Diseqc motor receiver settings

[rrob311]

I have a motorized Ku dish and several of my receivers have several options in the motor menu for this that I do not understand:

Drive to Zero

Recalculate

Set east and west limit

Enable limit

Disable limit

I understand how to store a setting once I have the dish where I want it but other than that I am lost with this. The Openbox has the most difficult motor setting I have used because I have never been able to bump the motor with that receiver. When I switch it to diseqc it always automatically goes wherever it wants for the number it is on.

My dish is off a little so I usually need to bump the dish to peak the signal. Winter is coming so I would like to get a better grasp on this just in case I can't get my motor perfect before it freezes outside.

In short I would like to know how all of the diseqc motor settings work that are common in receivers. I understand the USALS portion but there are a few things above that I don't know how to use. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Guest]

I have very minimal USALS experience Rob. I used a h/h motor for about 6 years using disecq1.2. I've been told that disecq can be a bit tedious initially when you set up your sats but once all is saved you can control your motor through your receiver. If you want to nudge east or west you can because with high winds our dishes could be off alignment and not tracking the arc as they should. Disecq 1.2 works almost identical to usals as well, a mere channel change and your dish is moving to the appropriate satellite.
For my 2 big boys I use stand alone positioners where you are in total control of where you want your motor to go with its own seperate remote.

[el bandido]

Some receivers have more motor commands or options than these. I will describe what is listed below in general terms that should apply to most fta receivers.

Drive to Zero:
This command tells the dish motor to move to the center motor position which is Zero degrees. This command may also be listed as "Go to Reference"

Recalculate:
This command is normally found in the diseqc 1.2 settings. It is used to change the location of a satellite or satellites that you have previously stored.

Set east and west limit:
These diseqc 1.2 commands allow you to set the maximum distance the dish can travel in either direction. These settings can be useful to keep the dish from hitting something that is in the line of the dish travel. These settings may also be useful to keep c band dishes from traveling too far on the polar mount.

Enable limit:
This diseqc 1.2 setting is usually selected when the dish ha been driven to the exact spot East or West that you want to set the travel limit at.

Disable limit:
Disables previously set diseqc 1.2 East or West limits.


It should also be noted that the USALS or diseqc 1.2 motor positions are stored in the motor and not in the receiver.
The receiver's job is to send a command to the motor that tells it to move to a particular satellite. It is up to the motor or positioner to see that the dish stops on the exact spot it is supposed to once the receiver has sent the command to move.
Corrupted firmware in the fta receiver can make a motor or positioner do crazy things or not work at all.

[ViP3R]

USALS is the cats ass if your KU is set up perfect or even near perfect, Most receivers will not let you bump the dish using USALS, but there are some that will have this option.

diseqc 1.2 is the next best option when the set up is not quite perfect, it does give you the other options to drive the motor to the correct position and save it, as EB said the motor will store this position.

My KU was near perfect before I moved it to another spot to pick up more sats and at that time I had to set east,west limits otherwise the dish would hit my front porch when going east. C-Band east, west limits I would say are a must and should always be set so your dish not go over the top.

Now I am back using diseqc 1.2 until I can get the dish correct as we know this can take time and allot of tinkering..I think many motors have a reset switch to wipe out the stored positions if you need to start over.

Like you said rob the time is now to play with it, last thing you want is to be out there when it's -20...lol

[el bandido]

It is pretty easy to bump a dish using USALS. Simply lower or raise the satellite's degrees by a few tenths.

[chifut]

Some SG 2100 motors can't work on USALS mode.

[chifut]

It is pretty easy to bump a dish using USALS. Simply lower or raise the satellite's degrees by a few tenths.

Yep .That is work .I did try it before

[rrob311]

Cool, that answers some of my questions. I have an SG2100 that I am impressed with since it has lasted 2 winters so far. How many positions should an sg2100 style motor be able to store in it's memory?

[el bandido]

Many different Sg2100 motors were made, but you should expect to have at least 58 diseqc 1.2 positions.