SG2100 H-H motor

[satcom1]

I have a Twinhan 1025 PCI Card driving the SG2100. I bought the motor from DVBHardware.com. It has been returned three times for RMA work. The first unit died after a day. It was repaired and came back not going to "0" It zeroed at 4 degrees west. RMA got me a new motor of different vintage, possibly newer. It worked for three days and my PCI card 317T regulator blew up and the motor went hard west and failed. This last unit they sent me seems older and has a one button motor mover switch. It does not go to the degrees east or west that the software commands and I had to go out and buy an 8 mm Tap to get the motor housing threads working. They sell 20,000 of these things a year. Is this just my bad luck? I was thinking about junking it and buying the DG380 that Sadoun has but on inspection, this unit is designed in taiwan and manufactured in China, maybe by the same as SG2100.

 

[Mr Tony]

I havent heard of 3 SG2100's going bad to same person. I have 2 of them and they have both lasted through the Minnesota winters for 4 years now

 

[satcom1]

This current motor is over-running the satellite by 4 degrees. I use both Twinhan and ProgDVB software and USALS setting. Twinhan was able to correct for error to 10R but I don't know how it did that. Every time I setup a new satellite it is trial and error. If I ever have to reset the motor I'll loose everything. I refuse to send the unit back to DMSI because they will just send me another motor with new problems. I talked to one guy in Kentucky and he didn't get his Motek SG2100 working and just installed dishes and switches. The DG 380 that Sadoun sells looks good because of the automatic backlash adjustment. Is there anyone out there that has bought one of these an installed it working right?

 

[mastermesh]

If there is only a consistent 4 degree shift, just change the alignment in your software to adjust for the 4 degrees. My dish is off by 2.5 degrees due to a fluke caused either by my overadjusting at some point in time or by wind, birds, etc. In order to make it work with my pansat, I have to adjust... for instance with usals 148 w has to be sent to 145.5, and I have to do little tweaks like that on each satellite on the entire arc. It's no problem, just a bit of a hassle... but it works. If you want, I guess you could set up true south at -4 degrees west to make up for the 4 degree difference, which, in theory should make your ts set up at zero degrees, which, in theory should make everything else line up right...

 

[satcom1]

Thanks for that info. The first motor was fixed in manufacter at 4 degrees west and when I set it up as Zero then the arc was high to the east and low to the west. This problem seems to be in the Hall effect sensor in that the error is not linear. There is a four degree error at G10R and a six degree error at Galaxy 27. The Twinhan software sometimes is able to resyncronize to the new position. When I tune G10R in ProgDVB it runs past and I just get a burst of video. I go out to the motor and with a dental mirror and reading glasses back the motor to the correct azimuth. I have worn a path in the grass and my neighbors are having a good time watching.

 

[jerryt]

On my SG2100 I accidently sent the diseqc zero command with the software program SSdiseqc1.10 and set the zero at 1.2 degrees. Took me a year to figure out that problem.

My opinion "the SG2100 is great", where people run into problems is trying to power the motor with a PCI card. The PCI card runs on a 5v bus but powers the motor at 19volts. This is hard on the PCI card.

You can reset the motor to the zero position, not a big problem. There is an external power supply modification for the SG2100, look in the MyTheatre forum download section, this would prevent you from toasting more PCI cards.

 

[starman345]

The 4 degrees off zero is not new, it seems at least some of the newer sg-2100's have this problem. Go here for some reading about it:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/94601-anyone-got-new-type-sg-2100-a.html
Also, here:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/119099-sg2100-motor-bracket-flex.html

In the first thread, I explain how to fix the problem. I have several sg-2100's here and I like the one button model best. I have noticed in MyTheatre I have to set my longitude about .4 degrees further west so Usals will track properly. If you are still having problems with your motor I would send it back, having three go south on you is just bad luck....surely you are due to get a good one!

 

[satcom1]

Jerryt and Starman345, thank you for all that really interesting information. I will try the zero reset procedure. I have two different manuals in my assortment of remains from the three SG=2100's neither of them mention the "Reset at Zero". On the first unit, that had the 4 degree error I opened it up because there were no warranty stickers on it. I had seen spare parts photos on Sadoun's site. One Large plastic gear had three micro switches on it. I guess that was in the days when they did have adjustable hardware limits. My gear had a single switch that looked to be a microswitch but was just a butt contact switch. underneath was the housing casting tab that actuated it. The little PCB the switch was on was not adjustable and I wasn't about to grind down the tab on the housing. In that unit I spent some time rotating the motor gear box relative to the worm gear but found that the switch was the controlling factor. I just figured that if the motor tube zeroed at four degrees west, then it would not track the Clarke Belt. This motor tracks the arc perfectly but overuns the bird, Jerryt, your reset at zero may fix this. I'll give this a try. Unfortunately my software doesn't have a goto XXdegrees or I would just use that.

 

[tifozi]

TSReader (free version and paid) has a positioner that works well including Goto XX, albeit the small caveat of setting your latitude opposite to the hemisphere you are in. I use it to move my SG2100 through Genpix SW-1. DVBDream has a buggy USALS at the moment, but you can use it to fine tune using the step function.

 

[satcom1]

tlfozl I'll try both of them. I just ran across FastSatfinder.com | Satellite Finder Software Home and they have a product that can speak the level or quality so you can tune up your dish through an open window or link it to a wireless aplication and see and hear the program through your cell phone or through a wifi connection. They also have a free sat./transponder updated database in ascii format that you can load into your receiver. Also a free Ku to C converter tool.

 

[satcom1]

Oh, one more thing about the SG2100. One of the motors shipped to me had a motor bracket that was defective in manufacture. If you set the thing down on a glass top table one arm was tilted up about 7 degrees. This caused the motor not to track the Clarke Belt even though the mast was level and plumb. I also found that the best place to check the motor for level was across the two housing lugs at the top of the motor. I used a Torpedo level across these and also checked plumb with the back of the bracket.

 

[freezy]

can I just use DISEqC 1.2 to steer my dish to my true south sat then go to the dish and reset the motor?

 

[cyberham]

Yes. Or you don't even need a receiver. The SG2100 has east-west buttons on the motor that allow you to move the motor to center position while standing at the dish.

 

[Magic Static]

If you wish to reset "0" position, I believe you have to use the manual buttons to drive the motor to the new "0" position and then hit the reset button and cut power to the motor.

 

[freezy]

mine might be a one button. I dont remember

 

[cyberham]

Mine only has one button too, now that I think. Press the button once and the motor moves one way; press it twice and the motor moves the other way.