morayskies

The only reference I could see in the manual about a Factory Reset was via the menu system. Not much good if you can't see the menu! The mount is with the new owner so I personally cannot try angling the screen but I could suggest it although, I suspect, he has already tried this

To be honest, this is the main reason I was asking about cables - the EQ5 Pro cable got lost during a recent house move so was not available to the new owner. My 'new to me' HEQ5 Pro also doesn't have the necessary cable to flash that either so I will probably have to get one for myself anyway 🥴 I vaguely remember that there was a way of going back to Factory Settings for the handset using a certain key press combination when powering up. This would, hopefully, reset the contrast so that the characters would be seen (this is assuming the handset has not been damaged). I can find reference to holding the 0 and 8 keys down when powering up but this was pre flashing the firmware. I'm not sure what would happen if this was tried and subsequent flashing operation was not carried out 🤔

He has implied that he may wish to return the mount due to the handset not displaying characters and noisy motor when slewing. I'm very reluctant to do this as neither of these issues were apparent when I demonstrated it to him. If I did consider taking it back, it would need to be working as I sold it. I don't know if there has been accidental damage done and don't really see why I should bear any costs of repair.

I suppose that could have happened although, since I suggested ensuring the battery he was using was fully charged (he said at the time of the noise the battery was about 50% and supplying 12-12.2v although I dont know if this is what was being supplied at the time of the noise during slewing) the noise has not recurred. I'm more concerned about the handset not displaying any characters as this could be an expensive issue to rectify and wonder if this could be due to low voltage too. It could be that he has accidentally adjusted the contrast and now, as a consequence, he can't see what he is doing! He has implied that, if the issues persist, he would like to return the mount. Hmmm. I know it must be frustrating for him, but, I sold the mount in good faith and demonstrated it to him before he paid for it. The motors were not noisy and the handset display was working fine at the demo - If they weren't, I'm sure he wouldn't have bought it. I am very reluctant to accept the mount back as it was a private sale, it was working at the time of sale plus I don't how it has been treated since then. If I were to consider taking it back, then, I would expect it to be working as it was when I sold it. It would, of course, be different if I was a astro equipment supplier selling a new item or a secondhand item with a warranty.

Hi Thanks for sourcing this. It would still need a USB to serial adaptor to allow connection to my laptop though.

Thank you

Hi The reason I'm asking is that I recently sold on an SW EQ5 Pro mount which was working fine when I demonstrated it to the buyer. The new owner tried it out with a 12v battery (I always used a mains supply) and I don't think the battery was fully charged. As a result, the mount made a horrendous noise from one of the motors (stalling?) - when he described it to me I recognised this as a symptom of low voltage and suggested he ensure that further attempts should be made when the battery was fully charged. At about the same time, the LCD screen went blank. I suspect that the low voltage may have made the handset go into setup mode and, when trying to slew the mount, he has inadvertently, adjusted the contrast so that the characters are no longer visible. He says that, with a fully charged battery, the motors are no longer noisy but the LCD screen is still blank. Flashing the firmware is one train of thought but neither of us has a cable to do this although I do have an EQDIR cable. Hence the question. Another option is to find a way to go back to the factory settings but, when you can't see the LCD characters this is tricky. I note that, to perform a firmware update, part of the process is to hold down the 0 and the 8 keys at the same time when turning on power. I'm wondering if this will also put the handset back to its factory settings. Thanks

Hi All During a recent house move, I managed to lose the USB to RJ11(12?) serial adaptor cable to update my SW SynScan V4 handset firmware🙄. My question is, can I use an EQDIR cable (which I haven't managed to lose!) to do the same thing but, obviously, with a RJ45 to RJ11(12?) connector? Is this feasible? Has anyone done it? If so, what connector did you use to allow connection between the EQDIR cable and the multi purpose RJ11(12?) post on the handset? Thanks for looking.

Had 3 or so hours of success last night. 'Scope tracked well, tracking and guiding didn't fail at all and only had to stop when camera battery died. First attempt at M42 with this setup :-) Well pleased. m42_120s_50percent.tif

Hi Ian Must apologise. I have found the "Mount Limits" check box to be ticked and, since unticking, seems to be tracking OK. In the words of Homer Simpson - "Doh!"

Not that I am aware of. I didn't set anything to do with 'limits' in EQMOD on either laptop.

**Update** I have taken PHD and CdC out of the equation by connecting to the mount via the EQASCOM Toolbox. With PHD and CdC not running and the gamepad turned off the mount tracked for about 10 minutes before the Sidereal Tracking 'switched off' again. Without doing anything to the setup, I tried slewing the 'scope using the direction arrows in EQMOD and these worked fine so the mount is still communicating with the laptop and EQMOD. It seems to me that the problem could be with EQMOD or could it be Windows 7 :-(

Hi All I have been using my 'best' laptop with Windows 8.1 to control an EQ5 Pro mount via a USB/Serial converter with a lead directly to the hand controller set to PC Direct Mode. On the same laptop I have installed PHD2 for guiding and BackyardEOS for image capture and a gampepad for ease of 'tweaking' the telescope pointing. I have also installed Cartes du Ciel (CdC) to find and slew to targets. This system has worked flawlessly (other than 'idiot induced' problems) for a number of months now. I was lucky enough to be given another, slightly older, laptop to use so I thought the 'best' laptop could stay in the office and the older laptop could now become the astro imaging laptop. As far as I can see, I have everything configured the same and, on first trials in daylight, everything seemed to be working OK. Could connect to the mount OK, control via gampad OK, PHD2 connected OK etc etc. First 'imaging in anger' night seemed to going well until I noticed that the star trails suddenly appeared to be streaked after successfully capturing a few previous images. PHD2 was still connected but the guide star was way off target (the little green square in PHD) and appeared to be drifting as I watched. CdC (the planetarium software I use) was still connected but the rectangle indicating the camera's field of view was also drifting off target. On looking at the EQMOD window I noticed that tracking was 'off'. "Another idiot induced problem?" I thought. Selected Sidereal Tracking in EQMOD and I heard the motors of the mount start 'whirring' again. Selected target in CdC and slewed the 'scope back to the target. Selected guide star again in PHD and guiding started OK (I could hear the motor 'tones' changing as they received correction signals from PHD. Back on track - so I thought! After a short while, the problem occurred again - Sidereal tracking was shown as being turned off in EQMOD. These are only differences between the successful setup and the rogue version; Working System 2.4ghz processor, Windows 8.1 Failing system 2.2ghz processor, Windows 7 Has anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions as to what could be causing this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Richard