Positioner Suggestions? 12' Unimesh on AJAK 180 H-H Mount

[phlatwound]

One other area to look ar would be the the main shaft of the AJAK. Is the grease all dried up? I totally pulled mine apart and cleaned and regreased with synthetic grease. Both the VBox and GBox move the 10' Winegard Pinnacle on the AJAK very well and quickly. And that's a heavy dish. The motor on the AJAK is rated at 30 volts. A 24v or 36v mover should be fine.

You may have something there Magic, while I did clean and lube this unit somewaht, I didn't pull the main shaft out, just shot some grease in the zerk.

And this this AJAK also had a 10' Pinnacle on it when I took it down, it hadn't been moved for about 2 years at that time but the owners said they had no problem moving it (with an old analog receiver).

My problems are probably little of both (lack of lube and the 12 footer is just bigger and heavier that the Pinnacle).

Thanks for the exploded AJAK pics. Were any special tools required to disassemble, or was anything pressed together?

 

[stogie5150]

any special tools required to disassemble

You have a selection of hammers, right? What else would you NEED? <shrug>

 

[phlatwound]

I suppose if you had a blown diode in the motor power supply (of the Vbox ), it would under perform.
Should have a working full wave rectifier (of two or four diodes) between transformer and filter capacitors.
If one is popped, you get only half wave rectification.
Some voltage and current measurements are necessary.

That is another possibility. I will say that I tried a V-Box and a G-Box on this setup, and there was no discernible difference in performance.

Appreciate all the input on using a V/G-Box with an external relay setup, and the counterweight idea, but still leaning towards the lazy way out...some kind of ready-to-go unit (standalone positioner/analog IRD/4DTV). I have already proven it works well with the old MTI box.

I recently found a possible 2 Motorola 922s that may be had for free, probably will need batteries and then a map install but I don't mind tackling that.

I will dig into the 4DTV posts some more and try to educate myself but would like to hear from anyone that is using a 922 to move their dish, with the new maps installed. What sat locations are available...or possible? What are the downsides of using a 922 for a positioner?

 

[phlatwound]

You have a selection of hammers, right? What else would you NEED? <shrug>

I have a full complement of BFH's!

 

[Magic Static]

There is nothing special needed. Pull the nut off the bottom of the shaft and it comes out the top.

 

[phlatwound]

There is nothing special needed. Pull the nut off the bottom of the shaft and it comes out the top.

Good deal, thanks.

I will plan on breaking it down if I ever pull that reflector, should have done it before but it worked great with no load and seemed to take grease well.

My close-range vision isn't worth a hoot but my hindsight seems to be getting better all the time!

 

[phlatwound]

Did some digging and found a sat chart for the 4DTV with new maps, looks like everything is covered pretty well.

Looks like it has C & Ku positions, I wouldn't care about that, just need to move to all available C-band locations, no matter what they are called.

 

[Anole]

Well, if you tried both a Vbox and a Gbox, that tells us something.
I believe I would then concentrate on another clean 'n lube of the Ajak.
(and that counterweight is a really great idea, too!)

Remember also, 4Dtv receivers put out 24v, so based on what you've said, I wouldn't expect it to work.
But beyond that, the long term prospect of moving with an analog or 4D receiver, chills me to the bone!

 

[phlatwound]

Well, if you tried both a Vbox and a Gbox, that tells us something.
I believe I would then concentrate on another clean 'n lube of the Ajak.
(and that counterweight is a really great idea, too!)

Remember also, 4Dtv receivers put out 24v, so based on what you've said, I wouldn't expect it to work.
But beyond that, the long term prospect of moving with an analog or 4D receiver, chills me to the bone!

Theoretically, shouldn't 24V be sufficient, as long as there is plenty of amps and guts going along with it? I would think it may move the dish a little slower but that's not an issue for me.

Yes, I think the counterweight deal is a winner, no matter which way I go on a positioner. Don't know what the downside to one could be.

I'm sure you have your reasons for disliking the analog IRD/4DTV option but after using my Toshiba for right at 20 years (and counting) I am not scared of going that way. The 922s are actually quite a bit newer than my old Toshiba 1820, and are a serious piece of hardware.

 

[turbosat]

I still have a couple of analog IRDS if you want to try one of them, I think they put out 36volts. When I had that old plastic 12' dark star dish one of them was moving it ok.
Got one that looks like its brand new, I replaced the power supply board in it right after I got it, a Uniden I think. Put it in a plastic bag, boxed it up and stored it about 4yrs ago, full display if I remember right. I'll have to find the manual and see, but I don't think it required an analog signal to store positions. Have to look for how many positions it can store, if you wanna try it, let me know.

