Controller for "Skywatcher" [clone] DC motor focuser?

[Rusted]

Hi,

I am about to return a [Chinese] "Skywatcher" [clone] DC focuser motor kit to the dealer for non-functioning control paddle buttons:

Does anybody have any direct experience of any of the "Hitec DC" motor controllers?

I'm thinking I'll keep the neat little DC gearbox-motor unit but cut out the middle man:

Lose the dead hand controller and move onto "software" focusing via the imaging laptop.

I'd save on postage, endless delays and potential hassle with a possibly unreliable replacement kit.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[johninderby]

One of these just arrived. Quick test and it seems to work OK. It’s the new version from FLO with the seperate power cable and much stronger case.

Will be testing it out this evening..

 

Edited July 11, 2019 by johninderby

[Rusted]

Hi and thanks for your response. Good luck with the weather tonight. It's overcast here.

I have been searching online for clearer images of the end panels of this control box to see exactly which sockets are provided.

Is that an RJ9 telephone [motor cable] socket and a round socket for a 12V power supply?

Thanks

[johninderby]

Yes standard RJ9/10 for the motor cable and 5.5/2.1 power socket. Does come with a power lead with a cig lighter end on it but I had an AC adapter that fitted.

Edited July 11, 2019 by johninderby

[Rusted]

Great stuff! Thank you very much for going to the trouble of posting these images John. Much appreciated.

Thanks to your earlier response I have just placed an order for the same unit from FLO. Looking forwards to precision focusing again.

Though I'd still like a long, straight RJ9 to RJ9 cable I haven't found one anywhere. The straight RJ9 cables on eBay are far too short.
As is the coiled cable for my own application: A 7" f/12 refractor on a  big GEM. Laptop on a shelf on the pier is about 3' down from the Dec axis.
I'll just have to strap the Hitec box to the OTA and run 12V and USB cables up to that.

The little Skywatcher motor unit still looks the part on my big FT focuser mounted on black plastic plates clamped around the focuser housing.
I really didn't like the struggle to manually focus over long distances to reach near focus before operating the motor.
It meant taking off the O-ring drive belt each time. Hopefully the new HiTec box will provide much faster slewing over the long focusing range of the FT3545.

 

 

[johninderby]

I bought this 5m  RJ10 cable from Amazon 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NC73MPP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Merlin66]

I used the Shoestring focuser motor adaptor for all my focuser motors ( I have five of them!!) works very well for me.

I made up a 3mtr RJ10 cable to give more flexibility.

 

[Rusted]

27 minutes ago, johninderby said:

I bought this 5m  RJ10 cable from Amazon 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NC73MPP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Thank you, John, but RJ10 plugs don't fit the motor. Nor the Skywatcher paddle socket. Too wide. I've tried.

I do like your neat set-up. A nice long belt with toothed sprockets reduce lateral tension.  Clever use of the finder dovetail too!

[Rusted]

34 minutes ago, Merlin66 said:

I used the Shoestring focuser motor adaptor for all my focuser motors ( I have five of them!!) works very well for me.

I made up a 3mtr RJ10 cable to give more flexibility.

 

Thanks. Any particular reason to choose Shoestring in comparison with the HiTec?

[johninderby]

16 minutes ago, Rusted said:

Thank you, John, but RJ10 plugs don't fit the motor. Nor the Skywatcher paddle socket. Too wide. I've tried.

I do like your neat set-up. A nice long belt with toothed sprockets reduce lateral tension.  Clever use of the finder dovetail too!

The RJ10 fits the Skywatcher motor as well as both the Skywatcher control box and the Hitec. The RJ11 is a bit wider than the RJ9/10 and wouldn’t fit.

Printed up a finder dovetail bar 2x as long and 1.5x taller than a regular one to mount the Skywatcher btacket on.

Edited July 11, 2019 by johninderby

[Rusted]

That's really weird! I have RJ10 plugs on several cables and can't make them fit into my motor cables sockets.

I even put a vernier caliper on both and RJ10 is just too wide on my kit.

Could it be because mine is a "Clone" of the Skywatcher? Mine is just marked China on the paddle.

Images I've seen online have 'Skywatcher' printed across the paddle.

Edited July 11, 2019 by Rusted

[johninderby]

Just measured the plug on both the SkyWatcher cable and the RJ10 cable I just bought. Colud the clone plug/socket be undersized?

Edited July 11, 2019 by johninderby

[Tomatobro]

A while ago I made a radio controlled focuser unit for the Skywatcher DC motor unit. I had to rob a female connector from a SW handset but got a curly cable from that well known online site. Search on "RJ10 to RJ10 (4P4C) Coiled Telephone Handset Cable Curly Lead Cord Wire – BLACK" to see the one I used. It appears to be identical to the SW one

[Merlin66]

Rusted,

many years ago pre HIteech etc Shoestring were the only option.....

the PC control of the focuser is very good and works well for me on everything from the ED80 through to the C11.

