Switch, Method or Drawing of 2 GBOXes on 1 Mover???

[Achebee]

Has anyone come up with a way to Run multiple GBoxes on one mover???
Thanks, HB

 

[putney]

I have found that one is enough!

Is the 'mover' you mention the box or the motor?

Do you mean one box -> 2 Gbox -> 2 dishes? Have you tried an switch in front of the two Gboxes?

Or one box -> 2 Gbox -> one dish ?

Or two boxes -> 2 Gbox -> one dish ?

 

[Lak7]

I don't think you can AND keep the correct counts / position.
The GBox is what keeps count, not the Arm.

 

[cracklincrotch]

Put a second motor on the other side of the dish?

hehe Just kidding. Lak7 is right. There's no way to do that and keep the count correct. The best you can hope for is to slave one receiver to another.

Edit: Then again.... Perhaps if you connected the pulse/ground lines in parallel between the units the other gbox may count along with the other gbox? A dish mover may not be smart enough to count only when voltage is applied to the motor.

I've never heard of anybody ever "daisy-chaining" dish movers to drive an actuator. I don't believe you would hurt anything by trying because it would be connected in parallel but it is your equipment and not my fault if something smokes and fries by trying this. I'd make sure though that you had the ground side of one gbox connected to the ground of the other and the pulse of one connected to the pulse connection of the other. Otherwise what may end up happening is the pulse line will end up being pulled down to ground and the gbox definitely won't register a count and will give you an E-2 error.

Edit 2: You would have to make sure that another receiver didn't try to correct the dish position when another receiver moves the dish. For example, an Azbox receiver will attempt to send the dish to the correct position when it loses a signal. So, if you had an Azbox powered on and on Galaxy 16, and with your second receiver you tried to move the dish to Galaxy 28, the first receiver will attempt to move the dish back to G16. And the second receiver may again send a command to move to G28. This would probably kill your gboxes as the polarity will be reversed on one gbox if this scenario ever happened. You would need a relay, an SCR (silicon controlled rectifier) or even a triac (as the polarity reverses) in-line with the voltage lines to remove the ability of one mover to move the dish if another was already trying to move the dish or you could very well cook the whole lot.

If you were not handy with designing electronic circuits you would need to remove the power from one receiver or another to make sure this situation never happened, assuming one gbox would even count with another in parallel.

Edit 3: If you did have Azboxes, they support a 12v switch. You could use 12v switches to cut the power off of the other gbox voltage lines so it couldn't power the dish mover.

Interesting....

 

[FaT Air]

If you mean 2 Gbox's, each moving a different dish, I think that's possible. At least I hope so, as that is what I have planned when I get my 1.2 meter CM on a polar mount. One Gbox is programmed with even memory location numbers, the other odd. Coax run> Receiver - Gbox1[BUD] - Gbox2[1.2Ku] - Disqc Sw. - LNB's.

 

[cracklincrotch]

If you mean 2 Gbox's, each moving a different dish, I think that's possible. At least I hope so, as that is what I have planned when I get my 1.2 meter CM on a polar mount. One Gbox is programmed with even memory location numbers, the other odd. Coax run> Receiver - Gbox1[BUD] - Gbox2[1.2Ku] - Disqc Sw. - LNB's.

You would still have the problem of one Gbox not knowing where the second Gbox moved the dish. If one Gbox would accept a pulse signal without a diseqc command and having applied voltage to the motor power outputs your good. Otherwise you've got nothing because the count would be thrown off by the other gbox moving the dish.

 

[crackt]

you can run multiple gbox/vbox's daisy chained. they will not count pulses off a common ground. so you cannot use them to drive two actuators on one dish unless you made a custom pulse trigger with two reed switches counting off the same magnet wheel for example. even then this would not synchronise the drive units and sooner or later one would get ahead of the other and break things. i run a setup like fat air suggested with a modified 1m on a polar mount and a 10 foot bud. works well.

crackt out,.

