Motorised dish and Sky in UK

[New2It]

Not sure if posted in correct section so please move it if not.

I am having some building work done and the small sky dish is obstructed and can not be pointed in the correct direction. This work will take several months.

I also have a H-H Disec motorised system with a 1m Triax dish.

Qustion is, can I safely just point the motorised system at 28.2 and then feed the system direct into my SKY Pace Digibox? I am particularly concerned that even though the motor will not be able to move, that I may damage the Digibox by drawing too much current from it.

Please let me know the best way forwards

 

[Topper]

Provided the motorised system is working and there are no shorts on the cabling being used, yes park the dish on 28.2, power down the stb, change lnb cable to skybox, power up again. As the skybox does not have Diseqc control the dish will then be fixed until stb swapped back

 

[New2It]

Thanks for the reply,

One more question if I may, whilst stationary the motor will not be draing any (or only a little) current and the Digibox can supply enough?

 

[Lazarus]

Difficult to say with certainty whether the Sky Box would protest, but I strongly suspect there would be no problem. Quiescent current for the Motor is 50mA, as opposed to 200/350mA when called upon to move.

However, if you have any concerns at all, the safest thing to do is replace the LNB on the Motorised Dish with a dual output one and then you can happily carry on using your Multi-Sat system as a Positioner but not need to be concerned about excess current potentially sourced from the Sky Box.

I have done this at times and it works very well.

You might even find this a more convenient arrangement than having to swop over the feed every time you want to use the Sky Box.

 

[New2It]

I presume I would also be safe if I got/made a lead that would take the connector going to the motor and go straight into the LNB instead

 

[satelliteman]

350mA for a digibox isn't it?

 

[Lazarus]

350mA for a digibox isn't it?

350mA Source Current?

Not sure!

I do know they are not exactly over-engineered

But it seems a reasonable figure bearing in mind they have to power Octo LNBs these days. Should be a doddle supplying a single output LNB plus quiescent motor current though, bearing that in mind

PS: "Doddle" does not appear in my speel-chocker. Strange.

Edit: I'm looking at my DS430N Destruction Manual and it doesn't provide any actual useful spec.! (Imagine my surprise ........... )

 

[Lazarus]

I presume I would also be safe if I got/made a lead that would take the connector going to the motor and go straight into the LNB instead

Yes, but isn't that a bit inconvenient?

Anyway, SM has kindly posted the Source Current for a Sky Box and I really now cannot see any problem even if you leave the Motor in circuit (Which brings us back to what Topper said in far fewer words! ).

 

[New2It]

Thanks for the info, will give it a try over weekend when I can watch to see if anything gets too hot (it's a really old Pace box)

++ Any problems if I just turn the whold Sky box off at the plug after using it (just to be sure)?

 

[Lazarus]

Nothing to be lost by unplugging - other than firmware updates etc.

But I think we're all pretty sure there should be no problem at all - although the fact that the box is old may be a factor if the PSU is getting dodgy. Pace's aren't known for that though, it being mainly a potential failing of Grundig/Thomson Boxes.