EQMOD not working - How can I test it's the cable?

[swag72]

I have the following problems and I'm not sure how to test what part is not working properly. I suspect it's the Shoestring cable.

1) Mount recognised in CdC and powers up the EQMOD window.

2) I can issue a park command and it parks the scope in any of my park settings.

3) When I try to slew to a target, there is a very short burst of movement, then nothing more.

4) When I try to move the mount with my gamepad I get again a very short movement, then nothing. Each time I press the button, I get a little movement

5) When I plug in the handset, it slews fine, so I know it's not the mount

6) I've changed over the USB port - No change

It's almost like the park command is one pulse, which it copes with and moves accordingly. The continuous movement via the gamspad or the EQMOD screen it can not do.

Does that sound like the cable? I've taken it out, jiggled it and put it back in again - No change.

[Photosbykev]

If the mount is reacting to any commands then I doubt it is the cable maybe low volts or an out of balance issue if the mount has a lot of weight on it?

[ncjunk]

If the mount is reacting to any commands then I doubt it is the cable maybe low volts or an out of balance issue if the mount has a lot of weight on it?

I would agree with the above and make sure you only have the mount connected and no other usb devices and make sure the mount is connected to the mains and the power is ok.

Perhaps try another power supply. After confirming the above is ok you can think about looking at the cable.

[Beyond_Vision]

If it parks ok then the PC is communicating with the mount OK. It would also show that the motors are working fine. It's more likely that a setting is wrong in EQmod such as mount slew limits set etc

[ncjunk]

If it parks ok then the PC is communicating with the mount OK. It would also show that the motors are working fine. It's more likely that a setting is wrong in EQmod such as mount slew limits set etc

Good point, if it can park then it should be pulling a full load on the power so should show any problems with power.

I would still double chech everything and only have the mount connected. Then check any eqmod settings.

Just go through and check everything one by one. The cable would be difficult to check with no spare or test equipement.

[swag72]

Cheers all - The funny thing is that it was working all fine yesterday and nothing has changed. Weight on the mount is only the SW120ED, 314L and filter wheel, so that should be fine. All is powered on the mains. I've not changed any EQMOD settings at all, so would welcome an idea of where to even start looking on the settings. It's been fine until today!

[Beyond_Vision]

You may have clicked on a check box accidently. Is your slew speed set to 4x?

[swag72]

I tried it on all slew speeds - No difference.

[chrisshillito]

Sara, have you tried going back to the synscan and using that in PC-Direct mode with EQMOD? That would at least tell you if the fault is EQDIR specific.

Also take a look at the EQMOD message centre. If the mount is being stopped under software control there may may be some clues in there as to why. It might also be worth unplugging the gamepad and try driving the mount dirctly fom the EQMOD user interface (just in case the gamepad is issuing stops).

Chris

[swag72]

OK thanks for the tips Chris.

[BlueAstra]

Dodgy power supply or connection can give unpredictable slewing performance. I had one which cycled the output voltage over about a second. The low point of the cycle was just below spec and if you happened to send a command at that point the mount would do odd things like not slew, slew without stopping, ragged slew. Replaced the power supply with a regulated one and not had a problem since.

[swag72]

I eventually sorted it by switching off the computer and turning it on again - Goodness knows how, but now it's fine.

Very odd behaviour.

[ncjunk]

Have you never watched IT Crowd on channel 4??

glad it´s working...