# Tailgating Setup - Cannot Detect SWM



## purecharger (Sep 25, 2007)

I spent a few hours today trying a dry run of the tailgate setup I hope to have ready in a couple weeks and it didn't go so great. Here is my equipment:

SL-3 dish
Power Inserter
HR24 receiver

I connected the coax from the dish to the "Signal to IRD" on the power inserter, connected another coax cable from "Power to SWM" on the power inserter to my receiver and when the receiver turns on I get code 775 with the message "Cannot detect SWM" in the satellite setup screen.

I called DirecTV and the support representative thought that the SWM wasn't detected because I had not properly grounded the coax cable coming from the dish. I wasn't able to connect the ground wire to ground while she was on the line, but after hanging up I did connect it to a ground and I still had error code 775.

I'm not sure what to do next to get this working. Do I need a B-band converter? Is it possible my power inserter isn't working properly? Also note that I originally had the coax cables switched on the power inserter (dish -> power to swm and receiver -> signal to IRD) but as soon as I would screw the coax from the dish into "Power to SWM" the green light would go off. The CSR at DirecTV had me switch them and now the green light stays on.

Any help is appreciated!!


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## BNUMM (Dec 24, 2006)

Te cable from the dish goes to the power to SWM side and signal IRD goes to the receiver.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

from your post over at DirecTV forums

First, disconnect the power inserter until we know what you really have. You NEVER want to have the PWR to SWM going to the receiver, it will damage the receiver or LNB if is not SWM!

how many outputs on the LNB? One or four?

If one, it is a SWM LNB and you need the power inserter.
if four, it is NOT a SWM and you DONT need the power inserter but you will 2 lines (for dual tuner function) and a pair of BBCs


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## purecharger (Sep 25, 2007)

BNUMM- thats what I thought too from researching posts here and on other forums, however as soon as I inserted the coax cable from the dish into the "Power to SWM" the green light on the power inserter turned off. When I spoke with DirecTV support I told her that and she said "I know its confusing but the cable from the dish goes to "Signal to IRD" and the cable from your receiver goes to "Power to SWM"".

peds48- I have one output on the LNB, I even unscrewed the LNB from the dish arm to find out.


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## DB Stalker (Aug 22, 2013)

The light on the power inserter goes out when a shorted system is connected. I haven't ever tried to see what happens if a PI is connected directly to a non SWM LNB, but I know that it'll act that way when connected to (at least certain) dish network LNBs. If your LNB only has one output, then try with a different piece of coax to the dish. You could also try disconnecting the coax from the LNB and see if the light comes on.

#)


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## DB Stalker (Aug 22, 2013)

BNUMM- thats what I thought too from researching posts here and on other forums, however as soon as I inserted the coax cable from the dish into the "Power to SWM" the green light on the power inserter turned off. When I spoke with DirecTV support I told her that and she said "I know its confusing but the cable from the dish goes to "Signal to IRD" and the cable from your receiver goes to "Power to SWM"".

peds48- I have one output on the LNB, I even unscrewed the LNB from the dish arm to find out.
Disregard everything that that CSR told you. She was wrong.
It sounds like you have a SWM LNB. Connect the coax to the power to SWM side of your PI and disconnect it from anything else. Plug in your PI and see if the light comes on. If it doesn't, then you have a bad piece of coax or bad fittings on it. If the light comes on, then its an LNB issue.

#)


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Wow it scares me when CSRs say things like that. 

Make sure Power to SWM is connected to the dish. Make sure you have a solid copper core center conductor on the cable from PI to dish. Hopefully that CSR didn't fry your receiver when she told you to miswire it.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

Yes indeed;

May want to say a little prayer the HR24's tuners weren't damaged after the reversed connection. Very bad mistake by the CSR to instruct that. That's always been the number one no-no for placement of an inline PI.


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## otaliema (Aug 9, 2012)

Cross your fingers and knock on some wood, and wired it up as you where advised here. If you can come up with a grounding method for the dish that may prove useful in a tailgate situation with the odd chance of bad weather.

It may serve you better to get your hands on a non swim LNB the reflectors are interchangeable just have to reprogram the receiver when you hook it up to the different dish.



Stuart Sweet said:


> Wow it scares me when CSRs say things like that.


Completely agree. Wish I could say it was rare, but at least it's not common.


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## purecharger (Sep 25, 2007)

Thanks for the responses. Based on my research prior to attempting this I was hesitant to do as she said, she even paused to look up in her system/documentation that she was instructing me properly. Thankfully my receiver was not fried!

The dish, power inserter and the coax cable from the SWM/LNB module all came off my brother's house from about 6 months ago when he switched to FiOS (traitor!). It was all functioning correctly at the time he pulled it off. I made a single modification to what I received from him though: there was a mounting bracket / coupler that the end of the coax from the dish screwed into, and the ground wire was screwed into the bracket. I unscrewed the coax from the coupler and did not ground the other wire on anything. As soon as I make contact with the "Power to SWM" on the PI using the coax, right as I begin to screw it in, the green light goes off.

