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Tak mount saga continues.

ollypenrice

By ollypenrice
in Discussions - Mounts

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

Posted
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You may remember my dismay at the poor guide values achieved by our Takahashi EM200 in view of the price. It went back for repair, I suppose to the European importer, though I did not buy it directly from them. It was no better.

The other night I finally sussed the problem in principle. It simply does not react to guide commands in one of the DEC directions.

I dare say in the past it was half reacting but now it is clear. I tried moving it in manual guide through PHD and it responds in three directions but not the fourth. I realized what was happening when, two nights running, it stopped responding in DEC once I had done a meridian flip. Naturally enough it only needs correcting in one direction and when that was on the 'still working' side it was OK. When it needed correcting on the dead side, nothing. My observatory workflow rarely involves working "scope east" so I have been slow to work all this out, plus I think the problem was sporadic at first.

I will give the retailer from whom I bought it 24 hours to reply to my latest Email and if I still have no reply I will publish the dates and content of our correspondence, such as it is, because it is almost entirely one way with steadfast silence in the other direction. This is the worst retailer with whom I have ever dealt, I am sad to say. He is not a UK based dealer.

Olly

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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This must be very, very frustrating Olly especially at the cost of one of those mounts. Have you considered making up a test patch lead to make absolutely certain that the issue is not cable/guide camera related? If you want details on what to make (it'll be crude and simple to produce!) let me know.

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Does the tak use a standard ST-4 connection?...

If it does the connection in the socket ar a sprung metal contact and these can become "lazy" after a while - give then a clean with a cotton bud soaked in contact cleaner and see if they are all sitting at the same level... sometimes a little tweak underneath the contact with a needle to lift it up slightly does wonders..

Peter...

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Thanks guys. Much appreciated. Standard with Takahashi?? Fat chance!

No, it has a round thing apparently dating back to the original ST4 machine. Into this I plug a shoestring adapter to phone cable but I have tried two of those and two phone cables as well. I have also tried two guide cameras. I have asked wonderboy the retailer for a proper Tak cable. They are ludicrously expensive which is why he originally recommended the Shoestring. Response time is usually about six months so don't hold your breath. Maybe putting Order for TOA150 in the subject box of the email would be the answer...

I rang Tak Europe as well this morning. Nobody in.

Olly

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MartinB

MartinB

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This is awful Olly. Have you posted on the Tak Yahoo forum? You get an EM200 to eliminate hassles arising from the mount. Any kit can develop a problem but the very least you expect is good service.

It might even be worth giving Nick Hudson at Trutek a call. He may be able to give you the low down on Tak Europe. I know he didn't sell you the kit but he's a good guy who knows what he's talking about and their might be some future business in it for him.

I would be tearing my hair out!

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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This is awful Olly. Have you posted on the Tak Yahoo forum? You get an EM200 to eliminate hassles arising from the mount. Any kit can develop a problem but the very least you expect is good service.

It might even be worth giving Nick Hudson at Trutek a call. He may be able to give you the low down on Tak Europe. I know he didn't sell you the kit but he's a good guy who knows what he's talking about and their might be some future business in it for him.

I would be tearing my hair out!

Were I a little better endowed with hair, Martin, I might well do so! Indeed, I went for Tak precisely to avoid hassle and it hasn't worked out yet. It will in the end though. I also went to a non UK retailer because it seemed logical to buy over here from someone with whom I was already in contact. For this reason I am reluctant to hassle Nick Hudson with a problem that isn't his, but I will ask for a Japanese contact if the European side remain ex communicado.

Thanks for your support and suggestions.

Olly

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Small update. I contacted the European Importer for Tak - they are French - and had a good conversation with them. The mystery ST4 to telephone cable at 90 Euros of which the original vendor spoke does not, according to them exist. It has never existed and the Shoestring style adapter is all that's available. I can't say I'm surprized.

So now I need to order yet another of these things to try out. The European Importer have agreed that I need have no more dealings with Robtics. (Whoops, it slipped out a day early.)

Olly

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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That's a result of sorts then, Olly - I wish I were there with 'me tools' as I'd like to get into your shoestring adaptor with my soldering iron and a test meter to help you find out what's really going on! That said, even TAK can supply a duff unit I guess.

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old_eyes

old_eyes

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How utterly frustrating Olly. You would at least expect to be given some diagnostics to work through that would help identify the problem, and an escalation procedure to get in touch with them as really understand the device.

We all know stuff happens, but when you spend that much money you expect a reasonable resolution process.

With luck it will be dodgy connector/wiring. But how to find out with no guidance? Very frustrating.

old_eyes

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PNJ

PNJ

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Hi Olly

i have a TAK EM400, and i use the shoestring adapter with no problems.

awhile ago i had probs with the rs232 chip, but it was my own fault, wired up a wrong lead. I had to send it of to Japan , they promt fixed the problem

I have a contact for the engineer at TAK Japan if you need it,

paul j

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Ant

Ant

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Olly, I had big problems with my mount not guiding properly... I spent ages trying stuff and in the end I took it to Jon's house and Jon and Steve(L) had a play.

What we eventually found was that there was a setting in PHD that turned off guiding in one DEC direction. Click on the brain symbol and check the bit that I've circled...

Maybe you've checked this already - but maybe not?

Ant

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Looking onthe Shoestring site...

The Tak Guide port is "electrically compatible" but uses a 6 pin mini DIN...

The Shoestring Guidport Interface connects tot he mount via an adaptor cable

The Shoestring Astronomy Store - GPCNV-TAK

Can you check the shoestring adaptor on another mount (EQ-6)?

Whenever I get guiding probs the first thing I do (not including the muttering) is use the "handbox" in PHDGuide which uses the guideport interface to move the mount ... then I go on to check cables/connections...

Peter...

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Ken, really nice of you but I have one coming in the post. Good of you.

Ant, interesting! I must look at that right now. Well spotted. However, the original loss of guiding in one dec direction appeared while guiding in AstroArt so I don't know if it will be that.

Peter, I guess I could test the double female phone cable adapter in another mount but not the cable from Tak to phone double female.

Its nice to have the iOptron here on test, it is making life easier.

Olly

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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Olly, current doesn't flow to the mount as such, rather the four terminals +RA, -RA, +DEC, -DEC are grounded to a fifth terminal to actuate movement in that direction.

This reminds me, I really must make the ST4 test box I've been promising myself, it would make this sort of fault finding so much easier.

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vdb

vdb

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@Ant

It's not the issue here, we where using the manual controls but dec guiding was on. During calibration it tried to calibrate n/z but failed to clear the dec backlash. It is definitely one of the dec directions that is broken either in the mount or in the cable/adaptor ...

Thanks,

Yves

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