270 replies to this topic

[casacristo]

I also use a motorized dish, so please keep support for the plugin!

[mirakels]

@rhinoceras: what are the risk with the recalculate option? Can it destroy the motor?
The message now only asks for confirmation to recalc. But maybe the message should be more informative about the consequences of. recalcs.

You're not into git yet to generate formatted git patches? If not maybe you can specify a proper message and I'll integrate it into the patch and commit it...

Well, there is no other risk than that you may loose the positions you already memorised. That's all. Anyway, most semi-professional rotors do not implement this command in any case, so nothing would happen. Worst case is that it is implemented wrongly or that there is a bug in the code or the way it is transmitted by SEC to the rotor. Again that means loss of data or wrong data in the position memory. Nothing catastrophic, but I spent time to finetune some 40+ satellites and I do not want to do that all over again.

Ok I the I think the message should be more informative. about these risk. I'll think of something and include that in your patch.

[rhinoceros]

@rhinoceros
And if the user has two rotor (motor)?
What if ...
It can be read as a number of the tuner at the opening of the plug.
P.S.However, I do not understand this.

When there is more than 1 tuner with a rotor the user is required to select the tuner for which he/she wants to use the setup for before the setup is entered, so there should never be any ambiguity. This part of the logic was always there and has not been changed by me.

[rhinoceros]

Ok I the I think the message should be more informative. about these risk. I'll think of something and include that in your patch.

That's ok. But again, perhaps I overemphasized the risk. There should be no danger for the hardware. In the most extreme case, if all goes wrong, the rotor might hit the limits, soft or hard, but the installation should be able to handle that.

[mirakels]

One question.
When the rotor moves from one position to another, a satellite icon is displayed along with "from" and "goto" positions. This is a very nice feature!
However, the time counting down (I assume it shows approx. when the dish arrives at "goto" position.) seems to be totally wrong. For example, moving from 13E to 28E it estimated to take some 16-17 seconds (I don't remember exactly.) but in fact it took only about 5 seconds.
Anyway, great job! Thanks.

The movement speed is based on defautl rotation speeds. These may differ per rotor.
If I'm right the new positionersetup plugin by rhinoceros allow to define the angular rotation speed. I guess it
would be possible to use these values to improve the expected rotation time.

Maybe Dima73 is already looking into this :-)

[goedi]

For the willing and daring. Here is a version with support for the (re-)calculate command since this question keeps coming up now and then.
WARNING: THE (RE-)CALCULATE COMMAND IS UNTESTED BY ME. I am not willing to risk this with my own rotor setup. There is a confirmation messagebox before the (re-)calculation starts, so inadvertent button presses should do no harm.

Apart from this, there are minor cosmetic improvements.

Since the repo is not (yet) updated it seems with the patch in post #98, the diff included here is cumulative, i.e. it includes that patch.

After update to latest pli experimental image the recalculate-command works fine for me now.

Great work, thank you

Regards, Goedi

[rhinoceros]

@mirakels,
Thanks, I saw you updated the repo. One minor comment, though. There is a typo: "imay". Then "memorized" is U.S. spelling. I normally use U.K. spelling which would read "memorised". Don't know which standard is used in PLi ...
The text "and finetunes" is not really English. Perhaps you could say "and fine-tuning". Thanks for your help.

[Huevos]

Then "memorized" is U.S. spelling. I normally use U.K. spelling which would read "memorised".

"Memorized" is not just US spelling. It is the prefered spelling of the OED and you can't get more British than that. OED prefers the "z" because when the word is pronunced it is obviously a "z" sound.

Anyway I've had a look at the plugin, which looks really good, but I just have a couple of points.

First USALS (GotoX) and DiSEqC 1.2 (go to position) controls are mixed up on the same screen. Could you not split the screen with a line and have one above and one below?

The GotoX position you can move left/right across the numbers (the angular position) but you can't actually edit them.

The "fine movement" doesn't move my USALS motor at all but does control my V-box.

With step size you are overlooking how an actuator works. They don't move the dish in a linear fashion, for example mine is 14 steps per degree at 57E and 4 steps per degree at 58W. And rate of turn is not related to voltage when using a positioner either.

Lastly "search east" and "move east" should be on the left, and "search west" and "move west" should be on the right. That would be much more intuitive. The way it is right now, if you press the button on the left (west) the dish moves right, and vice versa. Can you imagine a car where you had to turn the steering wheel to the right if you want to turn left (pretty confusing).

[Jeroensky]

Just to inform, if someone is interested: My motorized system is for sale (as good as new).
Because i got a building in front of it now, so cannot receive anymore. It's as new (5 months old), see signature.
Location is Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
PM me if interested.

Edited by J3r03n5ky, 7 March 2012 - 22:55.

[Dimitrij]

Patch
- Cosmetic changes in the skin and text
P.S.Made the location, but it is no longer needed.

[malakudi]

I use a skin called Glamout X-Infinity. After latest updates in positioner plugin, the skin I use don't show the labels in red/greem/yellow/blue buttons. What I have to look inside skin code to fix this?

[Dimitrij]

your skin/skin.xml
was:
<screen name="PositionerSetup"
......................
</screen>
do:
<!--screen name="PositionerSetup"
......................
</screen-->

[raj3664]

hey guys

ive installed the new positoner setup but i am still having trouble moving the dish manually.. when i enter the positoner setup and manually move the dish to get a better signal it finds the signal and locks it but when i exit i find that the dish has moved again and retrieved the old crappy signal or no signal in most cases. I am just wondering if i missed anything? any help would be appreciated.

thanks
raj

[kalehrl]

You have to store position after moving the dish.
If you just exit it, it moves to the old position.

[raj3664]

yeh i understand ive tried that but everytime i exit it just moves the dish again.. it doesnt seem to store which is the problem

[Huevos]

The positioner setup is for DiSEqC 1.2. Is that what you are using or is your tuner configured for USALS?

[raj3664]

my setup is configured for usals but i used to use the positioner setup with the nabilo 12 image with no problems so surely it should work with this dreamboxuk image? it finds the signal.. it moves to get a better signal but it doesnt lock even though it says locked.. i store the position but it makes no difference.. it just moves the dish to the previous signal or no signal after exit

[Huevos]

If you are using USALS your dish moves to a position governed by the co-ordinates you have entered in your tuner config. If you are using USALS and you are not nailing the satellites it means you either entered the wrong co-ordinates or your dish/motor is not aligned properly. Like I said above the positioner setup is for DiSEqC 1.2 (stored positions), and not to correct badly setup USALS motors.

[raj3664]

yeh i tried changing to diseqc but when i try to enter positioner setup it comes up with error saying no tuner setup for diseqc motor but when i put it back to positioner it works but the same problem.. locks the signal but when i exit it moves the dish back to the old position.. like i said it worked for me two days ago with an older image so im guessing its a problem with this image but i cant figure out what it is

[Dimitrij]

Try resetting all settings on the motor.
In fact the motor.