just a quick question please, i am using a v-box to move a nine foot fiberglass dish . This is a old motor but it does work when you hook it up direct, when i try to move it i get Er2 on control display. Iknow this is no feedback from sencor. This will not change no matter how i hook up the wires .anyone have any ideas. thanks for any help you can give
v-box problems
- Thread starter carl14
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I hope you get the answer soon. Yesterday I got the same message, too. I tried resetting the v-box. Mine is a v-box 5. It said hold the reset button down and let it count down from 10 to 1. But that doesn't seem to work either. I can move the dish one click at a time. It worked fine for about thirty minutes last week. Then I started getting the error 2 message. I tried it again yesterday. It worked about an hour and then started giving me the same message. I used big wire. I don't think its overheating or anything.
I also don't understand yet how to input positions into the v-box. Let me know when you figure it out. I'm using an old fortec ultra because its 1.2 DiSequencing. I'm hoping I can get the fta receiver to do the positioning automatically as I change channels. I'm using a 10 foot perfect ten dish with a BSC621.
gordonkearse1954@yahoo.com
I also don't understand yet how to input positions into the v-box. Let me know when you figure it out. I'm using an old fortec ultra because its 1.2 DiSequencing. I'm hoping I can get the fta receiver to do the positioning automatically as I change channels. I'm using a 10 foot perfect ten dish with a BSC621.
gordonkearse1954@yahoo.com
to the group i have the v-box III and if i get the E-2 message usually i'm at the physical limit of my actuator. so this can be feedback from the sensor as actuator limit ( or actuator in a bind / not moving). Try going the other direction and see if the v-box starts counting. also check to make sure the motor isn't binding up. lube the dish and verify it swings freely. a fiberglass dish is a very heavy dish so it wouldn't take a whole lot to stop the actuator and report an error
if the fortec has a save button in the motor setup menu it should store the position
if not you can do it with the v-box remote. probably you can store positions after you set the v-box limits.
if your having problems with the v-box. reset it using the v-box remote then you will have to redo everything starting with the limits
if it keeps giving you a error message then either the actuator is at its limit physically (or in a bind) or its wired wrong.
Carl,
I have a G-Box 3000 and don't have many problems. You mention that the positioner is old. Do you know what type of sense mechanism it uses? My set up uses a reed switch (two wires), the box supplies a bias and the line is pulsed by a magnetic switch. The is another type of sensor, (optical of magnetic) where there is a wheel with slots in it. As the wheel turns it pulses the sensor, in this case you may have to supply a higher bias voltage or reverse polarity to get the sensor to work. IMO the reed switches are much more reliable....simplicity.
Aside from the sensor your motor may have (most do) a physical limit switch problem. There is a cam that engages a switch at either side of the arc. Something may be hung in there. I set the software limits just shy of these physical limit switches
You may also have the GBOX software limits set on top of each other, say west limit is 1000 count and east limit is 1001.
You can disconnect the sensor wires and try to move it with the GBOX, just be careful to watch the dish for movement binding. In my case my receiver was commanding go east while the dish was moving west. That messed with me until I got my butt off the couch and moved receiver, controller TV outside. I just reversed polarity on the motor control leads.
Hope this helps.
I have a G-Box 3000 and don't have many problems. You mention that the positioner is old. Do you know what type of sense mechanism it uses? My set up uses a reed switch (two wires), the box supplies a bias and the line is pulsed by a magnetic switch. The is another type of sensor, (optical of magnetic) where there is a wheel with slots in it. As the wheel turns it pulses the sensor, in this case you may have to supply a higher bias voltage or reverse polarity to get the sensor to work. IMO the reed switches are much more reliable....simplicity.
Aside from the sensor your motor may have (most do) a physical limit switch problem. There is a cam that engages a switch at either side of the arc. Something may be hung in there. I set the software limits just shy of these physical limit switches
You may also have the GBOX software limits set on top of each other, say west limit is 1000 count and east limit is 1001.
You can disconnect the sensor wires and try to move it with the GBOX, just be careful to watch the dish for movement binding. In my case my receiver was commanding go east while the dish was moving west. That messed with me until I got my butt off the couch and moved receiver, controller TV outside. I just reversed polarity on the motor control leads.
Hope this helps.
Carll14,
I saw your thread on ftabins.net before you reposted your question on this site. I may have found the solution to our problem. I clicked the v-box one click at a time until I got to my west limit (high limit in the northern hemisphere). I then set the high limit for the actuator. The instructions are in the manual. Then my box would motor freely without giving the error 2 code back to the east. I then set the eastern limit. After that the box would motor freely without locking up again. But if you do get the error 2 code again, just reset the receiver using either the power button on the receiver or the remote which came with it. The instructions that came with the v-box are terrible but better than nothing!
I've yet to figure out how to use the 1.2 function of the fortec ultra to control the dish automatically and without the use of the v-box remote. I'm still scrolling up and down
from P-1 (position-1) to however many positions you have programmed into your receiver.
I'm up to P-14. I've been programming 87W - 127W. My actuator won't go below 87W
and trees obstruct anything above 127W for me.
But you store the positions after you set the high/low dish limits so you don't harm the actuator.
Let me know anything else you learn. I think I'm about at the same place in the learning curve as you are.
gordonkearse1954@yahoo.com
I saw your thread on ftabins.net before you reposted your question on this site. I may have found the solution to our problem. I clicked the v-box one click at a time until I got to my west limit (high limit in the northern hemisphere). I then set the high limit for the actuator. The instructions are in the manual. Then my box would motor freely without giving the error 2 code back to the east. I then set the eastern limit. After that the box would motor freely without locking up again. But if you do get the error 2 code again, just reset the receiver using either the power button on the receiver or the remote which came with it. The instructions that came with the v-box are terrible but better than nothing!
I've yet to figure out how to use the 1.2 function of the fortec ultra to control the dish automatically and without the use of the v-box remote. I'm still scrolling up and down
from P-1 (position-1) to however many positions you have programmed into your receiver.
I'm up to P-14. I've been programming 87W - 127W. My actuator won't go below 87W
and trees obstruct anything above 127W for me.
But you store the positions after you set the high/low dish limits so you don't harm the actuator.
Let me know anything else you learn. I think I'm about at the same place in the learning curve as you are.
gordonkearse1954@yahoo.com
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