Urgent help needed with Motor

djc

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Need some quick guidelines of what to install, so that I can use My Theatre with my SG2100 motor.

Cheers
 

djc

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Just had me motor installed, but aint got a clue how to set up either ProgDVB or My Theatre. What do I need tp do to tell the program I have a motor installed ?

Cheers
 

rolfw

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My Satellite Setup
Technomate 5402 HD M2 Ci, DM7000s, Transparent 80cm Dish, Moteck SG2100 DiseqC motor, lots of legacy gear. Meters: Satlook Digital NIT, Promax HD Ranger+ spectrum analyser.
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Berkshire
You need to use the plugin I have linked to above, do a search for DiseqC plugin for this section and you will find many threads describing the process and the possible pitfalls. It isn't a particulaly difficult setup, but you need to do things in the right order.
 

djc

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Help, I realise I need to use the plugin, but not sure what to do to tell My Theatre that I am using a motor and then how to store the sat positions.

Here is where I am at present:-

1)Motor installed and verified using a Standalone Receiver.

2)Installed MiBi SkyStar2 v1.8 patch for my 4.22 drivers.

3)Have installed My Theatre 2.76, but from here on I'm stuck.

***UPDATE***
4) Got ProgDVB working at Thor/Intelsat, which the sat man lined me up at, inputted my Lat/Long details then applied to all satellites, but when I chose another sat, the motor does not move.
****

Whats even more confusing is I am reading that My Theatre as its own plugin "DiSEqC 1.2 plugin v0.85" to drive the motor. Does this mean I don't need to install the SS2 v1.8 patch and just use the My Theatre one ?

Please help, going mad here and desperate to get my dish setup, so any help would be appreciated.

BTW, currently scanning numerous forums, but so far can't find anything I am after.

Cheers
 

djc

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This is getting worse now, seem to have lost signal on Thor 1w, even though the motor doesn't seem to be working.

I have already inputted my long/lat in the plugin config.

I am now totally lost and don't know where to start to get it going again, so any help would be great.

Cheers
 

BGonaSTICK

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Hey djc, calm down m8. Everything is gonna be cool.

Don't forget, that this is supposed to be fun. If it's stressing you, leave it for 24hrs and come back to it.

There is nothing that you need to do in MyTheatre.

All the good channels on 1W are off at the moment for everyone, so it's not you.

Try BBC world or Kiosk 1 to prove it to yourself that you're still on 1W.

The only linkage that exists between the motor and MT is the mibi plugin.

Forget the plugin that comes with MT. It's cr*p. You should have the MDWrapper installed though (comes with MT). You'll need this later anyway.

You change chanel, the plugin detects it, and moves the dish to the right sat. Easy (as long as your lat/long is right).

The only things that you need to do are to make sure that the plugin .exe file, the plugin .dll file and the satellites folder are all in the MT Plugins directory. Not MDPlugins, or the root directory, or anywhere else.

Then you must put THE CORRECT VERSION of the modified driver file into c:\windows\system32\drivers.

Use the wrong version, and you'll get nada. It's a common mistake.

Go try it again. Re-copy them if you have to. Be VERY careful.

Watch the light on the bottom of your motor flash orange as it receives the diseqc commands.

STICK
 

djc

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Hi m8

I was in ProgDVB and went into the Plugin and selected "Goto Satellite Position and selected 2 and it moved to Hotbird, so can confirm the motor is getting the signals. My main problem I think is configuring and using the Plugin.

In the configuration bit of SS2 DisEqc, the range I have set from 42deg east to 30des west. My longitude is set at -1.1 and latitude is set at 53.5 (as taken from http://www.heavens-above.com/)

Long term I want ot use My Theatre, but setting up the satellites seems a bit more complex than Prog DVB. How do I tell My Theatre to tell the motor what positions were ? Sorry if I am sounding dumb, but keep thinking I need to set something in My Theatre to tell the motor where to go.

Is there a full Satellite list I can import into MT as it only comes with 2 Satellite ?

Just to confirm what I am using:

SS2 Rev 2.3
SG2100 Motor
4.22 drivers
DiSEqC 1.2 for SkyStar2 v1.8
My Theatre 2.76
ProgDVB

Thanks for your replies, especially u STICK, that was a long one :)

Also sorry for the many questions and thanks for your continued support :)

Cheers
 

BGonaSTICK

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LOL, off to watch the footy now.

Sort you out tonight, but try right clicking the main screen, goto 'LNB setting and scan', and then select the sat, and click the Ku button at bottom left for a start.

:)
 

djc

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I was editing my post above, while you were reading, adding yet more questions.

Will catch up with you later then and let you know how I have got on.

Cheers
 

djc

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Well don't know what the hell happened but was viewing Hotbird in MT, then the picture froze and everything locked up, so had to restart PC, so now all I get is a black screen and aint got a clue what satellite its pointing at now. arghhh 'O'-red :confused

There's no way that any prog is configured to go the right Sat. The only way I can move the dish is in SS2DiSEqC plugin by selecting "Goto Satellite Position", then every time I select a number then press goto nn, the dish moves to different postions (but don't which its moving to).

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djc

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Right yet another update. I now have My Theatre installed inline with Hotbird 13deg and can see channels.

The one thing I still don't understand how to do is that I only have the Hotbird in my Sat list, so how do I get MT to move the dish to a different satellite ?

Cheers
 

BGonaSTICK

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Right, I'm going to take these one at a time.

