Power inserter not detected

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4x4tx

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Dec 28, 2013
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I have direct tv at my deer lease using another members extra receiver from his house. We have a slimline 3s swm dish with h23-600 receiver. Everything has been working fine until two weeks ago. I could not get a signal before finding one of the coax connections was lose coming off the dish. After adjusting my dish for an hour I noticed that the power inserter was blinking green which led me to find the coax problem. It lit up solid green after fixing the coax problem. Now today I came out for first time since 2 weeks ago to find that my dish had been blown around. I fixed it in the general direction it was but now my box is giving me the 775 dish communication error. I checked all the connections and the power inserter is fully green. I even ran extra roll of coax I had from dish to power inserter but still nothing... I am guessing the power inserter is bad but I don't know why. I tried to bypass power inserter to direct connect to the box but nothing. It has to be inserter or the lnb right?
 
If you had to guess, would you guess power inserter, lnb or receiver itself? I have a spare LNB back home but had to order a power inserter...would have to call about sending a new receiver
 
:welcome to Satelliteguys 4x4tx!

Like dfergie said, you need to get the dish realigned, close enough to detect a signal from the satellites. Then the 775 signal should go away.
 
Thanks for the welcome. I realigned my dish with dish pointer, close enough anyway that if my dish was sending a signal back to the box I would be getting some readings. i am getting all zeros like its not getting a signal at all so thats why i think its the lnb, the inserter or the receiver itself.
 
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Im positive its not my dish alignment. I am getting zero signals back to my receiver. I have my dish mounted on a pole in a bucket of concrete so its easy to adjust and I have markings to get it set if it gets moved..I am aligned close enough to be getting some signals if the dish was communicating with the receiver.
 
If the dish is in a bucket, how do you know the bucket hasn't moved? Regardless, have you tested the power inserter at the lnb? You should be getting nearly 21 volts, if it's a 21 volt model, or 29 if it's the larger one. You might as well get another lnb, since they aren't expensive and a good thing to have on hand just in case. Have you carefully checked your cabling?
 
How do I test the inserter? It has a solid green light on it. I do have another LNB at home so I will be bringing it up there the next time I go to the ranch. I also ordered another inserter that should arrive this week.

Oh I know the bucket moved, it was blown over on a fence...I set it back up, checked that it was plumb and pointed the dish on a line marking I have next to the fence its wedged up against. Again I will have to fine tune it but when its working correctly I am getting some signals on sat 101 and not just solid 0's. I have slowed moved it back and fourth not getting one strength of signal above 0 so its just not communicating with the receiver.

I ran another line of coax from the dish to the inserter just to make sure it was the line and it did not make a difference.
 
Use a VOM to test the power inserter. Test at the dish, using the center conductor and the braided shield. Remember it's dc. If you have a digital type VOM, it won't matter which way you connect the VOM. If you have an analog model, quickly touch the leads to be sure you have it connected the correct way.
 
haha sounds easy but that is one thing I am not comfortable or good at..and that's testing electric..ill give it a whirl though.

Is it common for the inserter to fail? or more common that its the lnb or receiver? Whats weird is that two weeks ago it worked fine, we shut off the breakers so there was no power surges while we were gone.
 
If it's plugged into a surge protector or power strip, try plugging it straight into the wall outlet.
 
I could not get a signal before finding one of the coax connections was lose coming off the dish.

Could you list your set-up from dish to IRD?

It could be a typo, but if you have more than one line running to the LNB then you must have a SWM8 module. They require a 29v power inserter (grey). If you do have a SWM8 and only have a 21v PI then that is your problem.
 
Real simple setup. One sl3 lnb with direct wire from there into inserter and another coax on other side of inserter to receiver. It's worked for last two seasons but all the sudden been having issues.


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No offense but get a tech to look at your issue by calling Directv, I wouldn't do anything you're not comfortable with, could be simple thing or could be more complex, It might be a combination of issues, LNB,Dish,PI,SWM etc etc.
 
I basically agree with acostapimps, you may need an installer to figure this out. But, if you are still committed to a DIY project, I would strongly suggest that you carefully recheck the elevation setting. When your dish blew over it could have landed on the LNB arm and that could have seriously affected that setting. I would also be suspicious of the coax connector on the SWM head. The coax could have been pulled when the dish went over and not be working correctly.

After doing a number of alignments during our RV trips, I find your "close enough" comment amusing. In my experience there really isn't a "close enough" until you are spot-on. Granted, you may get a minor improvement with "dithering". But, for the most part you either have a signal or you don't. I would strongly suggest you use a compass to confirm your azimuth alignment setting.

Then too, there is also the possibility that your dish was bent in the fall. So, it may take an installer to sort through all this.
 
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