EQ5 Dual Axis Motor & Power Tank Help

[t1bbbst3r]

Hi everyone, new poster here, I have a question to ask.

Firstly, I bought a scope 2nd hand with a eq5 mount plus a dual axis motor drive. The hand controller was dodgy although sometimes worked with the battery pack. I bought a new hand controller plus a skywatcher 7ah powertank but when its plugged into the hand control it just lights up red and nothing happens. its a 6v controller, the power tank has a 6v output plug which im using, when its plugged in the led in the controller just lights up red & wont do anything.

the dodgy controller, when thats plugged in it lights up green then turns red when buttons are pressed. I'm using 2 female plugged leads twisted together although am pretty sure there isn't a crossed over thread somwhere in the conversion, I just don't know what to do about it now. does anybody have a solution? If anyone can help me get this working you'd be my new best friend forever! I'm pretty much baffled about it at the moment.

Cheers!

[ronin]

What makes you say it is a 6v controller?

As far as I know they're 12v systems, well mine is. The pack holds 8 large 1.5v batteries, that makes 12v and as best I know people get 12v supplies for them, either mains adaptor or power pack.

[t1bbbst3r]

Is definatly 6v, it says so on the controller. After a bit of googling, apparently the lead-acid batteries output a slightly varied voltage depending on how much charge is in them. Dont think that has anything to do with it do you? Don't have 6 size D ones to check right now.

[dtr42]

the eq5 takes 4 d cell batteries [6 volt] i didn't think the skywatcher power pack was 6 volt i thought it was 12volt output .

[t1bbbst3r]

Is definatly 6v, it says so on the controller. After a bit of googling, apparently the lead-acid batteries output a slightly varied voltage depending on how much charge is in them. Dont think that has anything to do with it do you? Don't have 6 size D ones to check right now.

oh, the power pack does have 2 12v output jacks, it also has 3, 6 & 9v output ac ports. should have mentioned that before,, it was working with batteries before I bought it, just thought to get a powertank to do the dew-heater also. Could maybe, temporarily cut the dew heater plug, set that to 6.5v output & see whether it works then I guess.....

[t1bbbst3r]

sorry, dont want to troll my own post here, there doesnt seem to be an edit button or though obviously there is. anyway, does anybody think it could be this: at 1 end, of the cable going from the power tank to the hand controller, is the original female connector with 1 thin wire& 1 thick wire i cut from the battery pack. at the other, the 2 wires are of the same thickness. is a long shot i know, really want to be talking to an electrician, but is the only thing that makes sense unless for some reason these power tanks that say they can power 6v devices, really cant because they just dont work that way? does anybody know of of a 6v eq hand controller to have rejected an alternate power supply in the past?

thanks

[ronin]

Unless the wire is very thin and acting like a resistance wire to drop the voltage you should not have any problem there.

One thought is what is is the centre pin of the 6v output?

They can be either centre positive or centre negative.

Just wondering if yours is set to the opposite of what the controller wnats.

Often the small connector at the end wil unplug and can be inserted the other way round.

I would assume that you want centre positive, it seems most common, but you had better check first.

If this is the problem then you will have been supplying power incorrectly, hope there is a protection diode or there may be damage.

After that you may need a multi meter to check the output of the power pack in case it has gone wrong, I had a small variable DC unit go wrong and it was probably simpler then yours.

[cantharis]

They ARE 6V - 4 D cells in a little plastic holder.

[t1bbbst3r]

have been reading other posts to do with this in the archive & apparently, 1. if the batteries run low, the hand controller starts to get a bit dodgy. 2. the batteries are apparently 1300ma together, the output on the power tank is 1000ma. could the problem be to do with a drop in the ampage? dont have a circuit multi-metre thingy.

am rather bewildered to the cause of the situation myself but maybe that could explain why even though the controller doesnt work, it still lights up.

[t1bbbst3r]

I have a 2000ma power supply now, plugged that in and it still doesnt work. does anyone know if it could be 'centre negative' and i have had the power supply the wrong way round? if there is a way to check before flipping the switch, that would be great as i dont want to damage the thing........