Firstly, I don't do ProgDVB, so can't help you there. Principals from MT will transfer pretty well.

I should also say that I don't have V1.8 of the plugin, I have V1.7 so take that into account.

Next, the range of satellites listed (the east and west limits) will do just that. They will limit (in the software) how far you can drive the motor. What you set them to will depend on how far your dish can rotate left and right before it hits something. Be careful. There are also hardware limits inside the motor that you can set if you want, which will physically limit the dish. I haven't bothered on my SG2100.

As an aside on DiSEqC, you should read my notes in the dish setup section. It will give you a clue how it works, and what the different options do.

OK, next, I have my longitude set to 358.2, not -1.8.

Don't know how V1.8 of the plugin works, but you might want to think about that.

There is an import utility in MT V2.76, but I don't like it. Don't forget that this software is pretty old now, and many of the transponders in the lists are out of date and/or missing.

I don't really have time to figure out a quick way for you to fix this, but a good exercise would be for you to pick a good sat (like Hotbird) and punch in all the transponders for Hotbird from www.lyngsat.com. You can actually import from the satellites folders that came with the plugins, or satcoDX files I think, but be careful.

Once you've done that, point it at Hotbird until you have a picture on a known transponder (manually by driving east/west) and then hit the max signal button. Once it is optimally on the sat, do a full transponder scan by selecting all the transponders, and hitting scan. It will take 5 mins or more, and you will have about 1600 channels depending on your dish and location.

MT is a bit flakey, like all this software. When it goes over (and it DOES go over ocaisionally) in can corrupt any open file it has. This can include the channel list database, and the EPG database. It won't move the dish around. That will still be where you left it.

Because you are using GOTO x commands, it will tell the dish where to go. It doesn't say 'go 10 deg w from where you are'. It just says go 10 deg w, so you can always get back to where you were. Don't worry about that. If you say goto 1W, it will be back where the installer put it.

As soon as you have a half working system, BACK IT UP. Then, when it crashes, you can restore it. Back up the entire MyTheatre folder in Program Files. Back it up with a different name every time you do a big update, like a sat scan, or work on the channel lists or transponder lists. Back it up every week anyway. Get smart. Save pain.

There is a sat table IN the motor. The manual will tell you which number relates to which physical sat. You can overwrite them, so be careful. You can also reset them to facotory defaults, so don't be THAT careful!!!

Try and get MT working like you had it. If you can't, it's corrupt something and you'll have to re-install over the top. Delete the channel and EPG files first.

Sort that lot out, then we'll do a bit more.

STICK
 

BGonaSTICK

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djc said:
Right yet another update. I now have My Theatre installed inline with Hotbird 13deg and can see channels.

The one thing I still don't understand how to do is that I only have the Hotbird in my Sat list, so how do I get MT to move the dish to a different satellite ?

Cheers

In the plugin, drop down the top listbox, select your sat, and then select 'Send'.

This is a stored GOTO X.X command. Fiddle with it a bit, by driving east and west 0.1 of a degree at a time, and see if you can get a better signal than the 'logical' position, then use the MAX SIGNAL button as described in my post above. The software will auto-align your dish on the strongest signal it finds. Accept its recommendation at the end. Now it's stored in the software. You can use this position to overwrite the position in the motor, so that in the future, you can just say 'GOTO pos 15' or whatever if you like.

None of my sat locations are as per the text book. I think I have Hotbird at 13.3E. It doesn't matter, just max-out your signal. The difference from text-book is not linear across the arc either, but does help you guess the next sat along.

STICK
 

djc

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Got some more questions later, but first you say that your Longitude is set to 358.2, but I just done a search on http://www.heavens-above.com and for Brigthon it is -0.132. So I'm thinking thats were I could be going wrong, in that I have the wrong info in Long/Lat settings ?

Where did you get your readings from ?

Cheers
 

djc

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Just done the bit where you click send, then find Max Signal and all I get after a while is "Signal is too weak" and it loses the signal I had on Hotbird.
 

djc

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How do I know what's stored in the motor, or indeed if I have erased any settings ? In the manual I have a table with numbers 1-26 all with Satellite names at the side. How do these numbers relate to MT/Diseqc Plugin ?
 

djc

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Sat position 2 is somehow looks like it is aligning with Hotbird, obviously I found this out due to the fact that I was tuned to an Hotbird Channel and got a picture. When moving to other positions how can I tell if I have got a signal when I don't have the list of Satellites ? I only got Hotbird becasue I scanned all the TP's.

Appreciate all the advice and patience, please bear with me :-ohmy

BTW I have installed MyTheatre.v3.21 and trying that at the moment, so have upto date Sats etc.
 

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djc said:
Got some more questions later, but first you say that your Longitude is set to 358.2, but I just done a search on http://www.heavens-above.com and for Brigthon it is -0.132. So I'm thinking thats were I could be going wrong, in that I have the wrong info in Long/Lat settings ?

Where did you get your readings from ?

Cheers

That's just an example. I don't want to give my exact Long out on the forum :) .
 

BGonaSTICK

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djc said:
Just done the bit where you click send, then find Max Signal and all I get after a while is "Signal is too weak" and it loses the signal I had on Hotbird.

Blimey, slow down!! O-Ha

It means you were not close enough to start with. Either adjust manually east/west a few steps or fractions, or maybe your dish elevation is not quite right (or dish too small etc?). If you get close, it will finish the job for you. Mounting pole must be EXACTLY vertical in both planes.
 
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