Advice Needed V Box. A Good one to recommend...

[Laser]

My positioner has died and the 1.2 CM needs a new V Box.
I hear a Moteck V Box is a good make?
If so which one would be best for this dish and where of course to get one??
I see Satellite Superstore sells a Primesat Box.

Your help is much appreciated.

 

[Archive-8]

I have 2x alsat Diseqc 1.2 36v positioners, both give out a hum, that can get quite annoying, if the room is quite.

And I broke the battery cover, just putting the batteries in, on first use.

Try and avoid alsat, if you can.

 

[Mickha]

I have the SuperJack V-BoxII, with VU+ Duo 2, it's not bad, quiet, and does the job, except there is a problem, with some high satellite frequencies, where the signal quality levels drop.
You can feed your LNB directly to your receiver, and use the SuperJack remote, to move your dish, or like me, get a twin LNB, run two cables, one throught eh V-BoxII, and one directly to the receiver.
I did manage to get hold of a Moteck, but it seemed faulty, as sometimes it simply didn't move the dish, can once even took the motor to its limits, thankfully I had set hard limits, so avoided damaging my dish/motor.

 

[scopus]

The Moteck sometimes has sticking relays too, which show up as E2, A quick thump on the box cures it but can be a pain. I changed mine to the SSS Primesat one, so far so good, no problems with it

 

[jeallen01]

Scopus

Open up the old Moteck and see what type(s)/manufacturer of relay is fitted as I am sure you/we could find something more reliable from a mainstream manufacturer, at not much cost, to fix the sticking contacts (= very cheap component!) problem. So, actually, a relatively minor issue to fix, and then you would (probably) have a reliable unit to use/sell-on.

It's issues like these that can damn a basically decent unit - save a penny, lose a pound (or a lot of them), and so on .

 

[blademedia]

I hate SSS 90% of the stock is cheap china stuff, there so called primsat is a cheap 6/7 $ unit, mine lasted about 3 months then would only go east
Satellite Diseqc 1.2 Receiver Controller Positioner Hpv8000 - Buy Diseqc Positioner,Satellite Diseqc Positioner,Satellite Receiver Positioner Product on Alibaba.com

 

[scopus]

Scopus

Open up the old Moteck and see what type(s)/manufacturer of relay is fitted as I am sure you/we could find something more reliable from a mainstream manufacturer, at not much cost, to fix the sticking contacts (= very cheap component!) problem. So, actually, a relatively minor issue to fix, and then you would (probably) have a reliable unit to use/sell-on.

It's issues like these that can damn a basically decent unit - save a penny, lose a pound (or a lot of them), and so on .

Yes, will get around to that, easily fixed as you say. I always keep a spare V Box, just in case.

 

[scopus]

I hate SSS 90% of the stock is cheap china stuff, there so called primsat is a cheap 6/7 $ unit, mine lasted about 3 months then would only go east
Satellite Diseqc 1.2 Receiver Controller Positioner Hpv8000 - Buy Diseqc Positioner,Satellite Diseqc Positioner,Satellite Receiver Positioner Product on Alibaba.com

You'll be lucky to find anything that is not 'Made in China' these days..

 

[archive10]

You'll be lucky to find anything that is not 'Made in China' these days..

Aren't they all more or less the same?
It seems that there are all the Chinese boxes, and then the next step up is either the Titanium ASC1, or a sat-receiver from "the good old days".
Next step up again is an RC2000, but this doesn't integrate well with DiSEqC, so you need a bit more programming...

 

[scopus]

Aren't they all more or less the same?
It seems that there are all the Chinese boxes, and then the next step up is either the Titanium ASC1, or a sat-receiver from "the good old days".
Next step up again is an RC2000, but this doesn't integrate well with DiSEqC, so you need a bit more programming...

Yes, all made in China. I have never really had any major problems with them, apart from this Sticking relay in a TM V box which is basically a Motek badged as a TM.

