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Low signal strength on vuduo

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Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #21 theparasol

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 14:34

Ah... sorry I mentioned cabling issues again, I was lazy and didnt read the whole topic...

 

Since another receiver gives you other readings it must be the vu receiver at fault.

You have a long loop length, perhaps the vu+ powersource is at fault and cant handle the extra current burned in the cabling?

Are you able to put the vu+ receiver temporarily for testing at short distance to the dish? Perhaps checkout the readings by webif?


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Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #22 dog-man

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 14:45

If there is no rain tomorrow (not forecasted), I can try taking the vu and a television on to the flat roof and check this.

 

It would be strange though as I have had long cable runs for 15 years and the vu has been fine until I changed the motor, but removing the motor from the cable and same fault.

It doesn't make sense.

 

I am leaning to it being a dish alignment problem, but the angles are correct, so I will just play around with these tomorrow and ignore the scales on the dish and motor.



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #23 theparasol

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 15:01

But if its a dish alignment problem how to you explain another receiver gives 20% more signal reading?

 

Lets assume the vu+ powersource is still always working fine and dandy, giving the current the dish setup needs to function properly.

 

Another suggestion:

 

What if the building your dish is placed on somehow sagged on one side by lets say 1 cm? that will invalidate your angles you measure.

The whole building is rather strong said but if you use a steel roof mount and its base sagged a bit into the roof over the years on one side same story.

But somewhere I expect you checked already that the base pole is still leveled correctly...


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Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #24 dog-man

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 15:23

The pole is fine. It was and always is the first thing I check.

 

Different receivers give different signal strengths but 20% more is excessive.

 

Are there any experts out there that can confirm that there is something that could fail in a satellite receiver to cause a reduced sensitivity on both tuners?

 

I only want to buy a new receiver if I know for sure that the vuduo is faulty.

 

The other receiver I tested that gave the 20% stronger signal strength was a Dreambox 7020. It can only receive SD not HD.

 

I am sure I have an old Humax HDCI2000 somewhere in the garage. If I have, I will try that tomorrow also.



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #25 Robinson

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 17:14

It has been working fine since then until I installed a new motor

What satellite range can you reecive now?

 

Try your Humax too. 20% signal difference happens between different boxes.

What if you move your dish by several fine-tuning steps west or east on those different boxes? Does the signal go out at more or less the same time or not? I hope you know what I mean.


ET9000, OpenPLi 4.0, 13E, 19E

HD51, OpenPLi 6.2, 75E - 30W


Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #26 dog-man

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 17:56

I can get 30w - 45E at the moment, I could probably go up to 60E if I really tried.

 

I am about to try the Humax.

 

Yes, I tried fine tuning in steps with the vuduo.

I also tried many times pressing the dish by hand up, down, left and right watching a meter and it says my dish alignment is correct.

 

Now to test the humax.



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #27 el bandido

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 19:21

A tuner usually quits working when it fails instead of just showing a lower reading. Try connecting the receiver that reads 20 percent higher to the antenna cable, and bump the motor/dish to where the picture pixealates or is broken and is almost lost. Then connect the Vu receiver to the exact same antenna cable and see if it gets a picture or a black screen. Reconnect the receiver that reads higher and see if it still has a picture.



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #28 Robinson

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 19:22

Choose a channel or two and try fine-tuning steps (east-west) on your regular box. This is not to fine-tune your signal but to check after how many steps the signal dies.

Then do the same on Humax or any other box. If the signal dies after (almost) the same number of steps then it would mean that the difference in dB is immaterial, but then again an attenuator might shed some light - although you are saying you already used different LNB's so I'm not sure if it helps your signal here.

 

Edit: el bandido has the same suggestion as me.


Edited by Robinson, 12 April 2015 - 19:23.

ET9000, OpenPLi 4.0, 13E, 19E

HD51, OpenPLi 6.2, 75E - 30W


Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #29 Bag58

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 19:35

Search the forum for C848. May be that capacitor is the problem in this case as well.



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #30 dog-man

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 20:48

I have now tested the Humax HDCI2000.

 

I am also getting lower than should be expected signals on that box on the same cable too.

 

Some channels in the M7 package on Astra 19.2E will only sometimes scan in on my vuduo. On my Humax they scanned in easily, but had a lower signal level than would be expected.

 

I had a look at my dish which is currently pointing at Astra 19.2E from the ground and in my opinion, the dish declination is too steep.

