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AstroEQ for EQ mounts

Oily

By Oily
in DIY Astronomer

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ebdons

ebdons

Posted
Posted

Hi, just received my astroeq from Tom, when it comes to astro imaging I'm a total virgin, so have a lot to learn about it, either on this forum or Astronomyshed, here's to some clear skies soon! :grin:  Tony

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TCWORLD

TCWORLD

Posted
Posted

Its most likely that the current limit needs adjusting. If you unscrew the case (two screws on the bottom), you will see two purple circuit boards. One each is a potentiometer (looks like a screw head). Clockwise increases the current, Anticlockwise decreases it. You can change the limit with EQMOD still connected so you can test.

Are the motors getting hot? If so you probably need to decrease the current slightly.

If they are not, try increasing the limit.

Make changes in small amounts (10 degrees is a pretty large change).

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TCWORLD

TCWORLD

Posted
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Really, boy that sucks. Hope you get to use it soon but your right the weather has been awful for imaging nothing but endless cloud and rain sigh. There must be over 20 of us now I would have thought have you done a head count Tom?

35 to date.

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beermat

beermat

Posted
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I started out adjusting the RA pot screw and made small increments and then tested after each adjustment.  I have now adjusted this clockwise to the point where it will not turn any further and still the motor refuses to move.

Is there anything else to test?

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TCWORLD

TCWORLD

Posted
Posted

Does this happen on both motors or just one?

If adjusting the pots didn't help, make sure put them back to where they were. (turn anticlockwise as far as you can go, then turn ~90 degrees clockwise)

If they are stuttering but not moving and it isn't due to the current limit then it suggests a loose connection somewhere. Could you make sure that the cables are well seated in the connectors. I know this may sound daft, but I have just tried it out with one of the new cables and got the same result but it started working after wiggling the cable a bit at the motor end.

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beermat

beermat

Posted
Posted

Its happening with both motors.

I have ruled out the cables being at fault as I have a spare RJ11 which I tried with the same result.

I went back to look at the pot adjustment and turned this anticlockwise back to the starting point.  In EQMOD I set the RA rate to 1, pressed E and gradually turned up the pot. When I got to about a quarter turn I hear a rumbling from the motor and it started to move.  Progress!

I did the same with the DEC pot and managed to get this motor to turn too.  Not sure I'm quite out of the woods yet.

A few observations:

1) Both motors make a rumbling sound when activated as though something is spinning up.  A similar sound when releasing the control (NSEW).  Is this normal?

2) Using the RA/DEC slider in EQMOD I cannot get to a slew speed of X4.  The motors will attempt to move but then stop.  Is this a limitation with this motor at this speed?  The controller supplied with the motors have speed settings for X2 X4 X8 which all work.The motors are Skywatcher dual axis.

3) Operating the motors with the stock controller seems to be much quieter than with AstroEQ. Is this normal?

Thanks

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TCWORLD

TCWORLD

Posted
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Just wanted to check you had one first.

With the RJ11 cable plugged into the motors and not the AstroEQ controller, could you measure the resistance of the motors from the end of the cable not plugged in.

Basically there are 4 wires in each cable and you should find when you do the measurements that there are two pairs of wires that have a low resistance between them (around 20ohms).

The question is, which two pairs of wires have the low resistance?

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RichM63

RichM63

Posted
Posted

Hi folks, Oily Darren advised me to drop in, so here I am.

Received my 4.3 AstroEQ on Friday, many thanks Tom. (if anyone has connection problems check USB cables, I went through 4 before I got a working one).

Having read everything I could find on AstroEQ /EQASCOM /EQMOD I installed the various softwares + drivers and hooked everything up.

Fired up the AstroEQ config screen and went through the steps (bigest headache was to find my motor details, evidently a State secret from SW).

Set my Lat/Long/Elev in both CdC and EQMOD and followed the steps to use CdC ajnd also StellariumScope

Everything looks good, I can slew to objects in CdC or Stellarium but I do have a problem.

I can't for the life of me fire up the EQASCOM main driver control panel screen, nothing I do seems to get this screen up so I can't enter any settings, Park un Park, Home, Polar, Track Rates, Slew Speeds, or use the NESW slews.

If anyone has a suggestion I would really appreciate a hand.

Cheers,

Richard

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RichM63

RichM63

Posted
Posted

Both AstroEQ and EQMOD are using the same COM5 and config loaded EQMOD.

The mount is sitting right in front of me and will happily slew to objects from CdC as it is doing as I type. EQASOM EQMOD EQ5/6 selected.

I just can't get the EQASCOM main control screen to display.

The AstroEQ is doing its job just fine and connecting to EQMOD no problem. I'm absolutely delighted with it. :)

I'm missing something with EQASCOM.

Cheers,

Richard

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TCWORLD

TCWORLD

Posted
Posted

If CdC is connected to EQMOD, then the EQMOD screen should be visible. It usually appears in the centre of the screen.

If you mean the EQMOD settings window, there is a button that looks like ">>>" near the top right corner of the EQMOD window.

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