Anthonyexmouth

1 hour ago, malc-c said:

This is the baffling part.  As I have mentioned, most boards have been damaged through human error and plugging in either the wrong cable or the wrong type of convertor.  In this case that is less likely as the setup is semi-permanent and you seem to be someone who is not likely to make those mistakes, which as everything was working 12 hrs before backs that up.  The only time I'm aware of someone who used the correct EQDIR cable blowing a board was when they inadvertently  connected the wrong power lead and shoved 19v DC from a laptop supply into the mount, which it didn't like.  Now not saying that's the case here, but an over voltage is one possibility.  Maybe the PSU spiked or something happened to blow the board.

One thing I would try before purchasing a replacement board (at £30 I would still get the one listed above) is to replace the two electrolytic capacitors circled below

  

Ideally with ones of the same value but higher voltage rating.  I've fixed my original HEQ5 board by swapping them out.  This is a cheap fix, costing around 75p for the two and well worth trying.  Just note the polarity 

 

Thanks, I'll give that a go. Bench supply is fed from the workshop underground and up through the centre of the pier to a splitter. Which then feeds the camera, mount, mini pc and also 2 12v to usb sockets which then power the dew straps. All were plugged in and still working. It is odd, hopefully just a freak failure. 

9 hours ago, Starflyer said:

Are you certain the EQMOD cable is getting a COM port assigned, can you post a screenshot of the port in device manager and also of the setup page in EQMOD?

I've had Windows update stop an EQMOD cable from working in the past. A download and reinstall of the FTDI driver fixes it.

All the settings are fine, com port assigns correctly on both pcs and both pcs were controlling the mount 12hs before it failed. 

2 minutes ago, malc-c said:

It might be worth removing the module where all the connectors plug in, and check the board for any signs of damage, and look at the pins in the RJ socket to ensure they are OK

I just took the little board out and had a look, seems ok, pins look fine, should be as last night was the first time in 3 yrs it's been taken out so little chance of it being damaged. 

15 minutes ago, malc-c said:

They appear to be open until 5pm today, so might be worth giving them a call.  

All the other boards are listed at the same prices RVO / FLO offer, so no idea why the HEQ5 is listed for £30... - Might be worth taking a punt anyway.. seems to have the 14 day return policy which should be long enough to confirm it's working 🙂

 

Maybe because they are the older boards. Might be a good time to do the bearing change I've been promising myself if I have to take the mount apart. Guessing its unlikely to be a problem with the port board. 

2 minutes ago, malc-c said:

See the images I posted earlier - page 1 of this thread

found it after i asked. that £30 looks the same as mine. might be worth a punt.

is the newer board an improvement or just using more modern chips for supply reasons?

2 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Looks like an older board to me - it has through hole caps rather than surface mount and I see two crystals which is a distinct feature of older boards.  - That means if it is the board that is fried it can be repaired.

what does the newer board look like? 

6 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Is that based on testing it as suggested or are you just making that presumption because it worked last time and looks the same?  Not wanting to gripe, but it would be handy to have a little more detail on the results of various things I and other SGL members have suggested.  Does the cable echo text back when the pins are shorted as suggested.  Do you get any voltages on pins and if so what voltages are present.  Have you inspected the main board and daughter boards for any signs of electrical damage.  Have you removed the covers to confirm which revision of board you have....   A little more feedback wouldn't go amiss 

EDIT: - just seen your post which crossed with mine... Excellent, lets hope you can find a way to test

looks like the newer board. 

14 minutes ago, malc-c said:

I stumbled across this whilst searching for a link to the new board https://www.campkinscameras.com/sky-watcher-motherboard-for-heq5-pro/

£30.00 - 

Not 100% sure, but from a reversed engineered schematic of the HEQ5 the LED is driven from a PIN on one of the PICs, rather then from the switch.  I would need to strip my HEQ5 to confirm.  On the RJ45 of the EQDIR cable you have, how many wires are terminated? - If you have access to a DVM, place the GND probe on pin 6 and check the other pins to see if there are any voltages present, if if so that they are 5v and not 12v.

If the LED is faintly illuminated when just the EQDIR cable connected this would suggest that there is a path for voltage from the EQDIR cable to find its way to ground via the LED... How / Why ?? beyond my level of how these boards work / are wired.

just tried but my probes aren't fine enough to get between the little grooves. i'll see if i can find some pins to use with my crocodile clips

14 minutes ago, Tomatobro said:

As per Malc's suggestion you might find TeraTerm (its free to use) for the comms check easier to use. In settings select the com port number shown in Device manager (should default to the correct settings) and in terminal set to local echo.

The led is being powered by the usb port supply to the serial chip in the cable.

