Lighted dishes

In many RV parks I have seen the Direcway lit up with a vibrant blue glow at night. How is this done? It looks very attractive.

I have also seen painted dishes. I heard somewhere they are painted in Arizona. Now that I am in Arizona, I would like to have my dish painted, and lit up.

Smoky said:

In many RV parks I have seen the Direcway lit up with a vibrant blue glow at night. How is this done? It looks very attractive.

I have also seen painted dishes. I heard somewhere they are painted in Arizona. Now that I am in Arizona, I would like to have my dish painted, and lit up.

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Its advertizing. Denotes a Motosat branded dish.

Smoky said:

In many RV parks I have seen the Direcway lit up with a vibrant blue glow at night. How is this done? It looks very attractive.

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Smoky, that's the reason a MotoSat dish cost $5,000 more than yours.  It's a pretty expensive light. 

Bob, the lights are free, the search button costs $5000.

Smoky said:

In many RV parks I have seen the Direcway lit up with a vibrant blue glow at night. How is this done? It looks very attractive.

I have also seen painted dishes. I heard somewhere they are painted in Arizona. Now that I am in Arizona, I would like to have my dish painted, and lit up.

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As you know our dish is painted and lit up but isn't a Motosat.  The same principle is used to light the dish up as Motosat in that the LED is powered from the same 18 volts as the LMB is powered from.  You can get them painted in Mexico or there was a gal here in Yuma the does it.  Oh didn't cost even near of what the Motosat costs. ;D ;D

Smoky,

The name of the person that painted our dish is Maria Tillson and she is here in Yuma.  I will send you her phn nbr by PM.

Smoky said:

In many RV parks I have seen the Direcway lit up with a vibrant blue glow at night. How is this done? It looks very attractive.

I have also seen painted dishes. I heard somewhere they are painted in Arizona. Now that I am in Arizona, I would like to have my dish painted, and lit up.

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Smoky,

If you show up at Quartzsite with an un-lighted dish, people will talk about you.  At least go to a bicycle store and get a battery operated LED light and velcro it to the dish arm. 

Phil

Since we only have basic DirecTv service, would it be OK to use a candle and paint the dish with red primer?

Q

quasi said:

Since we only have basic DirecTv service, would it be OK to use a candle and paint the dish with red primer?

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Put a red filter behind the candle and you will have a red dish  ;D ;D

Geesh, this forum is almost as bad as the RVsat forum.  Ask a serious question, get silly answers.  ;D

After trying both forums, the closest I can get to an answer is Phil's.  Now I know for a fact Ron lights his dish up, but I do not know how he does it.  I have also seen plenty of Direcway dishes lit up in blue, besides the Motosats.  I just want to know how they do it.  I think it looks really cool.  Even if it is a copycat. 

Is there a way to wire an LED on the dish?

Or is this a jealousyly guarded secret by the Motosat people LOL!

Is there anyone in Phoenix that paints dishes?  If not, anyone in Mexico that I can reach in a half day or less?

I figure if one goes to all the trouble to assemble a dish on the roof, it might as well look nice, both day and night.

Smoky said:

Is there a way to wire an LED on the dish?

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Yes, Smoky.

Pick your color and and stick it on the dish.  You can power it/them with a battery or steal some power from the transmitter.  Use whatever box you want to hold the LEDs.  MotoSat uses 3 blue LEDs on the DataStorm dish and 1 blue LED on the executive dish.

Put the LED near the transmitter and aim it at the dish.  You can get a red or white LED assembly from a bicycle shop that will mount on your dish.

Phil

Smoky said:

Geesh, this forum is almost as bad as the RVsat forum.  Ask a serious question, get silly answers.  ;D

After trying both forums, the closest I can get to an answer is Phil's.  Now I know for a fact Ron lights his dish up, but I do not know how he does it.

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Come'on Smoky, lighten up. As a matter of fact, Ron did give you the answer 2 days ago. Not an installationl manual but he did let you know that and how he did it.

Smoky said:

Geesh, this forum is almost as bad as the RVsat forum.? Ask a serious question, get silly answers.? ?;D

After trying both forums, the closest I can get to an answer is Phil's.? Now I know for a fact Ron lights his dish up, but I do not know how he does it.? I have also seen plenty of Direcway dishes lit up in blue, besides the Motosats.? I just want to know how they do it.? I think it looks really cool.? Even if it is a copycat.?

Is there a way to wire an LED on the dish?

Or is this a jealousyly guarded secret by the Motosat people LOL!

Is there anyone in Phoenix that paints dishes?? If not, anyone in Mexico that I can reach in a half day or less?

I figure if one goes to all the trouble to assemble a dish on the roof, it might as well look nice, both day and night.

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Smoky I gave you a straight answer in reply nbr 4 to this thread as follows:  "As you know our dish is painted and lit up but isn't a Motosat.  The same principle is used to light the dish up as Motosat in that the LED is powered from the same 18 volts as the LNB is powered from.  You can get them painted in Mexico or there was a gal here in Yuma the does it.  Oh didn't cost even near of what the Motosat costs."  Then the next message I posted in this thread, when I found the information, I told you who painted my dish and gave you the phone number via e-mail where you could contact her. 

There are some folks that do use battery powered lights to light  their dish and I am aware of at least one individual that runs 12 volt power from his rig to power up a light on his dish that is on a tripod.

