DiSEqC Motor won't go East... b0rked?

byte

As per title.

I have a Darkmotor on my 1.1m Triax which was going grand. Went on holidays, so receiver (TM6900 Super) was switched off, came back, turned on rxr, all OK. However when I went to move off Hotbird, which is where it was when I left, to Astra 1, it actually decided to go the opposite direction and didn't stop until it limited against my fence

Under no circumstances will it go eastwards, either through the rxr menu, or the buttons on motor itself. I've even reset the motor to no avail. Plugging out receiver does nothing except when I turn it on, it immediately starts forcing the motor west, and now it's making a clicking, which I guess means the gears are now shredded (metal gears indeed :rolleyes:).

I'd have hoped that even by manually pushing the East button directly on the motor would've moved, but no life, apart from the button lighting up. Several resets later, and a firmware downgrade on receiver and nowt.

So... just to to be sure, is motor kaput?

byte

Update.

Turned off receiver again last night. Turned it back on this morning with finger at the ready on motor button, to counteract the receiver trying ot push dish into the fence! Anyway, this time, the East button started working.

However, I can't get USALS to work anymore; the receiver continues to want to push motor west, when it should be going east. So I guess the motor isn't aware of its position anymore or something.

For now though, I've manually configured a few birds to work OK with DiSEqC 1.2

Ronan|Raven

Have you tried doing a full reset on it? There is usually a pinhole or combination of buttons to press to reset it.

fat-tony

Could it be that the receiver has "lost" its location settings during the power off? It could be using some default latitude and longitude settings which is making it want to steer the dish West. In USALS the command to position on a satellite is a GOTO X degrees which the receiver has computed. In normal Diseq 1.2 protocol the command is to GOTO a motor-stored position. The fact that the motor is working under 1.2 would mean that it is counting revolutions of the motor correctly. There is usually a command on the receiver to goto the centre position on the motor - see if that works. If thats ok, then you can set East and West limits in the motor to prevent the problem of it hitting the end stops again. If you can't set your location in the receiver, then you may need to do a factory reset on it, with consequent loss of stored channels etc.:(

byte

Yeah, I had reset the motor several times - it involves holding down both E and W buttons for over 5 seconds until LED's blink

Don't see an option for GOTO zero (or X) on my receiver, just Go To Reference (where reference just pushes motor off west again...

Anyway, I'll have to leave it be for now, as I'm awaiting a viewing card update. Will look at it again after card is updated, and can move position.

Thanks for help guys.

fat-tony

"Go to Reference" is the same as go to zero. It "should" drive the motor to its mid-point (zero on the motor shaft scale), where the dish should be pointing due South. The "Go to X degrees" is an internal command computed by the receiver, not something you would see on-screen. My longitude position is at 6W. If my receiver wants to position the motor to Hispasat, then it computes its position as 30 degrees minus 6 and tells the motor to GOTO 24 degrees from its reference (zero) position. (There's obviously a bit more refinement in the calculation to account for latitude, but you get the idea:)).
The factory reset I mentioned was on the receiver, not the motor. I've had similar issues with the Mvision Combo and the Stab motor I recently bought, where the motor seems to stop responding to commands. Usually power-cycling the Mvision sorts the issue. I hadn't had similar problems with the Moteck motor. Seems to be a combination of receiver software and Diseq/USALS protocol handling in the motor.

snaps

The motor hasnt moved on the pole mount has it? Im trying to think, something happened to mine many years back and in the end i got it working again? Have you tried a different reciever on the motor? Have you tried a different run of cable from reciever to motor??

byte

Motor hasn't moved no, it still see's teh arc, when pushed manually

No other receiver to try. Anyway, I will give it further perseverence tomorrow hopefully.

snaps

Whats the story with your motor mate?

byte

snaps wrote: »

Whats the story with your motor mate?

Nah, can't be bothered with it anymore.

