Motor rotates wrong.. driving me crazy!!

Receiver: VU+ SOLO 4K
Motor: Digipower SG-2100A
Dish: 85 cm (diameter)
Location: Netherlands

I have read most of the instructions and guides on the internet on how to set up a motorized dish. Still I have can't seem to set it up.

I get nothing on signal strength and signal quality. I must say that a few days ago I tried fixing it and i got like 13 channels on Astra 19.2 then in order to improve the signal quality i slowly moved the dish. I saw like 2% improvement in signal strength and signal quality jumped from 0 to 20% but when i tried to slowly rotate the motor on the pole. I lost all those signals. As instructed in various guides I didn't loose the bolts which fix the dish to the motor, so the dish was firmly attached to the motor.

At the moment this problem is driving me crazy:
when i move the dish with the receiver (USAL method) for example to HOTBIRD 13.0E the motor takes it to 10.0E, like 3 degrees shorter. The same with other satellites. I did a reset on the motor, that didn't help. Besides my solo 4k, My LG tv got a tuner as well, even with that the motor doesnt move to the position which it receives from the tuner. I should say that right before this problem, I readjusted everything (elevation, declination etc). Previously I had set the latitude on the motor at 51 (with decimals it is 51.8258). So this time i rounded off this number to 52 and the decimals of the longitude from ,69 to ,7 and adjusted the motor accordingly. could this be causing this craziness?

I have uploaded some photos to let you guys see if i have done things correctly when it comes to the hardware part. Here is the link: https://imageshack.com/a/McFM/1

Set the motor to zero, or reference point with the receiver and check physically that the marker underneath with is at zero. If not then you know the issue is mechanically localised to the motor and not the system in general

Channel Hopper said:

Set the motor to zero, or reference point with the receiver and check physically that the marker underneath with is at zero. If not then you know the issue is mechanically localised to the motor and not the system in general

Click to expand...

Thnx for the reply. It does accurately stop at zero. But from zero when u wanna move it to let's say 5.0E it ll stop just short of that.

In your first photo the mast is not true, it must be absolutely vertically level front to back and side to side or it will not track the arc of the satellites correctly.

Then as Channel Hopper mentioned the motor must be zeroed to DUE South first, you then align the motor and dish (by using the East West controls) to your DUE South satellite for your location.

When using USALS you need to enter your longitude and latitude correctly and as accurate as possible, if you are off by a few degrees you may miss some satellites, Google Earth can help you with this.

Terryl said:

In your first photo the mast is not true, it must be absolutely vertically level front to back and side to side or it will not track the arc of the satellites correctly.

Then as Channel Hopper mentioned the motor must be zeroed to DUE South first, you then align the motor and dish (by using the East West controls) to your DUE South satellite for your location.

When using USALS you need to enter your longitude and latitude correctly and as accurate as possible, if you are off by a few degrees you may miss some satellites, Google Earth can help you with this.

Click to expand...

You are right about the mast. Even though the metal plate attached to it at the other end of the mast is fully vertical as u can see in one of those photos. Maybe the mast is slightly bent or the dish is heavy!? I must say that when I put the level on the side of the motor it shows it vertical (see photos).

The main issue is currently the deviation caused by the motor. Few hours ago I entered the exact coordinates in the receiver and adjust elevation on the motor and resetting both the motor and the receiver. Still the same damn issue. I aimed the satellite roughly towards south though I don't have to (?) cuz I use USALS.

