Caution... Both axes... no response.

[Brushman]

Upon switching on the mount the handset initialises and then displays the following: "Caution..." "Both Axes... No response!"

If I press enter it allows me to set my location, time etc. but will not slew.

I have a SkyWatcher 10" GoTo dob with freedom find. It was bought new and gifted straight to me, so was unused before discovering this problem.

The power is connected to mount and the motorised units are connected. The handset displays that it's running version 4.39.05. 

I've tried re-updating the firmware in the hope it left the factory corrupted, but its made no difference. 

This may not mean anything, but when updating and I checked the HC it displayed that I was running database version .2. I was expecting this to be .5 seems as I was running v4.39.05. 

Can anyone help a beginner out please?

 

[Geoff Barnes]

I had exactly the same issue with my Skywatcher dob when I first got it.

It turned out the problem was simply that the AZ Power Cable was not fully inserted into its sockets, it felt like it was but I had to push extra hard to get it to "click" into place, then all worked perfectly. Just make really sure your AZ cable is fully connected. at least it will eliminate one possible cause. Good luck!

Edited February 19, 2019 by Geoff Barnes

[Brushman]

3 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

I had exactly the same issue with my Skywatcher dob when I first got it.

It turned out the problem was simply that the AZ Power Cable was not fully inserted into its sockets, it felt like it was but I had to push extra hard to get it to "click" into place, then all worked perfectly. Just make really sure your AZ cable is fully connected. at least it will eliminate one possible cause. Good luck!

Thanks for the message, but unfortunately that's not it. They are super stiff and a nightmare to get out once in, but when I retested I hear a definite click when inserting into the ports. 

[cletrac1922]

You have the latest firmware for the SynScan

I recently purchased the WiFi adapter, and downloaded the SynScan App

Takes the guess work out of setting location, date and time

What sort of power source you using to power the dob

I use a car battery jump start kit

Have run my EQ5 mount for a week on it at Astrofests

 

 

[rhw1967]

Do you have a powertank or using batteries ?

[Brushman]

7 hours ago, cletrac1922 said:

You have the latest firmware for the SynScan

I recently purchased the WiFi adapter, and downloaded the SynScan App

Takes the guess work out of setting location, date and time

What sort of power source you using to power the dob

I use a car battery jump start kit

Have run my EQ5 mount for a week on it at Astrofests

 

 

 

29 minutes ago, rhw1967 said:

Do you have a powertank or using batteries ?

I was using a Baader power supply, but I just tried it with a fully charged Celesteon PowerTank and no change! 

[AstroFin]

Have you tried changing the power cable? I had severe issues with my Celestron CPC when I bought it, but it turned out all of them were caused by a faulty cable.

[Brushman]

26 minutes ago, AstroFin said:

Have you tried changing the power cable? I had severe issues with my Celestron CPC when I bought it, but it turned out all of them were caused by a faulty cable.

I've used both the supplied power cable (into PowerTank) and a separate Baader power cable direct into mains. Both show same issue, so can only assume it's not the power cable. 

The handset cable seems to be working properly as the HC switches on fine to initialise and display the error message. 

Could it be a dodgy AZ cable? I'm not sure if this would have ever worked, but I switched it out for another ethernet cable - but this had no effect either. If it is a specialised cable then perhaps that could be a potential culprit?

[Eliastar]

Hi. I got new eq6-r pro last night and im getting the same error after 15min of using it indoors. Have you figured it out yet??

Using 12V battery and hc says 11.4V, cables looks okay. I've tried different firmware versions but no difference. When i put power on, red led just blinks quickly and then disappears. 

Edited March 2, 2019 by Eliastar

[dc240969]

I also get this error when backing out of a menu. Unplugging and inserting sorted it out.

[Brushman]

On 02/03/2019 at 15:25, Eliastar said:

Hi. I got new eq6-r pro last night and im getting the same error after 15min of using it indoors. Have you figured it out yet??

Using 12V battery and hc says 11.4V, cables looks okay. I've tried different firmware versions but no difference. When i put power on, red led just blinks quickly and then disappears. 

Not got to the bottom of this yet - will post an update when I do though! 

[Eliastar]

I just sent my mount head back. Never got it working, probably motherboard died or something. It's strange that they still use bad cables which I heard can break the motherboard. Feels like it's pretty common problem in eq6 mounts. 

[Brushman]

Final update:

 

It's been a while, but it turned out to be an issue with the mount circuit board. That issue in turn would blow the circuit board in the handset - thus causing a long process of experimentaion and elimination (and lots of blown handsets!)

If anyone encounters a similar problem in future I can help identify the tell tale signs of a damaged/blown handset board (it's very subtle!) Otherwise, thanks for everyone's help! 

 

[David Ettie]

I would like to know what the subtle signs are this handset shows the issue on multiple mounts of various types whilst existing version three handsets work perfectly on all of them (as does another newer version 4, I opened it up cleaned the connectors and visually checked the board (no obvious issues) without any improvement.

[Brushman]

On 05/12/2019 at 10:02, David Ettie said:

I would like to know what the subtle signs are this handset shows the issue on multiple mounts of various types whilst existing version three handsets work perfectly on all of them (as does another newer version 4, I opened it up cleaned the connectors and visually checked the board (no obvious issues) without any improvement.

David, there will be a tiny pin prick on the board circled in my image - this shows the board has blown. 

[Richard_M2012]

Hello Brushman, I am having a very similar problem. What needs to be done to rectify? Do I need to replace both the handset motherboard and the motor motherboard?

What I am experiencing is described below:

I purchased my Skywatcher Skymax 127 Synscan AZ Goto Telescope back in Aug 2016. I used the telescope quite a bit at that time without any problems. It has been stored for a number of years and I have just got it out again with the intention of updating all the firmware and using it, however I have run in to some issues.
When the Synscan keypad control unit is connected to the mount, (as for normal use), when first powered up and after initialising, the Synscan keypad control unit LCD displays “Both axes…No response!” and the mount cannot be slewed from the arrow keys in any direction; the only response obtained is when pressing the slew up key and then the Synscan keypad control unit LCD says “Over slew limits! MOUNT STOPPED!!”
I appear to have successfully updated the firmware on the Synscan hand control unit to the latest version (ver.04.39.21); however, I have not been able to update the motor control firmware in the Skywatcher AZ Goto mount as when the Synscan hand control is in PC Direct Mode the motor controller firmware loader has great difficulty in finding the mount’s motor controller and on the very rare occasions that it does manage to, the update always fails part way through and never goes through to the end.
I've looked at the various manuals but they are of little help; it seems to me that the Synscan keypad control unit is not receiving any meaningful data from the mount.

Any advice would be very gratefully accepted! Thank you!
 

[ferbela]

Hi Brushman, I too have this faulty controller. The burned-out IC type is AJ3. Unfortunately, I can't find your data sheet anywhere. If anyone knows what this part is, it would help a lot. Good heavens.