Haven't tried again to get Usals to work again. Just set up a few birds manually. Not ideal but will do for now.

byte

byte wrote: »

Nah, can't be bothered with it anymore.

Haven't tried again to get Usals to work again. Just set up a few birds manually. Not ideal but will do for now.

ROFL

You'll not believe this... it's working on USALS now! I only tried it again because you mentioned it. Thanks snaps

Seriously though, I'd suspect it will recur and would lay blame on the motor controller.

byte

Well, she's gone again.

It's grinding gears when trying to push West, so it's basically kaput now.

Now, I've been looking at replacement motors. There's so many to choose from...

Super Darkmotor - that's what I have now, and I wouldn't consider it all that super.

Superior Darkmotor - same, only an extra bit of metal?

Moteck 2100a - seems to have been the choice of yesteryear, but would this cope with Triax 110cm dish?

Technomate 2100 - I think this is a Moteck 2100 clone, though not sure. Discontinued now.

Technomate 2300 - apparently 35% faster than its predecessor!

Technomate 2600 - another motor with metal gears, probably a Darkmotor clone?

So what is the best of these motors (or other ones) for my Triax 110cm dish? Or, cheapest/best place to purchase?

Thanks.

snaps

Mine is so old i dont have a clue what it is. Its a SG1200 who ever makes that?

Tony

Thats a moteck

snaps wrote: »

Mine is so old i dont have a clue what it is. Its a SG1200 who ever makes that?

byte

snaps wrote: »

Mine is so old i dont have a clue what it is. Its a SG1200 who ever makes that?

The fact it lasted so long you consider it "so old" can only be a good thing!

What size dish is it driving?

fat-tony

byte wrote: »

The fact it lasted so long you consider it "so old" can only be a good thing!

What size dish is it driving?

I've a Moteck SG2100 sitting idle in my shed - we can come to some arrangement if you want it:). Was driving a 1.1m dish, but I changed to a Stab because I was afraid the 1.1m dish was too much for the Moteck, because I ended up re-aligning it after storms. Subsequently, I'm not so sure the motor was the issue, because I changed the motor mount at the same time from an "L" shaped mount to a proper T & K bracket setup. The Stab motor is very precise but it very slow in comparison to the Moteck:(
PM me if you want to try the Moteck.

f-t

byte

Hi Tony

Thanks for the offer - PM sent.

snaps

Perhaps its a SG2100 and not a SG1200. Ive had it about 5 years and its had all the elements thrown at it, spiders webs etc, but its still going grand (Wont drive past 40east for some reason, but i cant pick those up anyway as they are too low to the horizon!)

The mounts now are getting rusty, but shes still pcking up the main birds from 36 east to 54 west no problem. Its driving a gilbertini 1.1m solid dish, but its mounted 2m off the ground in a sheltered position for the past 2 years.

byte

Just to update.

I bought a new Moteck SG2100A during the week and installed it yesterday. Lucky for me, I seem to have more or less hit the arc within 10mins (not hard I spose when replacing an existing motor).

One thing I will, say, it's VERY quiet compared to the Darkmotor! Thought the damn thing wasn't working coz I couldn't hear it!

Just hope it survives longer than the rubbish Darkmotor.

Thanks for all replies.

Ronan|Raven

YOU NO MAKE FUN OF METAL GEARS

byte

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

YOU NO MAKE FUN OF METAL GEARS

Hahaha

Irish Kev

byte wrote: »

Just to update.

I bought a new Moteck SG2100A during the week and installed it yesterday. Lucky for me, I seem to have more or less hit the arc within 10mins (not hard I spose when replacing an existing motor).

One thing I will, say, it's VERY quiet compared to the Darkmotor! Thought the damn thing wasn't working coz I couldn't hear it!

Just hope it survives longer than the rubbish Darkmotor.

Thanks for all replies.

fcuk, was going to order a darkmotor:eek:

how much did you pay for the moteck if u dont mind me asking?