Weird Black Ultra Failure

[Lazarus]

A couple of years ago I followed the crowd and got myself a Black Ultra Twin.

It didn't seem to make much difference over an existing cheapo no-name Chinese LNB.

Recently, my dish appeared to have stopped tracking weak Satellites towards the end of my arc, and I knew I had a storm-induced error or three which I was moved to correct after checking some stuff for CJ t'other day.

Anyway, having made the correction, I discovered no increase in performance and I also noticed SQ fluctuating violently.

So today I started from scratch, ensuring the mount was plumb all round, getting the dish better mounted to the motor stub datum line, and tweaking Az and El to perfection.

Still no improvement.

Thought about cable connections, doing stuff like swapping Ports on the LNB, checking individual cable ends for integrity and secure fit.

No change.

Checked the slave receiver in the lounge and it also showed violent SQ fluctuations.


Muchos swearos.

Went for a long walk with SWMBO and talked through it when the penny dropped. The Black Ultra was the only possible common link between the various cables, receivers etc.

Slapped on a manky old single from the dark recesses of the spares cupboard and now have the bestest performance ever.

Haven't got around to seeing if the IBU is recoverable yet, but realised that it too is Chinese made, so must lose the inverted snobbery!

Wondering if there's wildlife sitting under the Feedhorn cover, maybe.

Also noted the plastic outer case doesn't have drain holes like all my other LNBs.

Anyway, I've not come across a failure like this before; I know some multi-output jobbies can get total failure of one or more Ports, but for all Ports to go intermittent and insensitive seems weird.

Any comments?

 

[william-1]

I had one failure on a single IBU sent it back & got a new replacement as it was only 10 months old,
Previous failures Invacom 0.3 when a bird pecked through the plastic cover,

I have several single IBU & one twin that I have use a couple of times virtually brand new as I prefer the single Lnb for my set ups 4 dishes feeding 6 receivers with AB switches on the motorised systems,

It is possible that either a dry joint or water ingress may be the source of the problem trouble is with Lnb's that I have taken apart they never seem to work again.

 

[nelson_b]

Hi -
Yes i,v had a Black ultra twin fail in a similar way ... it did not go intermittent ... but did go dull/insensitive on both ports ... have replaced it with another Black ultra twin ... best all round performer to date, on my c.m. 1.8 offset.

 

[Lazarus]

@william-1

Yes, dry joint or water ingress were my favourites too. That said, IIRC the innards are in a hermetically sealed can.

I'm still trying to prise off the feedhorn cover without cracking it.

@nelson_b

IBU was twenty quid and has proven poor value for me. I'm going to get the cheapest Twin I can find!

Once a Yorkshireman .....


Edit: A quick shufti at the Bay of Fleas shows twelve quid to be the current price for the IBU

 

[Archive4]

What you chaps need is the GI Twin ( assuming your talking 40 mm standard offset )
Ask Ghostleader what he thinks of them.I´ll quote him, I´m sure he won´t mind.
" I fitted that G.I. twin you very kindly sent me. I'm seeing a 10% or more improvement on most transponders. Do they do a quad and if so do you know of European shops that ship to the U.K. that sell them? Cheers mate. "
Beat the hell out of the IBU , by a Spanish country mile!

 

[Lazarus]

Serendipitously (Do I get extra points for that word?) I use a Golden Interstar single on one of my other dishes and it does indeed perform well.

I shall Google the Twin (If that is still legal)

 

[archive10]

I have 6-7 black ultras, single, quad, quattro. Alas no dual.
One of quads died on port #3. However, i just use the other ports as on a dual.

These things are low-cost consumer items just like all the others, be they GI, GT, Opticum, Sharp, Feng-shui, no-name etc.
They will only last for so long, and some will fail faster than others.

The IBU is a well-designed piece of radio-mechannics, and I'll buy a new one any day to replace one that has died.
However, I would also happily use any other brand, as long as the performance is similar.

 

[Archive4]

Well, it´s like this

Serendipitously (Do I get extra points for that word?) I use a Golden Interstar single on one of my other dishes and it does indeed perform well.

I shall Google the Twin (If that is still legal)

Yes , extra points! BUT ( Paul is stating don´t start with a but, esp one in capitals ) they are not Golden Interstar any more. They are Galaxy Innovations are made in mother Russia using the German engineering, but they are bloody good.

I have 6-7 black ultras, single, quad, quattro. Alas no dual.
One of quads died on port #3. However, i just use the other ports as on a dual.

