HR20 and Heavy Rain

[Someone]

So, I've had my HR20-100 for about a week. I came home Friday to find that the HR20 had "frozen up." I had turned off the HR20 the night before, and couldn't get it to turn on, even pressing the power button on the box itself. It was plugged in because I could hear it running. I unplugged it for a little while, and then plugged it back in. Everything seemed to work fine, but I made sure to leave the HR20 on.

I woke up Saturday morning to find that it had "frozen up" again. This time, I turned on the TV and saw a heavy pixelated screen. Again, I unplugged it for a while, and then plugged it back in. Everything seemed to work fine. The HR20 has been fine since then.

What I think may be going on here is that we had heavy rain in my area on Friday and early Saturday morning. The picture I saw on my TV Saturday morning certainly looked like pixelation caused by rain. The last of the heavy rain came down early Saturday morning, and it just so happens I haven't had a problem since then. I have two D11s and they were not affected. My old HR10-250 was never affected by heavy rain like this.

Has anyone else come across something like this? Am I right in thinking the heavy rains may have somehow caused this? Or could it be something else? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[iwc5893]

Assuming you have the 5LNB Slimline dish installed, it could be one of several things related to the rain but it would be easier if you could answer some questions first.

What are your signal strengths on the various sats?

Do you have a mulitswitch installed?

Most likely reason would be a bad or loose connector that got some water into it.

 

[Someone]

Yes, I do have the Slimline 5LNB.

I'll have to get back to you on signal strengths because I'm not at home right now.

No idea on if I have a multiswitch, but my guess is that I do. However, if I have one, it was installed when I first got D* about a year-and-a-half ago. I know for a fact that when my HR20 and Slimline were installed, there was no multiswitch put in.

 

[Jimbo]

No idea on if I have a multiswitch, but my guess is that I do. However, if I have one, it was installed when I first got D* about a year-and-a-half ago. I know for a fact that when my HR20 and Slimline were installed, there was no multiswitch put in.

I would guess that you don't have a multiswitch OR that COULD be your problem.
The 5 LNB set up can only use the WB68 or 616 switch. IF you have another switch in the set up, try taking it out and see if that helps, if you need a multiswitch, call D* and have them send you one, they should have placed one when you upgraded IF it was nessasary.

Curious, Are you using a UPS with your set up ?
IF NO and you have access to one, I would try it and see if it helps as well.
It could be power fluctuation.

Jimbo

 

[bonscott87]

My HR20 did that actually way back in the early days. It usually happened when the signal was on the edge and would go in and out a lot. Hasn't happened in a few months. However I think it may have been a few months ago since we last had rain!

 

[Jimbo]

My HR20 did that actually way back in the early days. It usually happened when the signal was on the edge and would go in and out a lot. Hasn't happened in a few months. However I think it may have been a few months ago since we last had rain!

How's your signal strength on a normal day.

Jimbo

 

[cheebs]

So, I've had my HR20-100 for about a week. I came home Friday to find that the HR20 had "frozen up." I had turned off the HR20 the night before, and couldn't get it to turn on, even pressing the power button on the box itself. It was plugged in because I could hear it running. I unplugged it for a little while, and then plugged it back in. Everything seemed to work fine, but I made sure to leave the HR20 on.

I woke up Saturday morning to find that it had "frozen up" again. This time, I turned on the TV and saw a heavy pixelated screen. Again, I unplugged it for a while, and then plugged it back in. Everything seemed to work fine. The HR20 has been fine since then.

What I think may be going on here is that we had heavy rain in my area on Friday and early Saturday morning. The picture I saw on my TV Saturday morning certainly looked like pixelation caused by rain. The last of the heavy rain came down early Saturday morning, and it just so happens I haven't had a problem since then. I have two D11s and they were not affected. My old HR10-250 was never affected by heavy rain like this.

Has anyone else come across something like this? Am I right in thinking the heavy rains may have somehow caused this? Or could it be something else? Thanks in advance for any help.

Yes, same exact thing has happened to me, with an HR20-700. After an unusually heavy rain, the receiver will be frozen, with a pixellated screen. Either an unplug or RBR will fix the situation... until it rains heavily again. Under normal circumstances all signals are in the 90's. I do use a multiswitch but it's indoors, no possibility of water getting into connectors.

