2 sky boxes with 1 dish??

Tommy87

I've moved into a house with people that already have sky. I rang sky and they say I can't cancel my subscription. So I'm wondering can I run my sky box from the dish in the new house as well as theirs.

As I can't cancel my sky, I thought I could move it to the new house and wire it to the dish there. Is this possible??

Thanks

Indeed it is no problem, all you need is a dual or quad LNB. :-)

Are the two boxes in the same building and on the same electrical supply? If so then yes. If not then it's far too dangerous to recommend.

irish bloke

Tommy87 wrote: »

I've moved into a house with people that already have sky. I rang sky and they say I can't cancel my subscription. So I'm wondering can I run my sky box from the dish in the new house as well as theirs.

As I can't cancel my sky, I thought I could move it to the new house and wire it to the dish there. Is this possible??

Thanks

It depends on the LNB (yoke at the end of the dish)

It it's a duel connection or quad connection LNB then you are in luck. You need 1 connection for sky and 2 for Sky +

irish bloke

Karsini wrote: »

Are the two boxes in the same building and on the same electrical supply? If so then yes. If not then it's far too dangerous to recommend.

Sorry, but what has 2 boxes being on the same electrical supply got to do with getting a second signal from a satellite dish???

irish bloke

irish bloke wrote: »

Sorry, but what has 2 boxes being on the same electrical supply got to do with getting a second signal from a satellite dish???

Trying to share a dish between two electrical supplies (such as two houses for example) is an electric shock and fire hazard and requires professional installation. If it's two boxes in the same house and same electrical supply then it's fine.

Karsini

Karsini wrote: »

Trying to share a dish between two electrical supplies (such as two houses for example) is an electric shock and fire hazard and requires professional installation. If it's two boxes in the same house and same electrical supply then it's fine.

But you're not trying to share a dish between two electrical supplies. You're sharing a signal between two decoders who are isolated form the mains via the PSU which is also isolated from the mains. (decoder end)

It's a question that must be asked for health and safety reasons. If it's the same electrical feed then there's no worries at all.

The OP said "a house with people" so I'm sure the mains supply is the same.

irish bloke

Karsini wrote: »

Trying to share a dish between two electrical supplies (such as two houses for example) is an electric shock and fire hazard and requires professional installation. If it's two boxes in the same house and same electrical supply then it's fine.

That's rubbish.
We are talking about signal wires coming from a signal dish/LNB, feeding 2 boxes.

Where the electrical supply for the receiver box is coming from is irrelevant.

Fine, I'm sick of the way I'm treated in this forum. I'm out.

Karsini

Karsini wrote: »

Fine, I'm sick of the way I'm treated in this forum. I'm out.

Tommy87

Thanks for the replies, yes it's the same house, it has 2 sitting rooms, so I was thinking I could put my box in one room and run it from the same dish!

Would I need a sky installer or would it be handy enough to do??

The Cush

Tommy87 wrote: »

Would I need a sky installer or would it be handy enough to do??

Have you done anything like this before?
Is your box Sky+, requiring 2 feeds from the dish?
Is there 1 or 2 spare outputs at the LNB on the dish arm?

If you can't do it yourself get a local aerial/satellite installer, check out the yellow pages.

excollier

Karsini is correct. If they are on a different power supply then there is a very real danger of electrocution if a fault develops in one of the receivers on the other supply. All it takes then is for someone to actually touch one of the receivers and......he did say that if they are on the same supply, then there is absolutely no problem.
Check facts before you kill someone. Installs to apartment blocks sharing a dish must be, by law, properly earth bonded for this very reason.

There is no 220 volts going to jump from the mains side of the decoder psu to the tuner, that would be a fault I've never heard of in my 5 years of installing sky. (not any more thank god)

It would be impossible.

I doubt anyone would stick the dish cable into the mains for the laugh.

excollier

Trouble is, receivers are only two wire, no earth connection in the plug, so if an earth fault develops, the chassis can transmit back via the dish cable to the lnb body, then back via the second connection. Unlikely, I know, but possible, so earth bonding is absolutely necessary when using a multiswitch, an absolute legal requirement.
Whe connecting wthout a multiswitch, and on two different power supplies, I don't know how that is overcome but the consequences are potentially fatal,
I certainly would refuse to connect that way, and your PLI provider would quickly disown you if anything happened.
In a nutshell, it's illegal - do it at your peril.

Ok it's possible.

Probably as much of a chance as getting struck by lightning, but yes anything is possible.

But I'll tell you what's even more possible is the fact, as you say, that sky receivers are not earthed is the fact they are safe, because if one might be likely to get electrocuted from the fault of the neighbours dish, one would be most likely to die from a shock from their own receiver first as it's not earthed.

Very very unlikely situation as they were not earthed for a reason........

STB

irish bloke wrote: »

That's rubbish.
We are talking about signal wires coming from a signal dish/LNB, feeding 2 boxes.

Where the electrical supply for the receiver box is coming from is irrelevant.

It is far from rubbish.

Where the electrical supply is coming from is very relevant.

Earth bonding. Look it up before you correct people.

Deleted User wrote: »

There is no 220 volts going to jump from the mains side of the decoder psu to the tuner, that would be a fault I've never heard of in my 5 years of installing sky. (not any more thank god)

It would be impossible.

I doubt anyone would stick the dish cable into the mains for the laugh.

It doesn't require someone sticking the dish cable into the mains.

Its very possible. I am guessing you never actually studied electronics or telecommunications ? There is a reasons that you dont take chances when splitting something as simple as a dish between two different power phases.

5 years, good god man.

STB

STB wrote: »

It is far from rubbish.

Where the electrical supply is coming from is very relevant.

Earth bonding. Look it up before you correct people.



It doesn't require someone sticking the dish cable into the mains.

Its very possible. I am guessing you never actually studied electronics or telecommunications ? There is a reasons that you dont take chances when splitting something as simple as a dish between two different power phases.

5 years, good god man.

I'm not arguing the possibilities of over 400 volts being sent down the coax, however, I got to say I've never heard of an earth fault in a sky box, or any satellite decoder.

There is a far far greater possibility of lightning striking unearthed roof antenna's connected to TV's and causing a fire than a satellite decoder generating a mains fault potentially sending a potential fatal 450 odd volts down the coax to the other receiver. Most likely the Coax would burn or the traces on the PCB before any significant current reaches the 2 nd receiver.

If I'm correct there is the potential of the two different premiss being on two different phases which is where the 400+ volts comes from (think 3 phase).

But yes it's possible, but probably as rare as you getting struck by lightning walking down the street.

If one is that concerned then there are distributors or multi splitters that can be earthed and everyone is happy as larry !