malc-c

This bit is will fail.... because the new PIC doesn't contain the bootloader which gets interrogated by the PC application. I proved this point yesterday by having a USB to 5v TTL serial convertor connected to a DIL version of the chip in my EasyPIC5 dev board (yeah its old, but does the job ) - Uploaded the HEX files you kindly provided and then tried to re-upload the official download using the SW PC application. On each occasion the MC board could not be found. I tried a few of the bootloaders available on the net and again the PC app would not recognise the chip. My guess is that SW have written their own bootloader to work with their PC application so that the correct handshake is given and received.

Thanks for the input... I believe Astro-Geek actually ordered one from them, only to find out it was a blank board with no components - this is the case with newer version as it seems that rather than use two identical boards as is the case now, newer versions have all the components on one main board with a breakout AZ daughterboard that just has connectors on for the AZ motor and encoders. The board was sent back as it was mis sold as their website (still) shows the older revision F board that is the same as the faulty one. My HEQ5 board was an easy fix because it was the power supply that surged and blew the caps.... How did you blow your HEQ5 with a EQDir cable... From memory only three cables need to be connected to the mount from the FTDI chip, TX/RX/GND ? Seems a common issue where some EQDIR cables stick 12v up the TX pin on the connector... I like the idea on setting up some sort of wiki... but it would be cool if we could find someone who knows how these boards work. I know the guys over on the EQMOD group (Chris in particular) knows the command set inside out in order to develop EQASCOM / EQMOD, but how the boards process that and route commands etc is going to be a stumbling block. Normal commercial practice when designing products is to try and standardise the PCB component listings where possible, so my guess is that Synta will use the same PICs, same driver chips and same basic communications circuits for the two types of systems they employ. By that I mean where DC motors and encoders are used, such as in the goto dobsonian range of scopes, they will all use the same components, likewise where stepper motors are used as in the HEQ5 / EQ6 the motor control boards will all use the same components. It seems the PIC used is the same irrespective of the type of controller used. So my theory is that if you reverse engineered say the communications side of things on one board it would be the same for all of them. The only real difference between boards will be the firmware as that would need to be specific to the gear ratios and equipment fitted, and possibly matched to the firmware on the supplied handset. If you have the skills to produce a working schematic by reverse engineering your board then please get the ball rolling

Well we tried... I was limited to how much testing I could do without any handset, and having an HEQ5 didn't want to repeat the mishap by connecting my EQDir cable to the board ! Just to add to the summary Astro-Geek has listed. He has replaced the three other chips on the board, and the PIC that I programmed verified that the code Archie made available was loaded correctly. The attempt to upload the MC firmware via the PC application and hand controller crashed after updating MCU1, which may be due to the same issue as why the controller freezes when the ALT buttons are pressed, or it might be due to the lack of a bootloader (it's anyone's guess). But assuming that the original PIC was damaged, the replacement should have worked if other components on the board haven't failed. This leads me to believe that one or more of the discrete components may be aiding and abetting the issue. It's been both interesting and frustrating trying to get this resolved, but at least now OVL have had it confirmed that these boards are still available form Skywatcher, even though the lead time means it will be approaching winter by the time it gets here If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to jump in

Granted it would be much cheaper, but for anyone contemplating this might be put off by spending £30 on diodes, only to have 98 of them left over. Plus his facebook page gives the impression this service is run as a business, so could be charging more than the 32p each diode costs. I appreciate it's a personal transaction, hence the statement of a ballpark figure, but respect that it may be something you don't want to disclose. I agree with your comments about the older boards being hard to source. I'm involved in trying to fix a board for a Dob, which uses two identical boards, and the owner has found it impossible to get a decisive answer as to the compatibility between older boards and the new one with wi-fi for the reasons you mention... It's really disappointing to see manufactures no longer providing spares for their products that are less than two year old. Anyway, glad to hear your board is fixed and its given your scope another lease of life

That's pleasing to hear. For the benefit of anyone else requiring a repair could you advise of the costs involved (ballpark figure would do, no need for a breakdown of costs) just to allow them to compare the cost of repair against replacement. I love the way this community comes together to help fix these mounts in this throw away world we live in.

Sod the neighbours, I mean with the UK weather it's only going to be a couple of times a year It's nice to see so many new Skywatcher mounts coming factory fitted with belt drives, they make a lot of difference to the noise levels these mounts make when slewing at full rate, it was this and the better performance (reduced backlash) that led to my experimentation with converting my HEQ5 to belt drive many years ago (around 2012 if I remember). Rowan engineering then took this a stage further to make the kits on the market now. Edit: - Just found the original post from October 2011 https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/121114-heq5-experiments-with-belt-drive/ Now if you want a noisy mount, the old Celestron CG5 used be called the coffee grinder.... for good reason ! In terms of noise... whilst my mount is quiet, and from the location in the observatory wouldn't wake the neighbours... setting the alarm on the observatory at 3am probably does

I know... its not as if I am programming PICs and reverse engineering their boards or anything... Well even though it was a lash up, I was able to program the PIC and replace the old one, with only one casualty which was fixed with a link wire. The only way to know if this has worked is to send the board back to Astro-geek and let him hook it back up with the AZ board and see if its worked. There are of course many "ifs".... Hopefully Archies's ripping of the code worked, hopefully the upload to the new pic works (it was verified and came back as a match), and hopefully none of the discrete components have blown internally that prevent communications between PIC and handset.... Don't touch that dial... we'll be right back

Just think of it as Kama.... when my first HEQ5 board failed I had no idea how to fix, so got stung £100 for a new board. When that failed (again) I reached out to the forum and was given contact details of someone who might help, and the net result was the board was fixed for the cost of a couple of small capacitors.... So if I can do the same for anyone else then I'll try. It's also been an interesting challenge to resolve this one, and I find it all a lot of fun... It does show just how well this forum gels together though. Having got you to replace all the chips other than the PIC and we then came up to that hurdle of how to code the PIC with the downloadable firmware. Archie with his expertise in coding tools jumped in and we now have a possible solution. Anyway hopefully the PICs will be here soon, as will the board and then I can report back with an update.

