Goto Tracking Left Overnight

[Pinarello87]

Hello SGL. Im new in here. 

I just entered AP 2 months ago. Its been a great time so far. So i hope to learn more from this forum. 

I have a 60mm ED Apo on a SW EQ3 goto. 

Anyway as the title suggest, i was doing a really late long night imaging from my balcony last night. I was imaging Centaurus A with my rig set for 70 x 90" subs. While waiting i kind of dozed off till several hours later. 

Seeing the mount had reached its maximum RA tilt and i assume its been that for a good 2 or 3 hours with the scope right against the mount head. I quickly turned everything off. Slighlty worried. 

Will this cause any damage to the RA motor? It wasnt burning hot. Just warm. I have yet to inspect and test the motor. 

Advice please fellow senior forumers and AP gurus. 

 

Thanks a bunch. 

[tooth_dr]

Just now, Pinarello87 said:

Hello SGL. Im new in here. 

I just entered AP 2 months ago. Its been a great time so far. So i hope to learn more from this forum. 

I have a 60mm ED Apo on a SW EQ3 goto. 

Anyway as the title suggest, i was doing a really late long night imaging from my balcony last night. I was imaging Centaurus A with my rig set for 70 x 90" subs. While waiting i kind of dozed off till several hours later. 

Seeing the mount had reached its maximum RA tilt and i assume its been that for a good 2 or 3 hours with the scope right against the mount head. I quickly turned everything off. Slighlty worried. 

Will this cause any damage to the RA motor? It wasnt burning hot. Just warm. I have yet to inspect and test the motor. 

Advice please fellow senior forumers and AP gurus. 

 

Thanks a bunch. 

I've had this happen a few times with my EQ6, to no ill effects.  It's moving at sidereal rate.  I wouldnt fancy doing it when slewing at full speed.

[Ibbo!]

I have do it with my mount a couple of times.

I think the stepper motors effectively stall.

[Carbon Brush]

The great thing about stepper motors is that they do not take excessive current (and burn out) when stalled against a solid object.

With the tiny (low torque) motors used in scope mounts, there should not be an issue running slowly against a hard stop.
The Skywatcher design team should have thought about this situation and ensured the gearbox is up to handling stall torque.
On a mass produced item there is no excuse for basic design errors.
Speaking here as someone who has used stepper motors with 100x the power of mount motors on industrial machinery.

Caveat - Some mounts do have tiny parts around the gearbox and bending is possible.
The (expensive) AWR drive on my D6 drive suffered a bent shaft in the gearbox after mount impact.
 

 

[Pinarello87]

On 13/05/2019 at 21:56, tooth_dr said:

I've had this happen a few times with my EQ6, to no ill effects.  It's moving at sidereal rate.  I wouldnt fancy doing it when slewing at full speed.

 

On 14/05/2019 at 04:42, Ibbo! said:

I have do it with my mount a couple of times.

I think the stepper motors effectively stall.

 

On 16/05/2019 at 15:40, Carbon Brush said:

The great thing about stepper motors is that they do not take excessive current (and burn out) when stalled against a solid object.

With the tiny (low torque) motors used in scope mounts, there should not be an issue running slowly against a hard stop.
The Skywatcher design team should have thought about this situation and ensured the gearbox is up to handling stall torque.
On a mass produced item there is no excuse for basic design errors.
Speaking here as someone who has used stepper motors with 100x the power of mount motors on industrial machinery.

Caveat - Some mounts do have tiny parts around the gearbox and bending is possible.
The (expensive) AWR drive on my D6 drive suffered a bent shaft in the gearbox after mount impact.
 

 

 

Cheers guys

Thanks for all your input