 

should there be a route from the rj45 port to the power led to light it? or is that a sign of a fault in the board?

3 minutes ago, malc-c said:

I can't speak for commercial EQDIR cables, but for an HEQ5 all that is needed is TX, RX and GND.  Using the standard colours used in FTDI cable this equates to 

Pin 4 of the RJ45 to the TTL232R Black wire (GND)
Pin 5 of the RJ45 to the TTL232R Yellow wire (RXD)
Pin 6 of the RJ45 to the TTL232R Orange wire (TXD)

The fact the RJ45 is keyed means you can't rotate a cable and cause any damage.  Most boards I've repaired have been Dobsonian where the interconnection cable and handset port allow them to be swapped, or an standard RS232 to USB adapter has been used rather than a TTL serial adapter, and 12v (or a differential of 24v) gets applied to the UART in the PICs and both get blown.   

The puzzling thing here is reading through the thread you have been using the same cable previously so its not as if the first time use and it's the wrong type of cable.  I notice in your signature you state the mount is pier mounted.  Do you store the mount outside, or is it stored inside and brought out as and when required?  I know some keep the mount outside and protected by a plastic dustbin or similar.  My thinking is that if kept outside this could be a dampness / condensation issue which has cause a short on the board.

The way to test the EQDIR cable  is to short pins 5 and 6 of the RJ45, and then use a serial terminal such as putty or even the one supplied with the Arduino IDE and with the correct port selected in the terminal software type in anything into the send box and hit return.  It will then echo whatever has been sent back to the terminal.  If this works remove the short between pins 5 and 6 and connect it to the mount.  With the mount powered, type in :e1  (colon, lowercase e and one) and hit return.  The mount should return a six digit number if the board is responding.  If it report backs the six digit string of numbers then both the EQDIR cable and the mainboard is fine and the connection issue is software and not hardware related

Its a good EQ cable, bought it from FLO when I bought the mount. Yes it's kept outside on the pier, has been for over 3 yrs constantly 365 days a year, gets covered with 3 layers of BBQ covers and never have a condensation problem. when I poured my pier I had a 40mm hockey stick conduit through the middle for power/data cables and it unintentionally chimneys fresh air inside the covers. 

Just wondering whats powering the red led from the laptop when its only the EQ cable plugged in. Power cable unplugged and the mount switched to off, flicking the switch on the mount doesnt change the led state though, just says on, albeit dimmer than when plugged into power. 

18 minutes ago, Tomatobro said:

OK, having made a note of the Com port number that appears when the cable is connected in Device manager) then connect it to the mount, open EQMOD on the laptop and see if the comport number (the baud rate and config also) in the EQMOD matches. If not then put the correct number (s) in the box and see if it connects to the mount.

If still unresponsive (even if it connects) then a repair of the board is most likely

You may well be right regarding the red led. On my EQ6 with power applied and the serial cable connected with the power switch off the LED is off

all the pc side setting are right, laptop and mini pc were both working fine the day before. I've ordered a new EQ cable from amazon to try, will be here tomorrow, faint hope that its a problem with the cable. amazon returns are nice and easy. looking likely that i'll be buying a new board, just as I'd saved up for an askar 400 too. 

3 minutes ago, malc-c said:

It's dependant on the revision of board used.  If its an older revision that uses two 16F886 PIC microcontrollers then its a case of converting the binary firmware from Skywatchers website into a HEX code format, reprogramming two new PICs with that converted file, and then removing (unsolder using a hot air gun, or cut the packages off with a dremel and cutting disk, and then unsolder the legs) the old ones and soldering the new programmed PICs in their place.   It may also require two diodes to be replaced.

However later revisions use an ARM based processor and as yet I don't think any of these have been repaired... mainly as the scope is probably still in warranty, but also as the equipment to program and reflow the chip is more complicated.

This is the older revision board U2 and U3 are the 16F886 PICs

 

This is a later revision board.  

 

More details of the procedure etc can be found in this thread

 

 

Pretty sure mines the later board. certainly remember it looking like that when i done the belt mod. 

1 minute ago, malc-c said:

He's already mentioned he doesn't have the hand controller, so he cant use the PC-DIRECT mode and a USB A-B cable if the handset is late enough to have a USB port fitted

My handset never had the usb port. Must have been the last of them to ship without it, its one of the newer green accent models. 3 possibly 4 yrs old now. My hand controller is in a drawer spotless but for a freak accident where i dropped a screwdriver and it cracked the screen. been trying for yrs to source a new lcd screen but with no luck. 

What skill level is the board repair? 