USALS is only a program, designed to calculate the satellite positions from the information, you have entered, into your receiver, the Latitude, and Longitude, of your location.
You still need to do the basics, in setting up your motor.
Ensure that the pole is plumb, and both strong enough, and secure enough, to handle the weight of the dish, and motor, plus any bad weather, especially strong winds.
You then set everything to 0, the motor, and LNB, so that there's no skew, rotation of the LNB.
Ensure everything is done up tightly, prior to using your receiver to move the motor/dish.
Next you enter your Latitude, and Longitude, into your receiver, negative Longitude readings = West, positive = East. Your Longitude reading is your True South.
Now you use your receiver, to send the dish to a suitable satellite, preferably one closest to your True South.
Once done you physically move the dish/motor, both East/West, and adjust the elevation, after slackening the bolts, on the motor/dish, to get the strongest possible signal, from the selected satellite.
You then tighten everything up, go to your receiver, and check your furthest East, and West, satellites, making a note of the signal quality readings.
You then move the dish back to the starting point, the satellite used to align your dish, and make minor adjustments, to get it to track the satellite arc.
If your motor isn't moving the dish, to the correct location, it could be due to a loose cable connection, a faulty motor, probably the reed sensor, your dish/motor not being secure enough, so slipping, or your receiver.

As Mickha above suggests, it is probably your initial alignment at fault. You should always get at least one satellite strongly if you've used the correct process of setting up, that should be your due South satellite (or one closeby), in your case, 7 East should do it.

Once set on the correct latitude, the motor setting shouldn't need to be changed normally, unless your mast is out of true, so the only adjustments to make are moving the motor around the mast and changing the dish elevation to peak reception of the due South satellite. Are you using some sort of meter to peak the initial alignment?

I am not sure whether other adjusts of settings (hardware/software) are to be blamed for but I haven't touched the pole or the mast since I fixed it to the wall. In the beginning I didn't have the issue of this +3 degree deviation in the rotation of the motor.

Hmm. As you are in NL, your Longitude will be a little East of South.

Do check what you've entered in USALS ........ With some receivers, it's not always obvious what syntax to use to distinguish between E and W.

So, if for example your location is 1.5E, yet you end up entering 1.5W, you'll end up with a 3 degree error.

Often E is represented by a positive number and W by a negative number.

Do check.

Lazarus said:

Hmm. As you are in NL, your Longitude will be a little East of South.

Do check what you've entered in USALS ........ With some receivers, it's not always obvious what syntax to use to distinguish between E and W.

So, if for example your location is 1.5E, yet you end up entering 1.5W, you'll end up with a 3 degree error.

Often E is represented by a positive number and W by a negative number.

Do check.

Click to expand...

East and west are clearly spelled without using their abbreviation. So I haven't made a mistake there.
However, right before this issue I made the mistake of typing the longitude values in the latitude cell and vice versa in the receiver. That made the motor move to the farthest point it could move to. I noticed that quickly and corrected my mistake. Do u think this may caused this issue? Well I did reset the motor and receiver afterwards.

After I'd posted, I checked your likely Longitude is over 4 deg E, so the E/W substitution error would have been over 8 deg and therefore could be ruled out.

As for the Lat/Long mix up, simple logic might indicate a link on the basis that it worked before that episode but not after.

However, I can't close the loop, as it were, unless the motor was damaged in the process, because in general terms misbehaviour can be corrected by resetting the motor and you say you did that.

I do wonder, however, if perhaps the dish has slipped or even twisted slightly on the motor stub.

One last point - when you say you reset the motor, what exactly did you do? ie Did you drive it to Reference using the Receiver or did you stick a pin up the hole in the Motor body? "Reset" can be a slightly ambiguous word ......

Having read through the thread a few times and having setup my own motorised dish I can understand your frustration, so I think it best to start from scratch!
What are your co-ordinates? 51.825N 7E puts you in Germany! So 7E may not be your best sat for due south, depending on your location 4.8E may be a better south sat to start with.
Ensure your dish is correctly aligned to the centre of the motor stub. Some motors have a centre line to help, others do not. If the dish is not centred on the stub, moving the motor right / left ( or east / west ) will only set the correct position for the sat you are looking at ( you mentioned 19.2 E ) but will be wrong for others so will not track the arc.
Set co-ordinates in the receiver, go to due south sat ( having set the motor elevation calculated by your position) Then fine tune the elevation of the dish for max signal.
Edit: You may also have to rotate the motor at this point as well, if the original set up was not correct!
Due you have a meter to help you?
When you have the max signal, scan the txp to ensure you are actually looking at the correct sat!
Once achieved, move one or two sats east and west and scan them, gradually moving further east and west.
Post findings!

