Small motor problem

J

jpsr

Regular Member
My Satellite Setup
1.2 channel master, cm polar mount, 12 inch actuator, Andrews feedhorn, Inverto lnb, Superjack positioner, Dreambox dm 500s, Protek 9600ip, 1m channel master with black ultra & 1m gibertini with technomate twin output lnb on astra 1/2, TM 5200 & 1000
My Location
Mullingar, Ireland
I find sometimes when i move my dish to 26e it does'nt lock on 100%.
I get 92% snr on 26e, but sometimes when i move it there it locks on at 88%, then i go into the dreambox menu and move the dish back to 92% snr, save on vbox, but go back its the same, other times its perfect.
The actuator is only 4 months old, is this a sign my actuator is on the way out as this is my first 36v setup, so havent much experience with this setup.

All other sats seem to be ok.
I have a habbit of moving the dish all the time checking snr on sats, fine tunning and saving, hope i havent damaged the actuator.
 
Unlikely to be much wrong with the actuator if other satellite positions are OK. Try your weakest strength satellite - does that always maintain the same SNR?
 
My weakest are te digi tv tp's on 1w, they seem ok.
28e is not 100% sometimes either, i loose maybe 2-3%, then if i move it yo another sat and back its 100%, same with hotbird only 1%.

I dont know if there is a problem or me been to fussy over snr %.
 
Is there anything i can do to fix it, the actuator is only 4 months old.
 
This could be because of little play in actuator connection. Try to approach 26*E from West and from East, and if there is difference than check all joinings.
 
Yes i noticed sometimes when i move the dish from west to 26e i have the problem.
When i move the dish by hand side to side there is a small bit of play, but im nearly sure i can remember this from i first installed the dish.
 
Remove that play and problem will be solved. At the beginning maybe you had just a little play, but after time it became bigger.
 
But how can i remove the play in the dish, every thing is tight as i checked.
I even tightned the actuator bolts on the mount as i was thinking it was loose.
 
Play also can be within actuator itself. But for polar mount it is really necessary to have no play at all. So, this is mechanical problem, not electronic.
 
When i move the dish by hand the shaft moves in and out maybe 2 milimeters, and if its extended to the east where the shaft is extended more there is play from side to side of the shaft, but not a whole lot

I can remeber it been like this since i first installed it.

The other day i was fine tuning the dish on some sats which i did, but i was opening asnd closing the dec screw etc a few times and tightned it fairly good, since then i seem to have the problem.
 
I think i solved the problem.

The lower ball joint on the actuator was stiff, wich ment the whole nut moved instead of the ball joint.
I took it off put wd40 on it, left it for a while and still stiff, wont move.

I had a spare clamp with ball joint so stuck it on, it seems to be ok so far, but there is a bit of grinding/squeeking, must be the new ball joint, i did put wd 40 on it.

1 thing now is that the shaft when extended moves side to side a bit in the main actuator shaft, is this normal.
And is the ball joint ment to be free in every direction, as the dish seems to jump a bit goin east.
 
Hmm. Clean off the WD40 and apply some grease now: WD dissolves grease, so while it's good at freeing up stuff, it isn't an operable lubricant.
 
Im gonna get silicone grease, will that be ok.
 
Have you tried more than one receiver on the system ?

I have a number of installations where the receiver that has issues is a Dreambox (supplied by the customer) , Most times the suspect is a bearing (or backlash in the H/H motor, and the advice given is to drive the dish in from just one position to locate the weakest satellite that is required. This is fine for the clients I supply a system for, however whanever I check a system with a receiver that I have in the back of the van and trust, it - almost - always drives exactly back to same spot no matter which side it comes in from.

But I am becoming more and more inclined to believe there is fundamental flaw in the programming of the firmware image of DM stuff, at least in this neck of the woods.
 
Channel Hopper said:
Have you tried more than one receiver on the system ?

I have a number of installations where the receiver that has issues is a Dreambox (supplied by the customer) , Most times the suspect is a bearing (or backlash in the H/H motor, and the advice given is to drive the dish in from just one position to locate the weakest satellite that is required. This is fine for the clients I supply a system for, however whanever I check a system with a receiver that I have in the back of the van and trust, it - almost - always drives exactly back to same spot no matter which side it comes in from.

But I am becoming more and more inclined to believe there is fundamental flaw in the programming of the firmware image of DM stuff, at least in this neck of the woods.
Click to expand...

Its working perfect now, getting saved snr on all sats, that stiff ball joint was the problem.
Funny enough i was having problems with my technomate 5200, it was forgetting its positions, even done a facrory reset, still the same,When i had it operating on usuals on my 1m gibertini earlier on in the year it was ok. but i dont use it in the living room anymore its up in the bedroom on 2 fixed sats.
 
jpsr said:
Its working perfect now, getting saved snr on all sats, that stiff ball joint was the problem.
Click to expand...

For the absolute weakest satellite receivable, you can get the same SNR and BER from both directions ?

You may have a winning image as far as positioning.
 
Channel Hopper said:
For the absolute weakest satellite receivable, you can get the same SNR and BER from both directions ?

You may have a winning image as far as positioning.
Click to expand...

I get better snr/Quality on my dm 500 on all sats than i do on any of my other receivers, which is a surprise as i always thought my technomate 5200 was better, must be a combination of the new black dm 500 i have and the image, as i tryed a good few images in the past.
 
jpsr said:
I get better snr/Quality on my dm 500 on all sats than i do on any of my other receivers, which is a surprise as i always thought my technomate 5200 was better, must be a combination of the new black dm 500 i have and the image, as i tryed a good few images in the past.
Click to expand...

Don't believe the figures given, that's a human inerface thing. Are you getting the same sort of BER figure with any other receiver (the 5200 ?) when you move into the weakest channel you can get on your dish from either side ?
 
To be honest, I do not understand how receiver or it's software can influence that when antenna is driven by actuator and positioner.
 
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