Kon

Done it a couple of times already but I will try again.

Thanks Ian. I will try again tonight with the clutches. I found a replacement motor with encoder etc, new, but I don't want to fork £100 if I am missing something with the clutch etc.

Thanks for the suggestions Geoff. I swapped the encoder and gears and the problem persisted. I didn't swap the motor but I noticed that the shaft of the azimuth motor has a lot of play, going back forwards when I press it. The alt one doesn't seem to have it. I also noticed the az makes a squeaky noise (even without gears) whereas the alt is quite, thus why I thought it is the motor. If the PCB has a fault I would expect the motor control to be dead? The wormwheel and brass turn extremely slowly but no transfer of movement to the large disc so the motor is engaging with the gears ok. I checked and tightened for slippage. I am running out of ideas what to check next.

It seems that I need a new motor replacement for my Skywatcher 300P goto. It is the azimuth and it appears to be the output shaft having quite a bit of play and therefore I have lost tracking. Finding replacements from skywatcher are not easy. Any ideas if I can source a motor where I can add the current encoder or have you had luck getting motors from skywatcher directly? Or do you know what motors these goto have (voltage and rpm?) I have not seen anything at FLO. Motor below with the gears etc off.

I looked at both axis motors and it seems the az motor is faulty; no electrical but the output shaft has a lot of play compared to the alt. It seems I need to source a new one.

Marco Campaniello is very talented individual who took my Maurolycus crater capture from 15/04/24, and converted it to a 3d fly over using real moon topological data. Do not ask me the details but do have a look at his youtube video that has more of these conversions with amateur captures. Any my image for reference that allows to move it in 3d: http://moon3d.altervista.org/maurolycus_3d/maurolycus.html Original image:

To be honest I have never seen it through an eyepiece, guilty I know, as my efforts have been on imaging it; my only live view is through the finderscope and you can make the panels. I think @PeterStudzhas seen it through an 8" with manual tracking.

Nice images. The mineral colours subtle and excellent.

Nice one Reggie.

So I swapped the encoder and the problem persists; if it is the correct part (the green chip in this photo). I did not want to mess more with the Alt as it is tracking very well. It seems to be a faulty motor. I will look into sourcing a new one (I have not found anything yet). I might start a new post for a motor 🥲

I am not an electronics expert, so looking online it was described as stepper but I could well be wrong. I thought of swapping the motors around but as my Alt is perfect, do I mess with it? But it will be a good diagnostic. Yes I changed the power supply, not as fancy as the one you suggested but I will invest on very good one. A voltmeter would be good. I assume I should have similar power?

The current diagnostics are that removing the cable from the board to the stepper the motor runs fast; with the cable back on it's running at low speed as expected. I suppose it rules out a faulty stepper. Unless it's not giving enough torque, partly faulty? I tightened the central bolt to the point that it was very firm base but no tracking. What I can't get my head around is, why the wormwheel and brass turn but not the large metal disc. Where else should I be looking? I took the whole clutch system off to check but nothing. Any other suggestions?

Balance is ok. I had no issues tracking for the past 3 months I had it and it just stop tracking at the azimuth.

In these photos, what I am looking for?

Thanks. It seems that I have lost torque to turn the wormwheel and brass when 'tracking' although at higher speed it works; this is with no clutch and large wheel?. Hmmm After shutting down and restarting it turns with and without the wheel?? Most peculiar

2+3 seem to work.

I opened up last night and it all looks ok. One thing I noticed is that there was a lot of grease on the small spacers just under the big nut. Would that be causing it? Do they need the grease? So why at high speed with the controller is it ok to turn?

1. I opened up the azimuth motor compartment and check everything for slipping. I could see wormwheel running fine It didn't solve the problems. 2. I opened the gear box, all ok. It didn't solve the problem. 3. The motor itself seems to function ok but could it be something to do with the encoder? I can see the wormwheel running but the large disc or platform is not turning. It can turn with the hand controller. So if it is not slipping is it likely the stepper does not provide enough torque? Ie is it gone? Thoughts on a replacement for it, assuming it's the culprit?

Rupes Recta looked spectacular last night; Rima Berta was also nicely visible. I did some imaging after observing. 12" Dob Flextube, goto, asi462mm, IR pass 685nm, 2.5x TV powermate.

Perfect, thanks. I was looking for something like this. It gives me confidence to properly open it up now and see what is going on.

Hard to tell if it is movable but I see a black screw at 6 oclcok in my photo that is adjusted to a sping, I wonder if that has to do with tolerance? It will be some investigating job tonight.

Thansk for the suggestions. Michael suggested similar thing, but without the tube I do not see any tracking either, unless the nut is undone more than i thought so it is completely slipping. I will definitely look into getting a a new power supply.

I bought it second hand, and it came with a mains adaptor (12V 0.9A), I assumed from Skywatcher (from manual: 10 to 15 V DC 1Amp), plugged to the mains. But why tracking ok for the past couple of months if it was a power issue?

Yes clutch too, sorry. I am powering from the mains. It's a bit odd as it was tracking ok and I stopped to have a break and when i went back it wouldn't. I could try undo the nut and take the wormwheel off and see if the motor still makes the noise.

Yes correct, the motors seem to be fine. I just opened the housing and yes I did do this test last night but no movement. I can hear the motor trying to track, there is some noise (when it was tracking ok it was quietter, more like a humming noise). It is more of rougher sound now; not loud, i need to be close to the base to hear it..