Skywatcher NEQ6 mount repair

[Neil56]

Hi Guys.  I have a NEQ6 Pro mount, about 3 years old.  One of those with the poxy little jack on the main circuit-board to plug in the power supply. ( I understand this has been improved in later models)  Despite taking care, after much use the inevitable has happened and the socket has parted company from the circuit board and the mount can't be used.   Prior to it breaking totally I did a DIY repair soldering it back on to the pcb.  This worked for a while but I don't much fancy my chances of doing this a second time,  what with hot soldering irons and delicate, heat sensitive  electronics not being a great mixture.  I live in deepest darkest Shropshire ( Thats in the UK for non locals! ) does anyone out there know of a place within a reasonable distance that they would trust to do the repair.  When I contacted Skywatcher, they said I would need to replace the entire pcb and wanted over 200 quid!!  This seems just plain silly, it needs someone to attach 2 wires to the pcb going to an external socket, job done and can't break again in the same way.  Any suggestions ? I am pinning my hopes on you guys.

[RuralBill]

If the socket is working at the moment, I would suggest putting some epoxy around the base where it meets the board, that way it will not budge in the future, and wil take a lot of abuse and still won't budge...

but obviously it needs to be working first...just an idea

Bill

[Scott]

I'm sure there have been threads about the power socket upgrade but I can't seem to find any so if anyone has done it I too would be interested in reading it

 

[Stu]

Any good?

 

[Scott]

Thats the one I was after Stu. Thanks

This is quite helpful too

http://bendun.net/Images/STARFEST2011/EQ6 Power Plug Modification.pdf