It was the stupid separator

[tpautler]

My 722 was only getting 119 and 129 intermittently. Other 2 DVRS were fine. Tried to determine if the problem was the receiver or perhaps the DP44 switch. Ended up calling it in and the tech came out today.

Turns out the separator at the receiver went bad. The tech says that he has to replace separators on about 20% of his service calls. The suckers must be more complicated than I thought!

 

[bdcottle]

I had the same problem during a self install but since I had two cables running from the dish anyway, I just yanked the separator and hooked up two cables and fixed it that way.
Read about it here.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-ne...my-vip722-1000-2-self-install-experience.html

 

[sca]

yup. it happens. pretty easy to diagnose though, because it will usually only affect one tuner. flip the seperator around and the other tuner is affected.

 

[papalittle]

I have replaced maybe 3 separators since dish started using them.

 

[sca]

i replace about 1 per month. although, its worth noting, it is often the prefab cables on the seperator and not the seperator itself.

 

[cditty]

I've had about three go bad... I keep a couple around.

 

[dvrexpander]

I believe I've replaced maybe 2-3 in the last 6 months cause they went bad. What worries me the most is the new Tri-plexers we have coming out and the drop in the amount of separators I'm able to store up for those "just in case" moments.

 

[DishSubLA]

This should be among the first things folks troubleshoot before moving on to more cumbersome attempts. I know folks who have done a Homer Simpson "Doh," on this one.

 

[tnsprin]

My 722 was only getting 119 and 129 intermittently. Other 2 DVRS were fine. Tried to determine if the problem was the receiver or perhaps the DP44 switch. Ended up calling it in and the tech came out today.

Turns out the separator at the receiver went bad. The tech says that he has to replace separators on about 20% of his service calls. The suckers must be more complicated than I thought!

I had to replace one on one of my ViP622's. Fortunately had an extra from when I had a 921.

No these things are not very complicated. But that doesn't mean they can't fail.

 

[peaked]

One can easily test a separator by removing the incoming sat. line, attaching straight to the rec. Do a checkswitch and look for missing sat's. If that port checks out, put sat. line on the other input, do checkswitch. Sometimes there,s a bad port on the rec.(input #1 or #2). I have had several that went bad,and found one someone tried to use as a 21 switch. Doesn't work, by the way.

 

[cditty]

Oddly enough, that is what I do. Just made sense the first time. Good post.

 

[BuddyBoy]

I was losing just one tuner on my 622 and found this thread. I ran two cables to my 622 and all was fine (can't find a separator locally). I tried to get one from Dish Network (I pay for the service plan) and this is what happened:

(04-21rf#) Danielle A.5HL: are you losing signal?
BuddyBoy: On one tuner, yes. Other tuner is fine. That was with the DPP separator in place.
(04-21rf#) Danielle A.5HL: do you want to troubleshoot to see if we can fix the signal loss issue?
BuddyBoy: I've eliminated the issue by removing the DPP separator from the system, and running two separate cables from my 1000.4 into the 622. But I need to run a single cable so I can use the other 1000.4 output for one of my 211 receivers, which I had to disconnect temporarily.
(04-21rf#) Danielle A.5HL: i can't send you a new separator with the service plan. i can schedule a technician visit and if he determines the separator needs to be replaced he can do that for you
(04-21rf#) Danielle A.5HL: do you want to schedule a technician visit?
BuddyBoy: I'll just buy a new one on Ebay then. That is a ridiculous policy. The technician visit will cost 10x what it would cost you to just send me the DPP separator, it's like eight dollars.
BuddyBoy: I understand that it's the company policy, not yours.
(04-21rf#) Danielle A.5HL: I'm sorry for the inconvenience. is there anything else i can help you with?
BuddyBoy: I guess there is nothing else you can help me with then - I was hoping you could just send me the part.

 

[cditty]

You should call. They will send you one. Ask for advanced tech support.

I'd ask for two.

Anytime I have had a tech come (which is when they won't send me a part), I ask him for a couple. I have about 2 or 3 spares.

 

[ERSanders]

I had a tech. visit today for another problem and I mentioned the seperator problem as noted by the OP.

He said that he has found many of them not functioning/intermittent for the simple reason that the short cables (whips) are not tightened a the mfg. plant when they are packaged. If the installer does not catch this it is a potential performance timebomb.

Just in case we should all inspect & tighten A/R.

 

[dnero]

Same here have had 3 go bad call Dish and they send me new ones have made new cables for them one 722 just does not work well with a separator the other one does but I have a DPP44 switch and at present just the 2 722's so just used the extra line for that one.

 

[JimP]

I guess it wouldn't hurt to make up a couple of cables and replace those furnished from Dish.