Brand new Celestron Avx mount wont power up and the light is dimly blinking along with the adapter.

[Stargazer1982]

I just received my brand new Celestron Avx mount 3 days ago and the very first night I had it,i was setting it up and I only got as far as setting the language.  It just abruptly stopped with absolutely nothing on the screen of HC or anything.  When I hit the switch ,the light on the mount and adapter very dimly blinks.  Is my mount dead? If a too high of voltaged adapter was used,does this pretty much guarantee that its ruined? Or has anyone seen this happen before and ended up okay? I was misinformed and I used a laptop charger that's 15v I believe.  I would think that if totally blown that it wouldn't even blink? I've got a 12v 5A adapter arriving today. I'm genuinely hoping with all of my heart that I'll get one more chance.  The store I bought it from are sold out and backordered. So I'll have to wait until they receive it back then I'll have to wait for my money to be deposited back in my account.  Then try to find another.  Any information would be appreciated.  Thank you 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

IF it was truly 15volts and not something higher, then you may have got away with just frying the input regulator, but as many laptop chargers usually come out nearer to 20volts, I suspect more damage has accrued....

[Cosmic Geoff]

I never heard of a laptop charger that did not deliver 19 volts. 😲

[johninderby]

My laptop charger is 20v (which is pretty average) and the mount will handle a maximum of 16v so not looking good. 😢

[newbie alert]

That sounds like a costly mistake.. shouldn't think it's covered by the warrenty either

[Stargazer1982]

Yeah, I'm scared myself.  My remote turns on with no problems connected to my laptop.  It says initializing. So at least I know it's ok.  But they're gonna let me return it. Theres no way I'd eat that. That's honestly the most insane thing I've ever seen as far as electronics go. Its absolutely ludacris for a 1000$ piece of equipment to be completely ruined only by using laptop charger. Why wouldn't they put s fuse in the way of the current.  I know if I created a product, I'd make sure those types of things couldn't happen so easily anyways.  I've found multiples of threads where people has done very similar things.  I would see it as a liability because you can't prove that someone done it.  So right there I'm losing money.  I just really wish I could have found the skywatcher HQ5.  I've seen masses of people online whose had nothing but electrical problems.  I wish I would've done more research.  Its probably obvious that I'm fairly new to astrophotography.  I've gained a lot of confidence in my imaging. I'm using the skywatcher star adventurer pro, canon rebel t8i, WO zenithstar61 telescope +0.8 ff,zwo120asi mini, 50mm SVBONY guide scope and of course the software Apt and PHD2.  And I'm very proud of it all. I've never been so eager to want to learn in my life.  I literally even have went back to school.  I remember seeing a goto mount for the first time and it blew my mind that they had something so amazing, so like the vast majority of us. I make a very let's just say "humble living " . So I did without many things, wouldn't eat lunch at work hardly just to be able to throw 15 or 20 bucks in the stash. I'm also an avid record collector and distributor. I was focused and so excited that I actually had one of these otw to me.  It was surreal.  Just for it to never even get used at all, very simply because of a 15-20v adapter was used instead of a 12v. And only for maybe 30 seconds.  Sorry for the rant everyone.  It may sound silly but this has broke my heart.  I'm glad to be a part of the group now. I'm just hoping for someone to say that they've been through the same thing with the light on mount/adapter to dimly blink. I've had one person say that they'd never heard of one that's really fried to blink or anything that normally it shows absolutely nothing.  Smh! I've been up all night.  This has made me physically nauseous.  Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well and being safe.  I'm sure like everything else that goes wrong.  Itll be okay, and somehow it'll work out way better in the end. Thank you all 

[Cosmic Geoff]

Without commenting directly on the original poster's experience, this should be an object lesson in being very careful when you pick up a power supply and think of plugging it into your mount.  It could be the wrong voltage, or the polarity could be wrong, or it may not supply enough current, or the plug could be not quite the correct fit, or it could be a shoddily made item that self-destructs and takes your mount electronics with it.

If you are not skilled in these matters, play safe and buy a power pack that is specifically sold for powering astro mounts.

 

[newbie alert]

Why would you plug at least 15+volts through it.. even is it was a skywatcher I'm sure it would have done the same thing.

