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[Resolved] Bitten off more than I chew

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waqy

Member
Bit of a dilemma and could do with some opinions from the motorised dish crowd.

I've currently got an 80cm mesh dish on a Dark Motor, which has been working fine and tracking the arc properly.

I recently bought a 1m Lenson Heath steel dish together with a DigiPower/Moteck SG-2100A motor from a member on this forum, so I know the dish and SG-2100A are a compatible combination and were supplied together.

My original plan was to leave my existing Dark Motor exactly where it was, since it's already aligned properly, and simply replace the 80cm dish with the Lenson.

I fitted the Lenson at motor 0°, got it lined up and eventually managed to peak 0.8°W at around 80–84% SNR, so reception-wise it was looking promising.

Unfortunately I've now discovered a mechanical problem. When the motor rotates far enough, the Lenson's mounting bracket physically catches the side plates/body of the Dark Motor and stops it moving. The output arm on the Dark Motor simply doesn't appear to extend far enough for the Lenson's rather chunky mounting bracket.

So I'm now deciding between:
  1. Putting the 80cm dish back on the Dark Motor and returning to the setup I know works.
  2. Removing the Dark Motor and fitting the SG-2100A that actually came with the Lenson, then setting the motorised system up again from scratch.
I'm leaning towards option 2 because I bought the Lenson and SG-2100A together from a member here, so I know they're intended to work together.

The downside is obviously disturbing a Dark Motor installation that's already tracking the arc properly and having to align the SG-2100A from scratch.

For those who've used the SG-2100A, particularly with a solid 1m dish, would you go ahead and swap motors? How does it compare with the Dark Motor in terms of strength, backlash and reliability with a dish this size?

I'd rather not try extending/modifying the Dark Motor shaft just to gain clearance, especially with the extra leverage and wind loading from a solid 1m dish.

I've already slightly bent the Dark Motor's metal plate a bit on both sides, but don't want to do it anymore
 
waqy said:
Bit of a dilemma and could do with some opinions from the motorised dish crowd.

I've currently got an 80cm mesh dish on a Dark Motor, which has been working fine and tracking the arc properly.

I recently bought a 1m Lenson Heath steel dish together with a DigiPower/Moteck SG-2100A motor from a member on this forum, so I know the dish and SG-2100A are a compatible combination and were supplied together.

My original plan was to leave my existing Dark Motor exactly where it was, since it's already aligned properly, and simply replace the 80cm dish with the Lenson.

I fitted the Lenson at motor 0°, got it lined up and eventually managed to peak 0.8°W at around 80–84% SNR, so reception-wise it was looking promising.

Unfortunately I've now discovered a mechanical problem. When the motor rotates far enough, the Lenson's mounting bracket physically catches the side plates/body of the Dark Motor and stops it moving. The output arm on the Dark Motor simply doesn't appear to extend far enough for the Lenson's rather chunky mounting bracket.

So I'm now deciding between:
  1. Putting the 80cm dish back on the Dark Motor and returning to the setup I know works.
  2. Removing the Dark Motor and fitting the SG-2100A that actually came with the Lenson, then setting the motorised system up again from scratch.
I'm leaning towards option 2 because I bought the Lenson and SG-2100A together from a member here, so I know they're intended to work together.

The downside is obviously disturbing a Dark Motor installation that's already tracking the arc properly and having to align the SG-2100A from scratch.

For those who've used the SG-2100A, particularly with a solid 1m dish, would you go ahead and swap motors? How does it compare with the Dark Motor in terms of strength, backlash and reliability with a dish this size?

I'd rather not try extending/modifying the Dark Motor shaft just to gain clearance, especially with the extra leverage and wind loading from a solid 1m dish.

I've already slightly bent the Dark Motor's metal plate a bit on both sides, but don't want to do it anymore
Click to expand...
Some photos or a video might be a good idea, although not right now as its 2.30AM and it might be too dark to see.
 
Yeah pictures would be great but to turn the dish so far either way to bend the motor brackets would be around 80 degrees or more unless the bolts on the dish a overly long.

None of this makes sense without pictures.
 
This is the pic of dish from the sale page on here
1000027502.jpg
 
Looks like the bolts need cutting down to me if the dish can not slide down any further.

Although your bottom pic shows a new looking bolts from the sales pic so you have change them
 
waqy said:
Yes I took the ones off the 80cm dish and attached them to the 1m as the ones that came with the latter were rusted as anything.

The old ones are longer too
Click to expand...
Well it is clearly an issue with the bolts hitting the brackets . At what orbital position does that happen though ?

Also the motor stubs centre line is not central to the ubolt clamp its way off.

Pictures from the side view and rear please.
 
I'll await the pics , as I can't work it out from your description, normally it's lower or higher the dish on the motor stub (out of alignment in that pic)
, and/ or cut the bolts down when the cables snags , but looks like the bolts are different, ( if that's the same motor/ dish)
And your talking about mounting brackets catching,
 
Last edited:
Ferret. said:
Well it is clearly an issue with the bolts hitting the brackets . At what orbital position does that happen though ?

Also the motor stubs centre line is not central to the ubolt clamp its way off.

Pictures from the side view and rear please.
Click to expand...
I noticed the stub alignment as well, thats why I asked for more pics, def something amiss
 
First pic is the original bolts and clamps which came with the dish.

Last pic is of the motor bonzer originally used, which has a longer shaft/arm
 
The Lenson or your motor does not look like it is ever going to work. Maybe you could swap the Ubolt around so the U is on the motor mast and the nuts just the nuts are inside of the dish elevation braket.

Failing that swap the motors over or find a way of re drilling the top mounting holes for the top clamp lower down.
 
@Ferret. Cheers. Yeah, I plan on taking down the motor and replacing it with the one that came with the dish.

I'm also gonna buy two new sets of clamps and nuts, cos these ones are rusted beyond saving.

Will probably put it all up on Wednesday when I'm working from home.

Will update the thread on the day hopefully :)
 
Bit of a strange one with the new SG-2100A/Lenson setup.

The good news is I got them both up and running, and aligned. On 0.8W I'm getting about 88% on Al Jazeera, and 85% on Vision Norge HD, respectively.

Motor movement had been really intermittent . Sometimes it would move across the arc fine, other times it would just refuse.

As a test I disconnected the **LNB cable from the motor**, leaving only the Vu+ connected to the motor input. Suddenly it was perfect, I sent it from 30W all the way through 0.8W, 7E, 9E, 10E, 13E, 16E, 19.2E, 23.5E, 39E and 42E without a single issue. It also sounded noticeably faster/louder.

I then reconnected the LNB cable and, weirdly, it’s still working normally. I’m currently watching SS 1 HD on 16E, and then also successfully streamed a random 39E channel via OpenWebif.

So I’m now wondering whether I had a dodgy/partial connection on the motor → LNB cable/F-connectors, or whether disconnecting the LNB briefly cleared some kind of power/current issue.

Anyone seen anything similar?
 
waqy said:
Bit of a strange one with the new SG-2100A/Lenson setup.

The good news is I got them both up and running, and aligned. On 0.8W I'm getting about 88% on Al Jazeera, and 85% on Vision Norge HD, respectively.

Motor movement had been really intermittent . Sometimes it would move across the arc fine, other times it would just refuse.

As a test I disconnected the **LNB cable from the motor**, leaving only the Vu+ connected to the motor input. Suddenly it was perfect, I sent it from 30W all the way through 0.8W, 7E, 9E, 10E, 13E, 16E, 19.2E, 23.5E, 39E and 42E without a single issue. It also sounded noticeably faster/louder.

I then reconnected the LNB cable and, weirdly, it’s still working normally. I’m currently watching SS 1 HD on 16E, and then also successfully streamed a random 39E channel via OpenWebif.

So I’m now wondering whether I had a dodgy/partial connection on the motor → LNB cable/F-connectors, or whether disconnecting the LNB briefly cleared some kind of power/current issue.

Anyone seen anything similar?
Click to expand...
I would redo those connections just to be sure.

However the LNB does take some power up to 300ma so when you disconnected it the motor will get more power to use.
 
Ferret. said:
I would redo those connections just to be sure.

However the LNB does take some power up to 300ma so when you disconnected it the motor will get more power to use.
Click to expand...
Will do the LNB to dish one soon, but for now I'm afraid of even looking at it and something breaking 🤣

Thanks for all your help everyone who contributed to the thread :)
 
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