 

[phlatwound]

I still have a couple of analog IRDS if you want to try one of them, I think they put out 36volts. When I had that old plastic 12' dark star dish one of them was moving it ok.
Got one that looks like its brand new, I replaced the power supply board in it right after I got it, a Uniden I think. Put it in a plastic bag, boxed it up and stored it about 4yrs ago, full display if I remember right. I'll have to find the manual and see, but I don't think it required an analog signal to store positions. Have to look for how many positions it can store, if you wanna try it, let me know.

Thanks Mr. T, I will definitely keep that in mind. If you let me know the model number I would be glad to research it.

If I would go that way maybe I can trade you something for it.

Do you have the remote control for it?

 

[turbosat]

Absolutely, remote looked like it just came out of the plastic. I'd tell you which model, but unfortunately I think I packed up the manual in the box with it. And I got busy and forgot to go out there and look in the storage building this afternoon. Saturday I'll get back to you on it. That one had the best dang picture! but there's little watch with it now on analog.

 

[FaT Air]

I'd want the current draw, when moving the dish off of either end, to be close to or under 3 amps. Even IRD's BITD had somewhere from 3 to 4 amp breakers on the motor. With that monster BUD think the counter-balance is a good addition. Lower current draw = longer motor(brush) life.
[My VonWeise actuator still only draws 2 amps moving away from the end and under an amp thru the middle.]

 

[pendragon]

I've got a couple of the Ajaks on a 3m Pinnacle and a 1.8m solid Prodelin offset. The latter is quite heavy and my GBOX works to raise it from the horizon. The Pinnacle is trivial by comparison.

I had to completely refurb the Prodelin Ajak because the one I picked up was frozen in solid rust. Along the way I discovered its half-moon gear was slightly out-of-round. I could run the dish to the ground on the east side and roll it back up, but if I went more than 10-20 degrees west, the GBOX didn't have enough current to move it back on its own. This was after everything was disassembled, cleaned and lubed. There are some adjustments and shims on the Ajak that can help deal with this, but ultimately I had to loosen the worm gear mating with the half-moon. This causes a small amount of backlash, but now driving up from either the east or west works fine.

 

[phlatwound]

I'd want the current draw, when moving the dish off of either end, to be close to or under 3 amps. Even IRD's BITD had somewhere from 3 to 4 amp breakers on the motor. With that monster BUD think the counter-balance is a good addition. Lower current draw = longer motor(brush) life.
[My VonWeise actuator still only draws 2 amps moving away from the end and under an amp thru the middle.]

I will try to check the amperage the next time I go out and hook it up. The only inductive ammeter I have will only measure AC amperage, guess I will have to get inline.

Looking at adding a counterbalance, wondering if the force it exerts will distort the mount or reflector any.

 

[phlatwound]

I've got a couple of the Ajaks on a 3m Pinnacle and a 1.8m solid Prodelin offset. The latter is quite heavy and my GBOX works to raise it from the horizon. The Pinnacle is trivial by comparison.

I had to completely refurb the Prodelin Ajak because the one I picked up was frozen in solid rust. Along the way I discovered its half-moon gear was slightly out-of-round. I could run the dish to the ground on the east side and roll it back up, but if I went more than 10-20 degrees west, the GBOX didn't have enough current to move it back on its own. This was after everything was disassembled, cleaned and lubed. There are some adjustments and shims on the Ajak that can help deal with this, but ultimately I had to loosen the worm gear mating with the half-moon. This causes a small amount of backlash, but now driving up from either the east or west works fine.

I also have a 6' Prodelin (copied your mounting system) on an AJAK and it works well.

Will definitely do a complete teardown if I ever pull it down, but I know I can drive it with a robust positioner so will most likely just take the easy way out for now.

 

[FaT Air]

Looking at adding a counterbalance, wondering if the force it exerts will distort the mount or reflector any.

I wouldn't think you'd need much weight as it's a distance from the pivot. Greater than the distance of the dish-pivot. Also don't think you have to 'balance' 100% of the dish weight, but only a fraction. 30-50%?? If distortion of the ring appears, some kind of support to the opposite side of the ring?? Don't think hanging anything off the dish itself would be recommended.