# Orange c.link light on BB DECA



## putty469 (Jun 5, 2007)

I've had whole home working for over a year, but recently started getting a lot of "this receiver has been disconnected.." messages on all receivers (2 H21, 1 HR-20, 1 HR-23, white DECA's). I looked at the BB DECA in the cabling room and it has an orange c.link light. A 30-second unplug did not do anything. Also, the HR-20 has an orange c.link light while the other receivers are green.

The system has worked wonderfully since it was installed. My satellite signals are strong and there are no other anomalies to speak of. Just annoyed family members who see fall TV season coming without whole home.

Thanks for any help, and maybe I can actually work with the great VOS.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

putty469 said:


> I've had whole home working for over a year, but recently started getting a lot of "this receiver has been disconnected.." messages on all receivers (2 H21, 1 HR-20, 1 HR-23, white DECA's). I looked at the BB DECA in the cabling room and it has an orange c.link light. A 30-second unplug did not do anything. Also, the HR-20 has an orange c.link light while the other receivers are green.
> 
> The system has worked wonderfully since it was installed. My satellite signals are strong and there are no other anomalies to speak of. Just annoyed family members who see fall TV season coming without whole home.
> 
> Thanks for any help, and maybe I can actually work with the great VOS.


Not sure about "the great", but....

The BB DECA can't find another DECA to sync with, which suggests a cabling problem.
The HR20 with an orange cLink, has found the signal, but the level or noise [signal to noise ratio] is below what it needs.

All of this is pointing to a wiring problem.

What has changed lately?


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## putty469 (Jun 5, 2007)

No cabling has changed lately. Two months ago I changed the wireless router from a WRT54G to a E3000 (DD-WRT). The problems with whole home didn't start until a few weeks ago. Just for kicks I tried disconnecting the BB DECA from the home network today and resetting the receivers.

No cabling changes have been made. The fitting from the cable to the DECA on the HR-20 is very hot. Hot enough to make me let go after a two or three count. It is in a vented cabinet but I admittedly don't get in there often (I wanted to see the DECA so I reached in to turn it so I could see the lights).


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

putty469 said:


> No cabling has changed lately. Two months ago I changed the wireless router from a WRT54G to a E3000 (DD-WRT). The problems with whole home didn't start until a few weeks ago. Just for kicks I tried disconnecting the BB DECA from the home network today and resetting the receivers.
> 
> No cabling changes have been made. The fitting from the cable to the DECA on the HR-20 is very hot. Hot enough to make me let go after a two or three count. It is in a vented cabinet but I admittedly don't get in there often (I wanted to see the DECA so I reached in to turn it so I could see the lights).


The heat isn't that uncommon, since it's a 1 milliwatt transmitter.
While you may not have changed the cabling, it has changed, so you'll need to inspect it to see what signs it shows.
If you have questions about the BB DECA, move it to another location and check the cLink status there, as it doesn't need the router connection for the cLink.


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## putty469 (Jun 5, 2007)

I will try to move the BB DECA. Right now it comes directly off the SWM PI with a 15-foot loop of cable between the two. I have some ports on the 8-way splitter that go to rooms with no receiver (future growth). Should I just use a short piece of coax from one of those ports to the BB DECA?


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

putty469 said:


> I will try to move the BB DECA. Right now it comes directly off the SWM PI with a 15-foot loop of cable between the two. I have some ports on the 8-way splitter that go to rooms with no receiver (future growth). Should I just use a short piece of coax from one of those ports to the BB DECA?


That would work.


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## putty469 (Jun 5, 2007)

When connected to the 8-way splitter instead of the SWM PI, the BB DECA goes green. So did the DECA on the HR-20. I'm guessing the 15-foot cable loop from the SWM PI to the BB DECA had a problem. I re-connected the BB DECA to the home network as well (we like the iPad viewing).

We'll see if it's stable long term. Thank you for the help VOS.


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## doolittle.dtv.iss (Aug 19, 2012)

i find that the power inserter in injecting noise into the system and kills the moca signal in this situation. same thing happens when a rweciever is ssfs771 and you unconnect the coaxil and reconnect it. then it works! you released the noise in system and it builds back up and does it again. for this reason. i always instruct the tech to isolate the power inserter. you dont run you signal thru power strips in walls for this same reason. well that and less components means less chance of failing. the moca signal is already traveling thru the system. any noise will hinder this signal<mrv and whole home>


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

doolittle.dtv.iss said:


> i find that the power inserter in injecting noise into the system and kills the moca signal in this situation. same thing happens when a rweciever is ssfs771 and you unconnect the coaxil and reconnect it. then it works! you released the noise in system and it builds back up and does it again. for this reason. i always instruct the tech to isolate the power inserter. you dont run you signal thru power strips in walls for this same reason. well that and less components means less chance of failing. the moca signal is already traveling thru the system. any noise will hinder this signal<mrv and whole home>
> View attachment 29794


Sorry, but that isn't "noise", and you can't "release it" if it was.

What the picture shows, is why you don't want to have the PI with its blocking cap too close to the DECA or for that matter the SWiM.
"Firing" RF into a cap causes some impedance issues.
That same photo works quite well with the PI on the input of the splitter and a CCK connected where the PI is shown. This is because the loss of the splitter compensates for the impedance problem of the PI's DC blocking cap. The same is done with a long coax, but who wants 15+ feet of coax coiled up behind there receiver?

To help make some sense of this the PI has this in the coax:










The coil chokes the RF from the power supply and the cap blocks the DC from the receiver. Both of these are good things.

By adding some attenuation [lower diagram] to both sides of the PI compensates for the impedance problem.


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## putty469 (Jun 5, 2007)

As closure to this, I found a bad run to a receiver that was injecting a lot of noise into the system. Redoing the ends stopped the orange c.link light, which had returned after relocating the BB DECA. Why the run was bad after just 3 years (I did it yikes) is a mystery.


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## Rtm (Oct 18, 2011)

doolittle.dtv.iss said:


> i find that the power inserter in injecting noise into the system and kills the moca signal in this situation. same thing happens when a rweciever is ssfs771 and you unconnect the coaxil and reconnect it. then it works! you released the noise in system and it builds back up and does it again. for this reason. i always instruct the tech to isolate the power inserter. you dont run you signal thru power strips in walls for this same reason. well that and less components means less chance of failing. the moca signal is already traveling thru the system. any noise will hinder this signal<mrv and whole home>
> View attachment 29794


LMAAAAOOOO :eek2::nono2::nono::hurah::lol:


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