HH Motor and Invacom LNB & DISH PRO

[StoneTower]

Hi,

I have a motorized dish and I just got a Invacom QPH-031. I understand that I need a diseqc 2x1 to use both the circular and linear part of the lnb on the same cable. I understand that the diseqc switch should go after the botor between the motor and the LNB. I was wondering if one could use a 3x1 or 4x1 (not sure if they make a 3x1 switch and tie it to a Dish Pro (duel horn 2 output) and have it work. The dish pro LNB works with Dvbdream & Mytheater and to receive NASA I would not have to wait for the dish to move. Has anyone tried a Dish Pro with a Diseqc switch in front of it?

Thanks

StoneTower

 

[Anole]

Most common diseqc switches are 4-input.
I don't see anything wrong with what you propose, in principle.

diseqc inputs:
1. linear QPH-031
2. circular QPH-031
3. fixed circular LNB
4. unused

Not sure how much current the DishPro head pulls, though.
It's looking at two birds, and on a fixed dish by itself?
I do know the DishProPlus are real current-suckers, and probably would not be suitable.
If you have a single-bird DishPro or legacy LNB, that might be preferable.

 

[brentb636]

You could certainly use an Ecoda 22khz switch , after the motor, switching between the Diseqc switch and the Dishpro lnbf.

Then, at least, you wouldn't have 2 Diseqc switches in sequence.



Brent

 

[Anole]

I wasn't clear on whether the DishPro was the two-bird model or not.
If it is, it certainly does have its own diseqc switch inside, and that would be a problem cascading it after a diseqc switch.
However, it powers up with each port defaulting to a different bird.
I think it also supports fancier diseqc commands, and you'd have to look them up for the full story.
Probably the simple solution, is to not use it, at any rate.

edit: after some reflection, I believe Brent's suggestion with the Ecoda 22khz switch might be even better.

 

[StoneTower]

I wasn't clear on whether the DishPro was the two-bird model or not.
If it is, it certainly does have its own diseqc switch inside, and that would be a problem cascading it after a diseqc switch.
However, it powers up with each port defaulting to a different bird.
I think it also supports fancier diseqc commands, and you'd have to look them up for the full story.
Probably the simple solution, is to not use it, at any rate.

edit: after some reflection, I believe Brent's suggestion with the Ecoda 22khz switch might be even better.

Yes the Dishpro is the twin head (2 Lnb in one case) with 2 connectors. It can be used with 2 receivers and has some type of switch built in. The Ecoda 22khz switch you talk about....does that switch using 22khz rather than diseqc commands? Are there some good quality switches that I can use before the motor where I could place them directly after the DVBS card and run 2 cables for the dishes into the house? If there was a way to do this, it would isolate the DishPro from the motor which may be too much for my poor Skystar2.

So the question is...are there any switches (Diseqc or 22khz) that can be placed before the HH motor.

Thank you,

StoneTower

 

[Anole]

Here is essentially what Brent was suggesting.
Picture posted subject to some of our switch gurus verifying that it should work.

I threw in a spare/surplus Dish receiver to power the Twin LNB. -

 

[StoneTower]

Here is essentially what Brent was suggesting.
Picture posted subject to some of our switch gurus verifying that it should work.

I threw in a spare/surplus Dish receiver to power the Twin LNB. -

Thank you for the graphic. It is always nice to see what people are describing.

Dvbs PCI Cards are sometimes short on power. I know the card will power the DishPro lnb and I know the card will power the motor and the single lnb I have on it now.

Currently I have 2 cables running in the house and I manually switch them. Is there a switch that I can put directly after the DVBS PCI card so that I totally isolate the motor when I am running the DishPro lnb? I know generally they say to put the switch after the motor, but the 22Khz switch you spoke of earlier will pass the diseqc commands. Will this 22khz or some other switch be able to handle the load of the motor? Your setup will work, but it would be much easier for me to do it the other way if there is a switch that can handle the load.

Thank,

StoneTower

 

[Anole]

version 2

I think you want to hook up more like this, eh?

Get some feedback from others as to putting the Ecoda 22khz switch before the motor.
Motors pull about 350ma max, but I don't know how much power the Ecoda can handle.
It'd have to deal with the motor, diseqc switch, and QPH-031 LNB in one position, or the DishPro Twin in the other.

 

[StoneTower]

I think you want to hook up more like this, eh?

Get some feedback from others as to putting the Ecoda 22khz switch before the motor.
Motors pull about 350ma max, but I don't know how much power the Ecoda can handle.
It'd have to deal with the motor, diseqc switch, and QPH-031 LNB in one position, or the DishPro Twin in the other.

