Snipe 2: Another one bites the dust (1 Viewer)

[ericroy]

Arrived on site in delightful Dewsbury and attempted to lock the Snipe onto Astra 2. Not only no joy with finding the sat, but neither would it re-park to the “Home” position even after trying all the usual tricks. So up onto the roof to disconnect and dismount ready for further travel tomorrow.

I installed this unit in June 2016 and it has worked reasonably well having lasted over two years. Reading around it appears that I may have done better than average as many have not made the two-year mark.

Initial indications are that any warranty expires at 2 years so I may have a go at repair myself. I doubt very much that I will pay to ship it to Germany for a repair that may only last a few months and cost nearly as much as a new unit.

Presently thinking that my next Sat Dish will NOT be a Snipe!

 

[Lenny HB]

If you can get it back to the home position somehow might be worth trying the firmware update.
I had a Snipe one start playing up just as I was getting rid of the last van. Fitted a Snipe 2 on current van, working on the theory if I have to replace it once or twice in the time I have the van I'm still quids in over splashing out for an Oyster or similar.

 

[ericroy]

If you can get it back to the home position somehow might be worth trying the firmware update.

Thanks for the suggestion. Certainly worth a go although I have updated several times over the two years.

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[Ranger]

If the "home" led is on but the dish is still up it will probably just be a stuck home switch. The symptom is they usually raise up to the vertical position and just stop there. If you press the home switch at the back of the dish (protected by a squashy cover) a couple of times it should work again.

 

[irnbru]

We have had the problem of it not rehoming or finding satellites on a few occasions. We now follow the instructions....Dont move at all while its searching. Either stay still or vacate the van, its now worked for us

 

[Koppersbeat]

When that happened with my Snipe 2 I pulled out the power lead from the bottom right of the controller unit.Put it back after a couple of minutes and it re initialised itself.It then went to the Home position without a problem.

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[Waveski]

Has anyone got a Snipe 3? I’m thinking of installing one and would appreciate any feedback or thoughts on this latest model.

 

[ericroy]

If the "home" led is on but the dish is still up it will probably just be a stuck home switch. The symptom is they usually raise up to the vertical position and just stop there. If you press the home switch at the back of the dish (protected by a squashy cover) a couple of times it should work again.

Thanks for the suggestion. Unit is dismounted from the roof of at present but will give this a try when I get home.

 

[roamingman]

Glad we do not have a TV. with all the trouble with dishes?

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[scotjimland]

Glad we do not have a TV. with all the trouble with dishes?

do they have TV in Angus ?

Dishes are never any problem.. my wife washes and dries

 

[Geo]

do they have TV in Angus ?

Why do you have a Beef with that

 

[PP Bear]

I’ve had my oyster for 13 years now and working as well as it did when new.

It needed a retune which the oyster team talked me through over the phone.

Don’t know anything about the snipe, but with so many reporting similar issues, may be time to switch?

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[ericroy]

I’ve had my oyster for 13 years now and working as well as it did when new.
Don’t know anything about the snipe, but with so many reporting similar issues, may be time to switch?

Useful to know - you might well be right!

 

[ericroy]

In case you have had sleepless nights wondering what happened, here is the update.

An email to the supplier (Red Apple Digital) provided a quick response with similar advice to that supplied by @Ranger earlier in this thread.

Today with time and weather finally both in our favour, we removed the rubber cover from the "home" switch. This cover is fixed in place with a mixture of flexible adhesive and double-sided sticky film - probably a waterproof version of double-sided Sellotape. It required some physical effort to remove the adhesive and residue of tape and this was the most challenging part of the task.

What we found under the cover was a metal switch that initially appeared to be working correctly and which rose when pressure was removed. However, when I attached some sticky tape to the switch it lifted another millimetre or two and it became apparent that it was jamming in the half-open/half-closed position. The aggressive use of a vacuum cleaner all around the switch plunger removed whatever was causing an obstruction and the switch then moved over it's full travel.

Prior to replacing the cover we did some testing to verify that freeing the switch had indeed fixed the problem. At power on the dish parked itself as hoped for and subsequent searches for Astra 2 terminated quickly and successfully.

After cleaning the switch mounting and the rubber cover as thoroughly as possible first by physical removal of the residues and then with isopropyl alcohol, the cover was re-attached using HB42 – a flexible waterproof adhesive. (We chose this because it was the most suitable item on the shelf in our garage – not for any other reason!)

A further test after re-assembly was successful and we rounded the session off by upgrading the controller firmware to version 18041. So Snipe lives to fight another day after a zero-cost fix.

 

[Ranger]

Pleased its all working again. As a quick fix if you thump the inside of the camper roof under the sat dish it often makes the switch jump and make contact (guess how I know).

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