also, i seized the opportunity to replace the bls (battery life saver) which was damaged in a lightning strike early
last year. and yes, more importantly, the midnite solar lightning arrestor now finds a place in my set up!

after rotating the batteries, i took nominal voltages of each batteries before connection. details will be in subsequent
posts.

more pics

all,
ok so i did a turn-around maintenance on my battery bank last year shortly before christmas. basically what i did was to
rotate individual batteries within their strings. luckily for me, each separate strings of 48v batteries share equal distances
to the inverter so that left me with lesser problems to worry about.

Adex70:
@ODILIBE AND OLASON ,EMMERITUS, I HAVE finally acquire the 4mt dish see the pics from olason post got it very cheap but the owner refuse to let the pole and motorized neck go provision have been make for new ones @ GEORGE D AND OBNELLY guys iam at your back i got a old c band lnb called drake with input of 3.7- 4.2ghz with ready made feed on i have not see such l n b before also got 2nos heavy duty jack on it totally def rent to the one we use to see sky uk nilesat hot bird and the rest we shall see mmmm

@Adex70,
Congrats for finally acquiring the 4m dish. Now you are really in business!

abunafiu:


Longest time sir ,

Wishing you a prosperous 2015.
the thread really missed ur input.

prof,

top of the weekend to you. its been quite a while indeed.

figures from my battery bank nominal voltages taken during my
last turn around maintenance are quite startling. you'll see what i mean
when i upload figures.

all,

happy new year to all the good people in the house.
2015 is promising to be a sun-filled year already as my system keeps smiling
on float everyday.

wao! so much to catch up on and so much updates to deliver

will upload details of my yearly turn around battery maintenance carried out last
december in my next post.

i thank you guys for keeping the renewables flag flying all this time.

cheers!

MiCasa:
@George_D
Pls, how can I get couple of Battery Life Saver, like the one you have and a lightning/surge protector. I think the BLS should work on a 96v system like mine.

hello micasa,
the battery life saver (bls) was purchased for me by totalgreen (one of our good members here).
you can contact him through this tread if you need one.
for the lightning protector, i am still in the process of procuring one. but if you'd want a fast track
process, i suggest you contact richmon74 - another good member of this thread.

note: for a 96v system, you'd need two bls of 48v connected to the battery bank in series.

microgiant:
@GeorgeD, kindly help a brother locate the shop where you got that underated wonderful Ku LNB.

@microgiant,

I got the pauxis lnb at Harry's satellite shop off link road by avenue.

Sorry I've not been able to call you as promised. Will do that before the day runs out.

durodee,

kindly check your mailbox.

durodee,

I got your mail and will reply soon.
meanwhile I'm glad some of your questions are already being answered.

odilibe:
Test result on Digisat twin lnb vs mti ak54xt2n quad lnb on 3m dish pointing at nilesat_7west... with no conclusive winner

digisat
11747:32%
11938:36%
12284:28%
11824:37%
12015:37%
11977:35%
11785:36%
11766:37%

mti
11747:32%
11938:34%
12284:30%
11824:34%
12015:37%
11977:34%
11785:36%
11766:41%

both lnb locked frequency 12418 h 27500 and 12360 27500 @ 7.3 west with freezing pictures!
more details coming soon!

@odilibe,

These results are not very impressive at all.
Two things: Firstly you'll need a bigger dish maybe up to 4m for nilesat at that location.
Second I think again you should give pauxis 0.1db twin lnb a try.You wil be pleasantly surprised.

odilibe:
I was using inverto black ultra quad lnb on my 3meter dish in enugu then replaced it with MTI high-line ak54xt2n quad lnb which gave more signal on BBC on nilesat 201 compared to inverto.."someone picked up eutelsat at 7.3west ( MENA BEAM) with 3m dish with an lnb in Onitsha.."he will deliver the lnb to me this weekend for test. if the lnb performs better on my current set-up..then it will be recommended "
cheers!.

@odilibe,
I think you should also give pauxis 0.1db twin lnb a spin and lets see what gives. After my twice pleasant experience with that gem I have a mind to
try it out on my 4m pan and see how it will fare on nilesat. But yours could come in faster as I don't have time on my hand right now.

snapshot of solar harvest. hmmmm! not bad at all!

ground pics. i had to modify them to enable me install the sukam on the magnum e-panel:

at last, the much maligned 'brackets' have found a new lease of life - in the e-panel!

all,

a while ago, i decided to put my sukam to the test just to confirm it is still in good working condition. i hadn't really had the
chance to try it out ever since the faulty cooler fan was replaced. results? well, i was quite impressed that the old work horse
was back and kicking! needless to say, it is a welcome relief to know that i can always fall back to its use should in case the
magnum decides to behave funny.

i ran it over a week without any issues before putting it back in the cooler.

pics below:

@all,

For all those who may be having difficulties downloading the word document containing tracking frequencies that
I posted yesterday, especially those browsing from mobile devices, this is a screenshot version for your convenience.