^^^^
No, check Post #1 yet again ..... Longitude tenths are 7 ie whatever the integer is (probably 4), he rounded to one decimal pace ie 4.7

By reset i mean sticking a pin up the hole in the motor. Before resetting I did move the motor to zero.

When I had the long/Lat mix up and the motor was rotating all the way to 75deg east the cable coming from the receiver had kind of blocked the movement of the motor. The cable was a little twisted. One could blame this for the issue but I doubt because I don't think the motor is that weak to be damaged by a cable in its path. The motor still goes to exactly zero when I select 'Goto 0' in the receiver.

Today I am going to replace this dish with a lighter dish and see what happens.

Lazarus said:

^^^^
No, check Post #1 yet again ..... Longitude tenths are 7 ie whatever the integer is (probably 4), he rounded to one decimal pace ie 4.7

Click to expand...

I am aware of that, hence I made the point that 7E would put him in Germany. Someone else suggest 7E sat a a possible starting point, I just wanted to clarify the exact starting point.

Ok.

As for the cable, the best think to do is shift the pivot point away from the motor to LNB socket by zip-tying it to the mast close to the motor.

If you don't, repeated panning of the motor will cause the F connector at the motor end to loosen.

Also, from the sound of it, your cable is too short and/or not well routed, as it shouldn't be able to snag on any hardware.

Milamber said:

I am aware of that, hence I made the point that 7E would put him in Germany. Someone else suggest 7E sat a a possible starting point, I just wanted to clarify the exact starting point.

Click to expand...

I see what you mean.

Shouldn't make much odds anyway when using USALS as the traditional South Satellite method becomes non-essential (Provided the mechanical aspects of the installation are aok).

According to the motor spec it can take up to a 120 cm dish, so unless your 85 cm is a super heavy dish it should not be causing a problem.
Assuming the motor has manual east west buttons on it, drive the dish to say 70 west, then using east button to say 70 east, then back to centre. If the dish moves without needing manual help the motor can handle the weight of the dish.

Except for the oft mentioned issue with use in exposed locations, owing to potential - and actual - damage caused when the wind blows. Weight is clearly a factor, too, steel being more problematic than aluminium.

Many of us have relocated 1m to 1.2m dishes on these Motors, despite them being specified for 1.2m, from wall mounts to sheltered patio mounts.

Milamber said:

Having read through the thread a few times and having setup my own motorised dish I can understand your frustration, so I think it best to start from scratch!
What are your co-ordinates? 51.825N 7E puts you in Germany! So 7E may not be your best sat for due south, depending on your location 4.8E may be a better south sat to start with.
Ensure your dish is correctly aligned to the centre of the motor stub. Some motors have a centre line to help, others do not. If the dish is not centred on the stub, moving the motor right / left ( or east / west ) will only set the correct position for the sat you are looking at ( you mentioned 19.2 E ) but will be wrong for others so will not track the arc.
Set co-ordinates in the receiver, go to due south sat ( having set the motor elevation calculated by your position) Then fine tune the elevation of the dish for max signal.
Edit: You may also have to rotate the motor at this point as well, if the original set up was not correct!
Due you have a meter to help you?
When you have the max signal, scan the txp to ensure you are actually looking at the correct sat!
Once achieved, move one or two sats east and west and scan them, gradually moving further east and west.
Post findings!

Click to expand...

@Milamber,

Thanks. It is indeed very frustrating!!

That's indeed my latitude. As Lazarus said I had rounded of the decimals of my longititude but I changed it back to the exact decimals cuz I thought this maybe making the motor crazy. So my longititude is 4.69 and I have been aiming for Astra 4,8E which is the closest to my due south. Btw, how do u find ur due south without the watch method (between 12&15 hours)? And since I use USALS I need to be roughly aiming at south, not exactly due south, right?

No I don't have a meter. When I check the signal strength, I just look at the tv screen with those signal bars.

One more question. After setting up the motor and dish, do I have to enter the frequency of a specific tv channel of the satellite I am aiming at or merely selecting the frequency of the satellite for instance 4.8E is enough?