satellite internet disruption

[James Cleary]

Hey guys had sat. internet installed a week ago and my jobs on the laser went all blurred tried everything to fix it and nothing worked. I called Epilog and they said it was the radio waves from the line coming in and I had to move the engraver as far away from it as possible. I have it in a fairly small room and couldn't move it more than four feet to test it. Ran a couple jobs and the side of the table furthest from the computer cleared up and the side closest improved but was still blurred. Anyone ever have this problem and is there an easier fix than moving the laser? Thanks

[David Somers]

Jim,

Is the cable from your Sat modem shielded? That would be a simple first step assuming you cant move the laser or reposition the dish/modem.
Next thing to try might be some type of RF blocking material to create a wall between you and the dish/modem. But keep in mind that in order to be truly effective you need to create a box around what you are trying to connect. A wall is much less effective. But it might be enough. Materials that come to mind are mylar, a commercial product called Radio Clear. Also a window shade material by 3M called Scotchtint Shielding Window Film. These last two are a bit pricey. Scotchtint for example comes in a 3ft by 24' foot roll and costs around $260 I think. That is their trial size by the way. The Scotchtint is meant to be applied to a window surface but I dont see why you couldn't make something that looks like a window screening panel and put the film into that like you would a window screen. Make a series of 3ft wide panels and move them around to get the best effect. That assumes it works of course.

A VERY low cost, but possibly really inconvenient alternative might be to simply turn off the Sat system while you are using the laser.

[James Cleary]

According to the sat. tech the cable is shielded, I'm not so sure. I wondered about a way to block it and the mylar may work. I tried turning the system off didn't seem to help, maybe I'd have to disconnect from the dish? Thanks for the help.

[David Somers]

James....that doesnt sound right. You turned off the sat but the problem didnt go away? I assume you have a dish, possibly with a powered send/receive cone, and you have a modem of some sort. Was the power off to both? Or is your sat one of those that receives the downloaded signal over the Sat dish and uses your phone line or other wired transmission for the uploads? Either way, if the whole thing is off, AND the Sat is actually your problem then having all of it off should resolve it???

Any chance the issue is with your router? Which I assume is wireless and separate from the modem? If it is separate....then for giggles try leaving the modem/Sat on but turn off the router and see if that solves the problem. And if that fails, kill em all and see if the problem still exists. If it does then it is not very likely any of that is involved and you have something else near you that coincidentally started causing problems at the same time your Sat was installed.

[Kev Williams]

Ok, question (or 2) -- Does your machine require the internet to run? If YES, chalk up another reason why for me, 'cloud' will only be a thing rain comes out of...

If NOT, then why on earth would ULS think your sat internet is causing your problem? "Radio waves coming in from the line"? Seriously? The only radio waves are those hitting the antenna. And there's FAR more electric goings-on happening inside your laser that would affect it's operation before any low voltage current passing thru the coax to your modem ever would...

The ONLY thing in common your sat internet has to do with the machine messing up is they happened at the same time. Pure timing coincidence. You have something else going on, belt, loose cog on a stepper, or dirty encoder strip if your machine has servo motors...

Unless your machine DOES require the internet to run. If so, ignore my babble...

[Dan Hintz]

Subscribing... because I know the real truth will come out once we get all of the info. Unless you're sitting next to a satellite transmitting station, there's no way it's messing up the laser... if it was, I would lose a product every time I got a cell phone call.

Can you provide a picture of what you mean when you say "the laser went all blurred"?

[Bill George]

I agree with Dan. Been in amateur (ham) radio since the late 70's. That signal coming from the satellite is so weak you would not believe. Its all in a good quality receiver and the transmit back is really focused. I would believe its something from your wireless or related. Need to wait and see what you find.

[Matt McCoy]

Is the laser connected by USB? Can you use an ethernet connection?

[James Cleary]

All good questions and I found it hard to believe also. The laser is connected by a usb and the internet is on the only Ethernet connection ,yes it is on a dish.Dan the job comes out like someone with very shaky hands is drawing it and Yes everthing is tight and the encoder strip is clean and moving the laser away from the modem and line clears it up.

[Clark Pace]

There is also a chance it is a totall coincidence and another issue is going.

[Jerome Stanek]

unplug the modem and see if that solves it.

[Keith Winter]

Hey guys had sat. internet installed a week ago and my jobs on the laser went all blurred tried everything to fix it and nothing worked. I called Epilog and they said it was the radio waves from the line coming in and I had to move the engraver as far away from it as possible. I have it in a fairly small room and couldn't move it more than four feet to test it. Ran a couple jobs and the side of the table furthest from the computer cleared up and the side closest improved but was still blurred. Anyone ever have this problem and is there an easier fix than moving the laser? Thanks

Instead of moving your machines around why don't you just unplug the power to the satellite when you next have it mess up? Then run the job again and see if it happens again. Easier than moving things around to see if that's the real issue. I agree with the others, seems unlikely the satellite would cause it unless it's shorting somehow.

[Lee DeRaud]

I agree with the others, seems unlikely the satellite would cause it unless it's shorting somehow.

+1.

For starters, I'd try putting the laser on a different power circuit than the dish/receiver/modem.

[Steven Kalmar]

In addition to unplugging the modem, unplug it's power supply if it has an external one. Switch mode power supplies can be quite noisy.

[AL Ursich]

In a Sign Magazine a few months ago was a story about LED Switching Power Supplies and Leakage and Noise... You could have a bad power supply in the house....

Try a battery "AM" Radio used as a poor man's Spectrum Analyzer to Sniff out the Electronic Noise.... I found a Bad Light Dimmer one time causing me problems with a "AM Radio"...

I would go to the Power Panel and turn off Every Breaker in the house except the Laser and Computer and see what happens... If it clears up, turn on one breaker at a time and find the problem. Did you buy one of them talking Refrigerators? LOL... A problem as strange as this needs "Strange Troubleshooting"....

AL