The easiest options for powering a light to light up the dish are: 1. tap off the 18 volt LNB power and use an LED as does MotoSat and I do.  2. Run a 12 volt line from the RV battery to power a landscaping light or LED, and 3. power a small spot light with 110vac.

As for getting your dish painted try calling Maria and see if she ever gets to PHX or make arrangement to come to Yuma for a couple days and either get Maria to do it or carry the dish to Algdones Mexico south of Yuma and have it done.

After seeing the great job she did on your dish Ron, I think I'd have Maria paint mine.

I don't have the dish, I just have that wing antenna.  I'll try lighting it up, see if the reception improoves.  As to painting it, I'll have to think about that.

I do have Direct TV at home, but it is on the back of the house. 

Bernie:

That is exactly what I am trying to do ... lighten up  (my dish)    ;D

Now what Ron initially said was, " The same principle is used to light the dish up as Motosat in that the LED is powered from the same 18 volts as the LMB is powered from. "

OK I understand the principle, but not the actual execution.  I know the 18 volts is supplied by the coax, but I am just not imaginative enough to figure out how to tap into that coax without messing up the impedance and/or the transmission.  Maybe the transmitter itself has an 18 volt takeoff point accessible?  Of your three approaches Ron, this one sounds the best and simplest... if I can get the detail I need.  What method do you use Ron?  I wish I had climbed up on your roof and taken a look at it. 

Phil, do those bicycle shops have blue leds?  I know Radio Shack sells blue leds, but not sure if they have them in the 18 volt config.

I am not embarrased to ask for help when I need it.  I guess I am one of those few guys in the world not to macho to ask for directions when I am lost.    Even when I am showing my outright stupidity. 

Ron, a few days ago  you sent me an email with a lady's name and phone number.  I had no idea what that was about, and replied asking why you sent me her number.  Sorry, I just did not make the connection to this thread.  She might not be happy about coming to Phoenix, it is not a terribly long drive, but not one most people would make without an additional charge.  If I come up that way I will call her in advance, but the logistics don;t seem real simple, especially if the paint job takes more than a few hours.  Are there people In QZ that do dish painting?  I bet if they did there would be a lot of business for them, me included.

Gee guys I am really sorry I am so naive.  I appreciate those who are kind enough to work with me on this. 

Smoky said:

OK I understand the principle, but not the actual execution.  I know the 18 volts is supplied by the coax, but I am just not imaginative enough to figure out how to tap into that coax without messing up the impedance and/or the transmission.  Maybe the transmitter itself has an 18 volt takeoff point accessible?  Of your three approaches Ron, this one sounds the best and simplest... if I can get the detail I need.  What method do you use Ron?  I wish I had climbed up on your roof and taken a look at it. 

Phil, do those bicycle shops have blue leds?  I know Radio Shack sells blue leds, but not sure if they have them in the 18 volt config.

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Two parts here:

1: you don't tap the coax (though you could if you wished, it's not hard to do) you tap the control board after it taps the power off the coax. (Not as easy actually, but less likely to mess up the things you talk about)

2: LED's in 18 volt.. LED's are usually very low voltage devices (if memory serves they are foward biased, which means around 0.2 volts for most diodes)  (and memory serves because I have a detector I built that takes advantage of this fact to work)

You provide a resistor to make them work on 5v, 12v  or whatever voltage you are using.  There may even be instructions for choosing your resistor on the LED package.

NOTE: If you use multiple LEDS, use a seperate resistor for each led, do not try to shortcut

NOTE 2: I can design the circuit easily enough if you need... Will require I visit Radio Shack to collect part numbers is all

Note 3:  Radio Shack does sell some IC-LEDS, these are a combination of LED and Resistor in the same package, usually 5 volt
They also sell 3 terminal voltage regulators... An 5 volt is a common size for these.. You only need one 3 terminal regulator for however many LEDS you light up to the capacity of the TTR

Thanks John, your detail is the more the kind of info I really need. 

However, calculating the resistor value would still require knowing what amperage is involved, wouldn?t it?

And can I assume from your comments that there are no easily obtainable 18 volt LEDs?

Beyond all this I need to know exactly how the LED is integrated into the circuit.  This is where Ron?s knowledge would be most helpful, as I think he has already done this with a white LED.  Perhaps Bernie can see why the original info was not really enough to get me started?

I am beginning to think it might even be easier to run a 12 volt line, if there is such a thing as 12 volt LEDs?

Barring that, maybe Bernie?s idea of a candle and lens is the most optimal solution.  After all it IS Halloween!  A big old pumpkin up there would do it maybe?  ;D

Ack no, I forgot about the Arizona desert wind. 

Well, Ron to the rescue I hope.  This is not a major matter, but I am really interested in solving this puzzle and looking cool!  ;D

Smoky

Some info on LEDs

Radioshack's blue LED with specs.

Looks like 30 mA at 5V. You need to drop 13V (18-5), which means a resistor value of 13/0.03=433 ohms (i.e. closest resistor = 470 ohms). Click here.

Smoky said:

do those bicycle shops have blue leds? I know Radio Shack sells blue leds, but not sure if they have them in the 18 volt config.

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This answer is going to cost you, BIG!!!
...........Fry's electronics, 31st ave & Thunderbird Rd, Phoenix. They have a full page ad in the paper, most days. You will have difficulty getting out of there with your credit card not melted down!