How to: Install a motorised satellite dish

did my motorised install at the weekend :)
ive noticed these 2 little parts left over from all the equipment.


i cant remember which item they came with, can anyone tell me what they are for please? :)

IMG_20130528_183612.jpg
 
Looks like gromets to motor or lnb. Basically to protect against water ingress

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did my motorised install at the weekend :)
ive noticed these 2 little parts left over from all the equipment.


i cant remember which item they came with, can anyone tell me what they are for please? :)

View attachment 73783

They are the grommets that fit over the f connectors on the motor to stop contacts getting wet.
 
cheers!
oh right lol i guess they should be fitted then, its pee'ing down here atm, so i'll chuck em on soon.
are they just for the normal f-connectors or will they fit over compression f-connectors aswell?
 
cheers!
oh right lol i guess they should be fitted then, its pee'ing down here atm, so i'll chuck em on soon.
are they just for the normal f-connectors or will they fit over compression f-connectors aswell?

Should fit over any connectors mate,or just get some amalgamating tape if you cant be bothered to disconnect you feeds
 
For menu screen shots i am going to use a Technomate reciever as these are now a very popular choice. The majority of recievers all have very similar setup options.

First of all connect the lead from the reciever to the motor, now back inside connect it to the satellite input socket on the reciever and turn on the reciever.

Now before you enter anything into the reciever go back outside and take a quick look at the dish, it should look similar to the picture below, with the dish face itself sitting pretty straight, if not a quick trip up the ladder now will save you pulling your hair out in 20 mins time. Now would also be an ideal time to use your compass to point the dish as due south as you can, it doesnt need to be spot on, but its no good pointing it towards santas house.

04032006dw1.jpg


Back into the house now, and into the motorised setup menu. First of all select a satellite, for this we'll use Thor @ 1'W. Now select your motor type. I always use USALS as its so easy when it comes to adding more satellites. Now you need to enter your latitude and longitude that you wrote down earlier (you did keep them safe i hope). Once all this is done you should have an option to 'Go To' highlight this and press OK. The dish will move slightly. Now if you havent got a signal strength meter you are going to have to rely on the onscreen levels, fortunatley on the technomates these are extremely sensitive and acurate.

the bars on the screen will more than likley indicate very little or no signal, you need to slowly move the dish to get these as high as possible. On a technomate when a signal is 'locked' the bars will change colour from both red to one yellow and one blue, once they have done this you can tighten the dish slightly ready to fine tune the alaignment.

First off to start fine tuning the dish hold the face of the dish (the big circle) and only very lightly bend it (it wont damage it) left and right and up and down. This should cause the signal on the screen to improve. Once you have worked out which way to move the dish to improve the signal move it very slightly and again bend the face. Keep doing this untill any way you bend the face causes the signal to drop. You have now alaigned the dish, you just need to tighten it. First of all tighten the elevation bracket on the back of the dish, taking care not to move it.

Now you need to tighten the motor onto the pole. Be carefull here because if you just go tightening the bolts you will move the dish. As you tighten a clamp onto a round fixing the clamp moves in the opposite direction its being tightened. So, if you tighten the bolt on the left 3 turns, also tighten the bolt on the right 3 turns. Do this untill you are satisfied that it is tight enough.

You should now have a screen similar to this:

05032006006lw1.jpg
motor
after update on my nbox i lost all settingd
 
Hi Digidude, I'm having a go a my first motorised dish install over the weekend although I've done stationary dishes a number of times.

Not expecting it to be as straightforward as you make it appear, nothing IT or computer related ever is, but this a fantastic guide none the less which I'm sure will make life a lot easier.

Thanks for all your hard work.

Cheers tom955.
 
clocking will slow you down
 
I've had a motorised dish at home for 20+ years, starting with early EchoStar receivers, and I've always had a 36volt positioner. When I went to a Dreambox a few years ago I also bought a V-box to drive the positioner, which it does pretty well. However I've had continuing problems in getting the system to reposition the dish reliably when I change from a channel on one satellite to another on a different one. My receiver is a DM800SE "genuine??!" clone with an A8P sim and I run Open PLi 4; I've tried several different versions of that with little change.
I would love to hear from others who may have had more success in this area, possibly with different boxes.
Apologies if this is wrongly placed in this thread, but it seemed appropriate.
 
Hi
I think I've now resolved this completely. I also have a Mediacenter PC with a tuner, and this is looped with the Dreambox. If the Mediacenter has made a recording and even though it's gone back to sleep, it blocks diseq commands until it's PC is rebooted; then everything works absolutely reliably. I suppose I'll have to get a twin LNB eventually, but that's the only reason it would really be necessary. Incidentally the V-box system is quite fast, probably faster than most diseq motors.
 
Hi
I think I've now resolved this completely. I also have a Mediacenter PC with a tuner, and this is looped with the Dreambox. If the Mediacenter has made a recording and even though it's gone back to sleep, it blocks diseq commands until it's PC is rebooted; then everything works absolutely reliably. I suppose I'll have to get a twin LNB eventually, but that's the only reason it would really be necessary. Incidentally the V-box system is quite fast, probably faster than most diseq motors.

Why not wire them up in a different order? I.e have the media centre last in line so it doesn't block the DiSEqC
commands when it's asleep.
 
That would be great if both systems had a loop through on their tuners; unfortunately not, so I think I'm stuck where I am, albeit with a sort of solution.
 
Just dragging this up, I replaced my motor recently, I had initially had the system installed by a fitter, I marked the pole and put it all back somewhere near then searched for the Satellites, Got great signal on 0.8w but when I get round to 28.2e I have around 50% signal and quality and I can't get some transponders at all. I can't get a couple of other sats that I used to have.

Reading back through this great thread I have now learn't about the centre line on the motor, so I can address this. I have also purchased a Satlink WS-6933 meter.

Is there a specific area my dish should be mounted on the motor? (top, middle, bottom)

I have a dark motor and 1m Gibertini dish.

Cheers
Stu.
 
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Always mount mine as far up the motor mast as possible to reduce the leverage effect.

Get the dish central on the motors mast, set the elevation/declination on the motor/dish roughly from your coordinates and send the dish to 0.8w then fine tune dish and then check the arc.
 
Always mount mine as far up the motor mast as possible to reduce the leverage effect.

Get the dish central on the motors mast, set the elevation/declination on the motor/dish roughly from your coordinates and send the dish to 0.8w then fine tune dish and then check the arc.

Couldn't have put it better myself! :thumbsup:

Reading back through this great thread I have now learn't about the centre line on the motor, so I can address this. I have also purchased a Satlink WS-6933 meter.


Stu.


The meter will save you so much time, you won't regret it.
 
Won't be using usals as I don't think the mount on the wall is 100% perfectly plumb. With the help of the meter I should be able to get it back as good as when first installed if not better, need the weather to give me a break first though.

Cheers for the tips guys.
 
Won't be using usals as I don't think the mount on the wall is 100% perfectly plumb. With the help of the meter I should be able to get it back as good as when first installed if not better, need the weather to give me a break first though.

Cheers for the tips guys.

Can you not get the wall mount plumb. If it is slightly out you can get away with it but even then its not going trac the arc as it should.

What type of wall mount is it ?
 
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