Most c band dish antennas are moved by using an actuator to do the physical moving, and a dish mover to supply power to the actuator. Dish movers are sold under many names with the most common being sold under the names Vbox or Gbox. The actuator is nothing more than a glorified screw that is attached to a motor. The motor is connected to a set of gears which could be referred to as a transmission.

There is also a reed switch in most actuators that tell the dish mover the exact position of the screw which is located inside the actuator housing or actuator tube. Many different positions may be stored in the dish mover which allows us to move the dish antenna to different satellites or orbit locations. Problems are common in this setup for many different reasons. The actuators and dish movers that most of use are made from the cheapest materials available.

The average dish mover is rated at around 80 watts of output power. This equals to roughly 2 amps at 36 volts. Most of our dish movers are rated at 36 volts dc, which is True, but this voltage will collapse or fall a great deal once a load is introduced. In most instances, the voltage will decrease, and the amperage will increase once the dish starts moving. This is why you see dish movers rated at 3-5 amps. This amperage amount is only seen under a load, and the total amount of power in watts will rarely go over 80 watts in most fta dish movers.

Most fta actuators have a screw inside the actuator shaft. These screws are not coated and are known to rust. A rusty screw is hard to turn. The fta actuator will have a set of gears located between the motor and the screw. These gears may reduce motor speed, and allow more energy to be availabe to turn or move the dish. These gears are usually made from composites or materials that closely resemble plastic. These gears will run a long time, but will become stressed when the actuator screw binds.

It is probably safe to say that the majority of dish moving issues in a fta system are a combination of things.
A dish that will not stop at the same spot every time could have a faulty reed switch, a faulty brake system, or a dirty power supply in the dish mover.The wiring that goes from the dish mover to the reed switch could also be the problem.
A dish mover that throws errors and does not complete the desired or called move may have an actuator binding or a bad power supply inside the dish mover.
Dish moving issues will usually start slowly or not be real noticeable. For example, it may take longer for the dish to move a great distance, but everything else is ok, or we may notice a weak signal on a certain satellite and change the dish position to fix it. If these issue are not corrected when they first appear, then it is highly likely other additional problem will exist before anything is fixed.

I will attach some pictures and explain how to fix some common issues in the following posts of this thread.