New Slimline 3 SWM without External Power Pack

[mspicer]

My friend's house got hit by lightning last week and it fried the external 21 volt power pack for his Slimline 3 SWM single line dish. When the installer came out to fix it he installed a new Slimline 3 SWM single line head on the dish that he said did not need the external power pack.

Has anyone else seen this new head and are there restrictions as to what receivers can work with it?

I currently have the old Slimline 3 that requires 4 cables running from the dish to a 4x8 multi-switch with HR20, H20 and H21 receivers and would like upgrade the head and multi-switch as the 4 cables running from the dish are a mess.

Thanks in advance

 

[raoul5788]

My friend's house got hit by lightning last week and it fried the external 21 volt power pack for his Slimline 3 SWM single line dish. When the installer came out to fix it he installed a new Slimline 3 SWM single line head on the dish that he said did not need the external power pack.

Has anyone else seen this new head and are there restrictions as to what receivers can work with it?

I currently have the old Slimline 3 that requires 4 cables running from the dish to a 4x8 multi-switch with HR20, H20 and H21 receivers and would like upgrade the head and multi-switch as the 4 cables running from the dish are a mess.

Thanks in advance

From what I have read, SWMs work without an external power source, but not for long. They need more voltage than the receiver/dvr can supply, thereby eventually damaging the receiver/dvr. Maybe there is a new SWM lnb out there.

 

[thetech2009]

From what I have read, SWMs work without an external power source, but not for long. They need more voltage than the receiver/dvr can supply, thereby eventually damaging the receiver/dvr. Maybe there is a new SWM lnb out there.

that is correct the recievers only send 13/18 volt . the swim requires(SWM) either the 21 volt or the 28 volt power inserter. i am a D* Technician and have been for some time and this is the first I have heard of a swm not needing a power inserter!

 

[hjason7812]

that is funny because i never heard of a dish needing a power source before.
and i have had satellite since the huge dishes were out.
i had the slimline dish for directv before i switched and it did not have a power source hooked up to it.
just the lines and the receivers.

 

[Matt9876]

It's certainly not recommended by DirecTV,but hey you can be a test subject and tell us if it burns out in a couple months.


I haven't seen any post so far about it failing or burning out,but I also know of many different manufacture plants for SWM LNBs ,all may not react the same to the low voltage.

 

[JosephB]

that is funny because i never heard of a dish needing a power source before.
and i have had satellite since the huge dishes were out.
i had the slimline dish for directv before i switched and it did not have a power source hooked up to it.
just the lines and the receivers.

The Single Wire Multiswitch dishes are the only ones that need a power supply. These are the dishes (or in some special situations switches) that have one output that powers all the receivers with one line w/ a splitter. Regular slimline dishes with 4 output LNBs do not need the power supply.

 

[texasbrit]

The SWM dishes all need a power inserter. As has been posted, an SWM might work or might not if it's using the power from the receivers but it's a completely unreliable way to operate the system. The tech was just wrong.

 

[mspicer]

I went over to my friend's house today and he indeed has a H23 hooked directly to the dish without a power inverter. He told me the tech who came out said the with the H23 you did not need the power inverter. I looked at the head and it is actually a Slimline 5 SWM head that he had put on to replace a Slimline 3 SWM head. The funny thing is that he set the H23 to think it had the Slimline 3 SWM head and when I reconfigured it to the Slimline 5 SWM it had problems acquiring the satellite information. When I measured the volts that the H23 is putting out to the head it came up with 19.2 volts.

The call was originally for a bad power inverter that got zapped by lightning so because the tech did not have one on his truck he figured that the Slimline 5 SWM would work with the H23's output voltage as long as it thinks it is hooked up to a Slimline 3 SWM.

I told my friend to call DirecTV back and demand to speak with a manger to complain about that tech and request a different tech be dispatched to fix the issue. I imagine that their Installer Account Management team would be interested to find out that a tech is out their taking short cuts which will end up costing them more to fix the problems caused by him.

