Installing an actuator, how difficult?

dog-man · May 27, 2020

I am considering changing from a Stab H-H 120 to an actuator for my 1.25 Gibertini.

I have never fitted one before. My very first system did have one but it was installed for me.

How easy is it to do?
Any recommendations on which one to get for the above dish?
What size?

I move the dish with a VU Ultimo 4K, so I assume I would also need the latest V box. I do have one but it is many years old getting covered in dust somewhere.

Ratzvan · May 27, 2020

dog-man said:
I am considering changing from a Stab H-H 120 to an actuator for my 1.25 Gibertini.

I have never fitted one before. My very first system did have one but it was installed for me.

How easy is it to do?
Any recommendations on which one to get for the above dish?
What size?

I move the dish with a VU Ultimo 4K, so I assume I would also need the latest V box. I do have one but it is many years old getting covered in dust somewhere.

Not so difficult and it's surely the better choice for your dish.
You need gibertini adaptor, Polar Mount for Gibertini OP125, of course and a 36v positioner, as vbox2

Instruction for 4 actuator wires to vbox2 is very simple, just follow paper guide inside actuator box

:thum:

dog-man · May 27, 2020

What length for my 1.25 dish?
I knew I would have to buy the Gibby adaptor.

Ratzvan · May 27, 2020

dog-man said:
What length for my 1.25 dish?
I knew I would have to buy the Gibby adaptor.

It should be the same as I can remember both for 1.25m than 1.50m.

Mounting is easy. I think a 24" actuator could be goof if you want a bit more excursion than 18".

dog-man · May 27, 2020

My Triax 1.1 on a H-H rotor could cover at least 62 East to 37.5W.

I have just noticed that the old power cable for a 36v motor is still in place. I thought I removed it years ago.

barney115 · May 27, 2020

You will need a Polar mount Gibertini OP125 very cheap about 30 quid from hisat ... a pole in the ground wont need much 3 or 4 inch do the job about 8ft long 3 ft in the ground and 24 inch Superjack actuator and some 4 core cable for my 1.2m dish i'm using a new primesat VBox and a friend gave me his New Motek VBox [ literally impossible to find a motek Vbox these days ] to use on my 2m dish [ see my thread topic when i just installed a new Arm ] make sure you buy a few Reed sensor switches to have because my new 36" arm came with a faulty broken Reed sensor switch ....

[ Thnxs Dodgy Dave @ Sat Super Store ]

just need to match and wire up the two sensor wires to the arm and to VBox and two motor wires to Arm and Vbox matching very important to get this right there is a diagram on the Cap lid of all the Actuator Arms these days .

but that is the plan of attack it should be very possible to complete even on a tight enough budget you are thinking well by doing this job its a job you do right once and lasts a very,very long time ...both my dishes can catch 42 East but not further east due to an over grown hedge in my way that i really need to get rid , but west i can get to 43 west or even possibly more if need be as its all clear on the west side .
Good luck : )

dog-man · May 27, 2020

I shall be looking into this. I do think it is the way to go.
The dish pokes up above a single story flat roofed building.
Does sometimes get stormy here but dish is reasonably low.

dog-man · May 27, 2020

barney115 said:
You will need a Polar mount Gibertini OP125 very cheap about 30 quid from hisat ... a pole in the ground wont need much 3 or 4 inch do the job about 8ft long 3 ft in the ground and 24 inch Superjack actuator and some 4 core cable for my 1.2m dish i'm using a new primesat VBox and a friend gave me his New Motek VBox [ literally impossible to find a motek Vbox these days ] to use on my 2m dish [ see my thread topic when i just installed a new Arm ] make sure you buy a few Reed sensor switches to have because my new 36" arm came with a faulty broken Reed sensor switch ....
[ Thnxs Dodgy Dave @ Sat Super Store ]

just need to match and wire up the two sensor wires to the arm and to VBox and two motor wires to Arm and Vbox matching very important to get this right there is a diagram on the Cap lid of all the Actuator Arms these days .

but that is the plan of attack it should be very possible to complete even on a tight enough budget you are thinking well by doing this job its a job you do right once and lasts a very,very long time ...both my dishes can catch 42 East but not further east due to an over grown hedge in my way that i really need to get rid , but west i can get to 43 west or even possibly more if need be as its all clear on the west side .
Good luck : )

When you say 'Superjack' is that a brand name?

barney115 · May 27, 2020

Yes it is great stability is key in hard winters getting decent thick pole in ground well cemented use gravel/Cement combo i used 8 bags gravel and 12 bags cement for my poles many years ago both dishes have stood solid with more than 140kmph wind so stormy weather here really is far too common
once u get dish and arm fitted and moving extend out your Actuator Arm full length and get some grease from your local garage man give the arm a decent rub of grease is a vital tip i learned years ago to prevent the arm being noisy when driving it around the arc . : )

barney115 · May 27, 2020

dog-man said:
When you say 'Superjack' is that a brand name?

Yes SuperJack QARL3624 is Heavy could be over kill but that would be my choice ..SuperJack HARL3624 is the lighter version 24" arm not so heavy but very,very fast moving ...you will find it kinda hard to find Actuator arms as they are fairly rare compared to 3 or 5 years ago but SuperJack is the Elite brand name trusted to last for years :thum:

dog-man · May 27, 2020

Equipment ordered.

