OTHER Stab HH90 high pitch squeal

[KI7FK]

Greetings all. I am wondering if anybody else has experienced a high pitch squeal sound from a Stab HH90 motor. It is about 6 months old and moves a 90 cm dish. It starts to move but then kind of starts and stops before stopping and emitting a loud high pitch whine or squeal. I am sure the neighbors can hear it! I have to power off my STB to make it stop. When I turn on the STB again, the motor again seems to be moving, get confused, and start squealing. The temperature has dropped to below 20-degrees here which is the first time the motor has been in that kind of cold. Any ideas?

If there is no fix for it, I would sure like to here some recommendations for other motors. I bought this one to replace an SG6100 which I really loved before it failed. It lasted a couple of years and was so much quieter while moving and was easily twice as fast. it was not available at the time so I bought the Stab which I must say I am personally not very impressed with.

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions!
-Greg-

 

[phlatwound]

I think you are going to have to open it up and check for broken parts and/or binding. I have a STAB 90 that I have been using for about 5 years with no similar issues.

Also, I sent you a PM.

 

[KI7FK]

Well, once the sun hit the motor and warmed it up a bit, it started working again. No "squeal". I would like to think that it is back to normal but time will tell. Possibly single digit temperatures on Thanksgiving night. That will be the test!

 

[jorgek]

No problem during below 0 weather here. One thing to check are 2 bolts that hold the motor to its mounting bracket. Make sure not to over tighten the nuts, this will definately cause the motor to bind.

 

[SatPhreak]

I've had a HH 90 for 7 winters where it regularly gets to -40F and it never squeals. I would pull it apart if it is out of warranty.

 

[beavs2112]

never had a problem with my hh90 for 2 years here in cold weather either.

 

[KI7FK]

Thanks for the input and advice. After 14" of snow and the holidays I finally got out the ladder to take a closer look. The nuts were snug and not tight but I backed them off slightly anyway which did not help. The motor works 100% of the time when the temperature is above about 25 degrees, but gets progressively worse as it gets colder. We have been in the single digits at night and the motor just squeals without even trying to move at that point. Once it warms up in the sun the next day, it is back to working 100%. I am glad to hear that others have had no issues with their HH90 for years now, but it makes me wonder if the newer units have had some changes made to the construction. More than likely, I just got a lemon. Either way, it looks like a cold and snowy replacement is on my agenda. Now, what to replace it with? I was considering the stronger HH120, but since the HH90 seems so slow compared to the SG6100 I had before it, the HH120 is extremely slow moving. The only problem I had with the SG6100 was that it had a fair amount of play in it and wind would cause signal loss at times. I did a bit of research on the motor speeds and will share them here in case there is any interest. Certainly, speed is not everything. Wind resistance and reliability are also important to me. Where is that perfect motor?

Motor speeds (13v / 18v) (degrees per second)
HH 90 -- 1.5 / 2.4
HH 120 -- 0.4 / 0.7
SG 6100 -- 2.5 / 3.2
SG 2100 -- 1.9 / 2.5

From the positive views on the HH 90 expressed in this forum, I tend to consider another one but I sure won't be happy if I get the same results! Anything is better than having to pick the bird I want to watch before it gets too cold to have a choice.

Thanks and enjoy the holidays!

 

[Titanium]

Haven't observed any hardware changes over the past 10+ years. Doubt there is anything that you could observe on the outside of an unopened case.

Likely you find that something isn't seating correctly or bolts over-torqued inside the housing. Might need some low temperature lube in the pivot points and gears.

 

[KE4EST]

Like Brian is saying nothing outside. Since you are ready to buy a new one anyway, I would open that one up and have a look.
May find something easy to fix, plus as Brian mentioned, put in some good low temp lube.

 

[mmewrench]

That squeal is bad news. You likely have a shaft that is spinning inside of a gear. If it is under warranty, replace it.

 

[Lone Gunman]

Only 6 month old??? I would think they have at least a 1 year warranty on those?

 

[jorgek]

The Stab HH 90 has a 24 month factory warranty. Info on last page of user manual.

 

[KE4EST]

6 Months old. I missed that on the first read. If that is it, yes see about a replacement. Some how I had in my head that you had it for years.

 

[KI7FK]

You are both correct on the 24-month warranty but it appears that it must be sent to factory in Italy. At least that is what my manual is showing. On the back of the manual are two URL's the first is valid for the factory website in Italy. The second one, http://www.stab-usals.us is not and has never been valid. I do have a new HH90 on the way. Even if I do find a way to get this one repaired under warranty, it will mean being down for an extended period of time. According to the HH90 manual on the Stab website, they now warranty it for 36 months. According to the HH90 description from the Ebay seller where I ordered the new one from, it now has a 5 year warranty. All fine if there is a practical way to get the service, but it sounds like they are willing stand behind their product. Maybe I am just becoming a true FTA'er with a nice collection of parts to play with?

 

[fred555]

My view is to have at least two of everything.
Spares are good.

 

[waylew]

Back-ups,gotta have back-ups

 

[KI7FK]

Well... my USPS 3-day Priority shipment of the new HH90 only took 2-weeks to get here, but I am happy to report that this one is installed and handling the temperatures in the teens last night. In fact, it seems to be running at the higher of the two speeds in most cases which was never the case with the old one. It sure is nice to have options during cold weather.