[Cornelius Varley]

have been reading other posts to do with this in the archive & apparently, 1. if the batteries run low, the hand controller starts to get a bit dodgy. 2. the batteries are apparently 1300ma together, the output on the power tank is 1000ma. could the problem be to do with a drop in the ampage? dont have a circuit multi-metre thingy.

am rather bewildered to the cause of the situation myself but maybe that could explain why even though the controller doesnt work, it still lights up.

I'm inclined to think that you may have cross wired your handset. The output of the batteries shouldn't be a problem, the 1300ma refers to the capacity of the batteries ie 1300ma for 1 hour and the 6v/1000ma for the the powertank is the maximum recommended load for the battery at the 6v output. In both cases this should be sufficient for the DA drives. I would suspect that the rechargeable battery pack doesn't provide 6v, probably 4.8 or 5v so this may cause problems.

[Spanishfly]

One thought is what is is the centre pin of the 6v output?

They can be either centre positive or centre negative.

After that you may need a multi meter to check the output of the power pack in case it has gone wrong, I had a small variable DC unit go wrong and it was probably simpler then yours.

The centre pin on the connector is positive - this appears to be the standard for all astro gear. I find the batteries are easily capable of running the motors - the drain on them appears to be very small - they last for ages.

[t1bbbst3r]

The centre pin on the connector is positive - this appears to be the standard for all astro gear. I find the batteries are easily capable of running the motors - the drain on them appears to be very small - they last for ages.

Yes, tried batteries yesterday after 2 adaptor fails! Did only use a 6v+ dc supply and everything but it turns out that the controller was already broken and not just being fussy about amps ect. Still, youve got to laugh, hopefully the replacement Ive requested will be ok. 3rd time lucky, dont seem too reliable these 'eq4/5 hand controllers' do they. Not to me anyway..........

Cheers

[The Bat]

I have the same hand controller for my CG-5 mount. It should definitely work with the powertank. I run mine with a lead that runs from the 6v power output on the powertank into the plug on the controller. That particular lead cost about £2.50 from Maplins.

I find my handset goes red if the battery pack or powertank starts to drain. There is no chance that you have run it from the 12v output is there? I have known handsets to be fried doing that.

Rachel

[t1bbbst3r]

I have the same hand controller for my CG-5 mount. It should definitely work with the powertank. I run mine with a lead that runs from the 6v power output on the powertank into the plug on the controller. That particular lead cost about £2.50 from Maplins.

I find my handset goes red if the battery pack or powertank starts to drain. There is no chance that you have run it from the 12v output is there? I have known handsets to be fried doing that.

Rachel

yes, i kind of learnt about that already when i fried the last one. Made a point of not going over 6 volts this time but the light stayed red. Bit of a miss-fortune really because it was brand new from a shop in Germany. expect theyl send another next week.

[Derick]

yes, i kind of learnt about that already when i fried the last one. Made a point of not going over 6 volts this time but the light stayed red. Bit of a miss-fortune really because it was brand new from a shop in Germany. expect theyl send another next week.

So any luck? Did you manage to get your mount goind with the batteries or the power tank?

Thx!

[astrosathya]

Hi,

1) The wires to be used are CCTV standard 5mm plugs with 2.1mm pin, which has to be tip positive.

2) The mount draws 1.8Amps per hour. The standard Sky-Wtcher tank has a 12V 7Ah battery in it, which means it has to last you over 4 hours. All Sky-Watcher mounts work off 12V, this is the first time I have heard someone say 6V. Infact, even the lower end Sky-Watcher mounts like the Synscan AZ work off 12V.

3) Its best to contact Optical Vision Limited, they are the Sky-Watcher distributors for UK and AFAIK, they are very helpful. The reason I am advising this is because you have a decent mount, you would not want to wire it up the wrong way and then fry the electronics.

[JamesF]

2) The mount draws 1.8Amps per hour. The standard Sky-Wtcher tank has a 12V 7Ah battery in it, which means it has to last you over 4 hours. All Sky-Watcher mounts work off 12V, this is the first time I have heard someone say 6V. Infact, even the lower end Sky-Watcher mounts like the Synscan AZ work off 12V.

The after-market dual axis motor kits being discussed here run off six volts, not twelve. It's quite clearly labelled on the front of the handset, for example in the first photograph on this page:

http://badgerastro.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/eq5-dual-axis-handset-st-4-autoguider.html

The handsets aren't particularly keen to work if they can't draw enough current or are running at a low voltage in my experience.

James