Using a V-box and USALS motor together

[KE4EST]

The issue I am having is when I select a Ku Sat that is on the USALS motor, that motor moves fine but the Vbox also goes to some odd spot(never the same and not a preset). I have not pinned down yet what combination I am doing to cause this, so I have not reported it yet. My set up is:
microHD-->Vbox-->SB9120--->8x1 switch then the various Lnbs. Only one time had the opposite, went to C-band sat through the Vbox, worked fine, but the USALS motor went all the way to the east limit.

 

[Magic Static]

The issue I am having is when I select a Ku Sat that is on the USALS motor, that motor moves fine but the Vbox also goes to some odd spot(never the same and not a preset). I have not pinned down yet what combination I am doing to cause this, so I have not reported it yet. My set up is:
microHD-->Vbox-->SB9120--->8x1 switch then the various Lnbs. Only one time had the opposite, went to C-band sat through the Vbox, worked fine, but the USALS motor went all the way to the east limit.

Stacking two motors is not good. I would put the 8x1 first and run lots of cable if I had to, or stack a 4x1 at the dishes.

 

[KE4EST]

Stacking two motors is not good. I would put the 8x1 first and run lots of cable if I had to, or stack a 4x1 at the dishes.

Not sure if I follow exactly what you are saying here....but maybe I was unclear. The Vbox is driving an actuator on a C-band dish. I do not have two USALS(H-H Ku) motors stacked. The 8x1 switch is out at the dishes.

 

[Magic Static]

Not sure if I follow exactly what you are saying here....but maybe I was unclear. The Vbox is driving an actuator on a C-band dish. I do not have two USALS(H-H Ku) motors stacked. The 8x1 switch is out at the dishes.

The VBox is one of the motor controls, just like a KU motor has a controller built in. They both speak DiSEqC 1.2, and as you noticed the VBox thinks it understands USALS and moves with those commands. I use two motors on one receiver,C-Band and KU, But the 8x1 is the first component on the coax, one lead to the VBox and C-Band LNBs and one to the KU motor and then a 4x1 and out to the LNBs on the KU dish. The motor commands are only received by the motor that is being used.

 

[brentb636]

Not sure if I follow exactly what you are saying here....but maybe I was unclear. The Vbox is driving an actuator on a C-band dish. I do not have two USALS(H-H Ku) motors stacked. The 8x1 switch is out at the dishes.

You are, however, sending the data stream serially thru both the Vbox and the Usals motor. I'd experiment using a 1x4 Diseqc switch to separate the Vbox and the USALS Motor . Put the Vbox on Port 1 and the USALS motor on port 2 . From the Vbox go directly to the actuator ( I assume you probably already do ), and from the USALS motor go the 8x1 Diseqc 1.1 switch. At least then you will be separating the Vbox command from the H-H motor commands.

 

[KE4EST]

I took this topic to a new thread out of the microHD thread.

 

[KE4EST]

The VBox is one of the motor controls, just like a KU motor has a controller built in. They both speak DiSEqC 1.2, and as you noticed the VBox thinks it understands USALS and moves with those commands. I use two motors on one receiver,C-Band and KU, But the 8x1 is the first component on the coax, one lead to the VBox and C-Band LNBs and one to the KU motor and then a 4x1 and out to the LNBs on the KU dish. The motor commands are only received by the motor that is being used.

Ok I thought you thought I had two Ku USALS motors and you meant not a good idea would be if they both fired at same time and pull well over 500mA could burn out receiver.....my fault

Anyway good info here. I haven't used my SB9120B a lot in awhile, used to use it by itself. I decided last week to make my Big dish C-band only. It has the 741 C/Ku LNB on it. I got tired of trying to find the happy medium though. So I spent about an hour adjusting the LNB in the scaler ring till it was optimized for C-band and yep Ku stuff dropped way off. So I set the SB9120 back up. Anyway after all these years, I had in my mind that it was not a good idea to put a motor after a switch, didn't think the switch could handle the current drain of a motor and a LNB together. So now I got to rethink everything. I learn or re-learn something all the time. Always open to help or trying things a different way if it works better. I do know that the SB9120B has a built in control box and it will do DiSEqC or USALS, I didn't know that the Vbox would try and decode the USALS. Thanks for all the input guys.

Another problem I am having is getting the Damn SB9120 to track the arc. I have done these Ku motors before, it has been a couple of years though. sidenote: I was a Dish and Directv and hughesnet, etc installer for years. Now it is just mostly Dish and Glorystar systems, and 99% of glorystar does not have a motorized system, so I admit it has been awhile. However this one is not making sense. Everything is set right but it starts losing birds at the ends of the arc. but that is another story.

I have a question can I use a 22khz switch first then split off to the sb9120 then lnbf no multi-switch of course. Then the other side of 22khz to vbox then to 8x1 switch? I don't see why that won't work, unless the 22khz switch can't handle the current of the sb9210.

 

[Magic Static]

Power passing is definately a concern. A lot of switches provide the info on what they will handle. Not all switches will pass enough for a KU motor. My 1x8 does fortunately.

 

[KE4EST]

Which 8x1 switch are you using? I am using the Digiwave.

 

[brentb636]

I'm currently using the Digiwave 8x1 switch and it has no problem passing motor power. For 2 years I used a GeosatPro 4x1 Diseqc 1.0 switch , and had no problems passing motor power . Possibly , a heavy dish might create a heat problem in the switch, but my 1.2M Fortec mini-bud, 1.0M and 90cm dishes have not had any switch problems related to motor current. Switches are located indoors , in a controlled environment. If you can get several years of service from a switch, it's paid for itself . [edit] The ecoda 22khz switch is rated at 300 ma . My SG-2100 motor has a MAX current ( at highest load, about 35 # dish) of 350 ma. Normal current is 200 ma. Seems like the ecoda is worth trying in your application.

 

[Magic Static]

AROC? (a Republic of China) One of those household brands LOL

 

[KE4EST]

Mine is sun faded so I got to go dig up my spare or search the inet and see what it says about current draw.

 

[brentb636]

DGS-SW81 Specifications :
Item
Specification
Item
Specification
Frequency Range
950-2150(MHz)
Normal Working Voltage
12-20(V)
Insertion Loss
3(dB)
DC Power Consumption
10(mA)
Isolation
20(dB)
DC Max Power Passing
500(mA)
Return Loss
8(dB)
Impedance (all ports)
75(?)

 

[KE4EST]

Thanks Brent!

 

[KE4EST]

After doing many tests, I finally figured out today, what is going on. If I go into antenna set-up, and this is true for the microHD or one of the OpenBoxes, and I tell it to move motor east or west they both move. That is what was going on. In the tests though with normal operation if I told it to go to a USALS set satellite only the SG9120B would move, if I pick a C-Band sat then only the the Vbox-X takes off and the SG9120B is fine. So for right now I am going to leave it as it is.

 

[KE4EST]

Btw I go the SG9120B tracking the arc just fine from 61W to 127W, the darn pole in the ground was off level by just a smidge but it was off I fixed that and all is well. I forgot just how perfect those things have to be. I know they got to be dead level, but a regular bubble level looked ok. I got out my digital level and it was off by .20. So instead of saying 90.00 it said 89.80. That just blows my mind, I know I have always used a small 9" level before with no problems.
Anyway all is well at the dish farm for now..