4 replies to this topic

[pablogiganti]

Hi,
I was a happy owner of a Dreambox 7000 (enigma1) and a Rotor Sat HH120 (DiSEqC 1.2 & Stab – USALS) positioning rotor. Now I upgraded my Dreambox to a Dreambox 7020HD with a OpenPLi 3.0 image.

The rotor has these technical specs:
Communication protocol: DiSEqC 1.2 Level
Speed of rotation: 1.1º/s (18v) 0.8º/s (13v)
Consumption in standby mode: 30mA
Consumption in operating mode: 190mA
Starting (max) movement consumption: 350mA
Programmable positions: 49 satellites
Preset positions: 28 satellites
Fine rotation: by impulses of 0.1º
Supports: Auto focus, Calculate and Return to 0 (Re-align, reset, Go to Pos 0)

In the old days I used to point my dish to Astra 19.2º (pos 02), hit store in position 02, hit calculate on my Dreambox, disable the “Go to XX” function, list up 3 or 4 rotor presets (enough for me) and life was wonderful. (picture attached)
Now on this new firmware I don´t seem to find a way to work without the Go to X function and with a preset list of positions instead and the rotor doesn´t seem to work properly.

My Dreambox is equipped with a BCM4505 (DVB-S2) tuner, I´m located in Madrid and I configured it to work with the following settings:
Configuration mode: Simple
Mode: Positioner
Longitud: 003.703 W
Latitud: 040.416 N
Use power measurement: yes
Power threshold in mA: 100
Rotor turning speed: slow
Turning step size (º): 0.100
Horizontal turning speed (º/sec): 0.7
Vertical turning speed (º/sec): 0.0

When I run a manual scan enabling only the 3 satellites I´m interested in, the UI says moving to Astra 19.2 but the rotor moves to what I believe is 25º aprox (???) and it gets stuck. Then it moves somewhere else but never hits a satellite. However, if I go to the positioner setup option of the box and tell the rotor to move to any preset, the rotor obeys and (slowly) does it job and stop right where it should.
It´s strange because the rotor´s user guide claims it supports USALS which, from my little understanding, is the protocol the firmware uses to control the rotor. Anyway, I was wondering if I could enter those presets values somewhere and work only with them without the Go to X feature or any other fancy method.

Another new thing that puzzles me is that this new Vertical Turning Speed option the firmware has. I supposed it is for positioners with two axis capabilities but, does it affect my one axis rotor normal operation?
Maybe I could write values directly to a file using FTP instead of using the user interface or some other workaround.

Can anyone think of any possible solution other than buying a new rotor?
Thanks in advance.
Pablo

Attached Files

•  Rotor_setup.gif   12.1KB   38 downloads

[malakudi]

Diseqc 1.2 goto stored position is enabled in advanced mode. You setup one satellite as LNB1, diseqc 1.2, use usals: no, stored position: XX. Then you configure every other satellite as LNB1 and you just change use usals to no and stored position in every satellite. It's a bit confusing setup, but works ok.

[Robinson]

I won't be able to help you a lot but my question is why don't you want to use USALS if your rotor is USALS-compatible?

Speed of rotation: 1.1º/s (18v) 0.8º/s (13v)

So you should put the following values:
Horizontal turning speed (º/sec): 1.1
Vertical turning speed (º/sec): 0.8
But this will not solve your problem. As for USALS, I assume your zero reference position is set incorrectly and that is why your dish moves to incorrect positions. I'm sure you don't need to buy a new rotor.

[pablogiganti]

Hi Robinson,
Thank you for your reply but the Speed of rotation: 1.1º/s (18v) 0.8º/s (13v) you quoted refers only to horizontal rotation, not vertical. It basically says that the rotor will move 1.1 degrees per second at 18 volts or 0.8 degrees per second at lower voltage (13 volts).
Anyway, I tried what malakudi said and it works. I know that USALS is a better solution for this issue but 3 presets are more than enough for me.
Thank you very much to both of you.
Regards,
Pablo

[Robinson]

but the Speed of rotation: 1.1º/s (18v) 0.8º/s (13v) you quoted refers only to horizontal rotation, not vertical. It basically says that the rotor will move 1.1 degrees per second at 18 volts or 0.8 degrees per second at lower voltage (13 volts).

And this is exactly what this setting is about. There is no such thing as vertical rotation in the setting. The words "horizontal" and "vertical" refer to polarisation H/V, not to rotation direction.