New Dark motor with dark mind?

There are 4 replies in this Thread which was already clicked 1,014 times. The last Post () by 007.4.

  • Bought a new Dark Supreme intelligent motor as replacement for the positioner of the same make that stopped moving after 5-6 years. I use genuine DM800HD. With USALS or Diseqc at the Positioner setup I found satellites, but in Satfinder there is nothing. No signal and not possible to scan for channels. Used two different images - Openatv and Newenigma2. Same result. Occasionally, Dark motor does not respond or it moves by using Satfinder and stops on each satellite, but Satfinder does not get signal and could not lock on satellite.


    What is wrong? Am I right, if LNB is faulty, there would be no signal in Positioner setup? If something is wrong with the image, would it be the same fault at two different images? Could it be something wrong with software in Dark motor? How can I check it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    • Official Post

    With usals you only need a channel list, enter your lat and long, configure your tuner as motor - usals, reboot box and it should work.
    Are you sure it is properly aligned ??
    The motor should have a go to zero function, do that and it should be somewhere near due south. Then check alignment of the new motor with 0.8w 30 w and 42 east.
    If you get good signal on all 3 you should be pretty much lined up.....
    BTW those motors are crap, i have binned at least 2 before getting a TM one... there is a thread on it somewhere....
    It may be the lnb as well but as said that motor is known for its issues....

  • Also check your cabling connections. Inspect and or redo all the coax F-connectors.
    I had issues with a "dead" Dark Motor but it turned out to be the cabling connections had been damaged in a storm

  • Thank you, Jenseneverest. After installing the motor, using USALS I checked on 0.8, 16, 19 and 28 satellites and got good signal reception, using Positioner setup in Newenigma2. Trouble started when I switched to Satfinder. Satfinder could not find any satellite. Later last night I found the dish turned to East, it seems at the point of east limit. Its not budging from there.


    Perhaps it makes sense: Satfinder powered up the positioner. No reception signal came from the dish, so it could not find any satellite and it went all the way to East and stopped at its limit. I can go up and by manual buttons move the dish back to 0, but still Satfinder finding nothing.


    Someone more experienced than me might make better conclusion - why Positioner setup in Dreambox finds the satellites as it should, but Satfinder cannot. Without getting signals in Satfinder I cannot scan satellites and motorised dish is useless. Even if I leave the dish, lets say, on 16, 19 or 28, with good signals in Positioner setup, there is no signal when I go through channel lists.


    Is it possible that something is wrong in Dark motor software, so it does not process LNB signals (not passing through) when Dreambox tries to tune it in Satfinder?


    - - - Updated - - -


    Thank you 007.4. I've redone coax F-connectors. Still the same problem persists. I checked today with satfinder for signal and it comes pretty loud and high on Eutelsat. It shows that my LNB is still at work. Trouble is that satellite signals are not coming through to the Dreambox when I use Satfinder and try to scan for channels. Any other idea?

  • Is your tuner configuration set-up correctly?
    Is your LNB configuration set-up correctly? LOF etc
    Is the LNB polarity correct ie not 90° out of position?
    Have you tried a manual scan on one specific satellite?
    If your motor and dish are set-up correctly you should not need to use sat-finder. The dish should automatically drive exactly to the correct position.
    Are your Lat and Long co-ordinates correct for your location?

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