 

[broadcasttheworld]

I went over to my friend's house today and he indeed has a H23 hooked directly to the dish without a power inverter. He told me the tech who came out said the with the H23 you did not need the power inverter. I looked at the head and it is actually a Slimline 5 SWM head that he had put on to replace a Slimline 3 SWM head. The funny thing is that he set the H23 to think it had the Slimline 3 SWM head and when I reconfigured it to the Slimline 5 SWM it had problems acquiring the satellite information. When I measured the volts that the H23 is putting out to the head it came up with 19.2 volts.

The call was originally for a bad power inverter that got zapped by lightning so because the tech did not have one on his truck he figured that the Slimline 5 SWM would work with the H23's output voltage as long as it thinks it is hooked up to a Slimline 3 SWM.

I told my friend to call DirecTV back and demand to speak with a manger to complain about that tech and request a different tech be dispatched to fix the issue. I imagine that their Installer Account Management team would be interested to find out that a tech is out their taking short cuts which will end up costing them more to fix the problems caused by him.

I had direct installed today. I have a huge dish bit it only has 1 eye with what looks like 3 lnd "eyes" on or. System says I get 3 birds. The installer had to run 2 additional coaxial lines from the dish which confused me since I had dish network from the same physical location with no issues. I only switched because of bigger Corp discount AT&T gives us and NFL lol. Do dis the installer shaft me? Everything I read here says I should have a 5 lnb dish like my neighbors have???? Also I asked him " for his own ease of install to install the single feed dish I read about and he said they can't get them. I have 4 wires now each going to a tuner " 2 " for the dvr.

 

[Mr Tony]

Most new installs get the 3 LNB setupo which is what you have.
The only time they do the 5 LNB install is if your SD locals are on 119 or you want Spanish channels

My mom just got D* about 3 months ago here in Minneapolis and they got the 3lNB setup (the one "eye" that has the "3 eyes" in it for 99/101/103

 

[broadcasttheworld]

I had direct installed today. I have a huge dish bit it only has 1 eye with what looks like 3 lnd "eyes" on or. System says I get 3 birds. The installer had to run 2 additional coaxial lines from the dish which confused me since I had dish network from the same physical location with no issues. I only switched because of bigger Corp discount AT&T gives us and NFL lol. Do dis the installer shaft me? Everything I read here says I should have a 5 lnb dish like my neighbors have???? Also I asked him " for his own ease of install to install the single feed dish I read about and he said they can't get them. I have 4 wires now each going to a tuner " 2 " for the dvr.

please excuse the typing errors. I'm typing from my iPhone

 

[JosephB]

I had direct installed today. I have a huge dish bit it only has 1 eye with what looks like 3 lnd "eyes" on or. System says I get 3 birds. The installer had to run 2 additional coaxial lines from the dish which confused me since I had dish network from the same physical location with no issues. I only switched because of bigger Corp discount AT&T gives us and NFL lol. Do dis the installer shaft me? Everything I read here says I should have a 5 lnb dish like my neighbors have???? Also I asked him " for his own ease of install to install the single feed dish I read about and he said they can't get them. I have 4 wires now each going to a tuner " 2 " for the dvr.

Sounds like you have a 5-LNB standard non-SWM. If it has more than one output from the dish then it is not SWM. The 5-LNB has 3 "heads" on it because three of the LNBs are in one feedhorn. The 3-LNB dish only has one "head" (feedhorn).

Bottom line, if you're getting all the channels you ordered, all of the receivers you ordered are working properly (IE: two tuners on the DVRs, etc) then no you didn't get shafted. Nothing entitles you to SWM or 5 vs 3 LNB unless your specific situation requires it

 

[broadcasttheworld]

Sounds like you have a 5-LNB standard non-SWM. If it has more than one output from the dish then it is not SWM. The 5-LNB has 3 "heads" on it because three of the LNBs are in one feedhorn. The 3-LNB dish only has one "head" (feedhorn).

