Switching advice

Captain Jack

Captain Jack

Retired human
My Satellite Setup
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My Location
North Somerset
While I am getting all the bits together for the dish, I thought I'd try and work out the switching arrangement for my future set up.

So, my current switching arrangement is thus:

Code: 
Sky mini-dish ---------------
|
DiSEqC switch (inside) ------ Vu+ Uno
|
Penta 85 dish ---Motor-------


My proposed switching would be as follows:

Code: 
Sky mini-dish --------------------------------------------------------------
|
Penta 85 dish ---Motor--------                                              |
|                                              |
DiSEqC switch (outside) -----VBox------------- DiSEqC switch (inside)-------------- Vu+ Uno
|
Channel Master dish----------|

Questions:

1) Will the VBox pass the DiSEqC switching signal from the receiver to the DiSEqC switch outside?
2) Can Vu+ Uno control such configuration?
3) How? :) I think Huevos gave me the config for switching between the Sky dish and the Penta 85 but I've no idea how it actually does it. What's "committed" and "uncommitted"? Do I need some special DiSEqC switch?
4) 4 core cable for the actuator - will a bog standard 4 core alarm cable work OK for this?

Danke :)
 
Last time i did a setup with posiitioner i used 4 core alarm cable and it worked fine
 
Why not use a 4 x 1 Diseqc switch for all the LNB's (this depending on how many LNB's are in use) then the Vbox doesn't have to be in-line with something else, less signal loss that way and a much simpler setup. (less cabling to worry about)

And as far as the motor/actuator cable goes it all depends on how far the run is, the longer the run to the motor/actuator from the Vbox the bigger the gauge of the cable needs to be, some linear motors (actuators for the big dishes) take a bunch of DC current to move them, a long run say of about 100 feet would need a bigger pair for the motor circuit, the sensor circuit doesn't need to be as big.

Some of the big dish motors take from 24 to 32 volts DC at 2 to 4 amps, you wouldn't want to try to run them on 28 gauge wire at 100 feet.

Most 4 conductor motor/actuator wire is 16 to 12 gauge for the motor and 24 to 18 gauge for the sensor, the lower the wire gauge # the bigger the wire is, some wire has a 5th wire in it, this would be a ground wire.

Using too small of a wire in a long run can cause it to heat up, and if it's way too small for a large motor/actuator it would/could be a fire hazard, so read up on the spec's for the motor/actuator you have or are going to buy and get the right sized wire to do the job.
 
It would look something like this.

Ant setup16A.webp
 
Hi Terry,

Thanks for that. Although your method is much simpler than mine, the problem I have is the Sky dish is at the front of the house with cabling right on the other side of the wall, while the Penta and Channel Master dishes will be at the back of the house out of sight. To do it your way would mean running another coax cable from the new CM dish to the front of the house, which I don't want to do as it's a complete pain. Hence the want to add another 2 way DiSEqC switch at the back of the house and use existing cabling.

I know I have to run the 36v cable, anyway (something I am NOT looking forward to), so I'll consider your option. I am thinking of other routes for the 36v cable - no idea how I am going to do this yet.

Thanks
CJ
 
OK, so I looked around and it seems that there are no 2x1 or 4x1 uncommitted switches available. Only 8x1. Not a huge deal but seems a bit of an overkill.

Would something like eBay item 290618369202 work?
 
Yes, you can get uncommitted with less than 8 inputs, check out the Spaun website.


Posted with my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Robbo said:
Yes, you can get uncommitted with less than 8 inputs, check out the Spaun website.
Click to expand...

Thanks Robbo. Looks like SUR 211 F/WSG is something that I need. Quite expensive compared to Chinese counterparts, though, but probably much better quality.

Can you confirm that this switch would go outside as per my diagram in post 1? Although, in the Uno tuner options there's a command order, with committed or uncommitted first.... So does it not matter then?
 
On my multisat setup, I've a Spaun 4/1 mounted on the pole outside, taking the inputs from the other 4/1 switches fed by the LNB's. It's very sturdy and looks like it will stand up to a lot of adverse weather. It was more expensive, but as the major link in the chain, I thought it was worth paying extra for the quality build.
 
I've just looked on the Spaun website and there's no sign of UK distributors. Should be no problem obtaining them from Germany though and I can thoroughly recommend HM-Sat who've always been 100% reliable when I've purchased sat gear from them. Carriage prices to the UK will be higher obviously.

Edit: Just checked and you can order Spaun switches from Amazon.uk
 
sonnetpete said:
I've just looked on the Spaun website and there's no sign of UK distributors. Should be no problem obtaining them from Germany though and I can thoroughly recommend HM-Sat who've always been 100% reliable when I've purchased sat gear from them. Carriage prices to the UK will be higher obviously.

Edit: Just checked and you can order Spaun switches from Amazon.uk
Click to expand...

Thanks! Ordered from Amazon! Although, it looks like it's coming from a German company, so not sure where it will actually be hailing from.
 
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