Motor Setup Guide - Revised

[bill of oz]

in this thread i am going to revise my motor setup guide that is posted in the "stickies".....i am going to include some pictures that i took recently.....

please note.....i installed this dish about a year ago.....this person is moving, so i am actually taking the pictures as i am removing the dish/motor.....that is why the equipment looks a bit used.....

the equipment used is 36 inch fortec star dish.....an invacom quad linear/circular LNB.....and an SG2100 motor.....

i will ask kindly that nobody posts replies in this thread until i am done as there will be many steps and post/replies by me.....thank you.....

[bill of oz]

motor installations should not be rushed.....take your time and do things properly.....you will be much happier with the end result.....a motor/dish assembly that is installed properly should give you many years of trouble free use.....

the average "do it yourselfer" should plan on this job taking two full days....although this time will vary depending on experience.....

the first day should be dedicated to mounting your post/pole and possibly doing some wiring....the second day should be installing the dish/motor assembly and aiming.....

[bill of oz]

so now lets talk about mounting location and surface.....

your mounting location should always include a nice open view of the southern sky.....if there are obstructions that are not avoidable that is okay.....but this might limit you to not being able to receive certain satellites.....

your mounting surface should always be a concrete or brick surface.....a motor/dish assembly is fairly heavy, and when you add in wind resistance the pole needs to be very strong.....

mounting on aluminum or vinyl siding is never recommended.....if this is the case where you are then you should consider other options.....custom "non-penetrating" roof mounts are available.....or a 2-3 inch electrical conduit/pipe works very well cemented into the ground.....

for my application here i mounted on an all brick chimney.....my mounting surface was not quite wide enough for my dishes bracket, so i have mounted a 3/4 piece of plywood first which overlaps one side of the chimney by about 8 inches.....i have coated the plywood with outdoor weatherproof paint.....

i am using 5/16 x 2 1/2 inch concrete sleeve anchors as pictured below.....these anchors are very strong and can hold alot of weight......

[bill of oz]

now that you have your mounting location picked lets move on.....

i can not stress enough how important the setup of the post is.....TAKE YOUR TIME!!!!.....it is very critical that the post be 100% level and very strong.....

after my install i can literally grab the pole with my two hands and hang my entire bodyweight from the pole and it will not move at all.....

if your post is not 100% level it will throw the motor aim/arc completely off.....this will cause you alot of trouble and headaches with the rest of your install.....

dish manufactured poles that come with your dish are very weak.....these poles will not be able to take the pressure of the motor clamps.....the pole will crush.....this will throw the aim of the motor/dish completely off the arc.....

to prevent the pole from crushing i have stuffed a piece of crumpled up newspaper in the bottom of the pole and then filled it from the top with concrete mix.....as seen in the pictures below.....let dry overnight.....

you can see the finished mounting pole in the pic below.....it is strong and 100% level.....

[bill of oz]

my pics are too big, they wont open

looks like i have to cancel this idea

can a mod please delete this post......the pics are working afterall.....i will continue now......

[bill of oz]

now that your mounting pole is up, we can move on.....

you can now start your motor/dish assembly.....

go to dishpointer.com and enter in your postal code.....scroll down and your latitude and longitude numbers will appear.....write these numbers down.....

set the motors latitude scale to your latitude, this adjustment should never be changed so you can tighten up the bolts good.....make sure you are looking at the latitude scale on the motor bracket and not the elevation scale as seen in the picture below......

slide the motor shaft into the dishes mount.....the dish must be straight on the motor shaft....some motors have a hole that you can put a mounting bolt through the shaft.....this bolt prevents the dish from turning on the shaft or sliding down the shaft as seen in the picture below.....

[bill of oz]

the next step is optional but makes aiming the motor/dish much easier.....

get a metal hose clamp and place the clamp about 6 inches down from the top of the post.....tighten it up good.....this clamp lets the motor bracket rest on top of it so the motor will not slide down the shaft while you are trying to aim the dish, as seen in the picture below.....

you can now lift the entire motor/dish assembly onto the pole.....tighten the bolts up snug but loose enough that the motor can still turn on the pole.....

the motor bracket should now be resting above the hose clamp.....

[bill of oz]

now you need to run an RG6 cable from your receiver to the motor.....then run an RG6 cable from the motor into a diseqc switch.....then two RG6 cables from the diseqc switch to the invacom LNB.....one of them going to a circular "C" port and one of them going to a linear "L" port.....

always use high quality weatherproof compression type cable ends....never use twist on type.....

i have located my EMP switch on the backside of the plywood as seen in the picture below.....the next picture shows the loop of cable i left at the top of the dish.....this provides a bit of slack cable for when the dish moves.....

mount your LNB at straight up 90 degrees (no skew)

lastly a picture of the invacom LNB with two outputs connected.....

[bill of oz]

power up your receiver and do a factory default.......

pick the closest circular sat to you, doesnt have to be directly south just close.....for talk sake on here im going to just say this is 82W.....

go into the Antenna settings menu for 82W and enter all the proper info.....you need to select the diseqc port you have connected the circular output of the LNB to.....

select USALS in the motor menu and enter YOUR lat and long digits.....make sure the latitude is set to north and the longitude is set to west (of course this is assuming you are in north america)....

tell the motor to drive to 82W.....some receivers might list this command as "go to sat position" or "go to reference"......

here is when you go outside to aim the dish.....

when making your horizontal adjustments you swing the motor on the pole with the dish.....

when making vertical adjustments you move the DISH ONLY.....NOT THE MOTOR......

peak the signal for 82W.....tighten up the motor bolts gradually and evenly....continue checking the signal Q 4-5 times while doing this.....

once everything is tightened up you can go in and check other satellites to see if you are on the arc....this is best done by checking a satellite at each end of the arc.....61.5W is a good one for the east and 129W is a good one for the west.....although this will depend on your location.....

if you are getting all three of these satellites with good Q then you can proceed to the next step.....if not repeat this step until you do.....

[bill of oz]

fine tuning your setup.....

fine tuning should always be done with a linear satellite.....try setting up a linear satellite that is close to your true south.....remember when setting up a linear satellite you need to select the diseqc port you have the linear output connected to on the switch......

once you have located the satellite select "user" or diseqc 1.2 in the motor options....move the dish manually east and west with the arrow buttons on the remote to get the best possible Q you can.....

now go outside and fine tune the vertical adjustment only.....moving the dish only to get the best possible Q you can.....

now fine tune the LNB skew by rotating the LNB slighly each way to get the best possible Q you can.....

once you have completed this step your setup is complete.....it should bring you many years of trouble free use.....enjoy......

below are pictures of the completed setup.....there is one more step to come that is optional.....

[bill of oz]

the last step is optional but i recommend doing this if your dish is in an area where direct high winds can hit it.....

i mounted two "safety bolts".....

first i have drilled a 3/16 hole through the motor bracket and all the way through the mounting pole.....i have installed a 3/16 nut and bolt through the hole as seen in the first two pictures below.....

this bolt prevents the motor from turning on the pole in heavy winds which would throw your aim completely off.....

the second safety bolt locks the dishes vertical adjustment.....

for this i have drilled a 3/16 hole through the dishes vertical bracket and motor shaft, as seen in the last picture below.....this prevents the dish from moving vertically during heavy winds......

that is the end of your setup and my final post.....hopefully the mods can replace my old guide with this one......enjoy