V-box 2 problem

[Jules]

Hi all,
I have a Technomate V-box 2 with a VU+ Duo and Gregorian dish with 36v motor but cannot get it to move to satellites.
I have set up the various satellites, when I select a satellite the V-box shows the correct position number that I pre programmed,
but the motor does not move. When I go into motor settings on the Duo I can move east to west from there. This is very puzzling.
Hope someone can help me please.
Thanks.
Regards,
Jules.

[Mickha]

What image do you have loaded?
Does the dish move normally when you just use the V-Box II remote control, to move the dish?
Have you set your tuner up to match your V-Box II settings, turning the USALS option to No and entering the correct number?
Have you manually scanned in your channels, or used a channel list, like vhannibals?

[Jules]

Hi Mickha, thanks for your reply.
I was thinking about this while I was in bed, I can move the dish east to west from the Duo manually.
I think I know where I may have gone wrong.
I have set location numbers for each satellite, but have not moved to each sat in positioner settings to tell it where the sat is.
Is this the problem? I am using BH 2.15.
Regards,
Jules.

[Mickha]

You don't need to, providing the V-Box II is already set up.
You do need to set up your Tuners correctly, if using both tuners.
First concentrate on the Tuner connectred to your V-Box II.
Go into the Menu, Setup, service Searching and select Tuner Configuration.
Select your Tuner, A, or B, whichever is connected to your V-Box II, and thus the motor, then set it to advanced.
Now you set each satellite up, to match your V-Box II.
For example, suppose you're on Astra 1, 19.2E, you select that in the satellite, then set your LNB option to LNB 1, Set Diseqc Mode to 1.2, Set Use USALS for this Satellite to No, and select/save the position, to correspond with your V-Box II settings, e.g. if Astra 1. 19.2E, is set to position 1, on your V-Box II, set it to 1 and save.
Then go back into Tuner configuration, select another satellite, e.g. Hotbird, 13E, and do the same, setting it's position to match the V-Box II, e.g. 3.
Keep doing this until you have all your satellites, East. and West, stored, on the correct numbers.
Once done your dish should then move automatically, to the correct position, when you select a channel.

Have you already got your satellites stored, in your V-Box II?
Do you have the settings written down, so you can match them?

[Jules]

Thanks Mickha,
I don't have the remote for th Vbox.
when I select say Astra 1 on position 3 on the Duo, 3 comes up on the v-box but moptor does not move.
Do I need to set the numbers into the V-box aswell?
How do I do this please?
Thanks.
Jules.

[Mickha]

First set up all the satellites, you wish to view, in the Tuner Configuration, along with the positions.
Once finished go back into the menu, Service Searching and Positioner Setup.
Use the options to move your dish East/West, then the fine tune option, and store option.
Upon saving it should also save it to your V-Box II.
You can also use the Signal Finder option, but this is easier when using the V-Box II remote, but I assume your V-Box II has controls, on the front of the box, to allow you to move your dish East/West.

[Jules]

It has, I will try.
Get back you you shortly.
Thanks.

[Mumbles]

Say for example your position 1 sat is 39 east - you select a 39 east channel on the duo menu then manually move the dish there with thew duo set up menu ans store that as position one - You then do the second sat say 25 east - while you are parked on 39 east - pick a channel on 25 east on the duo menu = then manually move the sat in the duo set up menu til you get a picture - then save that as position 2 . You do that for each sat.


Or you can pick a channel on 28 east or what ever on duo menu - then drive the dish with the vbox buttons til you get a pix then store that as position 3 in the vu =that way When you store a channel best to make sure the vbox has also remembered the position and is syncing with the vu- I have also found it is best to just do a couple of sats at a time then reboot the VU to avoid menu clogging.


If you are starting numbering with the west sat as no 1 - make sure the jack either fully extended or fully closed - or you will run out of dish travel

[Jules]

It has, I will try.
Get back you you shortly.
Thanks.
Hi again, I can store astra 1 and it finds it every tim.
When I try to put a channel on hotbird the dish starts moving and does not stop.
In the positioner menu there is only Astra 19e and Hispa 30w built in. If I could see the other sats from there I can install them

[Mickha]

You have to set them up first, in the Tuner Configuration menu, before they show up in the Positioner Setup options.
Which satellites have you set up, and saved, in the Tuner Configuration menu?
You can take screen shots, using OpenWebif, just type in your receiver IP address, in a browser, like Firefox, and you should have full access to your receiver.
You can then save the images, and post them on the forum.
https://www.satpimps.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=67169&stc=1

[Jules]

Think I have sorted it now.
I Started at 19e that was already stored, went to satfinder in duo and selected a frequency for my next satellite 13e, then steered the dish with the buttons on the front of the Vbox
to 13e. I then stored it in it's position in the positioner menu in the Duo and that worked.
I did the same for another few satellites and its working now, going to each satellite automatically when I select a channel.
I can see as I program more satellites, the position number does not have to be in satellite arc order, which is good.
I suppose I can now go into the duo position menu and fine tune the motor position for each satellite?

[Mickha]

Yes, as you can alter each satellite position, when using Diseqc 1.2, to peak the signal, and adjust it later to counter any motor drift, or slight dish movement.
Make sure you write down the satellites, and their stored positions, to make it easier, if you need to re-program your duo, in the future.

[Jules]

Thanks very much for your help Mickha, much appreciated.
I see that 42e is a little weak but its position is at the start of the count "000" on the Vbox so I can't nudge it any more east if I need to without starting again I suppose?

