Problem with multiswitch setup.

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Dasilva81

Dasilva81

Regular Member
My Satellite Setup
Motorised setup (dark motor) 42e - 30w
My Location
London
helo everyone need some help on a issue.

Basically I have set up 2 80cm dishes one for Sky 28.2e and Hipasat 30w, both of them plus freeview connected to a vision multiswitch.

Cables have been labelled at either end and connected to correct inputs.

Dishes have been aligned by s sat installer.

Today I was doing final connections at the multiswitch end and setup the receiver with following configurations, by the way I'm using a vu+ zero receiver.

Port A Hipasat 30w
Port B Astra 28.2e

Tone burst -yes
Diseq- no

I then went and done a automatic search of these sats, 28.2e found just under 900 channels which sounds sbout right, but Hipasat 30w found only 4 channels.

Could this be a connection problem as I had to extend the four cables for the Hipasat dish because moved it from originally planned position.

Any help much appreciated.
 
Check each join is ok, and check each connector is fitted correctly.

Check polarities are correct between lnb and multiswitch. VL to VL, HL to HL, HH to HH and VH to VH. If you dont have a sat meter to hand you can use a normal electrical multimeter. On the cable you want to trace just remove the f connector off one end and twist the outer core round the inner core and then use the meter on continuity setting at the other end putting the black meter cable on the outer core and the red meter cable on the inner core.

The one you get a reading on is the one with the inner and outer twisted together. Mark each one up vl, hl ,hh vh and then once both ends are marked you can connect each cable to the correct output of the lnb and input of the switch.

Instead of using tone burst use DISEqC mode 1.0. Set Hispasat up as AA and Astra 2 as AB.
 
Check to see that the system is properly grounded to an Earth ground, the added coax may have affected the shielding on the systems coax, if the system is not properly grounded or something has changed (corroded ground connection) to the systems over all ground you can pick up outside interference and will/could have switching problems.

The Diseqc switching commands are running at or around 22 KHz, this signal can cross-talk between receivers and can also be interfered with by outside sources if the coax shield is not grounded correctly.

The case of the switch(s) should be directly connected to the system ground with a #12 gauge copper wire (green PVC jacketed) most switches should have a connection or mounting hole for this purpose, a ground block can also be used.
 
Dasilva81 said:
Cables have been labelled at either end and connected to correct inputs.
Click to expand...

Please be more specific: What equipment is it, and is it configured as multiswitch with Quad or Quattros?
Also pictures would say a million words.
Dasilva81 said:
I then went and done a automatic search of these sats, 28.2e found just under 900 channels which sounds sbout right, but Hipasat 30w found only 4 channels.
Click to expand...
Important: Are the Hispasat channels the "right" channels? Or are they labelled for another sat (which could be why it picks up the wrong stuff?)
 
st1 said:
Please be more specific: What equipment is it, and is it configured as multiswitch with Quad or Quattros?
Also pictures would say a million words.

Important: Are the Hispasat channels the "right" channels? Or are they labelled for another sat (which could be why it picks up the wrong stuff?)
Click to expand...

My equipment is a VISION V9-916MPA MULTISWITCH both dishes with inverto premium Quattro lnb's
 
Dasilva81 said:
My equipment is a VISION V9-916MPA MULTISWITCH both dishes with inverto premium Quattro lnb's
Click to expand...
Ok, probably nothing wrong with that combination.

Then I would ask you to check the channels actually found on Hispasat - are they indeed Hispasat channels?
I know you say the dishes were set up professionally by an installer - but they symptom you describe *could* be akin to using the wrong transponder layout for the sat the dish is pointing at.
Did the installer talk about having checked the right channels on Hispasat?
...and was he using the LNBs that are not on the dishes?

Many quesions, I know, but this is remote diagnostics...
 
st1 said:
Ok, probably nothing wrong with that combination.

Then I would ask you to check the channels actually found on Hispasat - are they indeed Hispasat channels?
I know you say the dishes were set up professionally by an installer - but they symptom you describe *could* be akin to using the wrong transponder layout for the sat the dish is pointing at.
Did the installer talk about having checked the right channels on Hispasat?
...and was he using the LNBs that are not on the dishes?

Many quesions, I know, but this is remote diagnostics...
Click to expand...
I saw him using a normal universal lnb with a sat meter , and I did tell him I wanted the Portuguese channels
 
Terryl the laws in the UK and the US differ regarding earthing, Nothing wrong with earthing the switch diectly, although you only need to earth the outputs from the switch to the building mains earth (PME), our properties are earthed via the mains cable directly, we don't use an earthing spike. Our electricians are also harder than the ones across the pond as we use 240v and 415v :-lmao

Some people say you also need to earth the pole that the sat/aerial sits on although this always remains in contention as some say earthing the pole puts the buildings electrical supply in danger if the pole is hit by lightning.