I also believe that the problem is compounded with the heat the receiver generates even when on standby. Mine is in an enclosed cabinet, and I leave the doors open at night when I'm not using the receiver. When it's in use two Panaflo 12cm fans take care of cooling. Sometimes in the morning the receiver will not respond to any remote or front-panel commands, so a RBR is required. Once the fans are on (they turn on automatically when my HT receiver turns on) it usually will not present these problems.

So in my case at least, I believe it's the combo of heat and no signal for a given amount of time, that causes the freezing.

 

[Brewer4]

I've had this problem as well but it has to be some serious rain for a period of time.

 

[raoul5788]

I've had this problem as well but it has to be some serious rain for a period of time.

C'mon Brewer4, you know it doesn't rain that much around here!

 

[bonscott87]

How's your signal strength on a normal day.

Jimbo

90-95.

The HR20, in the beginning, was really sensitive to signal loss causing it to lock up. You could even reproduce it by unplugging and plugging the cable a few times.

Like I said, I haven't noticed it in probably 4-5 months and at least one bad thunderstorm. But then again, other then the 10 minute shower we had yesterday it really hasn't rained since April so it's hard to say from personal experience. But I haven't seen a lot of posts on it over on DBSTalk so I'd say they stablized it enough to not crash on signal loss, at least right away.

 

[Brewer4]

C'mon Brewer4, you know it doesn't rain that much around here!

Here's the funny thing. Hartford gets more rainy days then Seattle and I think has one of the highest overcast day count. Syracuse NY is the rainiest I believe. So yes, it rains a heck of a lot here. My AT9 handles it quite well I might add.

 

[Jimbo]

Once the fans are on (they turn on automatically when my HT receiver turns on) it usually will not present these problems.

How do you have your fans set up so that they are powered up when the unit turns on ? The standby power is always on as far as I know.

Jimbo

 

[cheebs]

How do you have your fans set up so that they are powered up when the unit turns on ? The standby power is always on as far as I know.

Jimbo

Fans activate when I turn on my Home Theater (HT) receiver. The 12v trigger activates a switched outlet on a Panamax 5510EX, which controls the fans.

 

[Jimbo]

Fans activate when I turn on my Home Theater (HT) receiver. The 12v trigger activates a switched outlet on a Panamax 5510EX, which controls the fans.

Hmmm, thats a good idea

That won't work in my situation however....
Too bad theres no outlets on the back of the D* rec's , now that would work for me.
I don't run everything thru my system, only when I want to do a movie or a real good game ...

Jimbo

 

[wildland]

The b band converters on the HR20 lower your signal strength some, so this can cause the HR20 to be effected by rain fade before your other recivers

 

[vurbano]

I had it happen a few times. One time it was worse because I was trying to watch and record a program. The rain somehow caused it to only record a few seconds and stop recording and when I tried to watch it froze up and I had to reboot it. Another time I came home from work after a day we had a bad storm and it was locked up. I think it happened overnight once too.

 

[vurbano]

Well, it rained last night. Came in and turned on the TV ad ESPNHD was up. But every channel I switched to was just a black screen (no searching for sat messages) and there was no getting ESPNHD back. Going through a reboot now. WTF is up with this thing?

 

[tds4182]

Well, it rained last night. Came in and turned on the TV ad ESPNHD was up. But every channel I switched to was just a black screen (no searching for sat messages) and there was no getting ESPNHD back. Going through a reboot now. WTF is up with this thing?

Here in the Houston area we've been getting the back side of Tropical Depression Erin for the last 36 hrs or so. Pretty heavy rain at times for prolonged periods of time and my HR20 hasn't lost the signal yet. I'm still operating with an oval, 3LNB dish (due to be upgraded to AT-9 next week).

If anything, it's better at holding the signal than my old HR10-250.

 

[Brewer4]

Well, it rained last night. Came in and turned on the TV ad ESPNHD was up. But every channel I switched to was just a black screen (no searching for sat messages) and there was no getting ESPNHD back. Going through a reboot now. WTF is up with this thing?

You either got a misaligned dish installation or you are cursed.

 

[tds4182]

You either got a misaligned dish installation or you are cursed.

Or, in Vurbano's case, both!