Hopper Troubleshooting help needed

markPetitfils

New Member
Original poster
Jan 5, 2013
4
0
Missouri
I had a Hopper/2 Joey system installed Oct 5. It worked fine until about the weeks of December 20th, when it started recording a program. It would record (usually) 6 minutes of a program, then stop. Sometimes it would record the same program in parts, usually of 1-6 minutes. I assumed it was progamming conflicts and attempted to resolve it with timer changes. A few days later, the Hopper would start a cycle where it would reboot nonstop for hours. I called tech support and they overnighted me a new Hopper last Friday. I installed the new Hopper Saturday. Sunday night around 2 am, the Hopper started this reboot process again. It would reboot, go through the resolution changes, and start playing. Then it would reboot again. I called tech support and they had a tech out to the Monday morning. He had to reinstall "everything but the reflector". Turns out the node installed was for a 2 Hopper 3 Joey system, and the wiring from the dish to the Hopper had 3 barrell splices in it. He left the new Hopper and all seemed well until Tuesday about 2 am. The Hopper again continued to reboot until 930 AM. I called Dish again, and they had a tech out this morning.

He checked the outlets with a plug in type receptecle tester, the type with three lights. He found what he called a "hot neutral reverse". I don't know why he called it a hot neutral reverse, because when I pulled the outlet it turned out that the black and white wires were reversed, but the neutral was fine. He blamed that outlet as the source of the problem, even though the Hopper was plugged into a different outlet that worked fine. He didn't use a multimeter to check voltage, amperege, or resistance. He told me that the system should never have been installed because that outlet was the trouble. I don't dispute that in theory, but in practice the Hopper was plugged into a different outlet and worked fine for 3 months. I ended up talking to the field manager, and he agreed to install a new Hopper if we put it in a different room, which I agreed to. I currently have that outlet disassmbled and tagged out.

What do you guys think? Was the tech shooting blanks on this outlet? Is it possible that the second Hopper was damaged by the faulty installation? If this solution doesn't work, what's next? I asked about moving the node inside, and the tech refused, saying it was against Dish policy. (I live in south Missouri).

Both of the recent techs were Dish techs, and imo were both professional and trustworthy. The installer was a subcontractor...and not professional at all. They missed the first appointment, showed up the next night unannounced and were here til midnight on top of doing a bad install.

I'm not yet at my wits end with Dish, but if this problem persists, what are my options?
 
Neutral IS the white wire. Safety ground is green, hot leads are typically black, red or blue.

Reversed hot and neutral is bad but should not have caused the problem.

Neutral is supposed to be close to "earth" potential but devices must tolerate voltage on the neutral. In a properly functioning electrical system it is not uncommon to measure up to several volts between safety ground and neutral. A "hi-pot" test places several thousand volts between safety ground and neutral/hot tied together and there must not be any leakage.

A hot/safety ground reverse, would place 120 volts on the equipment's chassis and anything connected to it. If anything connected to the chassis is grounded (e.g., the dish in this case) plugging in the equipment would result in sparks and a blown breaker (or worse).

Neutral/saftey ground reversal is bad and can result in odd behavior because the chassis of any equipment plugged in with a 3-prong plug will get any neutral voltage. Current will flow through any cables connected to the equipment.

The three-light testers will NOT identify a neutral/safety ground reversal!

Any wiring issues should be corrected by a licensed electrician.

A reboot would not be triggered by bad signal or cabling to the dish. Loss of signal would interrupt a recording, but this does not break the recording into multiple segments. Rather, you get a signal loss message during playback and playback will resume.

A brief power interruption (even less than a second) would cause the receiver to reboot which would of course abort a recording. After a reboot, an interrupted recording will resume resulting in the multiple recording segments you describe. It's possible that that bad outlet had loose connections that caused these power interruptions after a period of time. Disturbing the outlet to plug in a new receiver could have temporarily cleared the fault accounting for trouble-free periods after the receiver was replaced.

An electrical problem could also be up-stream of the outlet but is less likely. E.g., wires on the breaker feeding that circuit or any wire-nut splices could be loose.

Brownouts can also cause a receiver reboot.

Putting the receiver on a UPS isn't a bad idea. Dish receivers take minutes to reboot and reacquire signal and a UPS will isolate it from power issues. I have my entire system on a UPS.
 
Yep if you don't know what color the neutral wire is, no offense but you shouldn't be messing with the outlet. Get someone qualified.

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My kids were yakking at me the whole time I was trying to post. I meant that the ground was fine. I rewired the outlet and put a meter on it, the outlet is fine. Just in case, I took the outlet out and capped the wires off anyway.

My question stands though, what are my options if this problem continues?
 
My question stands though, what are my options if this problem continues?
The tech identified a potential cause with the faulty AC receptacle. If that was the cause, taking it out of service and/or moving the receiver to a new location will resolve the issue. Hope for the best.

More information (symptoms) will be necessary to provide further help. Troubleshooting intermittent problems requires patience and trial and error, and the right mind set.
 

Just upgraded to the Hopper yesterday...

PROGRAM BUGS OR…

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