V9 equipment comes with its own earthing blocks so theres no need to directly earth the switch., although Vision V9 equipment works fine whether you earth it or not as i've come across enough of those switches which have never been earthed while attending service calls that have worked fine.

Its just unfortunate for those connected to that switch as i've switched off every electrically unsafe system i've come across if i haven't had time to earth the switch correctly.

As for the dishes look at both of them, we know the 28e Astra 2 dish is lined up correctly. Imagine the Astra dish is pointing at 10 o'clock, the Hispasat dish should be pointing at approximately 2 o'clock, if its not there stands a good chance its not pointing at the right satellite. Also make sure the skew on the lnb is correct, the lnbs should be skewed in opposite directions.

You could say i have a lot of experience with Vision switches, both V5 and V9, Heres one i did earlier using Vision V5 equipment :D



headend.webp
 
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Dasilva81 said:
I saw him using a normal universal lnb with a sat meter , and I did tell him I wanted the Portuguese channels
Click to expand...
Ok - then the next step is probably if you could list the 4 channels you receiver has found, and check if they are indeed what the receiver claims they are.

If all this seems to work ok, you can try swapping the cables from LNBs on the A and B port in the multiswitch. This should be straightforward.
Then re-scan with the reverse set-up of 28.2E and 30W on the receiver, and check if you get same result. If you do, it's at the dish end. If different, it's at the multiswitch.

BTW why are you using toneburst? What's wrong with DiSEqC?
 
Many thanks for all the help I wil try this tommorow.

I'll let you know the result.
 
I would also say that its likely if you used tone burst that when you scanned Astra it was scanning input port A, meaning you have the inputs to ports A & B the wrong way round.

When you told it to scan Hispasat its likely the switch didn't go to port B but stayed on port A which would explain the few channels it picked up.

set up your receiver using DISEqC 1.0, set Astra to AA and Hispasat to AB. If you don't have any joy try Hispasat on AA and Astra on AB.

Try everything suggested upto now and let us know how you got on.
 
Many thanks for all the info I will check tommorow I'll let you know how I got on.
 
Spotted Port A & B in original post but somehow didn't get round to posting. :cool:
 
Manicscrewdriver said:
I would also say that its likely if you used tone burst that when you scanned Astra it was scanning input port A, meaning you have the inputs to ports A & B the wrong way round.

When you told it to scan Hispasat its likely the switch didn't go to port B but stayed on port A which would explain the few channels it picked up.

set up your receiver using DISEqC 1.0, set Astra to AA and Hispasat to AB. If you don't have any joy try Hispasat on AA and Astra on AB.

Try everything suggested upto now and let us know how you got on.
Click to expand...
Hi

Just thought I would give an update on the setup.
So this morning switched on receiver and tried once more to search for channels on 30w and surprisingly this time found many more channels than before. Annoyingly it only found the Spanish channels which I don't need, j actually require the Portuguese channels.

So before I went and touched any cables I decided to do an update on my receiver.
Update done, switched on receiver , done a search and bobs your uncle channels found.

No idea what happened before just glad all cables are connected properly and everything seems ok.
I have also taken the advice and earthed my vision multiswitch.

Thank you everyone for your expert advice it has helped a great deal.
 
Hello guys back again,

Ran into a smal issue today I have hooked up my receiver to the living room scanned channels , everything ok however when i checked channels I found that some were not coming through, image would come and go with occasional pixelation. List of channels below that we normally watch not working properly.

Sky action
Sky aliens
Sky comedy
Sky Disney
Sky drama
Sky family
Sky premiere
Sky premiere + 1
Sky superhero
Sky thriller

Below pic of satfinder reading on Sky action

image.webpHope this helps please feel free to ask questions.
 
Thats alignment i would say. Since the installer installed the dish with a standard single output lnb and then fitted the quad i would say it may be just a simple case of adjusting the skew on the lnb.

Worst case scenario is that the dish may have been knocked out of focus by the high winds we have been having lately. Either way if you cant sort it out i would suggest getting in a company that knows how to setup a multiswitch system to set it up for you.
 
Thanks for the info mate,
Any idea to what side I would need to rotate the lnb ?
Manicscrewdriver said:
Thats alignment i would say. Since the installer installed the dish with a standard single output lnb i would say it may be just a simple case of adjusting the skew on the lnb.

Worst case scenario is that the dish may have been knocked out of focus by the high winds we have been having lately. Either way if you cant sort it out i would suggest getting in a company that knows how to setup a multiswitch system to set it up for you.
Click to expand...
s
 
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