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VU+ box not driving motorised dish

J

John Siddle

Newbie
Hi Guy's.
I have been told that a problem with ZGemma HS2's is they will only drive dish motors if the LNB is a low power type.
I was wondering if that is the reason my VU+ box fails to drive any motors when on the pole but will drive them if they are sitting on my floor.
I firstly had a secondhand motor then recently I bought an Alsat Dark Motor, neither will move on the pole but have no problem on the floor.

Can anyone confirm this and if so where might I get a low power LNB?

Regards John
 
My H2S drove a darkmotor no problem at all. Do you get an LED light on the motor when it's on the pole? I'd check the cables and connectors first of all...

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Wilb said:
My H2S drove a darkmotor no problem at all. Do you get an LED light on the motor when it's on the pole? I'd check the cables and connectors first of all...

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Yes on the pole I can drive it using the buttons the LED display works perfectly and I have just run a completely new 6mm cable (originally I used one of the cables from a thin twin.
Regards John
 
Seems odd, if its getting power to it and will move it manually then the only difference would be diseqc commands not being sent or limits being applied. How is your tuner configured within your stb?

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Wilb said:
Seems odd, if its getting power to it and will move it manually then the only difference would be diseqc commands not being sent or limits being applied. How is your tuner configured within your stb?

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The VU+ box has two positioner settings (Neither work on the pole) one is just positioner (Usals) and the other says positioner selecting satellites.
John
 
Yeah, positioner usals with the correct lat & long ought to be all you need. If you go into the positioner setup menu and try and drive east or west manually does that not even work?

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Wilb said:
Yeah, positioner usals with the correct lat & long ought to be all you need. If you go into the positioner setup menu and try and drive east or west manually does that not even work?

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Nope unless it is sitting on the carpet.
 
What LNB are you using? What about if it's on the pole without an LNB connected? Maybe it is the PSU, seems strange...

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I have not tried that, its been a bit too windy of late and I can not remember what the LNB is, I probably bought it off the net somewhere, probably fleebay.
I didnt think there was much different between LNB's and I get a good strong signal from this one. I have the motor set permanently on 28.2 at the moment with super reception on that Sat. Its been up there a year or so.

I have just been looking at Inverto Black Ultra, they have a current rating of 120Ma max which might be low power.

if it is not windy tomorrow I will go up and try it without the lnb connected and see if the LNB has a name.
Maybe the box is rubbish.
 
Black ultra is what was on my old h2s powered box. I've got the twin one on mine now.

The Vu+ stuff is as good as it gets, shouldn't be the problem...

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Wilb said:
Black ultra is what was on my old h2s powered box. I've got the twin one on mine now.

The Vu+ stuff is as good as it gets, shouldn't be the problem...

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Click to expand...
OK, I think I will get a Black Ultra anyway, I will let you know if the thing moves without the lnb on the pole.
Thanks for talking with me.
John
 
Hi Guy's
I disconnected the LNB on the pole and my VU+ does control the dish motor, so it looks like the LNB is drawing too much current, unless the VU+ box has low output.
I will put the new Ultra Black on when it arrives and report back.
The existing LNB seems to have the name metronic, I couldnt quite make it out, will know more when I remove it.

When I was testing without the LNB, I first tried sending it to 1degree East but it did not move, then I tried 1 degree West, nothing. so I put in 10degrees east and it moved, likewise 13 east and west, and 19 east and west finally going back to 28.2 west then east and it went back to where I had it set up at the begining. The sat finder reported 28.2 95% SNR and 85% AGC so it looks like it located accurately.
That's where it currently is until the new LNB arrives.

Regards John
 
Last edited:
Fitted my inverto Ultra Black today and surprise surprise the dish motor now rotates perfectly.
Obviously my old LNB was loading the VU+.
It has been scanning since just before lunchtime and has so far discovered 4096 chans
Before the scan I did a sat finder and it was showing the AGC off the scale and SNR 96.
It looks like this LNB is very sensitive hopefully at long last I will get some good channels to watch instead of just Sly UK.

Thanks for your input guy's
regards John
 
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