Viewsat Extreme and DG-280B motor

[longhalkilo]

The motor works perfectly from 72W to 123W, but when calling for 125W to 129W my screen on the Viewsat shows USALS Calculation Error. Could this mean I need a hardware reset? If so, the instructions show to disconnect the coaxial cable with the power on the receiver and follow instructions. With the power on the receiver, could I not damage the LNB and the motor controls? I thought the golden rule was never to disconnect coaxial cable from a powered receiver, that this may damage switches, LNBs and other equipment.

[Vitruvius]

Yes, I agree. You should not unplug any coax while your receiver is on. I usually turn the power off. What is telling you to do this? The DG240 I think can be reset by pushing and holding down some of the buttons, while it is powered.

[longhalkilo]

Yes, I agree. You should not unplug any coax while your receiver is on. I usually turn the power off. What is telling you to do this? The DG240 I think can be reset by pushing and holding down some of the buttons, while it is powered.

The instruction manual for the DG-280 motor on page 5 under 'Hardware Reset by Receiver' line 2 and also under 'Hardware Reset by Motor' line 1 is where I got the info about this. As you said about holding down some of the buttons only on the motor I understand that this is to reset the sat table in the motor.

[cnagorka@gmail.com]

Hold on a second- depending on where you're located, 125 to 129 may be outside the range of what the USALS system wants to do! If it feels that these are too far west, that is, below the horizon, it won't go there. I've encountered this with the DG-280 AND DG-380, with different receivers. They didn't give me that message, they simply wouldn't go out that far (in my case, I was trying to go way east instead of west). The only way to fool the system is to disable the software limits, and that's asking for a dish to get stuck at the extreme end of its travel. Again, I don't know where you're located, but most likely this is the problem.

CN

[Jim-S]

This brought to mind of my system, I can go to 139deg but if I try to go past that the dish will just go to "0". There is nothing out there for me anyway all "C" band. Just making a comment.
Jim

[longhalkilo]

Hold on a second- depending on where you're located, 125 to 129 may be outside the range of what the USALS system wants to do! If it feels that these are too far west, that is, below the horizon, it won't go there. I've encountered this with the DG-280 AND DG-380, with different receivers. They didn't give me that message, they simply wouldn't go out that far (in my case, I was trying to go way east instead of west). The only way to fool the system is to disable the software limits, and that's asking for a dish to get stuck at the extreme end of its travel. Again, I don't know where you're located, but most likely this is the problem.

CN

Thank you for your response,I had a real hard time trying to access this forum for the last month. The DG-280 motor is spec at 80 East to 80 West, and I am located at 64.9W and 46.2N.So theoretically I should reach 145W which is below my horizon.If my memory serve me correctly 129W is9 degrees above my horizon.

[longhalkilo]

The VS Extreme will only allow you not to go more than 60 east and 60 west of your longitude .I do not know if this is true with other FTA recievers.

[Admin]

Try using DiSEqC 1.2 instead of USALS. For experimentation, try the East / West Buttons on the motor to see how far you can go.