help with Synscan

[feZian_leVels]

Hello everybody. I am a complete newbie to the forum,and despite having dabbled in sky watching in the past am a newbie to that too .

I recently got myself an EQ5 goto mount and last night had it all good to go,waitng for nightfall.

I pugged my hand-set into my Celestron powertank (fully charged) and despite a *beep* sound of a second...nothing.

The hand set illuminates but I'm not getting any menu.The directional buttons seem to be doing something,because therre is a buzzing of the gears ,but the movement ,if any, is undetectable. Is this a common problem with the handsets? Is it broken or am I just being a newb?

Thanks for any help and forgive if this is not the right place to ask or indeed if it's been asked before.

[jambouk]

Does the handset look like this?

Jd

[jambouk]

(Always play with new stuff in the day light as it makes it so much easier to get your head around it all, and less pressure as it doesn't matter if the cloud is rolling in).

[Tums]

Hi , your handset should plug into your mount, not your power tank. You should have a wire with. Telephone like connectors on it, one end plugs into the mount the other plugs into the handset. Your power tank should just be connected to the power socket on your mount.

[PeterCPC]

Agree with jambouk - try it in the day when you can see what you are doing. Handset should start of with "verifying package please wait" then something like "press enter to begin alignment" then ask for details of time and position. This may vary a bit.

Peter

[jambouk]

I was thinking about the handset being plugged straight into the power source, but even so, if it is a handset like the one above, it still comes up with the verifying package info, then says "stand alone handset, no mount detected" or something; i sometimes just boot to handset to pre load the date and coordinates before travelling out or setting up.

But leads: power lead from power source to mount. Curly lead from mount to handset.

If it is the handset above, once it's turned on, press and release the buttons in this order: escape, escape, 2, 9, enter. Then try the four direction arrows and see if the mount moves any quicker.

Jd

[feZian_leVels]

Thanks all >yes Jambouk that is the handset. I've been looking over it again this morning with the same results. The hand set is connected to the eq5 'box' via the curly telephone cable and then the box is hooked up to the tank. Sorry if I didn't explain myself very well.

Point is, there is illumination of the hand set but no start-up menu.Nothing.

[jambouk]

And just try to power the handset on it's own; power lead from 12v power source to handset. What appears on screen? Is there writing but it's just really dim or no back lighting? Again this might be easier to see in day light.

Jd

[jambouk]

Is this brand new or second hand?

Did you get a lead like this with the handset?

Do you have a computer with a serial port, or a good quality usb to serial port convertor?

You might need to reinstall the latest version of the handset firmware - easy to do if you have the leads/ports.

Jd

[jambouk]

Is the curly telephone cable in the far left hand port of the handset? Does the port the telephone cable on the eq5 box (the mount body) have a name or writing next to it?

Jd

[jambouk]

Sorry, the port on the mount isn't on the mount body as it's not an HEQ5, so does it look like this and the lead in this position?

(The power of google images!)

Jd

[Singlin]

When the handset powers up press the "enter" key a few times. You should then see the menu

[feZian_leVels]

First off ,I've got to thank you for all this help.It really is very good of you. Now to business...

Connecting the hand set to the power pack directly gives 3 short, shrill beep noises (1 longer when the eq box is in the way) but still no menu.

I did get one of those cables and will certainly try to upgrade to see if I get I response.

Is it still possible to get the download without input from the hand set?

Should the hand set be powered from the tank whilst connected to the PC?

The Scope and mount were brand spanking new out the box.

'Sorry, the port on the mount isn't on the mount body as it's not an HEQ5, so does it look like this and the lead in this position?'

yes.

thanks again.

[jambouk]

Have you tried connecting it all up properly and pressing enter a few times as suggested above, or trying my method of pressing buttons - it might be that it is all working, just the handset LCD set at the wrong intensity so you can't read anything.

I think you need power to just the handset when re installing the firmware. It is covered in the back of the handset manual. Basically you install the firware loader onto your pc first, then find the latest update file and dump that on the desktop. Then boot the handset whilst pressing some buttons, then connect the handset to the oc, run the loader software, select the update from the desktop, then leave it alone. It sometimes fails the first time, but will work eventually. It takes a minute or two to transfer the data. Are you sure your oc has a serial port, few modern machines do and most people end up getting a usb to serial adaptor (don't get a cheap one off ebay like me as they just don't work).

This forum is a lot about helping other. In time you'll pass on help to others; astro-karma

I am just frustrated for you and wish it was working nicely.

Jd

[jambouk]

oc = pc. Fat finger syndrome!

Jd

[feZian_leVels]

You are a gentleman ,sir.

I'll drop by the Skywatcher website and give it a try later on today and get back with any results.

[Tums]

Hi , check out this thread also, some info you may find uselful.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/213682-help-with-synscan-handset/

I have a post in it with an eBay link to a USB/serial cable that worked for me, as Jambouk said, don't go cheap they don't work.

[Cornelius Varley]

First off ,I've got to thank you for all this help.It really is very good of you. Now to business...

Connecting the hand set to the power pack directly gives 3 short, shrill beep noises (1 longer when the eq box is in the way) but still no menu.

I did get one of those cables and will certainly try to upgrade to see if I get I response.

Is it still possible to get the download without input from the hand set?

Should the hand set be powered from the tank whilst connected to the PC?

The Scope and mount were brand spanking new out the box.

'Sorry, the port on the mount isn't on the mount body as it's not an HEQ5, so does it look like this and the lead in this position?'

yes.

thanks again.

If it is new you should contact your retailer first just in case you have a faulty handset.

[feZian_leVels]

update: just had to fork out for a  1 port FTDI usb to rs232 adapter cable. So now an anxious wait for the postie.

Failing that I'll get in touch with the vendor astroshop eu and see what they can do.

Thanks to all.

I shall return!!

[jambouk]

Where do you live? Do you have an astro-neighbour you can borrow their handset and see if that works? My gut feeling is that it isn't a firmware problem. Most issues out of the box in my experience are "user" related

Jd