
Skelton , Saltburn-by-the-Sea Yorkshire
Channel Hopper said:
Does your replacement unit have the same issue of only one available injection point ?
Yes that is correct , only one that will take the uploaded voltage .
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,533
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
If it's mentioned in the accompanying instructions, then it is also faulty, unless there has been a design change (in which case it should have a different model number).
 
Top