How to Set Mechanical Limit Switches for Bud Dish?

[jsattv]

I've been reading that its very important to Mechanically set the Limit Switches on a Bud Dish BEFORE hooking it up to my new V-Box III dish positioner. When I use a 12V DC Battery Charger the Dish Moves to the extreme East with the Actuator Shaft fully extended and stops on its own, and when I reverse the the wires the 12 Foot Mesh Dish drives all the way to the West direction until the Actuator Shaft is fully retracted and stops on its own. Would this be okay or do I have to somehow adjust the Cams on the Actuator?

It says in some directions that once you know your farthest East or farthest West Satellite then to go 6 - 10 degree ticks past that?? My question is how can this be done unless the Dish is already calibrated and setup and hooked up to the V-Box III dish positioner? Any replies would be appreciated.

[rainman]

Originally Posted by jsattv

I've been reading that its very important to Mechanically set the Limit Switches on a Bud Dish BEFORE hooking it up to my new V-Box III dish positioner. When I use a 12V DC Battery Charger the Dish Moves to the extreme East with the Actuator Shaft fully extended and stops on its own, and when I reverse the the wires the 12 Foot Mesh Dish drives all the way to the West direction until the Actuator Shaft is fully retracted and stops on its own. Would this be okay or do I have to somehow adjust the Cams on the Actuator?

It says in some directions that once you know your farthest East or farthest West Satellite then to go 6 - 10 degree ticks past that?? My question is how can this be done unless the Dish is already calibrated and setup and hooked up to the V-Box III dish positioner? Any replies would be appreciated.

if it's stoping on it's own you should be ok with the mechanical switch all you will need to do is set the east and west limits in your v box.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by jsattv

I've been reading that its very important to Mechanically set the Limit Switches on a Bud Dish BEFORE hooking it up to my new V-Box III dish positioner. When I use a 12V DC Battery Charger the Dish Moves to the extreme East with the Actuator Shaft fully extended and stops on its own, and when I reverse the the wires the 12 Foot Mesh Dish drives all the way to the West direction until the Actuator Shaft is fully retracted and stops on its own. Would this be okay or do I have to somehow adjust the Cams on the Actuator?

Actuators I have seen have limit switches inside the box attached to the motor. These cut off power to the motor. Usually these are set very conservatively, and if anything I've had to widen them. When you ran the actuator with the 12V, you can look inside and check to see that the switches are in fact engaging. However I wouldn't worry about it, the fact that it is stopping on it's own sounds like everything is working.

Originally Posted by jsattv

It says in some directions that once you know your farthest East or farthest West Satellite then to go 6 - 10 degree ticks past that?? My question is how can this be done unless the Dish is already calibrated and setup and hooked up to the V-Box III dish positioner? Any replies would be appreciated.

I assume that this is referring to setting the software limits in a receiver, and doesn't involve the actuator itself. Most diseqC1.2 motors allow you to set software limits inside the motor itself. The big dish actuators have no such settable limits, since there is no computer there, however the VBOX box might have a programmable limit. If so, you'd just move the dish past the furthest sats you expect to go to, and set the limits there via the diseqC1.2 commands in the receiver. Like you say do this after you've programmed your extreme sats. It's just a 2nd level of protection, but really isn't important unless your dish can hit some obstruction before the mechanical switches are reached.

Both analog and DVB receivers usually have software limits

[jsattv]

Thanks a lot rainman and wejones, you guys really know your stuff!!