Satellite Motor Actuator Sensor .. Who the heck knows.

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If the dish is falling short of it's destination, then you are adding counts not missing them. Likely suspect is a bouncing reed switch. Hard to tell for sure without a scope picture.
 
No, its not falling short. It lands further EAST of intended position. So, depending on the situation, if im moving West, it falls short., and if im moving East, i pass the satellite.
 
That sounds exactly the way that 6' dish was doing.
 
It's plumb. I went and tried to shake, tug, pull on the dish and everything is nice and tight. I put my full body weight into the poll and couldn't get it to do anything other then vibrate a little bit. At $4.oo, i went ahead and bought that resistor to try and slow down the motor. I kinda thought the motor moved too fast anyway.

I also hooked in a (secondary) bypass ground (running across the lawn) to make sure there wasn't something wrong with the ground. Will do more testing.
 
Von Weise had a similar problem some years back with their actuators. At the time, they had 4 magnets in the trigger wheel. The problem went away when they redesigned the wheel to hold 6 smaller magnets.
 
I'm still gonna try swapping ASC1s. I don't believe it is the ASC1, but I have to test everything. I'm waiting for the ordered resistor. I also will test the new actuator when it arrives. If the new actuator fixes the problem, ill swap reed sensors. I gotta figure this out. It's to the point i watch more KU band than C band because i don't want to move my dish.
 
If you have been following me at all, you know i have had an ongoing issue with my actuator not keeping track... The problem is actually getting worse, and its driving me NUTS. I have to figure out what is wrong.

Here is the issue : I am always am short WEST. I guess that makes it easier for me to lock a bird, as i always know which way to nudge the dish. But it is getting so bad, i have to hit the Diseqc move command about 8-10 times to get back on bird. (again, always to the West).

Nothing is loose on the dish. Heck, i have welded just about everything. I have the ASC1 and a Venture MaxiBall. I have the dish grounded to the House Panel Ground. I am using shielded wire. I even have a capacitor between m1/m2 at the motor. Where the heck do i look? Bad cable? (2 years old) Bad ASC1??? Bad senor in the Actuator??? Something else???

I maybe hallucinating, but i do believe the problem is getting progressively worse.

%#$#@ :censored

HELP!!
I've had the same problem,it was always groung this,try that...Get your self a cheapo V-box,program it then see if it takes you to the correct position.I got rid of all the fancy stuff,got a v-box,works every time,had it for a couple of years and very happy.Picked up a couple of extras for back ups.Just try it,it works for me,everytime.
 
IBoston, you mentioned in an earlier post you had a capacitor between the M1 and M2 terminals. Do you know the value of this capacitor? If it's really high it might overload the ASC1 for a split second causing it to miss some counts...
I used to get some missed counts once in a while so I just added a 30uF ceramic disc cap across the sensor terminals. That seemed to work, at least so far.
 
IBoston, you mentioned in an earlier post you had a capacitor between the M1 and M2 terminals. Do you know the value of this capacitor? If it's really high it might overload the ASC1 for a split second causing it to miss some counts...
I used to get some missed counts once in a while so I just added a 30uF ceramic disc cap across the sensor terminals. That seemed to work, at least so far.

This was one of the fixes i tried. So, its not the capacitor that started this problem. :) But, keep the ideas coming...

But, to answer your question :

1000uF / 1000MF 6.3V RADIAL ELECTROLYTIC MOTHERBOARD CAPACITOR

Is this not okay??
 
That should filter out most of the a/c noise and still not cause much surge current. Check the voltage though, should be minimum 50v. Yours is likely toast if rated at 6.3v since actuator voltage is 36v.
 
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This was one of the fixes i tried. So, its not the capacitor that started this problem. :) But, keep the ideas coming...

But, to answer your question :

1000uF / 1000MF 6.3V RADIAL ELECTROLYTIC MOTHERBOARD CAPACITOR

Is this not okay??

These are polarized, you need negative to negative, and positive to positive. Also, it should be at a much higher voltage rating. Remove it for now, and see if the counts settle down. Don't tell me "they were wrong before I installed it, so it couldn't be this". Perhaps it WAS something else, but this cap has perhaps now gone bad and maybe you fixed the original issue, but now it's being caused by a bum capacitor...
 
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Yea, i just ordered new ones that were suggested to me.

NON POLARITY 22UF 22MFD 100V ELEC ALUM AXIAL BIPOLAR CAPACITOR
 
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Well, the burnt capacitor is indication of a shorted wire; as I have seen in the past. The non-polarized caps will not burn; but will break connection; and mostly keep you from breaking any more equipment hooking it up to a mover box. The short is between the 36 direction wires; and the ground strap in the cable somewhere; and will need replacement. The dish can be locked onto one satellite in the meantime; for a channel or 2.

Flame me outa here; but have you seen shorted electro's and blown hv caps before? As I have said; everything has a real fix; to solve the problem; the people who take spikes and run them over lawns have done this to me before. Just sayin' See you in China!
 
My current capacitor was not burnt at all, it looks just fine. I am replacing it because I've been informed it does not have the proper capacity. (voltage) I went outside hours ago and cut the capacitor out.

The problem still persists


Just to confirm, I am supposed just connect it between M1/M2 at the actuator. I do not inline it, ie i do not connect it in series.

Connected Like This

test.png
 
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Okay, i got the new :

NON POLARITY 22UF 22MFD 100V ELEC ALUM AXIAL BIPOLAR CAPACITOR 13X26mm 20%
And new Super Reed II Sensor.

I installed them Both. I know putting both in at the same time (if problem fixes) won't tell me which fix it was, but at this point, i don't care, i just want it to track properly!

Give me a couple days to find out if this fixes the problem. It's hard to just replicate, as sometimes i can swing across the arc and back and it tracks, and sometimes not, so the best way to know for sure is to play with it for a few days and see if the tracking is getting off.
 
Okay, i got the new :

NON POLARITY 22UF 22MFD 100V ELEC ALUM AXIAL BIPOLAR CAPACITOR 13X26mm 20%
And new Super Reed II Sensor.

I installed them Both. I know putting both in at the same time (if problem fixes) won't tell me which fix it was, but at this point, i don't care, i just want it to track properly!

Give me a couple days to find out if this fixes the problem. It's hard to just replicate, as sometimes i can swing across the arc and back and it tracks, and sometimes not, so the best way to know for sure is to play with it for a few days and see if the tracking is getting off.


You know what's even WORSE than that?

When it fixes it, and you really want to KNOW which one was the cause. So, you re-install each of the old parts separately to try to find out, YET, it continues to work fine!

I can't even count the times this has happened to me over 40 some years... It's enough to turn you into a drinking man, lol
 
I've been dealing with this issue for so long, I am in denial. I am scared to say it's working now, so i will say i am cautiously optimistic. Maybe... :hiding

It's been keeping track thus far (crossing fingers) - so, I have been going through the trouble of running through the arc and re-setting all the birds. This will be the true test.

Cross your fingers with me......
 
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