Motorised dish set up (elevation question)

[spudorange]

Just to add

He has been on the phone and said he tweaked the motor from 51 to 52.5 but is struggling with 27.5 on dish

He swore there is no marker point to set it so I asked him for some pictures (he sent 1 enclosed and said it was too dangerous to get other side on camera but it is the same)

I have looked and he seems to be right unless I am not seeing a marker also (have no idea what dish and bracket it is)

Will be over there weekend but thought I would update the thread

cheers

sorry picture not too clear, will get better if I can. IMG_20140918_184714877.jpg

[spudorange]

Further update.

Went over cos it was driving me nuts, taking my horizon meter.

I set up usals and it locked to almost perfect vertical with pole. (was starting to get dark and did not have a spirit level with me)

Tried moving the dish and got nothing.

Then I sent it to astra and noticed the top was tilting to far back.

I know when I set my 28.2 fixed dishes up it's not far of vertical, this was tilted quite a bit.

It was then too dark to see or work safely, but at least I think I am getting somewhere and will post up once I have been back over.

I remember having to do a motorised system for a club (my boozer) about two years ago, so as not to make a pr*t of myself in front of friends
I sunk a 6ft scaffold tube down the side of my garden decking and into soil, set it for thor and locked it all up, took it along and just had to do a slight tweaking.

This makes me think I can sort it but can not work out how he used to get channels with it tilting back, if nuts were loose gravity would make it fall vertical or past vertical, weird.

thanks to all who are trying to help.

[markwi]

Perhaps the dish was blown off alignment.Can just about read the scale but can't see what it's supposed to line-up with.Is it possible the bracket has been put on upside-down,the numbers on the scale are,so making it difficult to figure the correct dish elevation.If this is so the alignment mark for the scale will be on the other side of the dish bracket.But,as said by various above,just set the latitude on the motor bracket and then adjust the dish elevation until you get a signal.Good luck.

[spudorange]

Thanks, will do

Going to go over in the morning as he wants the footie on Saturday, if I can sort it.

The bit about being upside down may be worth a look but until I see it can not advise.

The install would be a pain to put right though as it is high on a gable wall with a sloped conservatory so not easy to do safely.

Regarding the blown out of alignment, I guess it's possible if nuts are not too tight, will know for sure tomorrow.

cheers

Perhaps the dish was blown off alignment.Can just about read the scale but can't see what it's supposed to line-up with.Is it possible the bracket has been put on upside-down,the numbers on the scale are,so making it difficult to figure the correct dish elevation.If this is so the alignment mark for the scale will be on the other side of the dish bracket.But,as said by various above,just set the latitude on the motor bracket and then adjust the dish elevation until you get a signal.Good luck.

[markwi]

Just thought of something else.How do you know the dish has moved and not the motor.I know you said it was at 50 on the motor gauge but this might not be the latitude gauge(see above,post#7).Any chance of a picture of the scale that says 50?And an overall one showing dish,motor and pole.Cheers

[spudorange]

He has sent me some pictures over but says it is raining heavy and not safe to dangle of side of ladder taking a picture so just from the ground at moment.

0.8 front on.jpg 0.8 side on.jpg 28.2.jpg 28.2 with view of fixed dish also.jpg
First one shows 0.8 from front (ish)
second shows 0.8 from side on
third shows 28.2 from side
fourth shows 28.2 but with fixed dish in picture so elevation does seem out

[dick b]

hello mate difficult to tell from the pics its best to completly ignore the scale markings on the dish bracket send the dish to 28.2e after making sure the correct lat/long are set in the box.set the dish to point slightly higher than the sly one then then turn the whole lot L/R to pick up a signal repeat this lowering the dish a fraction after each sweep.(once your weathers better).the pics are for a TM motor the darkmotor has a spigot with a different angle

[markwi]

