NEQ6 Down

[Starwiz]

I set up for an imaging session last night, switched on the mount and there was no red LED showing.

Further investigation showed the power supply was dead.

I tried powering up the mount from my battery, so using a completely independent power source.  When I switched on there was still no LED and the power supply LED also went off.  This tells me there is a short somewhere.

I've had a look, but can't see anything obvious.  I'm surprised there's no conformal coating on the PCB, given the environment the kit is used in.

Does anyone know if it's possible to buy a new control board?  I really don't want to have to send the mount away for repair as the cost of postage will be huge from here given the weight.

John

 

 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

here you go ....... NEQ6 Pro Spares - Rother Valley Optics Ltd   

But before getting one, and if you have a multimeter, I'd be more inclined to first check out out your suspect board, by disconnecting all the motors etc. then measuring the input to ensure no shorts, if ok (~1K) then using a good 12v mains power supply, and with the multimeter, wired in-series with the input, measure the current being drawn (less than an amp if all ok). If all ok you can then add the motors one at a time, re-measuring each time.... 

The first component I'd suspect, would be the input power regulator, which are cheaper\easier to source, and if your competent at soldering are relatively easy to replace.

[Stuart1971]

If you decide to order from RVO, make sure you email them first, as they have a big habit of showing things in stock and then not actually having them, they are renowned for this..... 😮👍

[Starwiz]

Many thanks for the suggestions.

UPDATE:

This morning I tried tracing the power with my multimeter, powering the mount with the battery pack. Still no power on the PCB. And then, the LED came on as I probed the back of the power connector. I had a closer look at the joints at the power connector and I have to say the soldering standard would fail inspection in most electronics companies. The through-hole component has been soldered without one of the leads being through the hole. This would make sense, as the power connector is taking a force each time it is plugged / unplugged, so if the soldering standard is below par, it is likely to fail at some point. Time to go and buy a soldering iron.

John

[DaveL59]

Good find and hopefully an easy self-repair, well done 🙂

I've had similar on ABS modules in a car where the solder fractured over time and then ABS light would randomly come on when driving. Seems a more common fail since lead was dropped from solder IMHO.

[Paul M]

Maybe it's just the light but the bottom edge of that chip in the top right of the second picture looks blistered to me! I guess there would be a smell of fried chips if it was the case.

[malc-c]

Looking at the image, there is not a lot of meat on the tag that would normally be protruding through the PCB.  I know a lot of people replace the power connector with a more sturdy two pin connector, but if the mount is still inside the warranty period you wouldn't want to do that just yet.

Reflow the solder joints for now.... hopefully that was all it was that caused the loss of power. 

[malc-c]

3 minutes ago, Paul M said:

Maybe it's just the light but the bottom edge of that chip in the top right of the second picture looks blistered to me! I guess there would be a smell of fried chips if it was the case.

Uhmmm to me it looks more like residual flux or something catching the light.... If it's the PIC micro and it has blown then all is not lost as we know a guy who might be able to sort that out, don't we

 

[Starwiz]

1 hour ago, Paul M said:

Maybe it's just the light but the bottom edge of that chip in the top right of the second picture looks blistered to me! I guess there would be a smell of fried chips if it was the case.

Yes, I've just double-checked and it's the way the light is reflecting.

Thanks

John

[Starwiz]

1 hour ago, malc-c said:

Looking at the image, there is not a lot of meat on the tag that would normally be protruding through the PCB.  I know a lot of people replace the power connector with a more sturdy two pin connector, but if the mount is still inside the warranty period you wouldn't want to do that just yet.

Reflow the solder joints for now.... hopefully that was all it was that caused the loss of power. 

I've just bought a soldering iron, so hopefully I will find out soon.

John

[Starwiz]

2 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

Seems a more common fail since lead was dropped from solder IMHO.

Yes, no doubt.  Tin lead solder is more compliant so less likely to fracture (lead being a softer metal).

I went through all the pain of switching over to a lead-free process as an electronics production engineer.  🙂

John

[DaveL59]

9 minutes ago, Starwiz said:

Yes, no doubt.  Tin lead solder is more compliant so less likely to fracture (lead being a softer metal).

I went through all the pain of switching over to a lead-free process as an electronics production engineer.  🙂

John

and you don't have a soldering iron? 😮

😉

 

[Starwiz]

48 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

and you don't have a soldering iron? 😮

Ha ha ha.  I do now.  My other two soldering irons are in the loft of our UK house which we're renting out.  We could only bring so much stuff over with us when we emigrated in 2019 and I haven't been back for more than a year due to the CoVID situation.