I'm downloading them now, before the moderators remove them as we are borderlining on hacking SW copy protection of their firmware The good news is that the OP is sending me the faulty board for me to swap the PIC over, so I get to play and check it over. What really sucks about this issue is the lack of support and assistance from Skywatcher and their UK and US representatives. They either fail to respond to emails, or when they do they don't have any answers, which for a sole distributor of a technical product is appalling. The OP has been waiting days for a reply to his mail after they requested photos (which he had already sent) and is still waiting to see if in the event we fail to fix his existing motor board, if they are still able to source a replacement as all the new scopes come with "upgraded" motor boards, and then there is the issue of backward compatibility with his working AZ motor board. These points remain unanswered. Archie, many thanks for your help here... being able to get the HEX code from inside the wrapper was the one stumbling block that was holding this repair back... now we can move forward and hopefully by this time next week the OP will have a working board back in his scope.

I've had it confirmed by Astro-geek... Pic have been ordered, hopefully here tomorrow. I have a PCB from an old project that I used an ICSP header to program a 28 pin PIC in the same package so should be a "simple" case of holding the chip to the pads and squirt the HEX (which now loades without issue to the DIP version of the 16F886) to the PIC.... At least if this fails we've tried everything we can... all magor chips will have been replaced, and the OP has checked voltages against the known working board... if this doesn't work then there is little else we could do other than remove and test every SMD left on the board......

Archie, I have some 16F866's in my hobby box (DIL versions but would do for testing). The converted code loads, but when I burn it to the PIC it fails with this message. The programmer can identify the PIC, erase it / blank it etc but it just won't upload... any ideas ? Scrub that.... not sure what i reset but itn uploaded without error that time !!

That loads into the PicFlash - Just need to get the PIC and get hold of the board from the OP (or see if he's comfortable with replacing the PIC once programmed Thanks mate for all your help....

LOL - cross posting Just installed python, but again it's going to be a learning curve.... thanks for the file - saved me a lot of hair pulling

Archie, whilst I can code in PicBasic, and understand Arduino.... I'm getting out of my depth here with Python scripting.... I have no idea on which of the two files to download nor what to do with them once downloaded.... Any chance you can supply the HEX file as requested ? I just tried the python -- version command and it's not recognised, so guess I would need to install python ?

Archie, Can you download the firmware for the goto dob flexitube from SW, convert it to HEX and either upload or drop me a PM with it attached or a link to a file download (dropbox or similar) Cheers

I tried that C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\Firmware>python bin2hex.py -b MC004.bin -o MC004.hex 'python' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\Firmware> I have both .py files in the same folder as the firmware and bin2hex

Right... the "useful" help file on their website didn't say anything about using the scripts ! I could load your EQ6 hex just fine.

If I run the normal command line bin2hex file.bin file.hex the conversion happens, but when I try to load the HEX file into PicFlash (I use an EasyPIC development board for PICs) I get the error shown in the attached image

Archie, that's the same convertor I've downloaded. The only thing that I don't understand is line 2 using the py extension and I presume <cr> means hit enter ?

Can you provide a link to the convertor tool you used. The Bin2Hex convertor I just tried is command line, and whilst it produced an output it's not recognised by the PIC programmer. If this is the same utility can you remember what options / switches you used in the command line to produce a viable HEX file

Archie, Thanks for the input. I've been in conversation with Astro-Geek as I have the ability to program PICs, but had no way to srip the wrapper from the downloadable firmware file to leave just the HEX I'll have a play and see if I can burn a chip and post it to him Excellent post, thank you

Just a follow up... I've been able to do three or four imaging sessions since and now get into a workflow where having calibrated I now use the guide assistant when on target. Currently imaging M106 and after an hours worth of guiding this is the result. Stars are nice and round, and I'm happy with those RMS error results

As mentioned earlier in this thread, at the time I was working for then back in the early 1980's Tasco US (which is where we ordered our product range through) had some nice high end scopes. Whilst our orders were placed through Tasco in the US, the goods arrived direct from Japan / China. I can't say for sure (its been almost 40 years since I worked for Tasco), but it's quite possible that they were indeed re-badged Celestron's and Vixens under licence. I was sure there was a market for them, but the UK business model was aimed at high turnover for a modest profit, rather than tying up cash in high end stock items. Also given the lead time, it wasn't feasible for custom one off orders.

I do have a com port sniffer... but don't have any hand controllers to do the pass through. You can bet your bottom dollar that Synta probably use the PIC in the hand controller to remove the encapsulation when its set to PC Direct mode, so even if you used a sniffer between the PC and the hand controller it would all be garbage....