NEQ6 pro running 15.5v?

[jaygpoo]

Man I need some help herein a hurry. Last night with a clear sky for the first time in ages I set up only for the mount light to go on and off again . I turned and wiggled the connector in the mount and it stayed on but the minute the mount started turning it flickered and the software shut down. So today I went to maplins to buy new pins to make up new cables but the pins are the wrong size at 2.1x5  . Now I have a car power adaptor for a laptop with different ends that give different voltage out put . One pin is 15v and fits the mount. In your comments you have stated that a 15v supply would be ok as if the voltage was to drop the was a bigger error to 12v.  I took a chance and connected it with the handset attached so that I could find out the voltage to the mount. THE HAND SET READS 15.5v  I know its .5 over the limit but the adaptor led reads 15v and I checked the plug output with a voltage tester at 15v so the handset could be wrong? . Would I be ok to use it?

[Avocette]

I've found that my handset reads 0.7v (a diode voltage drop) below the actual input voltage - in my case my battery was 12.9v and the handset read 12.2v. Personally, I wouldn't risk running above the already generous recommended voltage range. Otherwise be prepared for a costly and time consuming repair.

[ronin]

I would be careful, Skywatcher items have generally no protection and going bang is not exactly unknown.

If it want 12v I would suggest nothing above 12.5v, with a reasonable lead length then maybe the "normal" car voltage of 13.2v but 15,5v or 15v could I think be a case of waiting for a capacitor to go pop and a new drive board or handset.

Skywatcher items seem to be just about adaquate to operate at the specified voltages, and occasionally don't even manage that, there is no built in safety and I would have said that something like a 25% overvoltage was going to be trouble.

You could get the small 7805 (I think) and 2 small capacitors and make a 12v regulator, to fit inline.

[Owmuchonomy]

This is not an uncommon problem on SW mounts. I have suffered the same issue on my HEQ5 pro. The only satisfactory way I found to fix it was to connect the power lead directly to the circuit board. It's been fine ever since.

[chrisshillito]

You could get the small 7805 (I think) and 2 small capacitors and make a 12v regulator, to fit inline.

7805 is a 5V regulator not 12V. You would need a 7812 - may need a heatsink as well as the mount will pull 2 amps when it slews and your dropping 3.5V in the regulator so 7 watts of heat to loose.

Chris

[jaygpoo]

Thanks for all comments. So many have said to hard wire the mount and bypass the plug altogether. With heart in my mouth I removed the side plate and found the 2 connections on the back of the board. Checked the positive point and soldered the wires on. I have the wire coming out of the front hole you use to polar align having secured it inside to the board to stop it being ripped out. All is fine. I just need a clear night to test it. My mains power supply is throwing out 13.1v and my leisure battery 12v.  So looking to see NO FLASHING LED. Jay

[perfrej]

I suggest a) a resolder of the connector on th eboard (very common problem), and a switched regulator that accepts 9-35V and outputs 13.2. The latter are not that expensive.

/per

[Merlin66]

I can only repeat what I mentioned earlier.....

I have been using both the HEQ5pro and the NEQ6pro mount from a 12V to 15V car "laptop" convertor for the past many years without any drama.

I occasionally check the voltage and current draw (for balancing and excessive loads) with a Turnigy 130A Power meter...no issues...

We are about to move house (again!!!) and my observatory has now been sold and most of the gear is already packed. If it is important I can set-up a fully charged 20Ah battery and the HEQ5 mount to check for you.

[ChrisLX200]

You might try using a heavier gauge power cable to reduce voltage drop.

ChrisH

[jaygpoo]

Good comments and will take on the heavy cable one but I always thought it was the other way round ( less drop in a smaller cable)   Any way I finally got a clear sky last night to test hardwire etc out and my guide camera with PHD2 . 80mm ED APO with 70mm travel scope piggy back as guide scope with qhy5ll and my QHY8L  ccd at M31  . RESULT and great fun at long last. Will be making up new cables later and getting my NEW battery tested to dispell any doubts.

[Skipper Billy]

A smaller cross section cable gives a higher drop than a larger one although length plays a larger part.

[Baffa]

On the EQ5/6 the weakest part is the power plug, yes there is some voltage drop over the cables but that terrible plug is more of a problem.

Sent from Xperia Z1 using Tapatalk.

[Baffa]

For example a 1.5mm cable will have less than 0.5v drop on a 10 meters. If it's made of copper, aluminium or some even more worse will increase this quite a bit.

Sent from Xperia Z1 using Tapatalk.

[Gib007]

I used a universal laptop car charger set to its 15V setting (I measured about 15.3V from the tip using a multimeter) for over a year on my NEQ6 Pro and there were zero problems. In fact, that's what made it work perfectly all the time, with my CCD camera running off the same 12V Marine Deep Cycle battery as well. I'm currently supplying the same voltage to my new Avalon M-Uno mount, with zero issues. I'm going to replace this universal laptop car charger with a little DC-DC Converter I bought from eBay. It does the same job - produce a regulated voltage - but has a variable resistor on it for you to tweak the output voltage precisely. I'll probably set 14.5V on it or something. 

This is the DC-DC Converter I speak of, by the way: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321236400360

Currently using one on my CCD camera, set to 13.5V. Works perfectly and the voltage is regulated so it stays at 13.5V all the time. Since the NEQ6 Pro and therefore also Avalon M-Uno (they use the same circuit board) have a 15V limit, I'll tweak my mount's one to 14.5V and be done with it.