Auto Tuning RV Dish

[Inno]

A friend asked me if I could look at the satellite dish from his father's RV. It is made by King Controls and I believe the model is King Dome 9200. He had already taken it somewhat apart to replace the LNB but prior to that apparently it would not move at all.
My question are as follows. Does anyone here have any experience repairing these? Do they use a special LNB as the LNB has to be mounted sideways in order to fit and the circular polarity would be incorrect? Come to think of it, that is probably why when he "tested it" it didn't work. He probably checked it on a regular dish. Does anyone have any technical info on how everything should be wired inside?

 

[updatelee]

circular polarity lnb's dont care about skew. they work on clockwise polarized and counter clockwise polarized signals. you can skew the lnb any which way and the signal polarity wont change.

 

[Inno]

Thanks for that, I wasn't sure.

 

[rv1pop]

I no longer have one and I did not keep the manual... but it seems you have to push 2 buttons on the power panel control to get it to start scanning after a receiver change or complete power down - which you get if the inverter goes off and you are not plugged into "shore power". Also, if the GPS is not powered up first, it does not seem to want to work.... But that is all from memory - and I never was a subscriber so the dish was traded for over things!

 

[Inno]

I found some info on their website but I'm thinking this may be above my head. The unit in question was built in 2000 I think and who knows. Without a schematic I likely wouldn't even have a starting point.
Thanks for the info though.

 

[Anole]

some thoughts . . .

Since it might be more common to DishNetork or DirecTV users, maybe a note in each of those forums, pointing to this thread, would expose your question to more members?

You didn't really say what was wrong with it or what you were trying to accomplish.
What environment has it been exposed to? Salt air? Rain water?
Does it have corrosion damage to the electronics.. motors.. bearings?

The units like that I've read about, have a very tiny dish, and are good for little else beyond 101° or 119° service.
So, I don't think it has any FTA uses.

How about contacting the manufacturer and ask about a repair?
Or, any of their dealers?

 

[Mr Tony]

King Controls is here in MN.,.about 15 minutes away from me

King Controls

 

[Mr Tony]

What system are you using? Dish/Direct/Bell?

Best option would be to ask in that area. Those dishes are like 3/4 of a 18" dish so they wont work with FTA or Shaw

 

[Inno]

It is being used for Bell.........never thought of it not being a FTA dish before posting it here..... I just figured that the FTA forum was very well traveled.

It doesn't belong to me but a friend asked me if I would have a look at it. It does not move the dish at all. The board has no corrosion on it and nothing would indicate that it has been wet or damaged in any way. I think this may be a case where I will bow out and tell them to contact the manufacturer if they haven't already. I don't have the time right now to get too far into it anyway.

 

[Mr Tony]

You might want to ask in the Canadian forum here....maybe someone has used it for Bell

 

[rv1pop]

Bell or Camping World can tell you the sequence to test it... I remeber if it has faulted out from being off power for too long there is a sequence to turn it on. It requires the power to the dish to be turned on after the gps has found the satellites to locate the dishes location if I remember, the computer then sets the elevation and scans the axmuth for 119w. But the sequence is of great importance. It has been 4 years since I played with it. When I decided to go FTA I sold king dome and bought my FTA setup with the proceeds.

 

[Inno]

Ah! That may be all it is. Thank you!!
I think the manual is available online so perhaps just going through it might tell me what to do.