That is what I was talking about. The Skystar 2 powers the Dishpro fine without a receiver for power. I am just worried about 2 switches, a motor and when switched the power hog of a Dishpro killing my PCI card. If when running the Dishpro I was isolated from the motor it might help not burn the card.

I saw on another site (after you started talking about 22khz switches) where a guy was using a 22khz switch before his motor and he said that it had been working fine for over a year.

I found that the Ecoda 22khz switch has a passing current of 300 mA max. I would like to hear from people who might have tried putting one of these switches before a motor.

Thanks,

StoneTower

 

[Anole]

other considerations

Personally, I like powering the Dish LNB from another source just for the heck of it.
Otherwise, use a single LNB, either Legacy or DishPro.

As for powering the motor, there is a mod to the common 2100 motors where you wire in 18/20 volts from something like a surplus laptop power supply.
That way, no current is actually drawn from the FTA card/receiver to run the motor.

Also, don't forget to factor in power necessary to run the QPH-031.
The Invacom PDF file says: "less than 100mA", whatever that means.

 

[StoneTower]

Hi Anole,

Ok I got my Ecoda 22khz switches. Now I have one cable coming for the HH motor dish and one coming from the DP dish.

Can you help me with the settings in DVB dream. I have the DP on LNB-b (0khz) side and the motorized dish on the LNBA (22khz) side. In Dvbdream I chose:

Diseqc v1.0 or 2.0

1: Port 1
Telstar 5 (Standard linear Lnb on this one for now until I get it working and then I will ad the Diseqc switch and the Invacom)
lnb type: other
Lof1 10750000
Lofsw 0
Lof2 0
Raw Diseqc (Blank)

22khz (on)

Uncommited Port switch 1

2: Port 2
Echo7

lnb type: NA Banstacked Dishpro Ku-Hi DBS
Lof1 11250000
Lofsw (Does not exist with above setting
Lof2 14350000
Raw Diseqc (Blank)

22khz (off)

Uncommited Port switch 2
Echo 8,9

lnb type: NA Banstacked Dishpro Ku-Hi DBS
Lof1 11250000
Lofsw (Does not exist with above setting
Lof2 14350000
Raw Diseqc (Blank)

22khz (off)

Uncommited Port switch 2

These settings work for the Telstar 5 but I cannot receive Nasa or the Dish info station for some reason. I have another install of Dvbdream and I do not have the Diseqc settings entered (just the banstacked Dishpro settings and because the cable is connected to the 0khz side of the switch (off position) it works just fine and I receive the Dishinfo (101) & nasa.

Any idea what I am doing wrong? The Ecoda 22khz does pass the motor signal and I am able to move the dish.

Thanks,

StoneTower

 

[StoneTower]

Ok I made some changes and I got it working but I still have some questions...

Diseqc v1.0 or 2.0

1: Port 1
Echo7

lnb type: NA Banstacked Dishpro Ku-Hi DBS
Lof1 11250000
Lofsw (Does not exist with above setting
Lof2 14350000
Raw Diseqc (Blank)

22khz (off)

Uncommited Port switch 0


2: Port 2
Echo 8,9

lnb type: NA Banstacked Dishpro Ku-Hi DBS
Lof1 11250000
Lofsw (Does not exist with above setting
Lof2 14350000
Raw Diseqc (Blank)

22khz (off)

Uncommited Port switch 0


3: Port 3

Telstar 5 (Standard linear Lnb on this one for now until I get it working and then I will ad the Diseqc switch and the Invacom)
lnb type: other
Lof1 10750000
Lofsw 0
Lof2 0
Raw Diseqc (Blank)

22khz (on)

Uncommited Port switch 0

It works now but I discovered that because the DishPro has its own switch it had to have the different sats on different ports. This part works fine now.

The part with Telstar 5....I want to put my invacom QPH-031 in place of the standard linear LNB that is on the motorized dish. How do I add the Diseqc between the linear and circular parts of that lnb and tell Dvbdream how to operate the switch? Also could someone please explain the "UncommitedPort switch" option? I am obviously going to add more sats to the motorized dish but I wanted to keep it simple while I am playing.

Thanks so much,

StoneTower

 

[Anole]

Can one of the DVBdreamers help Stony with his settings and switch problem?
I've not used DvBd in a long time, and would have to RTFM from scratch. -

 

[Anole]

The help with the 22khz switch and the pictures helped me along alot.

Can you explain what an uncommited swith is? I can probably figure out the settings if I knew what I was shooting for. How (in theory) does the software (or the receiver in your case) know to switch the tone switch before the Diseqc switch? The settings I can mess with through trial and error if nothing else. I have searched and searched and have not found the answer.

Thanks for all your help.

StoneTower

For the uncommitted switch info, you might check out this thread on a Digiwave 8-port unit.

There's also some discussion on the 4th page of the Mercury II review.