Broken Celestron VX EQ mount?

[Sedna]

Hi all, I'm worried that my Celestron VX equatorial mount might be broken, and I wanted to check here to see if anyone has had a similar problem. I've had the mount for seven months. The first time I noticed something weird was a few months ago when I slewed towards an object that was nowhere near the horizon and the mount started pointing my SC tube *below* the horizon! I turned it off quickly so it wouldn't tip over. Second time occurred about a month ago, another strange incident: the RA axis had rotated more than 90 degrees (which I don't think should ever happen?!) and I had to grab the tube and switch the motor off for fear that everything would tip over. Then, a week ago, I saw the RA axis rotating close to 90 degrees again and turned everything off in case it was about to happen again ...

I've read online that the Celestron VX mounts are hit or miss--has anyone else had this happen to them? After the second time, I started wondering if I was placing the counterweight too far up the counterweight pole, so last week I placed it much farther down to achieve a better balance, but it looked like it was starting to happen again. I used to put it slightly more than 50 percent of the way down the pole (that was the equilibrium point the one time I tried balancing everything according to the manual instructions when I first bought the SC tube and mount, but did not take into account camera or other equipment). Now I am placing the counterweight more like 75 percent of the way down the pole, which should be enough even when the camera's attached (Canon 70D).

So what do you all think? Does it sound like a defect or a counterweight issue? If it's a counterweight issue, then obviously I don't want to send this back to Celestron and possibly even get a worse one back. On the other hand, I know these things are iffy and it might be a defect. I can't think of any damage it's sustained, although occasionally when I carry it in my hands, the RA axis accidentally gets turned manually (but never more than a few degrees ... probably not great for it, but I can't say it's really been damaged).

[Handy_Andy]

I too have had to stop my avx from turning too far, though it was usually down to me having made a hash of the alignment process when I was first starting out. So double check you are aligning properly and that you start everything from the home position. Correct gps location is also important to consider, if you have the wrong coordinates there then the avx might think portions of the sky are visible. Hope these points give you something to start with at least

 

Clear Skies

[fwm891]

Firstly you need to balance your mount on both axles.

Next loosen both the RA and Dec axis locks so the mount will move freely. Then tell the mount to go to it's zero position. Once the mount has zeroed you can then with a spirit level put the Dec shaft so the weights are pointing vertically down - lock the dec axis, then rotate the RA axis so it is pointing towards north and lock it. The mount now knows where it's pointing and you should then be able to do a one, two or three star alignment.

[Astro Imp]

Without knowing this particular mount what you are experiencing appears to be caused by either inputting wrong data to start or power supply problems.
Double check all your input and ensure your power supply is plugged in firmly.
Good luck.