AndreaLiga

Hi there ,

I have a sort of unusual request if anyone can help.

I'm kindly asking if anyone can please send me a detailed photo of the Alt axis wiring of the motor and encoders plugged to the control board.

I'm looking at the Wi Fi version on the Scopes so I'm assuming around 2 to 3 years old scopes.

The reason I have this request is because I'm trying to fit a new control board in my 8 inches Go To Flextube.

The old board has a different wiring and so I'm trying to retrofit the new control board.

Looks like in the newer models the motor encoder is wired separately. There should be three bundles of cables : 2 with 4 wires from the two encoders and one with three wires from the motor.

For your reference the old models have only one control board (MC003), the newer models with WiFi have two boards mounted on top of each other.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to fit an MC014 Control board on my *inch Flex tube Go To dob that originally carried a MC003 board.

I'm stuck to the point that my mount on both axis have two connectors:

one coming from the motor with the encoder with six pins

the other is from the aux encoder I assume

see photos attached.

The MC014 have three connectors on both boards.

Is there any re wiring needed with new connectors?

Thanks in advance

19 minutes ago, ONIKKINEN said:

Are you trying to process a single image or what is the goal here?

Ho Onikkinen,

I'm just playing around to get the hang of it. Yes the image comes out green and yes I'm aware that that's the way it should be.

I'm trying to process a single image to grab the mechanism.

Thanks

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to take trial photos with my Sony a6000 with Sharp cap and ASCOM Drivers.

The resulting photos have a green tint to them and this is expected.

Sharpcap is shooting in RAW16 mode and the Bayer matrix is RGGB (according to Sony Specs).

What software can I use to debayer and get the proper colors?

Thanks in advance

14 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Good luck with the programming.

Even the programmer is a couple of weeks away.

Will let you know when done.

And thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!

13 hours ago, malc-c said:

I think that's concrete proof they've blown (literally!) - Not sure how things are for supply down under, but my normal wholesaler has been showing them as back order only with no date for fulfilment.  The only place I've found them in stock is a listing on e-bay where the guy is selling them at the ridiculous price of £26.99 ea, compared to the £5 I was paying pre-covid. !!

 

Hi Malcolm,

I should be receiving them in about 3 weeks time from AliExpress. I paid around AU$ 4.50 per piece with about AU$ 7.30 postage. I bought 4 just to be safe.

So all in all I paid around AU$ 25 for the lot.

I spent  the afternoon trying to remove the two cooked PICs (see photo attached).

With U5 however unfortunately 2 pads are gone. Looks like are not connected. From the Datasheet they are the two pins used for programming (Pins 27 and 28 ICSPCLK and ICSPDAT respectively) So if they don't have a pad they still should be fine, am I right?

Regards

5 hours ago, malc-c said:

To verify the board is fried, plug the handset into the port on the motorboard and power up the board.  If the handset displays "no response both axis" or similar and fails to then advance through the set up routine then yes that confirms the UARTs on the PIC, or the diodes have been blown.  If it functions as expected then the board hasn't been fried, and suggests an settings issue when you tried used the USB cable and handset in PC-DIRECT mode between the computer and mount.

Hi Malcolm.

When the drama happened I had everything connected and upon powering the mount (I was very close to it) I heard two distinct pop.

The two PICs are fried and this is validated by the pictures attached.

This morning I spent some time in trying to find out if other components were damaged but I couldn't find anything under my jewelers loupe.

I might have to carry some more tests with the old fashion multimeter especially on the two diodes and the resistor on the TxRx line close by the RJ11 plug

3 hours ago, StevieDvd said:

Sorry to hear the board is fried. Once you have it setup you can try the synscan app/PC direct connection, if that works then the astoberry should work too - though com port assignment to the correct tty can be picky at times.

Update us when you have the board working.

When I type "dmesg" in the terminal I can see the device connected to ttyUSB0 port. I then punch that value into the port field of the telescope settings in the Ekos. But it always fails connecting. 

Once I fix the board I'll try to re flash Astroberry and see if I get some luck

22 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Using the handset in PC-DIRECT mode to act as the interface between computer and mount may be the safest alternative to a wi-fi dongle.  A direct physical connection using an EQDIR cable could put you back to square one again

Hi Malcolm,

I've already taken the EQDIR cable out of the equation. 

Definitely not compatible. 

The wifi dongle would allow me to control my telescope from the comfort of my office. 

With the Astroberry box I have a plethora of instruments and apps that I can access remotely. 

If I had to go via PC Direct mode I would have to have a long cable running from my office to the scope hand controller. I'm not keen on the idea...

This kind of connection is suggested in the Indilib forum at the page dedicated to the Skywatcher AltAz Dob mount driver. However I've tried it several times with no luck! 

1 hour ago, StevieDvd said:

I see from your posts on FB Astroberry group a few days ago that you said  'mount motor control board cooked!' is that incorrect then?

Hi StevieDvd,

No it's not incorrect. The MC board got fried. 

So I will have to attempt to repair it. 

And if I succeed I'm not prepared to fry it again unless I'm absolutely sure to find the correct cable to connect to Astroberry.

At this stage all the cables and pinouts I've been coming across are not suitable for the AltAz dob mount. 

For this reason I'll be considering a WiFi dongle.

I have a v5 Synscan HC and connection to a pc is possible via the USB A plug no problems at all with a printer cable. 

In a linux environment like Astroberry however I am unable to even though it is contemplated and supported by Indilib drivers. 

7 hours ago, malc-c said:

so hopefully one the mount is back up and working they might want to take a look at the SynScan wi-fi adapter which list Dobsonian synscan mounts under the compatibility list

Hi there Malcolm. 

That is what I'm going to do. 

Looks also like that I can make Astroberry talk with the SW WiFi dongle so that I can have a remotely controlled system. 

Thank you for your input and help

Regards

Andrea 

Hi there. 

I am looking to build a cable to connect my 8 inch Skywatcher  go to FlexiTube Dob to pc or Astroberry.

I can't find anywhere the pinout of the RJ12 mount port. 

Any one ever built one or can address me. 

Regards