Ok,that looks pretty tricky,even with dry weather and dry ladders!Just a picture of the motor scale on the safe side would help.
This may help to determine which scale you are looking at,on the motor,when you set it to 52: I had a look at my motor(not a Dark motor) setup and the Elevation Scale goes from 25? at the bottom(6 O,clock position to 75? at the 4 O'Clock position,so as the Elevation goes up the dish goes up.This "Elevation" is not the elevation you mentioned in your first post that you found on the internet.When added to the latitude it equals 90?.The scale is on the left side of the motor as you look up,from the front.
On the other side(where the ladders are in your pic)is the Latitude scale which goes from 65? degrees(6 O'clock position) to 15? at the 8 O'clock position.As the latitude increases,the dish goes down.So I suspect you've got this side set to 52 but it's incorrectly labled "Elevation",as ebmitie said.Hope this helps.Cheers

[ebmitie]

I have a good look at the pics and I am not convinced its a dark motor, also it looks as if an lnb cable is coming from top of motor!! I cant see the stub of the motor but the one on a dark motor is very short. Also the bracket in post 16 does not look like a dark motor bracket. To me it looks as if the motor elevation is way off, I always use a reference sat nearest to ones location as its best for setting the arc. I know usals can be used on any sat. Anyway I would move dish to o.8w, select bbc world news and lower the motor elevation angle until you get a pic. Then get best possible signal on 0.8w. We need to know receiver as well but can wait. The other thing is the whole rig could be misaligned ie not dead straight. Move motor to zero and then look from underneath everything should be dead straight. If not make it so.

I am uploading pics of my dark motor on 28east, I am at 53 latitude, dish is 1.1m triax. these are taken from the ground today.

The motor fxing could be on updisde down as well.

[spudorange]

thanks all

will update this thread more if weather ok tomorrow.

I am starting to agree that it's not a darkmotor as that was the one I fitted a couple of years ago and yes it seems different from memory than the one sent in pics, so yes could be a technomate one.
Also would not surprise me if he did install it himself (will find out) cos it probably is upside down hence no markings

[ramjet]

seems to be deja vu here as your pics seem to be here before, http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums...oblems-289670/

you can also see my pics of a darkmotor with a 1.1m triax dish too, for comparison

[markwi]

If it's a Technomate the dish bracket elevation will be 22.5? and a Darkmotor,as above,27.5?(once again this is the one that is fine tuned to get a signal) for a latitude of 52.5?.But you won't be able to set the dish angle bracket by these numbers as there's no reference mark as the bracket is upside down

[spudorange]

Yes your right ramjet about 2 years ago I tried to help and he got frustrated through lack of progress and took it down completely, then I noticed he had put it back up a week later.
I was annoyed because I was trying to help and giving my time for free.

Since his missus and mine are very close I am lumbered with having to sort it for him again.

Have done some more digging and it seemed that he did not have it perfect anyway because he says he had 1 deg fine, 13 deg fine & 28.2 fine but could not get any signal on
(he thinks 19.2 plus some others but can not remember)

He was however getting 28.2 etc until about 12 months ago.

I think I will get him to help me take it down, check if he has it upside down or not so I can set latitude and change the lnb whilst I am at it.

As mentioned, because I had promised to put one for my working man's club (which I did) then I still have the pole mount in my garden so will set it up from there
like I did for them and then take it over and tweak the dish round on the pole.

I will confirm the motor make as well once I have it on the ground.

thanks

PS
He is using a blade 7000

[spudorange]

Have dug out an old dish that was working fine, though can not remember what motor was on it and is identical to one on dish taken down.

I have put his darkmotor on it and a new lnb.

As with the other one there appears to be no calibration mark to work from (pics attached)

I also checked dark motor superior manual it shows the degrees as elevation (but this one shows latitude, which seems strange)

I guess I need to be advised further please.

thanks




thanks again

[markwi]

Links don't work.You can tell which is latitude,as mentioned earlier,the dish goes up as the number of degrees goes down.
The picture posted the other day of you mate's dish scale,showed it up-side down.With it like this if you increased the elevation degrees the dish will go down,this is wrong ,for elevation .Same with the motor elevation scale,as the degrees goes up the dish should go up.Cheers