malc-c

NEMA 17 refers to the face plate size, which is 1.7" x 1.7". It doesn't relate to the actual specs of the windings, torque etc. For example the holding torque can range form 0.85kg / CM up to 3.7kg / CM and they all look the same physical size with a 5mm diameter shaft. Also the operating voltages can vary between 3v and 30v (Seeing that the switch mode power supply on HEQ5 / EQ6 mounts generate 34v to the driver chips, it may well be that the NEMA 17 sized motors in the EQ6 that have the designated part number HM6GT-F00-1 are custom / hybrid design, and you may burn out an off the shelf Stepper motor and or damage the motorcontrol board. I would do more investigation before committing to an order

Just to clarify, both EQMOD and the handset default to the slowest speed. If you set the handset to speed 9, or set the speed value to the right of the NSEW button in EQMOD to 4 this will slew at maximum rates when the directional buttons are pressed

Nice bit of research there... At least on the face of it the two follow similar protocols, other than pins 1 and 6 not being used (which may be a problem as the handset is expecting 12v on pin 6) and we assume that the common on the handset pin 4 is also ground 2 and 5 being the RS232 TX and RX pins. But don't forget the handset is expecting true RS232 voltages on those pins, ie +/- 12v as it has the MAX232 chip inside that drops that to 5v TTL serial. The D1-DNT07A D1 DNT08A MEGA-FABS D1 Servo Driver Cable will more than likely operate at 5v TTL levels (or possibly 3.3v depending on the chipset used) as its essentially a FTDI USB to 5v(or 3.3V) TTL cable terminated with an RJ11/12 plug.

Yes, Synta are moving away from PIC based boards to ARM based. If you still have the old board I would be willing to take it off your hands. I've had some success at repairing blown boards as documented in this thread Often its a case of replacing the two PICs with new programmed ones which tend to resolve the "no response both axis" issue.

Do not get that adapter, you have no idea how the pins are wired and you could end up damaging the handset If your handset lacks a USB port then you'll have to go old school The sysnscan should have come with a Skywatcher serial cable that is a long grey cable that looks like a telephone cable but with a 9 pin D type plug on it. Like this You then need a USB to SERIAL adapter to connect the cable to a PC. like this BUT - as stated above... unless there is a problem with the handset then there is no need to update the firmware.

Glad to hear you've sorted the issue... thanks for the closure

As others have said, use a decent mix of concrete rather than the postcrete stuff.

I didn't design the handset, so can say if the circuitry inverts the signals when the PC-DIRECT port is used as a means of connection to a PC's serial port . In my experience of testing and repairing motor boards, communication with the mount via the handset in PC DIRECT mode worked when the PC-DIRECT cable ( the one that looks like a telephone cable terminated with a D9 connector - NOT and EQDIR cable) was connected to either a Belking RS232/USB adaptor, or when connected direct to the COM1 port of an old PC. It might well be that the Belkin USB/RS232 converter handled the inversion These days there is little point in using this method. You are effectively taking 5v USB protocol, converting it to true RS232 levels and standards to send it to the handset where it is then converted to 5v TTL serial protocol, and relayed to the mount. It's far better to use an FTDI based EQDIR cable connected directly to the mount in place of the handset, or if the mount is more recent and has a USB type B port, use a straight USB A-B cable. The method of using the handset as a pass through in PC-DIRECT mode stems back a few decades when 9 pin / 21 pin serial ports were common on a PC and USB was in its infancy... In terms of set up. Other than the the connections described above, the process is the same. All three methods are presented as serial ports within device manager, and EQMOD or GSServer simply needs to have the corresponding port selected at either 9600 baud or 115200 baud depending on the cabling method used.

Dave, simply use a 5m active USB ext cable. Plug the EQDIR cable into that which would give you 6.5- 7m between mount and PC in the summer house. Or connect a hub to the active cable, and plug the EQDIR cable and any USB cameras into the hub...

Using a true RS232 adapter will indeed fry the motor boards of most modern mounts if it is used as an EQDIR cable. True RS232 voltage levels are typically +/- 12v. The FTDI232 devices operate at 3.3v or 5v, but this is only applicable if you are making your own EQDIR cable. All commercial EQDIR cables use the 5v version of this chipset. The interface of older versions of handsets that use the serial cable (long grey cable with a 9 way D type connector at one end and phone line connector at the other) when in PC Direct mode can be used with a standard RS232 to USB adapter as the handset has a MAX232 chip inside it which handles the conversion to TTL levels into the processors. Modern handsets have a USB port on them, so can use a standard USB A-B cable for a direct connection to a PC. These new handsets have the USB to 5v TTL serial adapters built in, this may be the Prolific 2302 chipset rather than FTDI, which also may be the reason why the OP is having issues with this method of connection. Windows dropped support for the Prolific chipset when windows 10 came out, and as such the comport driver needs to be downloaded and installed manually. However until the OP explains what method of connection they are using between the PC and the Handset this may be irrelevant, and as I asked, if they are using an EQDIR cable then I personally can't see the point in making the connection via the handset in PC direct mode.