[Starwiz]

Just to report, I've now re-soldered the connector joint while pushing on the top of the connector. There is now a leg visible on the underside. Not my best soldering as I couldn't get hold of any solder today.

The connector doesn't quite line up with the rectangular hole in the plate any more, but I can live with that and have put a piece of insulation tape over the gap.

I've powered up the mount with a laptop connected and used CdC to slew the mount. All is looking good so far.

John

[Paul M]

31 minutes ago, Starwiz said:

All is looking good so far.

Great news but you best let @malc-c know. He'll be stoking up the PIC burner as we speak.. 😍

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Excellent news, & the money saved for a replacement board, easily recoups the cost of the soldering iron, which can be used for other projects !! 

BTW, I still use lead pre-fluxed solder, as I 'inherited' a few reels of multi size, and even though I also have some of the 'new' stuff, I still prefer the old...

[DaveL59]

Same here Julian, tho am on my last reel now unfortunately.

[Nigella Bryant]

This thread got me thinking. We amateur astronomers, don't just have to know about astronomy, we also have to be, electrical engineers, computer boffs, engineers, builder's, fiberglass repairers and much much. I'm going to do a post on that to see how many life skills each of us have had to master or at least learnt something about, lol. Be interesting and all besides learning about astronomical objects. 

[steppenwolf]

18 hours ago, Starwiz said:

Just to report, I've now re-soldered the connector joint while pushing on the top of the connector. There is now a leg visible on the underside. Not my best soldering as I couldn't get hold of any solder today.

The connector doesn't quite line up with the rectangular hole in the plate any more, but I can live with that and have put a piece of insulation tape over the gap.

I've powered up the mount with a laptop connected and used CdC to slew the mount. All is looking good so far.

Well done - I love happy, low cost endings!!

[malc-c]

1 hour ago, Nigella Bryant said:

This thread got me thinking. We amateur astronomers, don't just have to know about astronomy, we also have to be, electrical engineers, computer boffs, engineers, builder's, fiberglass repairers and much much. I'm going to do a post on that to see how many life skills each of us have had to master or at least learnt something about, lol. Be interesting and all besides learning about astronomical objects. 

Well if it's other skills that relate to the astronomy hobby, mine would be soldering, coding, programming, fabrication, woodworking, and bricklaying.

Soldering, Coding and Programming - I learnt to solder to high specification as an apprentice at BAe many moons ago.  It's come in handy as along with coding and programming I've fixed five dead skywatcher motor boards for SGL members by removing the two microcontrollers, modifying the downloadable firmware and reprogramming two new micros, which were then soldering on the original PCBs...  

Fabrication - My main claim to fame was to be the first to modify an HEQ5 to belt drive, which naturally needed fabrication of spacers and adjustments to the motor housing (it was also featured in Astronomy Now !) - Rowan Astronomy overcame the one major issue I had which was maintaining the stock ratio, and the rest is history.

Woodworking, Bricklaying  - Building my observatory.  It sits on a four course dwarf wall - never laid a brick in my life before, but with the help of the guy next door, and a tool called a bricky I got the wall finished.  The rest was framework and cladding in T&G.  

So yeah, I think we learn a lot of news skills, or apply ones we use in daily life to the hobby.

[Starwiz]

On 09/01/2021 at 10:40, steppenwolf said:

Well done - I love happy, low cost endings!!

Thanks.  So do I.  🙂

[Starwiz]

On 09/01/2021 at 12:08, malc-c said:

Well if it's other skills that relate to the astronomy hobby, mine would be soldering, coding, programming, fabrication, woodworking, and bricklaying.

Soldering, Coding and Programming - I learnt to solder to high specification as an apprentice at BAe many moons ago.  It's come in handy as along with coding and programming I've fixed five dead skywatcher motor boards for SGL members by removing the two microcontrollers, modifying the downloadable firmware and reprogramming two new micros, which were then soldering on the original PCBs...  

Fabrication - My main claim to fame was to be the first to modify an HEQ5 to belt drive, which naturally needed fabrication of spacers and adjustments to the motor housing (it was also featured in Astronomy Now !) - Rowan Astronomy overcame the one major issue I had which was maintaining the stock ratio, and the rest is history.

Woodworking, Bricklaying  - Building my observatory.  It sits on a four course dwarf wall - never laid a brick in my life before, but with the help of the guy next door, and a tool called a bricky I got the wall finished.  The rest was framework and cladding in T&G.  

So yeah, I think we learn a lot of news skills, or apply ones we use in daily life to the hobby.

I learned to solder through 12 years in the R.A.F. as a ground comms engineer.  Although, I have to say I've barely picked up a soldering iron in the last 30 years or so.

Writing software came later, although mostly in high level languages.

Well done on the brick laying.

John