I'll try DB Stalker's suggestion of a different piece of coax. Also, is the ground wire crucial for operation? Is the mounting bracket / coupler a key piece here as well?

Thanks!


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

No, grounding in your case is not crucial for operation. It will work without one. not sure what a "mounting bracket / coupler" is. can you post a pic?


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

Yep;

Can't see how that can be any other than a short in the coax run to the SWiM LNBF.


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## DB Stalker (Aug 22, 2013)

I'm betting that he's referring to a ground block.

#)


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## purecharger (Sep 25, 2007)

I'll snap a picture of it tonight and post.


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## purecharger (Sep 25, 2007)

I tried the Power Inserter with a new coax cable connected to the satellite SWM and the green light stays on! So you were right, the old cable has problems. Unfortunately I dont have time to hook up the whole tailgate setup again tonight to try to sight it in, but thats the next step. Thanks for the help!

Here is a picture of the bracket I've been referring to:


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## DB Stalker (Aug 22, 2013)

purecharger said:


> I tried the Power Inserter with a new coax cable connected to the satellite SWM and the green light stays on! So you were right, the old cable has problems. Unfortunately I dont have time to hook up the whole tailgate setup again tonight to try to sight it in, but thats the next step. Thanks for the help!
> 
> Here is a picture of the bracket I've been referring to: http://www.dbstalk.com/public/style_images/executive2/attachicon.gif bracket.jpeg


 Yup, that's a ground block.


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## BobStokesbary (Oct 24, 2010)

You don't need a grounding block for a tail-gate situation. You had everything wired up backward. Hopefully you did not fry your HR24 which can happen when you connect it to the "output" of the power inserter.

I set up my SWM dish with an HR24 numerous times in the RV with no grounding block. That was not your problem.

You also need to be sure that the pole on your tripod is perfectly vertical. I recommend a post level (from Home Depot). It just makes that job so much easier.


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## purecharger (Sep 25, 2007)

I built a PVC stand for the dish and attached a small bubble level to the satellite mounting plate to ensure its level.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

Wow, talk about "jury rigging" you take the cake! :righton:


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## purecharger (Sep 25, 2007)

peds48 said:


> Wow, talk about "jury rigging" you take the cake! :righton:


Haha...thanks? :smoking:

Thats the dry-run in the parking lot across from my condo in downtown San Diego. I built the PVC stand to fit just inside the roof racks on my 4runner and the capped feet will have felt padded furniture levelers to get the whole thing level. I just got a Honda 2000i generator for this purpose and was pretty happy that it powered everything without breaking a sweat.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

Don't know what all you are running, but if it is just TV, receiver and SWM I doubt you'll top half the 2K capacity of your generator. Probably closer to around 800 watts give or take (depends a lot on the tv).


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## purecharger (Sep 25, 2007)

Thanks to everyone for their replies - once I got the new coax, along with a new parking lot that has no skyscraper obstructions, locking in the satellites was pretty straightforward! I'm getting 90's on 101, 70's-high 80's on 99 and both 103's. Not the greatest but we had full HD for 4 hours yesterday with no signal issues! Pretty excited. Heres some pictures in case you're interested.


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## purecharger (Sep 25, 2007)

carl6 said:


> Don't know what all you are running, but if it is just TV, receiver and SWM I doubt you'll top half the 2K capacity of your generator. Probably closer to around 800 watts give or take (depends a lot on the tv).


I think you're right. I didn't hook up a watt meter, but yesterday running all that plus a slow cooker and a trickle charger for my deep cycle battery that powers the speakers and the generator never revved up beyond the noise reducing "Eco-mode". Pretty stoked!


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

purecharger said:


> I think you're right. I didn't hook up a watt meter, but yesterday running all that plus a slow cooker and a trickle charger for my deep cycle battery that powers the speakers and the generator never revved up beyond the noise reducing "Eco-mode". Pretty stoked!


I have the following plugged into a Kill-A-Watt:
37" Vizio, HR24, HP computer with the I7 chip, 2 19" LCD monitors, Computer Speaker system with a subwoofer, a clock and a light bulb that uses 13 watts.
The total for all of this while it is all running is 370 watts.


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## purecharger (Sep 25, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> I have the following plugged into a Kill-A-Watt:
> 37" Vizio, HR24, HP computer with the I7 chip, 2 19" LCD monitors, Computer Speaker system with a subwoofer, a clock and a light bulb that uses 13 watts.
> The total for all of this while it is all running is 370 watts.


Wow..I've got room to grow the setup then!


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## BobStokesbary (Oct 24, 2010)

purecharger,
Glad everything worked out OK for you. And now seeing the mount for the dish sitting on the top of your car it all makes sense. And by putting it all on the top of your car you get rid of the issue of someone stepping in front of the dish. I like your style. I may give consideration of using my RV outfit for more activities than just with the RV. Thanks for sharing the pics.
Bob


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