I tried copying and pasting directly but the spambot banned me for a whole 24hrs! Apparently it doesn't like all the
percentage symbols being thrown around like that.

Ok, consider this a scoop as it doesn't get better than this. A whole month's tireless work thrown at your laps!
It is every satellite installer's dream come true!!!

wilsonjay:
@george d : sir the tracking frequency you pasted for c and ku band is not opening can you help us check and repost again. thanks

@wilson,
Those frequencies are as authentic as they can be. They are live TP data copied directly from a working decoder,
satellite by satellite, channel by channel and not just some theoretical frequencies copied from some website.
Please refer to screenshots already posted. If you cannot lock the signals then probably you need to work on your dish.

Also, remember that they are location specific. If you live outside the region specified then it may be difficult to get a signal lock.

In addition, some of those beams (especially C band) may need up to 2.4M mesh dish to track except the KU beams which are
DTH and can be tracked with dishes of 110cm or less.

@ALL,

For all those asking for tracking frequencies of various satellites, your wait is finally over. As promised a few weeks ago,
here are the tracking frequencies of satellites available in the Clarke Belt for this part of the globe. Contrary to last year's list
that only contained C band frequencies, this time around it covers both C band and KU beams for better spread.
However, the KU frequencies are for DTH signals receivable on 120cm dishes and below. Out-of-footprint birds like Hispasat, Yahsat,
Hotbird, Eurobird, Nilesat, etc are not included for obvious reasons. The motorised 3-in-1 COMSTAR dish is a mesh dish which will
not receive distant birds. For that I will need to track with my 4M PAN dish which is solely dedicated for Nilesat for now.
Ok, now to the TPs!

routsz:
@ Great George D1,

can't help paying homage to these shots frm yr 'rebranded' system. I keep returning to those posts to literally 'watch' them - until I'm able to nail them onto my screen.
Kindly refer to d SES 4/C @22.0W, does d lnb require dielectric? 2ndly, do u track with sat meter or u trolley yr tv set in&out? I envy u sir.

@routsz,

Thanks for the kind words. It was an uphill task taking all those snapshots and then resizing them and finally posting
them online. But, hey, what can't we do for the sake of FTA?

SES 4/C is a circular beam satellite and hence you need a dielectric in the LNB throat. Presently I still track with my TV set
outside but all that is set to change as I'm already in the process of acquiring a professional satellite meter which will be
delivered soon. Details will be posted when it eventually arrives.

graphicicon:
@george D , pls what is TP of this super sport 3 HD channels, and i believe strongly that they use to show live premier league matches.

@graphicicon,

You can get SS3 HD on 11919V 27500sr.

Now, for all those asking, that particular channel happened to be 'clear' - meaning it was left unscrambled
(deliberately I suppose by DSTV) as at the time I took those screenshots. I NEITHER USE NOR ENCOURAGE THE USE
of illegal devices to watch PAYTV. I have been and will continue to be against the DARK SIDE in all its manifestations.
Having said that, I quite understand the immense curiosity and interest my screenshots have generated but I never
intended it to be an invitation for breaking TV CODES. My advice? If you like it, pay for it!

VIVA FTA!!!

Freddygaz:
Nyc input GeorgeD....receiving the same in East africa.....are you getting the Ugandan mux on 3721R 10E?
Plus any feeds on the same bird at your end?

Freddygaz,

The Ugandan mux is a tricky package. I'm yet to home in on it but will keep trying.

ryusufu: try and nail yahsat on 52.5east.... If u live in northern region n if u have 3.5m to above try astra 23E

You will need a solid dish for Yahsat. The COMSTAR polar mount motorised is a mesh dish.

And last but not the least,

Intelsat 907 @27.5W

NTAi, RTG, RTP Africa, Record

SES 4/KU @22.0W


NHK World, I24 News, CCTV, Electron TV

SES 4/C @22.0W


This satellite is certainly one to watch as almost every channel and service provider that were
previously on NSS 7 seems to be jumping ship and moving onto this bird. CNN was first to make
the move. Now, a few weeks ago, TBN, SMILE OF A CHILD, CHURCH CHANNEL and JCTV have
also come on board.

Ok, the Pictures:

Nilesat 201 (NWA Beam) @7.0W

Aljazeera

Eutelsat 5 West A @5.0W


Canal Algerie, Tele Congo, ORTB

Intelsat 10-02 @0.8W

DOD News, B-One, BBC TV Africa