 

When I installed the new motor, I was persuaded by someone who seems to have more knowledge about the sat scene than me, that the bracket that fixes my Triax dish to the motor stub was the wrong way round. So I turned it round, bowing to his greater knowledge.

 

I am now thinking he may have been wrong, and although according to the scales everything is spot on, I think it may not be.

I will fiddle with it tomorrow, but have researched the problem with C848 and will change that if I fail.


Edited by dog-man, 12 April 2015 - 20:50.


Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #31 theparasol

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 21:08

Please, if you can post some pictures. I'm sure here are experts too that can tell you at first glance if its assembled correctly!


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Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #32 dog-man

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Posted 12 April 2015 - 21:19

It's just a matter of the bracket being one way or the other.

 

 

When I originally installed my Triax dish back in 2000, I would have followed the manual.

So it is unlikely but not impossible that I fitted the bracket the wrong way round.

 

However, I was persuaded by someone who is much more knowledgeable than me in these matters that I had indeed made a mistake, so turned it round.

 

Tomorrow, I will ignore the scale and just use trial and error.

 

I will take a photo of the bracket tomorrow and post here.



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #33 dog-man

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Posted 13 April 2015 - 10:37

This capacitor (C848) is a 1000uF 10V 105C Radial Electrolytic Capacitor.

 

I am struggling to find this specific one in my local area. I can get one by online shopping but that will take some time to arrive.

 

Can it be safely be replaced by another value?

Perhaps then I can get the alternative one at my local electronics store.



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #34 dog-man

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Posted 13 April 2015 - 12:21

I can now answer my own question after some research.

 

Yes, I can use one with a different voltage as long as the voltage is higher than the original.

 

I have a development....................

 

My vu has been unplugged all night as the Humax was still plugged in.

 

This morning I powered up the vu and found that I could not receive any HD channels.

After about 5 minutes of flicking through loads of channels to confirm that it was only HD channels affected, I began to get the HD channels again.

 

This backs up the info about C848.

 

If this capacitor is failing, when cold it can affect the ability to get any HD channels. When warm it can be working. Tests have been done using a hairdryer to warm it up to prove this.

Of course, when the box is on for a while, it warms up.

 

So, I am now off to my local Maplin store to get a capacitor. I hope that replacing this also cures my low signal on all channels, HD & SD channels.

Sadly, I will have to strip the box right down to get the board out as the capacitor is very close to the board surface and there is no way I could snip the legs of the capacitor.



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #35 dog-man

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Posted 13 April 2015 - 23:14

Success!

 

Changed the capacitor and the receiver is much better. The signal levels are higher, but still not as high as I believe they should be, so I will now tweak the dish a bit if it's possible to do so.

 

So, my C848 capacitor was faulty. It looked pretty normal. No bulges.

 

Search the forum for C848. May be that capacitor is the problem in this case as well.

Yes, that was my problem or at least part of my problem. Some more dish tweaking will confirm this.

 

Thank you for mentioning this capacitor issue. :)



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #36 mattiL

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Posted 14 April 2015 - 18:18

So the VuDuo is built by crappy (low quality?) capacitors, first C807 and now C848.

 

Lucky me for selling it and buying the Duo2 (I wonder what will suck in Duo2..).



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #37 dog-man

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Posted 14 April 2015 - 18:30

Isn't it the same for most electronics now. Build them cheap and sell them high.

 

I will probably be getting the vuduo 2 next.

 

How much better than the vuduo 1 is it and why?



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #38 theparasol

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Posted 14 April 2015 - 18:40

I would refuse to reward a manufacturer by buying a newer modern model of them to replace an old one that failed due to bad design and cheap components.

Since nowadays there is choice I would personally rater invest in a total different brand like Xtrend.

 

However, seems all manufacturers have their flaws so its difficult to tell on forehand what will be a good choice ;)


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Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #39 dog-man

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Posted 14 April 2015 - 18:42

I would refuse to reward a manufacturer by buying a newer modern model of them to replace an old one that failed due to bad design and cheap components.

Since nowadays there is choice I would personally rater invest in a total different brand like Xtrend.

 

However, seems all manufacturers have their flaws so its difficult to tell on forehand what will be a good choice ;)

True.



Re: Low signal strength on vuduo #40 mattiL

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Posted 14 April 2015 - 19:07

Isn't it the same for most electronics now. Build them cheap and sell them high.

 

I will probably be getting the vuduo 2 next.

 

How much better than the vuduo 1 is it and why?

It looks nicer, it has streaming, 1 GBit network, wifi and more (colour display).

I love new toys..  :)





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