DG-280B with Mercury II

Vitruvius · #1 (**permalink**) 06-28-2008, 02:31 PM

Ok, my DG-280B motor stopped working... I have tried all sorts of things to get it working. I finally took my receiver out to the dish with short wire and it still didn't move the motor.
I then set up my old DG2100 and the Mercury II didn't move that one either. Now I think the problem is with my Mercury II.
I have reset the factory settings in the Mercury II and it still doesn't want to move the dish. Both motors were receiving power because I could move the dish manually at the motor, but will not get signal from the Mercury II. What could cause this to be?

I would love any advice on this if anyone has any ideas. It might be time to get a new receiver.... any recommendations?

Thanks... Vit

Jim-S · #2 (**permalink**) 06-28-2008, 03:53 PM

Hi....I bought my Mercury II from Sadoun, I had sent mine in to Sadoun to be tested just to rule out the receiver being the problem. My receiver was OK. My problem ended up being the LNB. I replaced it and all is well. I know how you feel. It's all trial and error. If you know anyone with a receiver try theirs. My trouble was the dish moved intermittently.
Jim

Sadoun · #3 (**permalink**) 06-28-2008, 03:58 PM

Like Jim said,

try the MerII/Moto without the LNBF connected to the motor.

Vitruvius · #4 (**permalink**) 06-30-2008, 01:59 PM

Ok, I tried that... I disconnected the LNB from the motor and nothing... You see, I tried my old SG2100 and it didn't move that motor either...
I tried all sorts of cables.. I tried a couple of LNBs. Two motors. I tried resetting the Mercury II. Yes, I guess I should try some other receiver, but I don't have access to one... Oh my...

Sadoun · #5 (**permalink**) 06-30-2008, 05:42 PM

Try reloading the latest factory update and see if that takes care of the problem.

KOSMO · #6 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 12:56 AM

Last Saturday I drove 100 miles and purchased a sardoun system. Been wanting to see what's up on FTA. It is a Mercury II, with a 90cm dish and DG280B and a quad circular and linear feed invicom QPH-031 LNBF. I have a 4 year degree in electrical engineering have tried EVERYTHING and I cannot get the bottom signal to show. The top signal shows 40% for ANY LNBF I plug into the receiver. Even with no dish and feedhorn pointing at the ground. (tried an old direct-tv feed) The inexpensive meter that came with seems to know that there are birds up there when I move the dish. But it acts wierd. When I turn the knob it picks up something so I reduce the gain a little and then move the dish and the signal is very iffy and drops out. But I tried the method where you tell the dish to move to say galaxy 25@97 deg and the transponder suggested by the how to ...then tried moving the dish around from there. ABSOLUTELY never any signal.. I have no way to tell if this is a bad LNB or receiver or both.

The receiver didn't have a warranty card and neither did the LNB. I wonder shouldn't I have one? Tried calling today at noon time but sardoun couldn't talk much & was "busy with customers". I was the only customer saturday around 11:00 am for about an hour I was there. Brent couldn't get any of his systems to work there either. Said their dish was blown around by storms.

Was really looking forward to getting this going. Not sure where to go from here. Spent hours and hours Sunday and all evening tonite with a little tv in the back yard. And got nothing but VERY FRUSTRATED.

First time I purchased anything from Sardoun.

Vitruvius · #7 (**permalink**) 07-01-2008, 01:27 AM

You have to have patients with the first install you do. Your equipment is all new and should be working. Don't get frustrated. You just have to take it step by step. Here are the steps I take that I hope will help you.
1. Make sure your mounting pole is absolutely vertically plumb.
2. Find the true south which is 180 degrees plus some number to compensate for magnetic north. It is different for different locations. You can also do the sun shadow thing at solar noon. You find out when solar noon is on the internet for your region.
3. Set your angle of motor to your Latitude.
4. Set your dish to the inclination noted in the motor manual for your latitude.
5. Point your dish due south.
6. Take a tv and your receiver out near the dish and hook up the thing. Coax from the L on the LNB to the motor. L, linear signals are more common on the satellites. Some are C, circular, but few and not need for setting up your motorized dish yet.
7. Set up your Mercury II for your Lat and Long. You can get your exact Lat and Long on MSN Map or Google Earth. Say, go to Satellite 97 degrees and go into the USALS and input your correct Lat and Long. Set the type of LNB to the 10750 (I think that is the number,,, well which ever one is the 10,000), I think this is for a Linear LNB. Also go into settings on the Mercury and turn on the sound for the meter. The sound helps you while you do the fine tuning.
8. Tell your receiver to move the dish to 97 degrees. Hopefully the motor will push the dish towards 97. Once there, you need to fine tune the dish direction.
9. Move your dish very short steps left and right. Try for one degree at a time. Wait at each move to see if the receiver picks up more signal. Remember, patients is needed... mainly at this point. Once you feel you are tuned the best you can be... then loosen your dish mount, and adjust the angle of the dish up and down by one degree each way. Once you have it locked in as close as you can, do it horizontally again, and then vertically again. It helps if you do horizontal and vertical twice in order to pull onto targe.
10. Check a few of the frequencies on the 97 satellite and see how strong the signal is. You can scan through the different transponder frequencies in the USALS window any time during the tuning.
11. I hope you have more quality signal than 35 at this point. You can now scan for channels. You can do the powerscan, but that will pick up all stations, scrambled and not scrambled... Might as well just scan for the FTA. What ever channels are tuned into, check the Lyngsat website to make sure you have tuned to the correct satellite. If it is not the correct satellite, find the satellite that has the channels you see, and that will tell you how to re-align the dish, which direction.

Be patient, and your equipment is probably all in order. You need to do one step at a time and it should work for you. Good luck and keep us posted.

