DG-380...Here's another one, unfortunately

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

Hello All:

Well...my DG-380 isn't working, either. I bought it yesterday (went to Columbus to get it!) along with the 120cm dish. Long story short, I put it up last night, and it doesn't work. Now: for the last year (check my posts) I've had a Merc II running a DG-280/90cm dish through a 100 foot length of RG-6 cable, and it has always worked flawlessly, period. I hook up the 380 and tried to move the motor, I could hear it move a few degrees and quit. I went up on the roof, and it would barely move by pressing the east/west buttons. To conclusively prove whether it was the motor, or the cable being too long, I disconnected the receiver and took it up on the roof, using a single six foot long piece of RG-6 to connect it to the motor; nothing changed at all. Pressing the west button, it'll move about five degrees and quit, it won't move east at all.

Now: maybe this is a bad unit (despite the inspection sticker) and others work fine; regardless there's something seriously wrong here.

CN

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

Since it has to go back one way or another, I tested the motor without the dish on it. It would move, but slowly and it sounded like it was laboring even without the dish. It's a far cry from the perky sound the 280 puts out, even when it's on the extreme ends of the arc.

CN

[Sadoun]

CN, the DG380 should not behave like you described. That is ODD. I would recommend you send/bring it back. We will check it and figure out what's going on. Sorry for the hassle.

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

That's fine; I submitted the RMA form and kept the box. Too bad the cables had been switched around on the demo dishes at your store- I saw that you had the same set up with a C Band lnb and would have loved to see it in action!

CN

[Admin]

CN,

In a month or so, we will introduce our our new C-Band prime focus and offset dishes. We will setup a new demo unit outside for people to check out.

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

Well- I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself; I put in the replacement screw in the gear motor and it seemed to fix the thing. This despite the fact that the new screw was the exact same length as the old one, but it had a Phillips head rather than the hex key head. So, it doesn't need to go back.

But here is a word of warning, related to motors in general:

I set up the 120cm dish and 380 motor on my deck so I could have it there to tweak and work with, rather than having it up on the roof. I got tired of pulling the Fortec out of the entertainment system to work with it next to the dish, so I got out another receiver I had (the name begins with an S, ends with a W and has ONICVIE in the middle) and tried using it instead of the Fortec. Long story short, the other receiver must send out crazy mixed up USALS signals, because the motor's behavior was totally erratic. I mean bizarre- after trying to do a blind scan, the motor would say, "I'm outa here!" and turn itself all the way to the east for no reason. The "Go to Reference" didn't work, either. This happened over and over...I got tired of it so I got the Fortec out yet again, hooked it up and it behaved perfectly, no running off the deep end, ever. So: if you think your motor is messed up, it might or might not be; it could be your receiver.

CN

PS- I'm attending a convention in Columbus in mid-October- I'll come by and check out the new equipment!

[Sadoun]

Thanks for the feedback. Glad your motor is running as it should be.


Yes, other brand receivers have issues with USALS and DiSEqC 1.2. The Fortec is very solid in this area and won't miss a beat.