One for Mesu owners - cabling?

[Helen]

I'm struggling to find an effective means of keeping cables from snagging on my Mesu.  I use a dual bar to mount an SCT/Mak next to a piggyback reflector/guider combo.

I'd be interested to see how others have cabled up

Thanks

Helen

[daz]

Helen

Post a picture or two of the rig please...

I am getting OCD about the cabling on my EQ6, so could perhaps offer a view..

[ollypenrice]

Well, you probably won't like this Helen, and it sets Per's OCD off into critical fission mode... But we've yet to lose a sub to guiding error in 3.3 years so I'll stand by it.

I don't bundle all cables into one tube because I know for sure that one cable will fail un-announced and I'll need to change it. Let that be a quick process.

I use elastic thread to keep the cables loosely suspended close to the scope and close to both axes. After that I give them lots of room. The Mesu is not sensitive to slight changes of load as cable is raised or lowered and it has no backlash.

Pretty it ain't but anyone wanting to have a go at it has the slight problem of many hundreds of hours of defect-free guiding to account for...

Olly (imaging neanderthal.)

[Helen]

Thanks both  At the moment I've got some things attached between the scopes, and last night that seemed not too bad.  Counterintuitively the problem might be trying to control things too close to the scope - having the connectors lower down might make the 'flow' during slewing easier...  I'll have another go and take some pictures of the set up.  I need to pull apart anyway as the pc has stopped recognising a camera 

Helen

[steppenwolf]

Helen,

On my Mesu, I bring all the cables in use for a particular session together and tie them into a single cluster with kitchen food bag ties. Once I have them all together, I loop the cluster over one of the tube ring hand bolts and lock that in position with another kitchen tie. Finally, I make a large loop with the cluster and tie it to the top of the pier. This has never snagged and because it is locked at two locations, one near the centre of the Dec. axis and the other at the pier top, it is very stable and doesn't change the load at any point in its travel across the sky.

[ollypenrice]

The food ties thing is a great idea, Steve. Easy to undo and redo.

I do seriously recommend elastic as a cable suspender, too. It gives if anything goes wrong.

Olly

[steppenwolf]

I do seriously recommend elastic as a cable suspender, too. It gives if anything goes wrong.

This is a cool idea, Olly, I think I might use this method for the pier top location.

On a secondary (but somewhat related note), I have been considering installing a couple of limit switches on the mount in case of a PC crash (more relevant to Helen than Olly) so that the mount cannot travel too far and collide with the pier. I have discovered, however, that Lucas has already built in a bit of an extra safety feature in the form of a current limit which is set to trip if an unusual loading is recorded. It can be set within ServoConfig in the Motor/Encoder tab. If you set this to 0.25, the motor will stop driving if it hits something or there is a cable snag.

[Zakalwe]

I use a zip up cable sleeve from Amazon. The cable is braided so you can poke cables through anywhere. As it has a zip it's dead easy to add or remove cables.

I'll find you a link.

[Zakalwe]

Here you go:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0073ELCSA/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1430224001&sr=8-3&pi=SL75&keywords=Fisual+1m+Zip+Up+Cable+Tidy

[ollypenrice]

This is a cool idea, Olly, I think I might use this method for the pier top location.

On a secondary (but somewhat related note), I have been considering installing a couple of limit switches on the mount in case of a PC crash (more relevant to Helen than Olly) so that the mount cannot travel too far and collide with the pier. I have discovered, however, that Lucas has already built in a bit of an extra safety feature in the form of a current limit which is set to trip if an unusual loading is recorded. It can be set within ServoConfig in the Motor/Encoder tab. If you set this to 0.25, the motor will stop driving if it hits something or there is a cable snag.

The built-in overload protection is something we rely on and it works fine. If, in my rustic and non-automated state, I snore through my alarm clock I find the mount demurely awaiting instructions at the end of its travel. It's a nice feature.

Olly