[satwyn]

Thanks very much for your help Mickha, much appreciated.
I see that 42e is a little weak but its position is at the start of the count "000" on the Vbox so I can't nudge it any more east if I need to without starting again I suppose?you could give the dish a tweak at the extreme end of the arc 42e some transponders are quite strong in uk

[Mickha]

000 shouldn't mean anything, on a V-Box II, unless you've set a limit, on the V-Box II, receiver, or motor.
On my V-box II it just goes past 000 to 999, and down.

[Mumbles]

I find it best to have 000 on a satellite for positioning after you have a power loss to the vbox - mine always reverts to 000 when power is switched back on. It's easier to realign he ish if you know where 000 is exactly/

So when I set up - with the jack half I tune a Rai station on hot bird in. Then restart the vbox and that will make hotbird 000 - then tune in the other sats / So when things go wrong or with a power cut - If you get a power cut while on 28 east - the vbox wiil think it is on 000 when the power comes back on. In that case I can just go my Rai channel tune the dish and restart the vbox and 000 will hen be in right position and there s no need to tune all the sats in again - as the vbox will have kept the stored positions. It just resets 000 when ever you reboot - so you put it in the right place and do that.

[Jules]

Good idea Guys. I will do that.
Obviously I will start again and set my sats.
Regards,Jules.

[ian]

You should always keep a backup of your settings file on your pc.

That way if you lose the VBox positions due to a power cut for example, or simply if you reflash with a clean image, you can then simply copy and paste your NIMS from your backup file into the new settings file. Then issue init 4, send the edited file over, then issue enigma2 and all your VBox positions are restored again exactly as they were before.

Simples.

Ian.

[Jules]

Thanks Ian

[Jules]

Hi Guys,
I did notice that when I removed the power from the V-box and reconnected, it kept all the settings.

[Mickha]

The V-Box II should retain the settings.
I think Ian meant back up your VU+ Duo settings, so that if your receiver crashes, and you need to re-flash an image, or try a new image, you can quickly transfer them back.
I am that used to entering my V-Box II settings, into my tuner confgiuration options, when I flash a new image, that it's less trouble to do it manually.

[Jules]

Thanks Mickha,
So if I save my channel settings back to enigma edit for eg, this should also keep the satellite positions too?

[Mickha]

No.
You can save your channels, and Bouquets, using Dreamboxedit, or Dreamset, on your PC.
You can backup your settings in the Blackhole menu, I'm not sure where that is, in Blackhole 2.1.5, as I'm currently using the latest Open Blackhole 1.0.026.
Check your receivers menu for backup options.
You can also save folders, and files, to your PC, using a FTP program, like Filezilla.

[Jules]

OK, I know what you mean.
Thanks again.

[Mickha]

You might as well back up your Enigma2 folder, where your settings file is loacted, using Filezilla.
Open Filezilla, connect to your receiver, then go into the etc folder, and backup the enigma2 sub folder.
As mentioned, by ian, you can copy, and paste, the config.Nims information, from the old file, to the new, by using telnet commands, to stop your receiver.
Login, using telnet, send the command init 4
You can then edit your new settings file, using copy, and paste, to transfer all the config.Nims information, save this, then use the init 3 command, in telnet, to restart your receiver.

[Jules]

Thanks Mickha

[Jules]

Hi Guys, small problem developed with it yesterday.
It has been working fine up to now, but now when I try and move sats with Duo the motor just nudges for a split second,
then V-box comes up with Er2. Any ideas please?
Thanks,
Jules.

[Mickha]

E2 is usually a limit problem, and needs re-setting.
It co0uld also be due to your motor being driven beyond its limits.
Check the dish, and motor, before doing anything else.
Check your V-Box II manual, for the error message.
If your dish, and motor, are fine, try using your V-Box II buttons, to move the dish.
If they don't work try connecting a 12v battery, to the positive, and negative wires and see if the dish moves, make sure you use the correct wires, incorrectly wiring the motor can blow it.
Please psot back with more detailed information, once you have checked your dish/motor, and tried moving the dish with your V-Box II buttons.

[Jules]

Hi, Mickha, It has been OK, not been near limits lately.
I do not have the remote for the V-box, can I still do a full reset on it?
Thanks.
Jules.

[Mickha]

Have you checked your dish/motor?
Is your dish currently pointing at a satellite?
Have you tried manually moving the dish, East/West, using the buttons, on your V-Box II, or the dish position options in your receivers menu?

[Jules]

It seems a problem with the motor, possibly lack of pulse. I have just reconnected my old Echostar 9600 to steer the dish. I can only keep the dish moving by holding down east or west.
Then it still stop - starts. I also notice the motor position numbers do not move as the dish moves. My dish is a gregorian with it's own H to H motor.

[ian]

E2 is a cable problem, or possibly a reed switch problem at the Actuator, either way its not counting correctly. A reset is unlikely to fix it because its mostly likely mechanical in nature. Ive had this in the past and running a new cable solved it, but before you do that, check all your cable connections and buy yourself a new reed switch from ******s. They're only penny's, just to rule it out.

Ian.

EDIT: Just seen your post so you can rule out the Reed switch as you dont have an Actuator. So concentrate on the cable.

[Mickha]

Check your wiring, and connections, first at the motor, then check for any breaks, or signs of damage.
An easy method, of checking if the motor is working, is by connecting a couple of new wires, to the motors +, and -, connections and attaching these to positive, and negative, terminal, of a battery.
If it then moves smoothly you know the problem lies elsewhere.

[Jules]

Thanks Fellas.
I will have a spare motor here, I will wire that indoors and try it first then look at the dish.
Wiill report back, thanks.

[Jules]

I replaced the motor now working again. The fault was inside the other motor. I will open it and have a look.
Thanks again Guys.