Lost counts somewhere

[armadillo_115]

Well,had the worst error yet on the VBox.Wife was shifting from 55W to 91W (Or vice-versa) and every Sat jumped calibration by MANY clicks.I observed three times that it would throw an error going from an eastern Sat to 91W...it would not go quite all the way.But when going from east to say 97W...it seems to go right thru without an error.Will need more testing to confirm.

I just recalibrated 55W for her and will check all my connections probably tomorrow.Hopefully something is just loose somewhere.Maybe I didn't get one of the actuator wires tight enough.Too late to mess with it tonite.The wife admitted to 'possibly' moving the VBox around a bit.

The VBox has always been prone to error occasionally, but it doesn't often lose count.Only 1 or 2 clicks if it does.I'll post back when I know more.

* I just thought of something. I didn't get the ground shield wire connected very good and meant to make it more secure.Might have jiggled it around when I moved the cable over to work on the yard today. *

 

[FTA4PA]

Good luck - hope it is a simple fix.

 

[KE4EST]

Same here, I hope it is an easy fix!

 

[armadillo_115]

It may be one of the remotes is bad or weak batteries.Just noticed that when I scrolled thru the Sat list, the Vbox started moving to one while I was still scrolling... before I hit the enter button.It should let me cruise thru the Sat list without budging.

At least I hope that is all that's wrong.Storm coming up here,need to unplug everything and go to bed soon.

 

[N6BY]

Make sure your sensor wires are shielded. I had problems with my GBox losing count until I got shielded sensor wire about 1.5 years ago.

 

[armadillo_115]

I'm waiting for last nights rain to dry out before I check the connections outside.I checked the connections inside,all good.Remote controls not causing the problem either.

The positioner is erroring every few clicks.Moving from 55W to 97W this morning errored and continued several times before reaching the correct positioning number.Then the count was off when it finally got there.

One question for now: Someone gave me an old Uniden Supra receiver.No remote,may not even function.If I use it for positioning instead of the VBox...will the LinkBox control the positioning or is the Uniden stand alone only?

 

[KE4EST]

Stand alone only.

 

[Titanium]

Highly doubt that the Vbox is the culprit.

Does the S1/S2 bundle have a shield that separates the two wires from other wires (like M1/M2)? If so, where is the shield connected to ground? Photo of the motor power and sensor wires?

Does the motor work harder (heavier load) driving the direction that gives count errors? If so, this could increase the RF noise produced by the motor under load. A capacitor across the M1/M2 terminal at the motor might help attenuate excessive motor noise.

You might also test a capacitor across the S1/S2 terminals of the VBox.

Example capacitor values and troubleshooting FAQ applicable for any controller is on the last page of the ASC1 manual. Might provide some tips for tracking and correcting the VBox counting errors.

Is the dish grounded? Is the dish bonded to structure ground?

Have you measured the voltage potential for levels in excess of .5 volts. One probe connects to the electrical outlet ground and touch the other probe to each wire entering the house including the coax. If any voltage reading is higher than .5 volts, this indicates a voltage potential and can cause counting errors, blow switches, damage LNBs, kill HDMI ports, mess with logic circuits (like the VBox counter), etc.

 

[armadillo_115]

I'm going out now to check the wiring at the dish. Should be dried out by now. Remember this is the used actuator that I put on this week...could be something in the actuator that is bad.The real problem just started yesterday...only a rare miscount ever happened before.The old actuator was stripped near full extension,which caused most if not all errors before.( I Think)

Titanium,I'll answer what I can now:
Errors in BOTH directions now.Like it is straining to move. Drives several clicks,stops with error.Starts driving again after a few seconds...errors again.It keeps repeating until it eventually gets there...but then the position is usually off. (Motor wore out or voltage not reaching the motor maybe?)
Dish is grounded but not bonded to house common ground.Hooking the ribbon cable ground to the dish ONLY solved grounding problems I was having last year during original install. (Thanks go to Titanium for solving that problem)
I have not checked any voltage measurements yet.

Be back later....

 

[armadillo_115]

I be a suck egg mule! I did the network upgrade on the LinkBox.Did an over-write of the same version in case of a possible glitch since the positioner has also been moving when it shouldn't.
Now I have lost all my channel info.Everything.Even lost the pre-configured transponders that came from the factory.Renamed Sats..yada yada.

It never lost that crap before when I updated.

Well,it needed a good cleaning anyway.But needless to say...I have a bit of work to do before I tackle the positioning problem.I blind-scanned 97W in ok...but I have to get 55W done somehow before mama gets home.Now if I can just motor over that far East and find it....

