Motorised Dish has stopped moving

dpullen87

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I have a motorised dish which was installed a few years ago by purplesat. I haven't used it for a few weeks and I went to scan in a feed last night and was getting no signal.

After trying a few other sats and going out to have a look at the dish it wasn't moving. I tried reseating the cable at the back of the receiver and powering it off to no avail, I could see a green light on the motor when looking up at the dish at night.

Any idea how I can kick it back into life, preferably without going up a ladder that I don't have.

The dish did come back to life briefly for a few days but has since stopped again, I'm wondering if water is getting in somewhere.

I have no idea what brand the motor is.

Receiver is a VU+ solo 4k running latest vix version.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
 
Just tried again and the dish to moved to 42E and now won't move again.

I have the window cleaner coming round in a bit, I'll try and borrow his ladders and reseat connections.
 
The ladder didn't reach so was unable to reseat cabling :-(

Will see if i can source a ladder from elsewhere and in the meantime check the cabling i can get to for damage.
 
Several things you can try but 1st has a receiver been replaced that went faulty or any other connected device failed & needed replacing. Have connectors been swapped while a box is on &/or have connectors been left lose. Water ingression shouldn't happen but it's worth checking and that there's been no damage anywhere along the coax length by a builder (or window cleaner)

Fixes

Have you done a software reset in the motor menus

You can assist the motor with say a slight push with a broom driving back from 42e & if that gets it moving then the tensioner on the motor might need releasing a little while agitating the motor drive .

There's a hard reset with a paper clip in a small hole on the motor button but this should be done with the motor at zero.

Some things to try
 
Another thing to do is check for any fault/s on anything in anyway connected & that includes a TV, other stb/s (plugged into the tv etc) , anything anywhere in the property that could be connected via any cabling such as an aerial distribution system, other Sat feed off the lnb, lan wiring or any AV cabling.

What you are looking for is usually a psu fault that puts stray voltages on the chassis or inner core and tracks upto the motor seeing the motor as a partial ground and interfering with the 22 kHz diseqc signals.

Start by disconnecting any connections.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Only one cable coming from the dish to the receiver which is a vu+ solo 4K running openvix.

I can’t understand how there is a green light on the motor if there is a fault with the cable, surly the power comes from the receiver?

how can i do a motor reset from menus in vix?

will try your suggestions and disconnect other kit near by to rule out.
 
@pedro2000uk I haven’t managed to identify any faults as yet but have just experienced something strange.

as mentioned before my dish was stuck on 42e and not moving. I found tonight if I kept going east it would move 46e,52e all the way upto 62e but if I tried to go back west say to 19.2e nothing happened. Now that I’m at 62e it won’t move again in either direction.

does the above behaviour give you any further ideas?
 
If you could push it it should go back.

It might fix with easing off the tensioner as I said. Strip the motor a grease and calibrate the tensioner

Could be the box isn't outputting enough power or the regulators on the motor have suffered wear/ damage

But if it won't drive back even with help, that points to damage from a cable fault/ loose connector or electrical fault. Loose connector being the No. 1 cause.
 
You might be able to apply a little help from that window with a brush & maybe extended by taping another broom handle

And driving it to 1°w or reference ('0°'')
 
You might be able to apply a little help from that window with a brush & maybe extended by taping another broom handle

And driving it to 1°w or reference ('0°'')

I tried before, and it wouldn't budge, I'll have another go today. Where is the best place to push, I don't want to break anything and make it worse.
 
I tried before, and it wouldn't budge, I'll have another go today. Where is the best place to push, I don't want to break anything and make it worse.


Very careful pressure on the rim - it is at an awkward angle & well over (65e ish? )

Chances are its not functional & if you did getting it going could just keep going.

If you do get up to it, easing the bearing bolts off might help &/or the bearing tensioner (3 cross heads 2 about 10mm apart = bearing bolts & the 3rd right next to one of those is the tensioner - anticlockwise = loosen & wobble the dish & only say 1/4 turn )
 
Any installers in the midlands area that could pop in to take a look, PM me.
 
Hoping to finally get up the ladder this week once the storm has passed.

if I reset the motor, should I move it first or after? What is the recommended steps I should take?

Other than reseat the cables and reset the motor what else could I try and in what order? If I reset the motor, will it loose all its settings? Will it need to be realigned?

sorry for all the questions, any help is much appreciated.
 
If it's still facing extreme east - try driving it west while carefully pushing it west -
 
If it's still facing extreme east - try driving it west while carefully pushing it west -

It is still facing extreme east, do you mean try moving using the buttons on the motor?

Do I have to try and get it to 0 before resetting?
 
It is still facing extreme east, do you mean try moving using the buttons on the motor?

Do I have to try and get it to 0 before resetting?

yes, put a little pressure on the dish [not enough to distort it !] and then press east, on that motor it either goes east or you have to press it twice quickly to swap direction - the other button cover is just a cover & you should only reset at 0 [put the box on thor btw] if you can't get it moving resetting at any position is one of those last resort - then drive to zero then re-reset.
 
Many thanks for the quick response and helpful answer.

Presuming you mean move west as the motor is already at extreme east and needs to move west to get back to 0.

Fingers crossed.
 
yes, put a little pressure on the dish [not enough to distort it !] and then press east, on that motor it either goes east or you have to press it twice quickly to swap direction - the other button cover is just a cover & you should only reset at 0 [put the box on thor btw] if you can't get it moving resetting at any position is one of those last resort - then drive to zero then re-reset.

I've been up and no good, christ that felt high :) Pressing the button to move the dish did nothing, pressing the reset button did nothing and the dish is solid and won't move.

Is it worth trying an older Technomate box to try and reset to 0? I saw a TM-5402 on amazon I could try and then return.

The motor is probably 5 years old so I fear it has packed up.
 
my old chinese knock off dreambox did the same, thought the fault was at the dish end but it was infact the reciever. replaced with a Vu+ reciever and back in business.
 

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