Problem with satellite motor

ilking

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Hello. Yesterday I installed a satellite motor for my Humax 5400. It is working fine however sometimes when I change channel to another on a different satellite, I get the message "moving motor" on screen but nothing happens. I don't get a signal.

This does not happen all the time. It happens every now and then. When this happens, I go into the satellite menu and move the motor a little to the east or to the west until I find a signal for the channel I'm looking for. Then I exit the menu without saving anything and then the motor finds the correct satellite. It's as if sometimes the motor does not move when changing form one satellite to another.

Has anyone ever encountered this problem? Is there a fault with my motor or is there a setting I need to adjust? I have a Humax 5400. Thanks.
 

Huevos

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Does the cable from the receiver go directly to the motor or is there anything inline? For example a switch.
 

Lazarus

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I've had similar issues to this in the past and traced it to insecure connections at the Motor end.

Check both and keep an eye on the one where the LNB cable connects as this tends to slacken with repeated Dish movement - best to fasten it to the mount with a cable tie to stop the connector itself being the pivot.

In the latter case, the Motor will move but you'll get No Signal.

If the Receiver to Motor connection is not fully secure, then you may get failed or erratic movement.

Finally, please tell us how long the cable run is.
 

satelliteman

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DiSEqC 1.2 or USALS? If using the latter, the motor will always default to the calculated position on exit.

As said, I'd be inclined to check cable terminations first. The same or similar symptoms have in the past also been traced to poor cabling causing corrupted DiSEqC commands being sent.
 

ilking

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Hello. Thanks for your replies. The cable goes directly from the receiver to the motor. The cable is about 25 metres long.

I'm not really familiar with the terms usals or diseqc 1.2. What I know is that in the setup menu, all diseqc options are set to disabled. I have had these settings where I used to live before and I had no problems there. I'll await your replies. Thanks.
 

Lazarus

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Well you can't drive a Motor properly without benefit of DiSEqC!

1.2 = Find each Satellite position then store

1.3 = USALS (Where you put in your Lat & Long and an algorithm calculates all the Satellite positions for you)

Have you checked the integrity of the F connectors, as requested earlier?
 

springer

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Unfortunately the Humax 5400 does not support USALS.
@ilking
why aren't you saving when you find the proper signal? That is the only way to ensure the motor goes to that position again.
 

ilking

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The positions are all saved because at first it worked properly. Then after a week it started not turning.

The guy I bought the equipment from told me to put petroleum jelly on the f connectors and cables going to the motor and I did so when I installed everything. At first I thought that the petroleum jelly was causing the problem because when I wiped it all off it started working better however it still does not rotate every time. On internet I found that petroleum jelly does not effect electric current so it was not the problem. I still can't figure it out.

This is something I do that helps the motor to turn

1. Let's say I'm on hotbird 13 east and i want to go to nilesat 7 west
2. First I switch to a channel on a satellite in between those two, for example on digi 1 west.
3. Then I immediately go to the desired channel on nilesat before the motor turns to digi. This works almost every time.

Is there anything else I can do to solve this problem? Thanks a lot for your help.
 

satelliteman

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Could well be a fault with the motor or corrupted commands because of poor cable or termination.
Have you tried another receiver?
 

ilking

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The same receiver I am using now worked well where I used to live before. So i don't think it's the receiver. What puzzles me is that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
 
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