ASC-1 Back home and working

[RT-Cat]

My ASC-1 arrived today back from Brian's "fix-it" shop. He installed the latest firmware on the unit. It appears to be working so far. I am having one problem but will keep checking on that one.
I searched around for a l-o-n-g time and finally found a driver for my Prolific USB to serial adapter that Win 7 would decide to allow to work. Funny thing the driver for Win 7 would not work. This one was for Vista and works great. I can connect to the ASC-1 without any problem. There must have been something wrong with the firmware that was on the ASC-1 because with the new version, my desktop now connects RS to RS without any problem.
So now if we could only get this Winter from Hell to come to an end and warm up enough to do the rest of the work at the dish, all would be well. Bad news though from the NWS. They stated cold for the next two months in my area.

 

[Hockeynut]

What is the one problem?...I am with ya on the winter,man it has been bad this yr!.Warm weather will not be welcomed with wide open arms more than any other yr I recall.

 

[Pixl]

Good work on the drivers. I've used vista drivers when none were available for win 7, sometimes works, but not always.

 

[turbosat]

RT-cat there's lots of land down here , if you want to remove yourself from the arctic conditions. But-unfortunately we don't have any NHL teams, nor are there many hockey rinks in AL. If we have more winters like this one though, those things may change. I would be okay with having more hockey teams close by!

 

[Titanium]

Glad that the unit is working for you, but curious about the one problem. No original firmware problem or any other issue was found with the unit. Wish I could say exactly why you were unable to perform an update or why you were unable to establish a path to the serial output.

When the ASC1 arrived it would not update and would error out as you had described. Performed a Global Reset, then the update and loading worked flawlessly.

I also have found that the Windows update drivers aren't compatible with devices. Often have had to delete the automatic updated drivers and install other versions.


Brian Gohl
Titanium Satellite

 

[updatelee]

The driver Im using in XP is (http://www.prolific.com.tw/US/ShowProduct.aspx?p_id=225&pcid=41) the release notes claim win 7 and win 8. Not sure, never tested it on those OS's though.

UDL

 

[Cham]

I have been using a windoze 7 Aser laptop for updating. I had a really old Prolific usb to serial adapter that I just plugged in and worked (using what ever driver that windoze automatically installed). I use the same adapter to run my HF rig remote control setup, as well as other functions.

Before I found this old adapter I tried a new one that was recommended by the ham community for rig control etc. I tried different drivers, different USB ports, changing port settings, etc, but could not get that one to work... at all! I thought I was just too stupid to figure out how to get it working. Luckily I found the old one, I am pretty much out of hair to pull out...
I suspect the new one I got was a dud. Quality control in these devices is not likely top notch. Maybe try another one. It seems when they do work they just work.
At least that is my somewhat limited experience with these devices.
I might try and install the new adapter in the Linux Fedora computer just for fun... but only after I have done something bad and feel I need punishment!

 

[RT-Cat]

What is the one problem?...I am with ya on the winter,man it has been bad this yr!.Warm weather will not be welcomed with wide open arms more than any other yr I recall.

We are not 100% sure of this yet, so will keep checking. Now and then moving from one sat to another, no problem. Some other times it "over runs" the location. When this happens, I have to bump it back to get picture. Odd thing is I have recorded the position numbers stored in the ASC-1 and when this "over-run" happens, the numbers are still the same as what was stored, but no signal until bumped back.
Will keep checking.

RT-cat there's lots of land down here , if you want to remove yourself from the arctic conditions. But-unfortunately we don't have any NHL teams, nor are there many hockey rinks in AL. If we have more winters like this one though, those things may change. I would be okay with having more hockey teams close by!

Well, RT-Cat doesn't talk "Southern" and too often I don't know what was said, so thanks for the land move offer. But IF I ever move it would be to the Southwest. I have a place I know I would go to. When I got up today it was 18 degrees. Today it will be 86 out West at that place, low, low humidity.

 

[Titanium]

Over run indicates that sensor counts are being lost. The ASC1 is counting all recognizable counts, but counts are not being presented. This usually happens on long cable runs, high resistance, failing or improperly positioned switches.

What type of cabling is used for motor, sensor and servo? Does the cable run have shielding? If so, where is the drain wire connected?

I would also scope the sensor connections during continuous runs and watch for changes in the cycle patterns.


Brian Gohl
Titanium Satellite

 

[RT-Cat]

Over run indicates that sensor counts are being lost. The ASC1 is counting all recognizable counts, but counts are not being presented. This usually happens on long cable runs, high resistance, failing or improperly positioned switches.

What type of cabling is used for motor, sensor and servo? Does the cable run have shielding? If so, where is the drain wire connected?

I would also scope the sensor connections during continuous runs and watch for changes in the cycle patterns.


Brian Gohl
Titanium Satellite

16 gauge, 4 conductor, stranded, shielded for motor and sensor. Servo has 16 gauge, two conductor, shielded. Servo is not connected at this time. Too cold at dish. If shield = drain then it is not connected to anything. Run is old (1984) in plastic pipe about 80 ft.
Also this never happened with the G-Box. ???
Maybe something out at the dish is just starting to act up?

 

[Titanium]

The ASC1's higher voltage and amperage is moving the actuator much faster than a Gbox and returning higher cycle counts with shorter open/close durations. What may have been adequate may not work at higher cycle counts.

The shield is not in play unless it is connected to a ground source. Try connecting the shield drain wire to ground at the actuator end. You might also try some filtering on the motor connection to reduce unwanted noise. I would check the switch placement and make sure the reed is placed as close as possible to the magnet. Be sure there are no cracks or other magnet defects. Switches are cheap. You might try a swap. An older switch may not reliably close during high cycle or rapid cycle transitions.

Tested your ASC1 to 40hz, so we know the sensor circuit is properly working. Hope that these tips help isolate the problem.

As a side note: 16g is a skinny wire for driving an actuator motor. You should consider providing a little more juice out to the motor as a spring project. 12 gauge will provide much better lifting off of the horizon and movement speed. Try isolating the motor power from the other circuits.




Brian Gohl
Titanium Satellite

 

[RT-Cat]

Interesting. Another project for this Summer, if it ever shows up.
I took a screen shot of that info and will use after this blasted Winter ends(if ever).
Thanks
Ted
RT is "out cold".

 

[truckracer]

Lol


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[RT-Cat]

An additional update for Brian,
That delay of 30 to 45 seconds of after changing sats on the receiver and before the ASC-1 would move the dish has also gone away. Nano says "move" and ASC-1 "clicks" and dish goes.

 

[Titanium]

Great! 22Khz amplitude sensitivity setting was one of the firmware updates for 20140227v2.

Not sure of what DiSEqC changes were made with the Nano firmware. Haven't tried comparing the two versions, yet.

Brian Gohl
Titanium Satellite