Bottom line, if you're getting all the channels you ordered, all of the receivers you ordered are working properly (IE: two tuners on the DVRs, etc) then no you didn't get shafted. Nothing entitles you to SWM or 5 vs 3 LNB unless your specific situation requires it

Agreed. I just wanted to make sure I would recieve the NFL ticket stuff once it went live. Since I have no way to assure myself that works until said time.

I had that problem with Dish Network. When I signed up I was a week away from ordering HD and they assured me my setup would not need anything changed to get that. Well come to find out I needed a "Wing" dish so found myself paying 90 bucks less then 2 weeks after the installer left to get the HD channels from 129. Im new to Direct and it seemed odd to get all that programing from a single feed horn. since im used to seeing 4 with Dish.

 

[texasbrit]

I went over to my friend's house today and he indeed has a H23 hooked directly to the dish without a power inverter. He told me the tech who came out said the with the H23 you did not need the power inverter. I looked at the head and it is actually a Slimline 5 SWM head that he had put on to replace a Slimline 3 SWM head. The funny thing is that he set the H23 to think it had the Slimline 3 SWM head and when I reconfigured it to the Slimline 5 SWM it had problems acquiring the satellite information. When I measured the volts that the H23 is putting out to the head it came up with 19.2 volts.

The call was originally for a bad power inverter that got zapped by lightning so because the tech did not have one on his truck he figured that the Slimline 5 SWM would work with the H23's output voltage as long as it thinks it is hooked up to a Slimline 3 SWM.

I told my friend to call DirecTV back and demand to speak with a manger to complain about that tech and request a different tech be dispatched to fix the issue. I imagine that their Installer Account Management team would be interested to find out that a tech is out their taking short cuts which will end up costing them more to fix the problems caused by him.

1. All SWM LNBs definitely require the power inserter.
2. If it is a slimline 5 SWM then the dish type has to be set to slimline 5. There is an installer "urban legend" that if you have low signals on 119 with the slimline 5 then setting the dish type to slimline 3 makes the problems go away - it doesn't. With the slimline 5 when you are tuned to a channel on 103/110/119 the guide data comes from 119. With the slimline 3 the guide data always comes from 101, so a slimline 3 can solve the "low 119" problem if you don't need any 119 channels (only SD locals in some areas, the Hispanic package and the Hope channel come from 119). But if you have a slimline 5 and set the receiver to slimline 3, the slimline 5 is still set up for guide data from 119, it's still a slimline 5 and is electrically different from the slimline 3, just changing the receiver setting does not magically change the LNB type!

 

[JosephB]

Agreed. I just wanted to make sure I would recieve the NFL ticket stuff once it went live. Since I have no way to assure myself that works until said time.

I had that problem with Dish Network. When I signed up I was a week away from ordering HD and they assured me my setup would not need anything changed to get that. Well come to find out I needed a "Wing" dish so found myself paying 90 bucks less then 2 weeks after the installer left to get the HD channels from 129. Im new to Direct and it seemed odd to get all that programing from a single feed horn. since im used to seeing 4 with Dish.

Ah, I see. Well, the only thing you don't get with a 3 LNB dish is locals in a few areas and Spanish programming. You should be good to go for NFL this fall.

 

[Liquidforce88]

I will say that I have seen several times where a receiver would work on a SWM setup with out the power inserter. Can't say how long it will last, and it only works if you have 1 receiver hooked up. (I know this because I have forgoten to install the power inserter several times and the 1st receiver will work) I would never leave it this way.

 

[texasbrit]

I will say that I have seen several times where a receiver would work on a SWM setup with out the power inserter. Can't say how long it will last, and it only works if you have 1 receiver hooked up. (I know this because I have forgoten to install the power inserter several times and the 1st receiver will work) I would never leave it this way.

Yes, it's quite possible it will under some circumstances, because there is power coming from the receiver.