# SWiM 16 issue ???



## pgiliber (Oct 17, 2009)

Installed SWM16 with 2 - 1 x 8 Splitters, my Dish is a slimline triple LNB non-swm LNB. I have 4 feeds into the SWM 16, each splitter hits one of the SWWM ports and Power on the power port of the SWM 16. I have 4 DVRs(2 HR24, 2 HR21, 2 H20's) and I have each splitter supporting 5 tuners. I have Whole Home connected with my own 100 meg LAN and *D* turned on Whole home so DECA's. Prior to this setup I had all the same equipment but with a regular Multi-Switch, no issues.

All is working but I am getting intermittent (searching for SAT signal on Tuner 2 771) messages for 5-8 sec's throughout the day. I have only noticed this on my main HR24 from watching TV today as I just cut all this over. Are there any known issues like this with such a setup? Could my SWM 16 be flaky or the splitters?


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## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

pgiliber said:


> I have Whole Home connected with my own 100 meg LAN and *D* turned on Whole home so DECA's.


So you are or are not using DECAs?


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## pgiliber (Oct 17, 2009)

matt1124 said:


> So you are or are not using DECAs?


No DECA's correct, all my receivers are plugged into my home network via their Ethernet jack. I installed SWiM to take advantage of the single wire, all my rooms only have have one coax run to them except my Great Room.


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## jpitlick (Apr 19, 2007)

Are the unused splitter ports terminated? If not, you could be losing enough signal to cause intermittent issues. Have you tried restarting the HR24? Rerunning Sat setup? You might also try moving the HR24 to the other splitter.


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## pgiliber (Oct 17, 2009)

jpitlick said:


> Are the unused splitter ports terminated? If not, you could be losing enough signal to cause intermittent issues. Have you tried restarting the HR24? Rerunning Sat setup? You might also try moving the HR24 to the other splitter.


I will check, I left all the unused ports covered with the cover/terminator and took off just the ones I was attaching recievers to..except the RED port which I don't think had one on it out of the box and I don't think I put one on there...possible flaky there?

I have not restarted/re-run the Sat setup on the HR24 after I did it the first time post-cutover which went fine.

Also.. when you look at the "view Sat Signal area" in setup... all of my transponders are great in the mid-90's high 80's for all three. I notice there is now an SWM in there, what should we see there?


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## jpitlick (Apr 19, 2007)

pgiliber said:


> I will check, I left all the unused ports covered with the cover/terminator and took off just the ones I was attaching recievers to..except the RED port which I don't think had one on it out of the box and I don't think I put one on there...possible flaky there?
> 
> I have not restarted/re-run the Sat setup on the HR24 after I did it the first time post-cutover which went fine.
> 
> Also.. when you look at the "view Sat Signal area" in setup... all of my transponders are great in the mid-90's high 80's for all three. I notice there is now an SWM in there, what should we see there?


Make sure that every unused port has a 75 ohm terminator cap. The red port is the power passing port. Since you connected the PI directly to the SWM16, you can just use that port as a regular receiver port or cap it. Also make sure all of your coax fittings properly compressed and are screwed in tight. The problem could just be a loose connector in the HR24's path from the dish.


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## pgiliber (Oct 17, 2009)

jpitlick said:


> Make sure that every unused port has a 75 ohm terminator cap. The red port is the power passing port. Since you connected the PI directly to the SWM16, you can just use that port as a regular receiver port or cap it. Also make sure all of your coax fittings properly compressed and are screwed in tight. The problem could just be a loose connector in the HR24's path from the dish.


Ok...I'll cap the Red port on that splitter, i am pretty sure I don't have one on that port nor on the other splitter's Red port. I have all the connects nice and snug and everything is neatly patched but will check that as well....thanks for the pointers.....

I wonder if a Port on a splitter can go bad or would just the whole splitter go south?


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## eakes (Sep 22, 2007)

Given your present equipment you could replace the 1x8 splitters with 1x4s, placing two DVRs and one H20 on each splitter. This would leave one port free on each splitter for future expansion (you can also put in a 2-way downstream if needed).

A rule of thumb in transmission design is not to add more attenuation than is necessary. Replacing the 8-ways with 4-ways buys you 6db more signal voltage at each receiver - this may be enough to eliminate the random 'loss of signal' error.


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## matt (Jan 12, 2010)

I am also thinking that there is just too much loss. Do you have an extremely long run to that receiver?


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## pgiliber (Oct 17, 2009)

To this particular receiver not that long, I would say less than 50-60 ft


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## pgiliber (Oct 17, 2009)

eakes said:


> Given your present equipment you could replace the 1x8 splitters with 1x4s, placing two DVRs and one H20 on each splitter. This would leave one port free on each splitter for future expansion (you can also put in a 2-way downstream if needed).
> 
> A rule of thumb in transmission design is not to add more attenuation than is necessary. Replacing the 8-ways with 4-ways buys you 6db more signal voltage at each receiver - this may be enough to eliminate the random 'loss of signal' error.


Seems like a great option, if i can't get rid of this issue then I am going to take this route..makes sense to me...this came as a kit so came with the 1 x 8's.....


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## DaaQ (Aug 21, 2008)

I agree with putting in the 4 ways.
Is the problem only on the one receiver? If so is that one the longest coax run?
Remember that you don't need as many splitter ports as the# of tuners. Being used


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## pgiliber (Oct 17, 2009)

DaaQ said:


> I agree with putting in the 4 ways.
> Is the problem only on the one receiver? If so is that one the longest coax run?
> Remember that you don't need as many splitter ports as the# of tuners. Being used


Yes only this one receiver and its really not a long run at all, under ~50ft. Last night I plugged it directly into one of the SWM ports and placed the other receivers on the other 1 x 8 and all work, did not see any signal loss issues all night. So I am getting a 1 x 4 and see if I gain back enough to make it happy. Just trying to keep the amount of tuners equal across the SMW ports.


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## Groundhog45 (Nov 10, 2005)

Interesting thread. My "factory install" for MRV included a SWM16 and two 1x8 splitters. I asked him if he had any 1x4 and he said the 8 port was all they gave him. Since the MRV install, we have had more rain fade than before. I suspected the splitters were causing a problem so I am replacing them with two 1x4. We'll see if that helps. I only need three ports on each side of the SWM for a total of ten tuners.


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