Wires to a SuperJack V-Box II positioner

[homerhat]

Hi all

At the moment I'm using a SuperJack EW 101 positioner, like the one below, to manually move the motor.
The cable coming from the motor has four wires (brown, red, blue and yellow) and for this positioner I'm only using the brown and red wires to move the motor.

Now that I've acquired a SuperJack V-Box II positoner I need to use the four wires. Two for the motor and two for the sensor.
The manual warns that mixing the motor/sensor wires can damage the motor.

Without opening the motor casing, can I confidently take it that the two wires (brown and red) I currently use are the motor wires and the others (blue and yellow) are the sensor wires?

 

[rolfw]

I think you can safely assume that, as the motor would never move with just the sensor wires connected.

You may need to open the motor though, as you have no guarantee that the sensor wires are connected.

 

[homerhat]

Thanks Rolf.

I connected the motor wires to the vbox and I can manually move the motor.

If I have to I will get up the ladder and open the motor and find out but if the other wires are connected, can they be connected to anything else other than the sensor?

 

[rolfw]

No, not as far as I know.

 

[homerhat]

I've now connected all the wires to the Vbox.
I can manually (using the Vbox remote) move the motor east and west.
However, after every move, the Vbox display shows "E-2".
Also after saving a position I can't get the motor to move to it.
Finally, after I set the electrical limits on the Vbox, I can no longer move the motor.

Searching for "E-2", "Er2", etc points to a sensor/reed switch problem.

It looks like I'm going to have to get up the ladder and open up the motor casing.
But I don't know what I'm looking for!

Any idea what I should be looking for/testing?
Also, is there any way of determining that the problem is not not with Vbox itself?

 

[blobber]

Have you tested continuity across the reed wires? i.e measure the resistance between the 2 wires with a multimeter:

It should read either a constant high resistance (>1M ohm) if reed is open, or low (<50 ohms) if closed. Then after each time you move the dish manually it should randomly come to rest in either of those 2 states. An analogue type of meter probably better for this as you should also be able to observe it vibrate at a middle reading being the average while moving.

If it is always low resistance then it suggests a short in the wiring or reed contacts stuck together. Always high would suggests a break in wiring or a burnt out reed. An unstable value neither high or low at rest could be failed insulation due to water.

 

[homerhat]

Thanks blobber.

No I haven't yet but I will.

Apart from testing the sensor/reed switch resistance and ensuring that the wires are actually connected to the switch, is there anything else I need to be looking out for?

 

[homerhat]

I have finally opened up the motor casing only to find out that one of the sensor wires had worked itself loose.

At least I can handle that!

Now to the fun of setting up the vbox with the receiver. Let's hope it's simple and trouble free!

Thank you all for your help.