Regards, Vit

Vitruvius · #8 (**permalink**) 07-02-2008, 12:48 AM

Mr. Sadoun, Yes, that seems like my last resort. I'll reinstall the receiver software this weekend. Thanks for the tip....

Regards, Vit.

Sadoun · #9 (**permalink**) 07-02-2008, 01:07 AM

KOSMO

Vit gave you good suggestions.

Also, try the instructions here:
How to install an HH-Mount Motor? Applies to DG240-SM3D22-STABHH100-HH120-Motech-SG2100

KOSMO · #10 (**permalink**) 07-02-2008, 06:45 PM

I GOT MY FIRST FTA SYSTEM GOING! Stopped by and talked to Steve in tech support. He tested my receiver and LNBF. both good. I learned a few things. got it going as soon as I got home.
It's actually pretty easy.

1) The Galaxy sat @97 deg. is lined up when the motor is ONLY 15 deg.
2) I had my LAT longs reversed...duhhhhh no wonder it wants to go way West!
3) THE LNBF can be slid back and forth. It should be as far back as possible from dish. Didn't see this in any specs.
4) I had some RG59 in there..just a short 4' run...but I didn't know that the I.F. is as high as 2 GHz.
5) lining up on just one Sat was enough! didn't have to fine tune it using an East sat then a west sat.

Now I am power scanning all kinds of free stuff. Simply amazing! EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE ONE OF THESE!

THANK YOU ...especially Steve at SADOUN.

Vitruvius · #11 (**permalink**) 07-02-2008, 07:30 PM

Good job...

Vitruvius · #12 (**permalink**) 07-04-2008, 12:00 PM

Ok, here is the strange reaction from my receiver during all my trial connections.
I changed LNBs, I changed motors, I changed cables, so physically I think I tried everything to see if I could get my motor moving. In all these cases it seems that i would get 40% signal and close to 0% quality.

I tried uploading the V1.53 software to the receiver. I did it twice, and all the same stuff happened. 40% signal and 0% quality. I would try different LNB frequencies and different different LNB settings and all gave the same signal and quality results of 40 and 0. No motor movement.

I then uploaded the V1.43 software to the receiver. Very interesting. The signal meter seemed to respond to the different frequencies and different LNB settings. But it still does not move the motor.

Anyone have any ideas? Should I go back and update the software to the V1.53 and see what happens?

Vitruvius · #13 (**permalink**) 07-06-2008, 01:49 PM

Ok, I finally had a chance to take the receiver and a tv out to the dish to shorten the coax length and see if I could get some signal...
After changing the software back to the V1.43 which I thought would work, I tried putting the V1.53 back on and the meter returned back to its Strength at 40 and Quality at 0 or 1. So I reloaded the V1.43.

I then took the receiver out to the dish and tried tuning a bunch of satellites. Nothing worked. I even tried it on a second dish and it didn't work. I tried it without the motor and I couldn't get any channels.
I really think the receiver has been zapped even though it was on a surge suppressor. I just hope the LNB is working... I have an old one that should work and it didn't help me get any signal...

All the software in the receiver seems to work... its just the signal isn't getting picked up...

Vitruvius · #14 (**permalink**) 07-13-2008, 02:56 PM

I tried everything I knew to try to figure out the problem of turning the dish and receiving signal. I took the receiver to the dish and with everything there... I could get no signal.
Ok, I got a new Mercury II receiver. Took it out to the dish and no signal... I changed the LNB, and got signal.

I then tried the old receiver with the good LNB and no signal. Therefore, the receiver and the LNB were zapped somehow.
The new receiver and good LNB turn the motor and gain all my old stations. My new location for the dish can get Sat 123 which adds about 40 FTA tv stations.

Somehow, the old LNB and old Receiver were zapped somehow. There are three things that could have affected these... 1. Lightning. 2. I adjusted the 'backlash', looseness in the motor pole, and may have made it so tight that it caused a short. 3. I get power outages at my house and when the power gets turned back on it may send abnormal surges to the receiver... I've never had a problem with anything else this way though. Anyone have any other things that may have caused this?

Vit

Jim-S · #15 (**permalink**) 07-14-2008, 08:37 AM

Glad to see solved your problem at the same time sorry to see it cost you a new receiver and lnb.
I would guess it was lighting, I have been hit twice in two different homes. It does some weird things, takes out some things but not others.
When a storm is coming I always disconnect most of my electronics. The last time I was hit it took out six of sprinkler valves and the controller in the garage and blew the cover across the garage which was really strange. Just make sure you are grounded per the electrical codes. Your sat system as well. See Mike Holt Enterprises as well as Sadoun web site.
Just some of my thoughts.
Jim

William Eng · #16 (**permalink**) 07-14-2008, 10:35 AM

I brought the outdoor cable with built-in ground wire to connect my motor. Its grounded to the steel post (3 feet deep), so I have not had any problems even though I live in the lightling capital (Tampa) hence the hockey team name. I have another surge protector for the cable and power before my receiver and TV. They are expensive ($90), but they have a guarantee/warranty that if your electronics are fried, THEY will repair or buy you new stuff. In addition, I have have ZAP-CAP which is installed by the power company ($5/mo) to protect the whole house from power surge.

My inlaws lost 2 LNBs, before I figured out that the cable was too close to a metal fence.

Vitruvius · #17 (**permalink**) 07-14-2008, 02:28 PM

The dish that must have gotten zapped was on a steel pole. The pole is 36" into the ground and I guess will be a great ground.

Now I have just relocated the dish on an old shed with a metal roof. I guess I should make sure the metal roof is grounded.

The next project is to try again with the 6 ft. dish and H180 motor on the steel pole that got zapped....

As I understand it... the ground helps dissipate the static electric charge built up on any metal or object before the lightning can be attracted to it.