nickngen says he's got a 48-pulse shaft encoder (though I don't know where he stuck it), so presumably he's getting 48 counts, too.
I've had the pleasure of working with member "NicknJen" on his recent Birdview conversion for FTA. I brought him to the understanding of the solid build of BV being the best "hardware" package available, and found him one, as you'll see if you search my threads.
We did have a common problem, however, that being that the modern V-Box units, (mine a 7, his a 10) didn't like even the Birdview reed-switch assemblies for their counts. It seems the counts were too low. Thus, Nick experimented for both of us. Since my BV is at a radio station, I originally suspected RF from our transmitters as an issue. While there may be "noise" on the line, we found that NOT to be the issue, rather the amount of the count in both cases.
To address where the rotary encoder goes, look at the pics attached, however....the system needs its own power supply, in both his case and mine, a simple "wall wart" does the job to power the encoder and relay assembly required to create the proper pulses. I'm told the encoder is varable from 48 counts per rev to 2096 counts per rev! Most of the guts of this could be put in a box outside in the BV housing or even installed inside the housing of a positioner (which we've talked about doing).....there's a few small parts needed to "smooth out" the operation we have not mentioned here, but very common and easy to find!
We've been wanting to collaborate on a picture and narrative of the procedure, (pretty painless and not terribly expensive) which is not difficult once you understand the goal.
I was taught how the rotary converter replaced the reed-switch kit, and we even used the original Reed-Switch mount. Granted, its not the prettiest of installations, and you could make it more "mechanically sound" with a new mount, but..we both have yet to have our units skip a beat due to the mounting via plastic wire ties!
Hopefully in the near future, we'll have more pics and details. Hope this helps!
Plus, for anyone lucky enough to have ORIGINAL Birdview LNB covers, look what happens when you weld two together to extend the weather cover for longer "combination" LNB's!
I think the Birdview I sold Nick should now be called, (with a smile) "Frankenview" with the mods thus far. But then, so should mine!
Nick: Correct me anywhere you see fit! You're the engineer on our two systems now!