When you connect the handset to the PC via USB, and place the handset in PC-DIRECT mode you should see a new com port appear in Device manager (much the same way as when you connect an EQDIR cable). By default the baud rate is set to 9600. Try changing this to 115200 and see if you can control the mount (once you configure EQMOD / GSServer to use that same com port). I have to ask though, if you can control the mount using an EQDIR cable why would you want to do the same via the handset in PC-DIRECT mode ?

What's wrong with your current mount ? Bearings can be replaced, motorboards can be repaired and reprogrammed....

In FLOs defence they don't claim the silicone power cable is compatible with the ASIAIR Pro. They do state that the cable is unfused, and you need to check with the manufactures of the equipment you are intending to use. But with the emphasis in that each cable is checked and tested then you would expect that there would be no fault with it that would cause it to get hot. When something gets hot it's down to either a short, high resistance or far more current being drawn through the wire than the wire is rated at. The fact that mount worked without issue after using the standard 12v cable after is a good sign as it means no damage has been done to the motor board. The fact the LED wasn't on suggests that power wasn't actually getting to the mount, and as the silicone power cable got warm would suggest that it has a fault that prevented the current reaching the mount. As the mount was unpowered it would not be possible to establish connection through the serial port. I would suggest you contact FLO and aske them for a RMA number and return the cable to them for inspection. But there could also be a compatibility issue, in that the polarity of the outlet of the AISAIR may have its pins reversed so in essence the reverse polarity protection of the mount saved the motor board, but effectively shorted out the supply form the AISAIR unit... A simple digital volt meter could be used to test which pin is 12v and that the corresponding socket on the cable is the centre port of the 2.1mm connector and not the barrel

Based on specifications, Yes - The 80w (ie 6A) would be fine -

Sounds like the clutches are sticking, or the lubricant used has become thick and less viscous over the years.

If it aint broke ..... I know that some of the newer mounts had tracking issues so they've released several revisions to fix that... but for older mounts I can't see the reason to... The version for most older mounts is circa 2018 The drawback is SW don't list what fixes or enhancements the revisions address

Well and truly !! - seems they only produce the software to update the firmware to run on the windows platform

LOL I did wonder Yeah the procedure is not really well documented in the SW site

🤔 - so if its not connected, how did you think it would get updated ?

Exactly... but with more torque you could reduce the gearing.... but agree, you couldn't use it as a direct coupled direct drive

The firmware and the PC application can be found on the Skywatcher website here Basically you connect the mount to the computer via one of three ways depending on the mount Via wi-fi is the mount supports this option, and / or you use a wifi dongle or BT enabled EQDIR connector An EQDIR cable or USB cable (some mounts have an EQDIR cable built in so a standard USB A- B cable is all that is needed) Via the handset using a serial cable / USB to serial adapter, with the handset connected to the mount and in PC-DIRECT mode Either way the computer will see a new COM port under device manager (windows), which should be detected by the firmware uploader application. You then navigate to the downloaded binary hex file that is the firmware and click on the upload button. The software will communicate with the mount, and if established begins the process to upload the motor controllers firmware. Takes around a couple of minutes.

No expert, but looking at the specs of a NEMA 17, the holding torque is given as 0.5nM, where as the spec of those direct drive motors state its 1.6Nm... 3x greater ! I think the main issue will be with precision, as most drive systems are geared in some way to take advantage of the 1/8th microstepping of the NENA motors.

It would seem that the focal point of the scope is still slightly beyond the CCD when the focuser is fully out. If there is a way to shim the camera out slightly more that may work. Also googling the camera shows it with a lens fitted. This may be an issue, as in my experience the image from the scope is focused direct onto the CCD without anything in between. Also in PHD the slider next to the exposure setting adjust the contrast on the image which can also help reduce the stars to points rather then over exposed blobs. Sharpcap would be a better application for image gathering, but then you are using a guide scope which has the most basic of optics so don't expect too much

Looking forward to following your project

Yeah, I realise that, but it was the handset and mount that looked similar. As I said, it's the closest I could find to the OP's image...