Are we having fun yet? Later gators

 

[KE4EST]

One of them days eh?

 

[armadillo_115]

WTF? On 97W C ... It is showing a certain mux without the $ in front.But Justice Net,Grit,and SOME of the other ITC channels have an $ in front.SOME scrambled channels DO have the $ in front.

This is the 2nd time updating with the same results misidentifying scrambled/ITC.

At least it did remember my wireless settings and the 97W channels that I scanned in previously.OH...it brought back the pre-listed transponders as well.(I could have lived without those.lol)

 

[KE4EST]

It is showing a certain mux without the $ in front.But Justice Net,Grit,and SOME of the other ITC channels have an $ in front.SOME scrambled channels DO have the $ in front.

My Amiko receivers do the same thing. I just ignore it.

 

[gpflepsen]

It may be loosing the feedback signal and giving the error as a result. Er2 would be displayed, if I recall.

 

[Titanium]

WTF? On 97W C ... It is showing a certain mux without the $ in front.But Justice Net,Grit,and SOME of the other ITC channels have an $ in front.SOME scrambled channels DO have the $ in front.

The encryption flag is programmed into the table by the uplink engineer indicating if the service is encrypted (and encryption type) or if a service is in the clear. This data does not indicate if the encryption is actually enabled. Some receivers display "Scambled" if a VPID is included in the table, but no compatible video is present.

The 3980 mux has not had an encryption flag for many months. When it first came in the clear, it had a false encryption flag in the table. This was removed some time back.

3940 MUX (Justice, Escape, Grit, Bounce, Laff, ATV, Buzzr) has always had a false encryption flag in the MUX table and Service Names as Ch- 14-20 . These channels cannot be logged using "FTA" mode even though the services are unencrypted.

 

[armadillo_115]

Well this is embarrassing.Maybe I should lie about what the problem was to make it sound better? Once everything dried out,I opened up the motor cover and check all the connections.Turns out one of the screws that hold the sensor wire was a bit corroded and stripped out. I pigtailed the 2 wires together and applied electrical tape. So far the motor has made several passes both directions without a hitch.I will fix it better later...another storm is headed this way again.I guess it vibrated enough to break loose after a few days use.

It ain't everybody who can blow out all the configurations because of one stripped screw.

Titanium: The 3980 mux ALWAYS had a $ here.I'm sure because I looked for a way to remove the flag.Maybe I hadn't rescanned it since.
I didn't think the 3940 mux had a $ but maybe it did.

Thanks guys for all the help! Hopefully that was all that was wrong.

 

[FTA4PA]

Great to hear - hopefully that will fix it!

 

[armadillo_115]

VBox/Actuator are working fine now with one exception: Approx every other day it ADDS 2 or 3 counts and I have to shift each Sat position East. I have noticed that is often happens after a storm with strong wind...even if everything was turned off or unplugged.Dish is not turning on the pole.Possibly the wind is causing the actuator/motor to shift West?

BTW: Almost all wind comes from the West.Ridges and trees protect the dish from other directions. So it might would push the dish eastward as well if it could hit it from that side. (The house is higher up the hill and does get some cold North wind in the winter...brrrr.)

I plan to check out the ASC1 manual as Brian suggested first chance I get.Maybe something relevant in there.

 

[armadillo_115]

Update
Not only are the counts jumping a few clicks East occasionally and having to be recalculated to the West, but now there's this:
When the Linkbox and actuator were turned on last night and this morning,the actuator drives East past the VBox eastern limit setting... until it either hits the actuator limit or can't drive further.(Fortunately it did NOT flop over) The VBox keeps clicking and trying to send it further until I force it to quit.

Recalculation still fixes it...so it is remembering the spacing between Sats just fine.

I'm going out to check all connections for possible water entry as soon as the dew dries. And I plan to straight wire the actuator wires to bypass the wire terminal connector inside the actuator housing. (Which has been problematic in the past)

If this doesn't work it, I'll be hoping for more possible fixes.

 

[armadillo_115]

Ok,I worked on the wiring.
At the junction on the pole: All dry inside. One power wire might not have been making a very good connection so I re-did it.
Found that I had forgotten to connect the ground shield wires together there...so corrected.

In the motor housing: A bit damp inside the housing at the bottom... two days AFTER the last rain. Magnet wheel especially was damp.Could that be the problem,and how to fix it?
Pig-tailed all wiring and THEN inserted into a terminal screw connector to eliminate dependence on the worn out terminal block.Even if the screws don't hold,the wires are now together.

Wiring inside the house was OK.

Time will tell if it is finally 'fixed'.