Strang happenings - CG5 GT mount

[sologuitarist61]

Got a strange thing happening with my CG5GT mount. It was OK when I used it last (many months ago now it seems ), so I thought I would give it a dust off and just make sure everything was working OK.

I set it all up with everything as it should pointing North, had a look at Stellarium to see what star should be up there at the moment, and it offered me Deneb in the west which was above the horizon at the time, so I hit the enter button for first alignment star and lo and behold the mount ended up pointing the telescope towards the East. Thinking I had done something wrong I checked it all again; the time was correct, the lat/long was correct but each time I set it to two star align it offered me a star in the west, but then slewed to the east and told me it had found that star (didn't matter if picked a different star it always slewed in the opposite direction)

Have scoured the manual and cannot see that I have done anything wrong - all the index's lined up, all the correct info into the handset yet still it does it wrongly.

Any ideas please?

[mallorcasaint]

I had a similar situation and had to do a factory reset and all was well.

[sologuitarist61]

Hi John, I guess that can be done through the handset can't it?

[barkis]

Another thing to be aware of, is the connectors pins inside their housings may become Oxidised when they have not been used for a while.

Have a look and see if there is any indication of that having occurred, The declination link cable, and handset cable connectors should be inserted and withdrawn a few times to ensure the pins have been cleaned.

Not saying it is the culprit, merely a possibility.

Ron

[nmoushon]

I had a similar problem one night on my EQ-G and just flipped the power on and off a couple times and it started working. No idea why it happened. Weird.

[sologuitarist61]

Another thing to be aware of, is the connectors pins inside their housings may become Oxidised when they have not been used for a while.

Have a look and see if there is any indication of that having occurred, The declination link cable, and handset cable connectors should be inserted and withdrawn a few times to ensure the pins have been cleaned.

Not saying it is the culprit, merely a possibility.

Ron

Thanks Ron (good to hear from you). Yes had a look at the terminal connections and they look OK. Thanks for the tip though.

[sologuitarist61]

I had a similar problem one night on my EQ-G and just flipped the power on and off a couple times and it started working. No idea why it happened. Weird.

This morning when I was trying to figure it out, the mount was turned on and off a number of times, but always the same result, thanks though.

[sologuitarist61]

I had a similar situation and had to do a factory reset and all was well.

Hi John. went into the handset and into 'Utilities' and did a factory reset, and the handset showed the words 'Power Cycle' have no idea what that means. It would go away regardless of what I did so just turned it off and will hope for the best. Family is starting to come in now, so it will have to wait until tomorrow to see it has made any difference. Thanks for the tip though

[Steve Ward]

Not something silly like the date format being MM/DD/YY like the SkyWatcher mounts ,

Still catches me out now and again.

[Carbon Brush]

Yep. Steve Ward's suggestion.

I might know someone who might have a friend who was once caught out by the American date format.

David.

[Steve Ward]

Yep. Steve Ward's suggestion.

I might know someone who might have a friend who was once caught out by the American date format.

David.

Only the once . . . .

[mallorcasaint]

Yes, the factory reset in utilities. Have you checked that the date is in the correct format and you have selected Daylight Saving? My mount was slewing in the wrong direction and I did the factory reset through the handset and it was fine.

[sologuitarist61]

Not something silly like the date format being MM/DD/YY like the SkyWatcher mounts ,

Still catches me out now and again.

Wish it was as simple as that, but no, checked it each time I tried to align the mount. But thanks

[sologuitarist61]

Yes, the factory reset in utilities. Have you checked that the date is in the correct format and you have selected Daylight Saving? My mount was slewing in the wrong direction and I did the factory reset through the handset and it was fine.

Yes done both of these things John. Anyway not checking the daylight saving wouldn't have to scope pointing 180 degrees from where it should. Have done the factory reset so will see when I can next get it all up.

I was wondering if I had done something that made it think it was in the southern hemisphere, but i cannot find a way to do that, so it probably isn't the case.

[Carbon Brush]

Hi Richard.

Usually these things come out to be something simple and you kick yourself in the end. Electronics doesn't usually go wrong in this sort of way. That is going to the wrong place consistently. It usually doesn't go at all, or goes to wildly differing places.

My CG5 hasn't been out for a while and to be honest I usually regard it more as an RA drive than goto. So my advice on specifics of setup is probably not that good.

Is there a local SGL member with CG5 who you could visit to compare kit operation? I would make the offer, but Cornwall to Nottinghamshire is not 'just around the corner'.

The sort of comparision i'm thinking is....

Print off the menu lists from the manual.

Sit your two CG5s side by side in his living room.

Compare the setup values in the drive setup, marking each menu item as you look.

Something might just leap out at you.

Then ask the two mounts to do the same actions.

Finally swap handsets/mounts to determine the origin of the problem.

If you think the problem is in the mount, rather than the handset, and are confident, and your friend agrees, the drive electronics and motors are on plug in connectors so can be swapped. A lot of 'ifs' here. This would though separate drive/motor issues. It is sort of thing I would be happy to do, but my electronics background makes me more confident in this area than many.

Good luck and keep us posted.

David.

[sologuitarist61]

Probably good advice David, but I don't know of anyone locally who has a CG5GT, so will have to try and sort it out myself. Having done the factory reset so will set it up in a mo and try it out again.

[sologuitarist61]

Thanks to everyone for their help on this, the factory re-set worked a treat and all is now well. Thank you all :grin:

[Steve Ward]

Glad to hear you're back in the game........

[sologuitarist61]

Yep!! I must admit I put it all together this morning with some trepidation, but hey, everything I asked it to look for it at least pointied in the right direction. It is problematical in the least to set it up durin g the daytime, but if you get rid of the sky in Stellarium you can at least see where the stars should be and the mount was as good as gold, so I'm a happy chappie again :smiley: Will know what to do next ti,me it throws a wobbly!

[mallorcasaint]

Told ya! Glad it's sorted.

[sologuitarist61]

Yes thanks John - I know who to come to now if anything else goes wrong :grin: