What is the model number of the EMP switch??
What is the model number of the EMP switch??
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"First rule of testing satellites"
"If its working fine now, then don't mess with it"
"Second rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and now it doesn't work, can you blame someone else?"
"Third rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and it doesn't work now, and you can't blame someone else"
"Can you HIDE it"?
If you look at the DC voltage spec's it says +18 volts DC from the receiver, if your receiver is still using the +13 and + 18 volt switching, (+14 = V, +18 = H, legacy type) the switch could have a DC power problem when the receiver is trying to look at a transponder that is in the +14 volt range.
I would E-mail them and ask what is the lowest DC voltage it will run on, and also does it supply DC power to all attached LNB's at the same time or only when it's switched to that LNB input, and is the 400 mA a maximum through the switch or out from each LNB input port??.
If all are on at the same time then it's a DC current problem from the receiver.
If it will not run too good below the +18 volt power requirement then you need to find out if your receiver is trying to switch via the +14 and + 18 volt legacy option
♫♫♫ I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK ♫♫♫ I drink all night and sleep all day. ♫♫♫
Coming soon to a crop circle near you.....
There is a 66 and third % chance that I'm on the right planet...
"I'm happier then a Jackalope in a balloon factory"
"First rule of testing satellites"
"If its working fine now, then don't mess with it"
"Second rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and now it doesn't work, can you blame someone else?"
"Third rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and it doesn't work now, and you can't blame someone else"
"Can you HIDE it"?
My understanding is that anything under 15 volts causes the LNB to switch to vertical polarity and over 15 volts will switch to horizontal. I put a multimeter on my receiver and read 13.1 volts on a vertical and 17.8 on a horizontal so that is well within specs. This is also sufficient to power the diseqc, it's operating range is 10 - 20 vdc. I believe the diseqc commands are modulated onto the dc as a series of 22 kHz pulses to switch LNB's.
What I don't know is whether or not all LNB's are powered up at all times or only the one on the selected switch port. If all are powered then definitely the rcvr power supply is over taxed. I'm not sure what an LNB draws but likely 75 -100 mA each plus the 50 mA for the switch. Would be nice to make a breakout cable and put an ammeter inline.
All I know is my receiver was switching fine for years and suddenly it stopped, all I did was replace the AC/DC adapter and now it is working so far... All I can think of is that the old adapter was failing and could not supply the needed current. Who knows?
You can't measure the DC amperage on an active high frequency RF circuit without some very special equipment to keep the system up and running. (true voltage and current measurement on an active system)
Even putting a DVM in the circuit would cause a false reading, I used a specially modified OEM receiver to do measurements like this.
The DC voltage and DC current measurements were done at the LNB power supply circuit inside the receiver, this way it didn't affect the signals.
As to the power dongle, it could have been putting out some higher then normal AC ripple, (bad internal electrolytic caps), this would fubar most DC systems.
♫♫♫ I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK ♫♫♫ I drink all night and sleep all day. ♫♫♫
Coming soon to a crop circle near you.....
There is a 66 and third % chance that I'm on the right planet...
"I'm happier then a Jackalope in a balloon factory"
"First rule of testing satellites"
"If its working fine now, then don't mess with it"
"Second rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and now it doesn't work, can you blame someone else?"
"Third rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and it doesn't work now, and you can't blame someone else"
"Can you HIDE it"?
If you still have the old power dongle you could test it with a power resistor and a DVM set to measure AC voltage, a 12 ohm 20 watt resistor would draw 1 amp from the dongle, this would give it enough DC current draw to measure the AC ripple on it, anything over a quarter to a half a volt AC and it could have been the problem, too much junk in the DC buss.
Last edited by Terryl; 12-28-2018 at 02:44 AM.
♫♫♫ I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK ♫♫♫ I drink all night and sleep all day. ♫♫♫
Coming soon to a crop circle near you.....
There is a 66 and third % chance that I'm on the right planet...
"I'm happier then a Jackalope in a balloon factory"
"First rule of testing satellites"
"If its working fine now, then don't mess with it"
"Second rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and now it doesn't work, can you blame someone else?"
"Third rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and it doesn't work now, and you can't blame someone else"
"Can you HIDE it"?
Yup....That's a bit too much for a DC circuit, too much AC on the DC buss can filter through and affect the Diseqc commands, (and other things) as they are transmitted on a low level 22 kHz RF carrier, if too much AC ripple is in the mix the carrier wave out to the LNB/switch can be affected.
The use of an external DC power supply negates the internal filtering (electrolytic caps) used by an internal AC to DC power supply, the receiver relies on the external supply to do all the DC filtering, where as the receiver with an internal power supply has it's own DC filtering cap's.
The best way to keep this from happening again would be to get a higher quality, higher amperage power dongle, the higher amperage supply will have less strain then one rated to just be able to run the receiver at it's normal DC current spec's.
When I designed circuits I used the 2 to 1 ratio for the power requirement, if the circuit needed 1 amp DC to run on a normal load, then I used a 2 amp DC supply to power it.
Take a look at the receivers power requirements, and also the LNB(s) and switches current requirements, add then together then do the 2 to 1 for the replacement power dongle.
♫♫♫ I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK ♫♫♫ I drink all night and sleep all day. ♫♫♫
Coming soon to a crop circle near you.....
There is a 66 and third % chance that I'm on the right planet...
"I'm happier then a Jackalope in a balloon factory"
"First rule of testing satellites"
"If its working fine now, then don't mess with it"
"Second rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and now it doesn't work, can you blame someone else?"
"Third rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and it doesn't work now, and you can't blame someone else"
"Can you HIDE it"?
Still working good with my replacement adapter.
I'm using an old Dell PC power brick. It's 12v at 3 amps. Probably much better filtering than the original dreamlink supply.
The adapter that comes with the DL'S fails, it is the #1 problem with them,
Lionking posted about it, he did extensive work on the issue including finding a solution for it
♫♫♫ I’m a lumberjack and I’m OK ♫♫♫ I drink all night and sleep all day. ♫♫♫
Coming soon to a crop circle near you.....
There is a 66 and third % chance that I'm on the right planet...
"I'm happier then a Jackalope in a balloon factory"
"First rule of testing satellites"
"If its working fine now, then don't mess with it"
"Second rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and now it doesn't work, can you blame someone else?"
"Third rule of testing satellites"
"If you did mess with it, and it doesn't work now, and you can't blame someone else"
"Can you HIDE it"?