6v EQ5 Dual Axis Motor & Power Tank Help

[t1bbbst3r]

Hello,

I have this problem. I bought 1 of those 'powertank' thingy's last week to power a dew heater/ dual axis motors on an eq5 and am having some problems getting it to power the motor drive. When plugged into the 6v output it just lights up red and wont do anything.

Did post in the beginner thread but was also advised to try here after not having any luck. after reading some old posts on this site along the same lines i have found this: 1. these control boxes on eq5s' are kind of fussy about what voltage they take and when using rechargable batteries they wont work because with 6 of them the voltage is too low. 2. With the standard battery box with a good set of batteries the ampage is 1.3.

With the 3, 6 + 9v output on those 'powertank' thingy's only being 1 amp and a good set of 6 1.5v batteries that power the controller together supplying 1.3 amps, could this explain why a 6v 1a supply wont power the motors?

Have had a look on ,maplins', and have found this,, http://www.maplin.co.uk/universal-3a-dc-power-supply-228639 ,, does anybody know for sure if I can plug that adaptor in, set it to 6v and get the hand controller to work then with a slightly larger 3 amp current via 1 of the 'powertanks' 12v 10a cars cigarette lighter ports?

Also, the wiring from the battery pack that came with the controller for the controller has a thick - wire and a thin + wire. Im powering it from 2 wires of the same thickness. Dont know anything about electronics myself, am just repeating what i've heard & observed. With impedance and positive electrons liking to traval back out of some devices through a bigger wire, could this explain why the controller doesnt work off of a 6v 1a output or is that just somethng I noticed which doesn't mean anything?

Having only had the telescope for two weeks, being told the 1st controller was the dodgy component because it wouldnt work off of the battery pack properly, i threw that 1 away thinking a new controller would sort the 'power' problem out, having already got rid of the battery pack in favour of a skywatcher branded powertank, only to be faced with the exact same problem after buying a completely new controller and throwing the old one away! Am no way LOL about that!

anyway,

Thanks for looking/ in advance of solving this issue for me.

[Cornelius Varley]

The EQ5 dual axis system uses a 6v supply (4 x 1.5 v ) or 6 v from a powertank. The powertank, even the 7ah version, is sufficient to power the motors - probably better than using alkaline batteries. Rechargeable (Ni-Cad) are 1.25 v, 6 x 1.25 = 7.5 volts, maybe a little too much for the handcontrol to take. The maplin power adapter should work - use the 2.1mm plug and ensure that you have the polarity correctly set.

[t1bbbst3r]

What happens if the polarity is wrong? Because i made the cable out of 2 female sockets twisted together & checked it first on the output + recharge socket on the power tank, it was the wrong way round, firstly blowing the fuse until the cables were flipped around. If I did this to the controller i'd just kill it wouldnt i as it doesnt have a fuse?

cheers

[Cornelius Varley]

If you reverse the polarity you could possibly damage the controller.