I've seen plenty of people blow their mounts up before they've actually used them purely because the wouldn't read the instructions ...

Sorry no one to blame but yourself.. sorry to sound harsh but it's the reality

[omo]

52 minutes ago, Stargazer1982 said:

 Its absolutely ludacris for a 1000$ piece of equipment to be completely ruined only by using laptop charger. Why wouldn't they put s fuse in the way of the current.  

Can you feel your pain, however a fuse doesn't care about voltage - its the current - amps that cause it to blow. A electrical device will only draw the current  it requires, the voltage drives this current.

If you are in the uk where mains voltage is 230 to 240v what do you think your TV or Hifi would do if you plugged them into a 300v power supply - pop, fizzle and the magic smoke escapes.

That your suppliers will take this back is exceptional if you have told them exactly what happened.

[Cosmic Geoff]

It reminds me of working some years ago for a company that did warrantry repairs for a well-known manufacturer of home/small office printers.  A few customers imported USA model printers to the UK and wondered why they went pop.  Unfortunately for them, the USA models were fitted with 120 volt power supply modules, while the UK mains is 240v.  Just to complicate matters, worldwide power supplies that will work on either 120v or 240v without adjustment do exist.  But you can't assume that you have one without reading the small print.

[johninderby]

Check the label on the power supply to see if it is fit for the purpose.

 

[omo]

1 hour ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

It reminds me of working some years ago for a company that did warrantry repairs for a well-known manufacturer of home/small office printers.  A few customers imported USA model printers to the UK and wondered why they went pop.  Unfortunately for them, the USA models were fitted with 120 volt power supply modules, while the UK mains is 240v.  Just to complicate matters, worldwide power supplies that will work on either 120v or 240v without adjustment do exist.  But you can't assume that you have one without reading the small print.

Some PSU's for desktop PC's have a 120v or 240v switch, not noticing was a mistake i only made once.

The Lenovo  powerbrick above could fry a AVX regulator due to voltage but not run it, needs 3.5A @ 12v

[malc-c]

On 29/01/2021 at 11:53, Stargazer1982 said:

I just received my brand new Celestron Avx mount 3 days ago and the very first night I had it,i was setting it up and I only got as far as setting the language.  It just abruptly stopped with absolutely nothing on the screen of HC or anything.  When I hit the switch ,the light on the mount and adapter very dimly blinks.  Is my mount dead? If a too high of voltaged adapter was used,does this pretty much guarantee that its ruined? Or has anyone seen this happen before and ended up okay? I was misinformed and I used a laptop charger that's 15v I believe.  I would think that if totally blown that it wouldn't even blink? I've got a 12v 5A adapter arriving today. I'm genuinely hoping with all of my heart that I'll get one more chance.  The store I bought it from are sold out and backordered. So I'll have to wait until they receive it back then I'll have to wait for my money to be deposited back in my account.  Then try to find another.  Any information would be appreciated.  Thank you 

Sorry if this seem harsh, but it's very unfair of you to blow the mount by using an un-approved laptop power supply and then return the mount as "faulty" to the retailer for replacement or refund at no cost under what is a false warranty claim.  

As far as over voltage protection or reverse polarity prevention, I dare say that Synta could improve the designs of their motor boards to handle such things, but that would increase the cost of what is already an expensive range of products, especially if the over voltage is 60% more than the design voltage.  The power specifications for the mount are readily available on the website, and no doubt in the manual, Power Requirements:12V DC 3.5A (tip positive).  To presume that a power block for a laptop is the same without first checking was a mistake, and one IMO you should have owned up to.  As the retailer has no way of knowing if the mount was DOA they did the normal thing of repair or replacement.. Chances are they didn't lose out as they just pass it back to the importers / wholesalers, who will then determine what happened and will get a clear idea when they inspect the motor board.  Bottom line is that someone in the chain ends up swallowing the cost to the board and it's not the person who did the damage in the first place.  Granted it was not deliberate, but it was your doing.  The onus is on you to have checked the laptop power supply was suitable before plugging it into the mount.

Anyway, it hardly matters now as reading your second post it would seem the retailer has either repaired your original mount, replaced the scope with a new one, or refunded the money so you could purchase a new one.    

Sorry for the rant... but having been on the other side and had customers do this sort of thing to me in the past it touches a nerve