Ugh! I think my SG2100 died!

[Shawn95GT]

As of late my motor has been acting up. More than once I went outside and found it pegged on the East limit.

To fix this I just run out and push and hold the button until the dish swings west. I get close to TS and from there I can USALS again.

Today it just stopped around AMC3. I tried moving the dish manually as I have in the past and not joy.

The light on the motor is green. Upon pushing the button it turns orange and eventually alternates green/orange real fast.

I tried several times and on one attempt the motor swung about 10 degrees west and stopped. Same symptoms.

Does this sound fatal? If it up against a hard limit or something?

It's a Motek SG2100 with the DMS 50mm tube on it.

 

[ftarock]

have you tried to do hardware reset? There is a tiny hole on the motor, use a toothpick press the button inside.

As of late my motor has been acting up. More than once I went outside and found it pegged on the East limit.

To fix this I just run out and push and hold the button until the dish swings west. I get close to TS and from there I can USALS again.

Today it just stopped around AMC3. I tried moving the dish manually as I have in the past and not joy.

The light on the motor is green. Upon pushing the button it turns orange and eventually alternates green/orange real fast.

I tried several times and on one attempt the motor swung about 10 degrees west and stopped. Same symptoms.

Does this sound fatal? If it up against a hard limit or something?

It's a Motek SG2100 with the DMS 50mm tube on it.

 

[WyrTwister]

As of late my motor has been acting up. More than once I went outside and found it pegged on the East limit.

To fix this I just run out and push and hold the button until the dish swings west. I get close to TS and from there I can USALS again.

Today it just stopped around AMC3. I tried moving the dish manually as I have in the past and not joy.

The light on the motor is green. Upon pushing the button it turns orange and eventually alternates green/orange real fast.

I tried several times and on one attempt the motor swung about 10 degrees west and stopped. Same symptoms.

Does this sound fatal? If it up against a hard limit or something?

It's a Motek SG2100 with the DMS 50mm tube on it.

Are all your coax connectors OK and tight ?

Wyr

 

[Shawn95GT]

I thought you had to manually center the motor then hit the reset button. I can't center the motor.

I double checked the connections, they are solid. I'll back them off and re-seat them for good measure tomorrow.

I'll have to find the manual and see what the light colors mean.

 

[Mr Tony]

Shawn
Can you manually move the motor? Make sure the receiver is on and at the motor there is a button that allows you to manually move it east or west. I think one press and hold for east and double press then hold is west. Once you get it centred then you can reset it.

I've had to do it a couple times before

 

[Shawn95GT]

That's the problem. It used to move manually - now nothing.

I push the button and normally after a second or so it starts cruising West. Now it just flashes orange/green. It almost seems like it thinks it up agaist a hard limit or something. Even then it usually nudges just a hair. This motor does absolutely nothing.

When it was running I noticed lately that it seemed to surge when it move. It would go faster for half a second or so once every 5 seconds or so. It was like: mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm if that makes sense .

I think I'll take it all down so I can play with the motor in the house. It's 100+ and humid down here as of late. I'll put my 43W dish on the pole and lock in G10R or maybe Galaxy 25 for the time being. It seems those are the two I watch the most.

 

[Shawn95GT]

Well, FWIW I think I might be chasing a cabling gremlin.

I pulled the dish / motor down and setup my 43w test dish on the pole mount the motor was on. I replaced the dual universal LNBF with the Primestar feedhorn/LNB combo many of us picked up on ebay a little while back.

I parked the Dish on G25 skewed the dish (the mount is froma CM 75e VSAT dish) and was shocked to see the Coolsat reporting 94% quality on FTV/ Russia Today / Al Jazeera English etc.

I moved it in the house and the Quality dropped to 89% or so and sometimes it takes a LONG time to switch polarty. When I first hooked it up I had zero quality and it just sat there a bit tuned to FTV. After 5 seconds or so it came to life. Maybe the P* LNBs need to warm up or something - lol.

I'm going to replace all the connectors between the receiver and the dish for good measure.

I'll also bench test the SG2100.

For the time being a have a kick-butt fixed G25 dish. I'm gonna have to swing it over to G10R - if it can get me 70% or better on the 'problem child' transponders over there I may just leave this dish up .

 

[Shawn95GT]

I brought the motor up to my office to play with indoors (much cooler!).

I disconnected the line headed out to the fixed G25 dish and connected the motor right to the Coolsat. I switched the power back on and the Coolsat displayed 'moving to Galaxy 25' and I heard something in the motor click, but nothing was moving.

I pushed the button to move West, nothing.
I pressed twice and held on the second push to move the motor East... nada.

I went to move to a Horizontal TP to give the motor a bit more grunt. While messing with it I canged satellites and the motor moved. I then tried the manaul buttons and it moved East / West as I would expect for the button presses.

Now USALS is working fine. For good measure I 1.2d all the way to both the East and the West limit.

The motor sounds terrible. It sounds like it has sand in the gears.

I have the motor at reference right now. I'm going to take the 55mm tube off and see if there is anything I can lube under there.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

 

[turbosat]

Sounds like you have a gear eaten up (AZ sands??) If not must be the motor itself. I favor the white lithium grease for gears, maybe you'll find thats all it needs.

 

[gabshere]

personally i would send it in and get it repaired , just report what its doing and all get the rma. then point your dish stationary at a good sat. till you get it back .... its sealed unit so only way to grease the gears is to open it and that voids the warranty.

my motor sits out back dead cause i unscrewed one of the coax ends , the replacement board is about $39 and of course i opened it thinking i could fix it lol lol needless to say its broke....

 

[Shawn95GT]

At least two of the warranty void if you break this seal stickers have fell apart. I dont' expect this motor would be under warranty. I believe it to be a Moteck motor but it says 'Digipower Motor' SG2100 on top.

I'll try Tim @ DMS to see if they can service it (or if it's even worth doing).

Thanks guys!

 

[gabshere]

well if not you can have my gears

 

[jerryt]

I will bet that it is the motor that is bad.

A lesson I learned years ago, motors burn up with low voltage. Increase the voltage and your next motor wil last much longer.

Series wound motors draw more amperage (current) at lower RPMs then at higher RPMs. More voltage and the motor runs cooler (Less current).