 

[Achebee]

Thanks for the Input all. Cracklincrotch, I am trying some stuff today based on your thoughts there.. I am using all AZBoxes as my main receivers..The 12v thing is worth looking into.
To clarify this, I am trying to use multiple GBoxes to run one actuator on one dish..I do have separate GBoxes running separate dishes and actuators but I was hoping to see if I can run 2 boxes from 2 locations on one actuator. My main viewing area has the Single GBox on my 12 ft and I would like to see if I can run another box from another area. Not that I am that lazy, but it's about 80 Meters from one to the other, and a long way to run...
I had always imagined that only one would be on and running at any given time, knowing the count problem would pop up... i.e a switch that activated one or the other...But the count problem is the wrench in the deal.
I guess I could hire a Maid to hang out and change the box for me via hand held vhf radio........but the old lady might raise heck about that!!!
Anyway, I was just thinking, and thought maybe one of you guys had gone ahead and burned up a couple GBoxes fiddling around , and I could save myself that problem...I'll give a few things a whirl and see if I can come up with anything... however, I am pretty sure the count problem will show up...
that's why I was asking... Thanks again for the replies..HB

 

[FaT Air]

NO- DON'T DO IT~ The Gbox's put a short across the motor leads when not moving the actuator. Your second mover will be applying motor voltage and current into a short. In addition to the counts problem. Best to run a coax from your primary receiver, to the second viewing area, and use a frequency agile (NTSC) modulator. Use a remote control extender to control the receiver.

 

[brex2001]

NO- DON'T DO IT~ The Gbox's put a short across the motor leads when not moving the actuator. Your second mover will be applying motor voltage and current into a short.

Good call Fat Air.
Shorting the drive motor to brake the actuator when voltage to motor is not applied. The reverse EMF of the DC permanent magnet motor acts as a generator while it is still rotating.
Granted that the gearbox reduction slows the motor, shorting the motor assures a faster stop for better accuracy.

 

[cracklincrotch]

Switches can take care of that issue easy enough.

So long as each switch removes a connection back to the other gbox you would be fine. In fact, should you wish to try that out you should protect yourself by inserting a 5 amp fuse at each g-box. Fuses are much cheaper than a gbox.

 

[cracklincrotch]

Best to run a coax from your primary receiver, to the second viewing area, and use a frequency agile (NTSC) modulator. Use a remote control extender to control the receiver.

This is really the easiest way. Either use a remote extender (that's what I do) or run your second receiver into the loop out of the other. It's not like you can watch two different signals on two different satellites at the same time on that one dish anyway. And there's no chance to fry anything in a bologna brained moment.

 

[Achebee]

Thanks for the ideas with the remote extenders, however I am fooling around with a switch, I'll let you know what happens...
I actually have 4 Azboxes in different locations each fed from a powered switch, each with their own
Diseq switch fed from a variety of fixed and other antennas...so what I am looking for is to power the 12 ft. sami that has a Gox on it from another location using a second GBox on the same actuator. With the switch I will fuse each line, my main issue I am looking to resolve is if moving with the second g-box which will be programmed with the exact antenna locations as the first box , will effect the other box...I wonder if the reeds are telling the box where the locator is at, or if the memory of the boxes tells the antenna where to go...i.e. if I am on Position 20 when I shut down box 1.... and I go to box 2 and move the antenna to position 27... will box one read that it is at position 20 as it was when I shut it down... or will it know it is supposed to be at 27..... If it still is on 20 then I decide to move with it in any direction the count will be wrong, as the actuator is actually at P27...and there is the problem..... So that is what I am trying to figure out....
I am quite sure that the GBoxes will be at the count where they were left when shut down...So If I wanted to do it right I would need to return the actuator to the position that was at the box I shut off before using the first box again... then there would be no problem...
I can't imagine that the sensors on the Actuator have any idea where they are!!! They are just told what to do from the GBox, period... I am quite sure of that...Anyway, I will do a run when I get the switch and report back as to what happens...I believe I can get it rolling and just return to the left off position before using the 1st box again and all will work for me just fine...If only they had actuators with memory!!! then I'd be setup for easy antenna moving from all locations... So thanks for the suggestions and I will get back after next weekend when I have learned a bit more and tried this out....HB

 

[FaT Air]

The memory of the gbox just tells the actuator to go so many counts with this or that motor polarity. Think you're going to have a position to leave the dish at, whenever you leave a receiver, and turn on another. I thought of another way to get around the motor voltage feeding into a short. wire the motor outputs of the gbox's in series.