 

[blademedia]

True all made in china, what I don't like is the mark up 6/7 $ unit £40 I understand they have to make a living but that's some mark up, I send to china wait a few weeks for the crap instead of paying top $ for it now

 

[scopus]

True all made in china, what I don't like is the mark up 6/7 $ unit £40 I understand they have to make a living but that's some mark up, I send to china wait a few weeks for the crap instead of paying top $ for it now

Indeed, they are not the cheapest..

 

[blademedia]

Titanium ASC1

I wouldn't mind trying this unit, any members use one could recommend it, remember reading a while ago it had certain issues ?

 

[scopus]

The pulse counting was giving problems. I think their was some sort of fix for it, using some components on the counting circuit. Put me off having one given the price! That's probably made in China too!
John on here has one, think he said it was working well with the Venture, But he has a new toy in the form of the RC2000 now

 

[blademedia]

The pulse counting was giving problems. I think their was some sort of fix for it, using some components on the counting circuit. Put me off having one given the price! That's probably made in China too!
John on here has one, think he said it was working well with the Venture, But he has a new toy in the form of the RC2000 now

Thanks scopus, yes think it was counts I read about, wait and see if john looks in for repoert, I have rc unit bought it with some actuators as bulk buy, will be setting up smaller dish later and wouldn't mind trying one,

I made inquiry about the rc units that sband mentioned only cheap think £145 delivered paid £400 for mine, it is the c unit though

 

[Burnham Beech]

I have a Motek box bought in about 2007 and in daily use since then. No problems at all in the past 9-10 years.

I also have an Alsat box, and yes it does hum a lot, but it too has been reliable. Needs to be sited somewhere where you can't hear the hum if it annoys you.

 

[jeallen01]

The Alsat (etc.) box humming sounds like the typical humming mains Txfr - that could probably be replaced by something better/quieter, as recently discussed in another thread about a failed V-box Txfr that I can't find at the moment.

On a funny, but slightly related, note: When I was a teenager I bought a whole load of "electronic junk" from an old guy in our village, and one of the things included was an FM radio chassis (no cabinet, and with valves of course!) .

Later on, I decided to see if the tuner worked, and so I put a plug on the mains lead and plugged it in - only to hear the mains txfr humming like mad and the rectifier valve glowing very brightly (that should have been a good clue - but I was young then!). Anyway, having unplugged the radio, I tightened the txfr laminations clamps and mounting bolts and plugged it in again = a little bit better but still very loud. so did the same thing several times again until the thing just did not fire up and the rectifier was not glowing any more. It was at that point that I had another look at the chassis and found the label that told me that it was a 110-120V ac unit - no wonder everything had gone a bit crazy until the rectifier valve popped!

 

[PaulR]

It was at that point that I had another look at the chassis and found the label that told me that it was a 110-120V ac unit - no wonder everything had gone a bit crazy until the rectifier valve popped!

Did the transformer have a tapping for 230/250v? And did you replace the diode?

 

[jeallen01]

Paul

Neither: the unit was a US-spec one, probably from RAF Brize Norton which was just across the fields and almost completely run by the USAF with their B52s, and I did not have a replacement txfr or diode valve anyway (and no money to buy replacements - the prices were quite high then), and so the unit was effectively scrap and put down to "experience".

FWIW, that load of "junk" "only" cost me a tenner - in the days when that was my weekly living allowance when I went to uni a couple of years later - and it did have a lot of other useful stuff like a very good LW/MW/SW chassis with an RF preamp before the mixer and which was very sensitive (listened to pirate radio stations all around the UK coast and further), a big speaker in its own cabinet, and an old, but usable, AVO 8 amongst other things. Times change!

 

[Laser]

Thanks for all your advice. Have bought a Jaegar Superjack V Box II
Hopefully Ok.

No instructions though !! If anyone can point me where to find those it would be a great help
Again thank you