2 minutes ago, malc-c said:

If it turns out the main board is the cause it can still be repaired.  -  I've done a few MC003 and MC004 boards where the PICs were blown, and even my own HEQ5 board when it died.  

What were the symptoms?

Just now, malc-c said:

Do you have a DVM to see what voltage is coming out of the supply (what are you using to power the mount?).  Have you confirmed that the port settings for the EQDIR cable are set to 9600 as mentioned.

13.8 volts from bench supply in the the nearby workshop, a setup thats been working fine for years, all settings are ok. 

13 minutes ago, Tomatobro said:

The steps I would go through are these.

Use a multimeter and check at the power cable tip that you have at least 12 volts

I think you are using a FTDI serial cable. Power up the laptop and with the cable disconnected at the mount end plug it into a usb port. Do you hear the Ping note from the laptop?

Now (with the cable still connected just toi the laptop go into Device manager list the com ports. Make a note of what is connected, then pull out the cable. The device manager com port list should reset and one of the com ports will be missing. Check your list of what was present before and plug in again the cable. Does the com port reappear?

Report back what you see

 

voltage fine, and all appears ok in device manager. 

Think the mount might be pooched with the red light coming on when the usb lead is plugged in. 

10 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Presumably this EQDIR cable is the same one you've used in the past.  So its and RJ45 connector at one end that replaces the handset with the other end being a USB-A type plug that connects direct to the PC.

In device manager does the cable get assigned a COM port without any exclamation marks or warnings.  If it installs correctly if you co into the properties for the port ensure its set yo 9600 baud speed.  Then open EQMODs Toolbox utility.  Ensure the "driver" set up is pointing to the same port number and is set to the same baud rate as that shown in device manager.  Once confirmed click the option to connect.  If everything is in order EQMOD will be launched and with the speed settings set to 4 you should be able to move the mount using the NSWE buttons on screen.  If this works then select to option in toolbox to disconnect and shut EQMOD down.  This proves the hardware and "driver" (EQMOD) is fully functional and it's something between NINA and ASCOM that is causing the disconnection.  If the tool box utility can't establish a connection even though device manager is showing no issues with the associated COM port, then the problem may be an issue with the motor board.

One other thing to do is to use the handset (if you still have it) to confirm communications.  If you plug in the handset and get a "No response" message for either or both axis then this would suggest that the PICs on the main board, or blocking diodes on the TX /RX lines have blown. 

Dont have a handset, the toolbox wont connect but the EQDIR cable "is" showing in devoce manager and bings when inserted. just ordered one on Amazon to try, will be here sunday. will test it and send it back if its not that. Just what i need the week I get setup with an auto focuser. 

3 minutes ago, Rallemikken said:

This is one of the occasions where it is useful to have an install on another platform, just to eliminate hardware issues. Alternatively, you can keep an old laptop with a dated install you know works, and is separated from internet. Or you can have a Pi with Astroberry in a drawer. It runs Kstars with INDI drivers under Linux, as far away from windows and Eqmod as you get. Once it's configured, it's just a matter of swapping a couple of usb-cables and fire it up.

 

Tried 2 pcs, Both were working this afternoon. There is no USB port on the HEQ5

4 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

So is this an EQMOD cable from handset port on mount to PC, or a direct USB port on mount to USB on PC, if it’s the later, then is can get enough power to put the light on through the USB cable…

EQMOD direct mount to pc. Never noticed the red light coming on in the past with just the usb cable in. 

2 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Has there been a COM port number change, since last time you used…?

No, and the red light is worrying me. Can't ever remember it being on when power is off and just plugged into usb port

Just now, Stuart1971 said:

EQMOD or GSS driver…?

Eqmod

Ok, just fired up for for a clear night and mount won't connect. Red light comes on when i plug the usb into the pc even with the power off. Never seen that before. When i connect it appears to connect then NINA spits out and error saying mount disconnected. 

Is the lead dead or my mount? 

Well it turns out the mele website has an install image and dead easy to to do a clean install onto the nvme. Looking good for a first night with it tonight. 

4 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

I think most of the discussion on NVME or not, is on the discord forum…

Just joined the discord and asked in the main chat. I'm kinda new to discord, is there an easy way to search the discussions? 

2 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Well, I have read yes, it’s much better, it certainly is on the new range of Mele quieter 2 and 3 mini PC’s, this has been discussed at length on the NINA discord forum, and there are a few YouTube videos about setting it up my a guy called Patriot Astro….HTH…👍🏼

I've seen patriots Nina videos but haven't seen any about the emmc/nvme choice. I got the new mele 3q. 8gb/128. I've got a new wd 500gb nvme in the cupboard and wasn't sure whether to use it for the windows install or put it in an enclosure for image transfer to processing laptop.