These things are low-cost consumer items just like all the others, be they GI, GT, Opticum, Sharp, Feng-shui, no-name etc.
They will only last for so long, and some will fail faster than others.

The IBU is a well-designed piece of radio-mechannics, and I'll buy a new one any day to replace one that has died.
However, I would also happily use any other brand, as long as the performance is similar.

IBU quality has slipped past the ankles in my opinion, the single is ok ish, the twin has always sh*t compared to others and the quad is average at best. Goobay quad will stuff an IBU without even thinking of the dwell angle, as will new GI version

 

[Lazarus]

Well, it´s like this


Yes , extra points! BUT ( Paul is stating don´t start with a but, esp one in capitals ) they are not Golden Interstar any more. They are Galaxy Innovations are made in mother Russia using the German engineering, but they are bloody good.

Aha.

 

[Ghostleader]

Mines went the exact same, mental flux in signal quality with port 2 worse than the other one, subbed out for a scrap Fortec Star quad & saw the LNB was the problem, stuck the GI Twin on the end that Milamber very kindly sent me and it outperforms the IBU twin from when it was working fine and from new.

Sent from my thl 2015A using Tapatalk

 

[Lazarus]

Mines went the exact same, mental flux in signal quality with port 2 worse than the other one, subbed out for a scrap Fortec Star quad & saw the LNB was the problem, stuck the GI Twin on the end that Milamber very kindly sent me and it outperforms the IBU twin from when it was working fine and from new.

Sent from my thl 2015A using Tapatalk

And that's what I love about this Forum.

One thinks one has a novel issue but, once aired, one finds one is not a loon and not only that one gets lots of suggestions too.

Thanks, chaps ☺

 

[Ghostleader]

My IBU twin was just over a year old Lazarus, bet you wished you'd fault finded the LNB first rather than all that work, I'd of been just as raging mate.

Sent from my thl 2015A using Tapatalk

 

[Archive4]

And that's what I love about this Forum.

One thinks one has a novel issue but, once aired, one finds one is not a loon and not only that one gets lots of suggestions too.

Thanks, chaps ☺

None of us ever said you were a loon, we may have thought it on occasion, but none of us ever said it!

 

[Lazarus]

Pot


Kettle


Of Colour



;)

 

[Ghostleader]

This forum might not be the most active of the sat forums out there but it's definitely one of the most friendly of them all, defo a good bunch of people on here doing a lot of good work to help others. I especially appreciate the work of the feed hunters on here.

Sent from my thl 2015A using Tapatalk

 

[Archive4]

Pot


Kettle


Of Colour



;)

At least I admit to the fact I live in two worlds

 

[Lazarus]

My IBU twin was just over a year old Lazarus, bet you wished you'd fault finded the LNB first rather than all that work, I'd of been just as raging mate.

Sent from my thl 2015A using Tapatalk

Well to be frank the dish needed attention anyway and so the work was not totally lost - but the reason for following the diagnostic path as I did was the woefully misplaced assumption that it couldn't possibly be the super, wonderful, high-quality, well recommended IBU!

Had I gone the other route and swapped out the LNB first, I'd still got some realigning to do anyway.

That said, it's amazing what a dish that is misplaced by 5deg on the motor stub, nearly three degrees out in azimuth and all hitherto corrected by fiddling USALS can do.

 

[Archive4]

Well to be frank the dish needed attention anyway and so the work was not totally lost - but the reason for following the diagnostic path as I did was the woefully misplaced assumption that it couldn't possibly be the super, wonderful, high-quality, well recommended IBU!

Had I gone the other route and swapped out the LNB first, I'd still got some realigning to do anyway.

That said, it's amazing what a dish that is misplaced by 5deg on the motor stub, nearly three degrees out in azimuth and all hitherto corrected by fiddling USALS can do.

Sorry, I took my HNC in a normal educational facility, not Hogwarts.
Would it be possible for you to re-write the last sentence in English rather than Parseltongue

 

[Lazarus]

"Him dish, him perform good despite being boll*xed"

 

[4wd]

Somewhat related, the BU twin I bought was great on 28e ...for a week or so, then the V levels went down the drain when sat levels went beyond a certain point. H remained strong and fine.

Then moved it to 19e, were it performed well for that easy job with high levels. But later 'something' happened again, and had to set a riduculous skew to get a tolerable V\H output level balance. Performs ok, but will have to get a new one (and hopefully better) to test on 28e low levels someday.