 

[Rusted]

Sorry to be slow to reply. I have been looking at the supplied curly cable and others in my possession.
4P4C is RJ9 and RJ10 it seems.  They have four pins and four conductors and the plugs are 7.5-7.6mm wide as John confirms.

It is at least 3 months since I looked at the replacement cable problem so I was a bit rusty.
I haven't used the motor in anger since the paddle died.

Re-examination of the straight cable I tried to use last time showed it had 5pin plugs at 9.5mm wide.
It was no wonder it didn't fit!

I can easily obtain RJ10 locally but couldn't source RJ9 at my usual supplier.

Thanks for all the feedback. Very useful to have this finally cleared up.

Ever onwards!

[johninderby]

Sorted 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[johninderby]

Cloudy so I just connected a focus motor and the Hitec controller to check that the software was working properly. I had already downloaded the drivers etc from the Hitec site so when connected it worked perfectly right away with no setup needed.

You can use it in normal mode or stepper mode. Not a real stepper as the motor isn’t a stepper motor but simulates it very well. So use regular mode to get focus about right then switch to step mode for final focusing. Good range of speed adjutment from quite quick to where it’s hard to tell if it’s actually moving.

So first impression is excellent. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

 

 

Edited July 11, 2019 by johninderby

[Rusted]

Thank again John. That's good to know.   Nice clear screen details too, by the look of it.
It's a real pain having to find and put on reading glasses just to see the micro-text when hovering over inscrutable symbols.
Which is why I hate FireCapture so far. I'd need a 55" screen just to be able to use it!

I'm grateful you answered my post as it provided not only a firm choice but useful information on cabling.
And, I get to keep my motor and avoid the rigmarole of returning the complete kit to the dealer.
Word of mouth recommendation is the only "advertising" I will listen to any more.

It will be a few days until I see my HitecAstro box over here. I'll report my own results when I do.
Meanwhile I can order a longer RJ10 cable and some timing pulleys and a belt.
The O-ring worked but was designed to be easily removable for longer focusing movements.
Which usually meant I'd lost the target and had to reacquire! Not recommended!

[Rusted]

Before I send my focuser into near Earth orbit.. can these HiTecAstro boxes cope with 17.2V DC?

I checked several of my plug-in style PSs and they all produce 17.2V unloaded.

Too much of a good thing?

Edited July 14, 2019 by Rusted

[johninderby]

14 minutes ago, Rusted said:

Before I send my focuser into near Earth orbit.. can these HiTecAstro boxes cope with 17.2V DC?

I checked several of my plug-in style PSs and they all produce 17.2V unloaded.

Too much of a good thing?

Max 18v so yes it might be OK although a bit to close for comfort I think. However power supplies are available from Amazon for 6 to 10 pounds.

Quote:

The device must be powered using a 12VDC center positive supply. The controller itself will run on any voltage between 6vDC and 18vDC. However you MUST check that the voltage used matches the rated voltage of your motor, Skywatcher or JMI motors are happy to run from the typical 13.8DC output by many power supplies.

 

Edited July 14, 2019 by johninderby

[Rusted]

Thanks again John.

I have some old model train power supplies so I'll check those for their output.

[Rusted]

Grr?

[johninderby]

Did you download the drivers? 

https://www.hitecastro.co.uk/index.php/support/category/hitec-dc-focus

[Rusted]

Thanks John. Yes, including the ASCOM driver. Several times, in fact. Deleting them again in between.
I even tried loading them onto my PC to see if that would help. Connect > NO Hitec unit detected.
The motor works fine on the manual buttons. Tried changing all the cables. USB and motor cables and 12.8VDC PS are all fine.

Tried accessing it through SharpCap/ASCOM. Connect > No Hitec unit detected.
It appears in Printers and Devices. HID drivers are shown as Windows 2006. 
Events show it started. I even had the Windows flag that it was ready to go.

I was sent a V2 for those who want to run two devices in parallel without COM port problems. Shouldn't matter according to the Hitec blurb.
Searched online for a solution but the only useful forum discussion was back in 2011 on W7. Both my laptop and PC are recent W10.
I'm using USB 2 ports because Windows says the unit wont work on USB3.
I've now wasted 6 hours solid on this thing without any sign of progress or the slightest change. Lucky I kept the box!
I'm an amateur astronomer. Not an IT consultant!

[johninderby]

I’m using a new Win10 laptop which only has USB3.0 ports. First downloaded all the drivers, restarted and then plugged in the Hitec and it all worked fine.

Try plugging into a USB3.0 port and if that doesn’t work all I can suggest is to unistall the software and remove in the usb device manager and reload the drivers and software.

Edited July 18, 2019 by johninderby