I went for the heavy duty Superjack.

Youknowme02 · May 28, 2020

I can show you a trick that will save you a lot of time, first set your longitude and latitude in your receiver and set for USALS, next mount your motor and dish on the pole making sure your motor is set for 0. And set the elevation on your motor, after setting the elevation on your motor, go to the receiver and turn the dish to a well know strong satellite, now go to the dish with your signal meter and turn the whole satellite dish back and forward and while moving the elevation ON THE DISH not the motor until you find that strong satellite TP, once you found it peek and mount and you are done.

dog-man · May 30, 2020

Bloody typical.

I was supposed to have two parcels delivered by two different couriers yesterday, which contained the polar mount, actuator, V box and a few spare reeds.

Both reported out for delivery yesterday but neither turned up. Now I have to wait till Monday. I had planned to get the job done this weekend before we get a period of rain next week.

One of the couriers delivers very late in the day in this area so doubt I will be doing anything on Monday.

dog-man · Jun 2, 2020

Kit has arrived to install a polar mount and actuator with a V box.

I have followed instructions as per diagrams. No words.

Something is wrong as with the silver bar in position on top of the part that connects to the dish back plate, it restricts movement. Perhaps that is normal, I have no idea.

I have one part left over. No mention of it at all in any of the diagrams.

Here are some photos. I am hoping that someone can tell me what I have done wrong. I cannot work it out. As it is now is how the diagrams tell me to do it.

I am really baffled.
I can't help but feel perhaps something is missing.

Any advice gratefully received.

dog-man · Jun 3, 2020

By the way, this is a Gibertini polar mount to be attached to a Gibertini 1.25.

SilverHippy · Jun 3, 2020

Hi, yeah the flat bar might need to be raised up in height by using longer bolts and more nuts so that it stands off by about 1 or 2 inch. The piece that you got left over so have I, never did find out what it was for.

Regards

dog-man · Jun 3, 2020

SilverHippy said:
Hi, yeah the flat bar might need to be raised up in height by using longer bolts and more nuts so that it stands off by about 1 or 2 inch. The piece that you got left over so have I, never did find out what it was for.

Regards

I now believe that the left over bit may be the bit that goes on top of the clamp area which sits on top of the pole to help it not slip all the way down the pole when first setting it up. I already have a part there doing the job. I also have a clamp on the pole stopping the whole thing sliding down.

Good idea about using possibly longer bolts and some sort of washers to make bar that the actuator end fits to stand higher. I shall look at that. I am now 99.99% sure I have assembled everything correctly despite the poor instructions.
I have looked at several pictures and even though some Gibbys have a round backing plate instead of a rectangular ish plate like mine.

At the moment it is all sitting on my kitchen roof. I can't place it on the pole today as I have pulled a muscle so need the assistance of my son who is a very busy man. Rain tomorrow, possibly for 4 days or so.

I will get there..... Eventually.

SilverHippy · Jun 3, 2020

The instructions on these mounts are hopeless but from what I can see you've got everything right. The first time I assembled mine I had the front section (close to dish) upside down & then had to make the bar higher, and only realised when i renovated it last year. The only other advise I could offer is is to try & have all nuts, flat n spring washers, & bolts in stainless steel if you can & to double check the tightness of all bolts/nuts. My dish
moved by 2 or 3 degrees from true south over a couple of years by not having it 'storm tight'. I don't envy you working at height with a pulled muscle & the last place you need to be visiting at the present time is A&E, take care.

Regards :thum:

dog-man · Jun 3, 2020

SilverHippy said:
The instructions on these mounts are hopeless but from what I can see you've got everything right. The first time I assembled mine I had the front section (close to dish) upside down & then had to make the bar higher, and only realised when i renovated it last year. The only other advise I could offer is is to try & have all nuts, flat n spring washers, & bolts in stainless steel if you can & to double check the tightness of all bolts/nuts. My dish
moved by 2 or 3 degrees from true south over a couple of years by not having it 'storm tight'. I don't envy you working at height with a pulled muscle & the last place you need to be visiting at the present time is A&E, take care.

Regards :thum:

It's not terribly high, just a single storey extension. The pole stands above this single storey building.

The problem for me is not just the painful back, but my balance. I had to relearn to walk many years ago after a brain tumour operation and my balance never returned to 100%. It's not too bad, but I have to be aware of my limits and how certain things affect me. I will be very close to the edge standing on the roof and the weight of the dish and mount will be doing terrible things to my centre of gravity, so I need to be careful. Normally, I would just do it as I am quite strong but with my painful back problem, I don't want to take too much of a risk I will get my son to go up a ladder and put both hands out to offer some support if needed, otherwise it might all pull me down off the roof.

phantom55 · Jun 4, 2020

Hello
why did you switch from Stab H-H 120 to an actuator?Got trouble?
i need to do same coz i have 1.20 cm dish installed on Stab H-H 120.dish size seems not enough for getting some low feed signals.i want to upgrade dish to 150cm gibertini op150s.if i do this unfortunatelly stab h-h 120 couldnt handle new dish.so swithcing to actuator gonna be necessary for me.

will be waiting new update from ur installation.

Good luck.

Regards

Installing an actuator, how difficult?

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