SG380 having a problem moving a 28lb dish!

[raglencross]

In what seems to be a common complaint on this and other forums, a DG380 that I recently purchased from Sadoun can barely move a 28 lb 1.2 meter dish, well under the 35 lbs specified on Sadoun eBay listing for this item. The coaxial run is on the long side, 135 ft., which is why I opted for RG11 thinking that and being 7 lbs less than the maximum allowable weight would compensate for the distance. Would someone from Sadoun please state for the record over what distances this motor can be expected to operate at maximum load for RG 6 and RG11, both for solid copper and steel with copper cladding center conductors? In my case, the RG11 is the steel copper clad type. Solid cooper is just too outrageously expensive....

[William Eng]

I moved the dish as high as possible on the motor arm which helps. I try not to go to the extreme east or west, then the motor needs a hand to get it back to true south.

[raglencross]

I moved the dish as high as possible on the motor arm which helps. I try not to go to the extreme east or west, then the motor needs a hand to get it back to true south.

Thanks for the reply. I see that you are using an 80 cm dish, presumably with one of the DG series motors. For your information, I have a 90 cm dish that weighs about 17 lbs mounted on a SG2100 motor. I am able to move the dish over the full range at the manufacturer's specified speed using 135 ft. of RG 11. There is something fundamentally wrong with your set up if you have to manually intervene to get your relatively small 80 cm dish to move, even at the extremes. In my case, I wanted to go to a larger 1.2 meter dish whose weight exceeded the rating for the SG2100, but fell well below the maximum specified for the DG380. That, and the fact the SG380 turns 10 degrees further east and west than the SG2100, are the reasons I decided to "upgrade" to the DG380 only to find that the thing can hardly move a dish that is 7 lbs lighter than the DG380's maximum rated weight. I would appreciate if Sadoun tech support would answer the questions posed in my original post. Presumably, they do monitor their own form.

[William Eng]

Thanks for the reply. I see that you are using an 80 cm dish, presumably with one of the DG series motors. For your information, I have a 90 cm dish that weighs about 17 lbs mounted on a SG2100 motor. I am able to move the dish over the full range at the manufacturer's specified speed using 135 ft. of RG 11. There is something fundamentally wrong with your set up if you have to manually intervene to get your relatively small 80 cm dish to move, even at the extremes. In my case, I wanted to go to a larger 1.2 meter dish whose weight exceeded the rating for the SG2100, but fell well below the maximum specified for the DG380. That, and the fact the SG380 turns 10 degrees further east and west than the SG2100, are the reasons I decided to "upgrade" to the DG380 only to find that the thing can hardly move a dish that is 7 lbs lighter than the DG380's maximum rated weight. I would appreciate if Sadoun tech support would answer the questions posed in my original post. Presumably, they do monitor their own form.

That's my first setup you are referring to. I now have a 120 dish with the DG380.

[raglencross]

Is that 120 cm dish the Fortec Star sold by Sadoun? The reason I ask is that the weight of this dish less the wall mount is specified as 31 lbs on the Sadoun website. This is a few pounds heavier than the dish that I can't move with the DG380. I would be interested in knowing what is the distance between your STB and the dish and what type of coaxial cable you are using i.e. RG6 or RG11/copper clad steel or solid copper center conductor.

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

I was one of the people who complained earlier about the DG-380/1.2m combo.

First: there's a replacement screw that goes in the motor gearhead, which, for some reason, really does make it work better. If you don't have it, contact Sadoun about it. I replaced mine and it worked much better after that.

I'm running my DG-380/1.2m combo with the Geosat reciever, connected by two lengths of regular old RG-6 cable connected together with a Radio Shack F-connector union (I don't know what you call it, it's two female ends so you can put two cables together). The total length is about 75 feet, but the system was running with a single 100 foot long piece of RG-6 before I ran this second cable.

Now: I can go from about 40W to 135W with no problems at all. However, one time I disabled the software limit and tried going out to 22W, and the motor got stuck, it was just too much. (Good thing there wasn't anything to see out there).

From my experience 135 feet of RG-6 should work.

One thing you might check: different recievers have different current capability. The Mercury II is limited to 350ma, I believe, but the Geosat is capable of 500ma, and the old Sonicview can put out 750ma. Needless to say, the more current capability the better it'll work (up to a point). Both the 280 and 380 motors are rated at 350ma max, but I don't believe it- how can you move a much bigger dish with the same total wattage? The 380 seems to be happier with the Geosat receiver, probably for that reason.

CN

[Jim-S]

I call it a barrel connector.

[rainman]

it's actually called a F to F splice connector.

[Sadoun]

In what seems to be a common complaint on this and other forums, a DG380 that I recently purchased from Sadoun can barely move a 28 lb 1.2 meter dish, well under the 35 lbs specified on Sadoun eBay listing for this item. The coaxial run is on the long side, 135 ft., which is why I opted for RG11 thinking that and being 7 lbs less than the maximum allowable weight would compensate for the distance. Would someone from Sadoun please state for the record over what distances this motor can be expected to operate at maximum load for RG 6 and RG11, both for solid copper and steel with copper cladding center conductors? In my case, the RG11 is the steel copper clad type. Solid cooper is just too outrageously expensive....

Hi,

Like one of the poster have mentioned here, we had a small lot of DG380 that had the wrong screw on the motor gearhead. There's a replacement screw that goes in the motor gearhead, which can be replaced easily, and will make it work better.

Contact Bill at Sadoun (1-888-519-9595) and ask him to send you the replacrment screw with instructions to replace it. Very easy to replace.

By the way, 100ft is the recommened length of cable. RG11 is better to use on 135ft like you have.

[raglencross]

Hi,

Like one of the poster have mentioned here, we had a small lot of DG380 that had the wrong screw on the motor gearhead. There's a replacement screw that goes in the motor gearhead, which can be replaced easily, and will make it work better.

Contact Bill at Sadoun (1-888-519-9595) and ask him to send you the replacrment screw with instructions to replace it. Very easy to replace.

By the way, 100ft is the recommened length of cable. RG11 is better to use on 135ft like you have.

I did talk to Bill before seeing your message and, yes, he did ask me to open up the motor to check the 3 screws on the gear assembly. Apparently, one of these should be black if the motor is to operate correctly. I will report back to the forum how things turn out.