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EQ6-R Pro cable "burn" and ASIAIR Pro issues?


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Hello,

Recently I purchased the following equipment:
 

  • EQ6-R Pro Mount (from RVO)
    • Lynx Astro 12v DC 5amp Low Noise Mains Power Supply (from FLO)
    • Lynx Astro C13 to UK Mains Cable (from FLO)
    • Lynx Astro Silicone Power Cable 2.1mm DC Socket to GX12-2 DC Jack (from FLO)
  • William Optics Zenithstar 73 - 2019 with Flattener (from a genetleman in this forum)
  • ASIAIR Pro (from ebay)
  • Canon EOS 1100D with IR Filter removed (from a gentleman in this forum)
  • ZWO asi120mm mini guidecam

So today that I received the asiair I thought: the sky is somewhat clear, why not try to get everything connected and see what issues I come up with? Cause sure enough I'll have small issues I'll need to overcome.
I get everything connected, except the guide camera because I need to order a saddle) in the garden and turn everything on. I connect to ASIAIR Pro with my tablet and I choose EQMod, the DSLR doesn't get recognised. It says None. DSLR is on and on Manual mode so I'm confused as to why it can't be recognised. I turn everything off and on several times.
Then I thought WTH let's try to setup the mount anyway. I set Baud to 115200 as advised and it's not letting me connect. I turn everything off and on a couple of times again.
Then I smell a something burning... I look at the mount, the button is ON but the light is off.
I took the whole setup back inside the house and it turns out the Lynx Astro Silicone Power Cable 2.1mm DC Socket to GX12-2 DC Jack (from FLOsmells burnt.

After half an hour of being REALLY stressed, I thought of testing the mount with its original cable in the car's cigarette socket. Thankfully it turned on in there and the mount is ok.
Cable is cooked though apparently.

I am really confused!!!!!!!! I am obviously a newbie with that stuff. I need suggestions of what I need to buy, a power tank is better than plugging it into a socket with a 12v power supply?

Why did the freaking cable get cooked?

What should I have done for Asiair pro to recognise my dslr which is supposedly supported?

So many questions!!!

 

Thanks and sorry for the long story. Sad day as I was really looking forward to at least "get somewhere" with a few issues that could arise today.

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In FLOs defence they don't claim the silicone power cable is compatible with the ASIAIR Pro.  They do state that the cable is unfused, and you need to check with the manufactures of the equipment you are intending to use.

Quote

Suitable for powering your mount or other compatible accessory from a Lynx Astro 4-port dew controller or Hitec Astro dew controller.

Each lead is individually tested for electrical continuity, shorts and power load during manufacture. 

Please check your product's manual for use and suitability. 

Please note: These cables are unfused. Please ensure your controller or PSU has a suitable fuse or circuit breaker to protect your mount's electronics. We accept no responsibility for equipment damaged as a result of using an incorrect cable, incorrect power orientation or connection without a suitable fuse.

But with the emphasis in that each cable is checked and tested then you would expect that there would be no fault with it that would cause it to get hot.  When something gets hot it's down to either a short, high resistance or far more current being drawn through the wire than the wire is rated at.  The fact that mount worked without issue after using the standard 12v cable after is a good sign as it means no damage has been done to the motor board.  The fact the LED wasn't on suggests that power wasn't actually getting to the mount, and as the silicone power cable got warm would suggest that it has a fault that prevented the current reaching the mount.  As the mount was unpowered it would not be possible to establish connection through the serial port.

I would suggest you contact FLO and aske them for a RMA number and return the cable to them for inspection.   But there could also be a compatibility issue, in that the polarity of the outlet of the AISAIR may have its pins reversed so in essence the reverse polarity protection of the mount saved the motor board, but effectively shorted out the supply form the AISAIR unit...  A simple digital volt meter could be used to test which pin is 12v and that the corresponding socket on the cable is the centre port of the 2.1mm connector and not the barrel 

 

Edited by malc-c
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OK first relax, seems no major damage has occurred and you are dealing with reputable suppliers and brands.

  •     The EQ6 mount may have a USB port on it which can be used with a simple USB printer cable - but the Asiair Pro does not have a driver that recognises all of the EQ6 mounts due to updates to the mount, ZWO provide an update to fix this (it's a kernel update in the Raspberry Pi inside the Asiair).  This uses baud rate 115200.
  •     If you have an eqmod/eqdir cable that uses baud 9600 not 115200
  •     The DSLR needs certain settings to be spotted by the Asiair as per the manual
    •         Camera Mode: M
              Shutter Mode: Bulb
              Image Format: RAW (RAW + JPEG not available)
              Image Quality: L (maximum size)
              In addition turn off any any power saving mode or long exposure noise reduction. If
              using a DSLR camera with mirror lock functions you should also turn these functions off.
    •     Check the PSU is working as that is fused (if have you a multi-meter to check it). The Lynx Astro Silicone Power Cable 2.1mm DC Socket to GX12-2 DC Jack has no protection as FLO warn on the product page so if a fuse was blown it may be the psu. Or were you powering the mount via the Asiair?

You'll get plenty of help here to assist in setting up once the fault has been rectified.

 

 

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32 minutes ago, malc-c said:

In FLOs defence they don't claim the silicone power cable is compatible with the ASIAIR Pro.  They do state that the cable is unfused, and you need to check with the manufactures of the equipment you are intending to use.

But with the emphasis in that each cable is checked and tested then you would expect that there would be no fault with it that would cause it to get hot.  When something gets hot it's down to either a short, high resistance or far more current being drawn through the wire than the wire is rated at.  The fact that mount worked without issue after using the standard 12v cable after is a good sign as it means no damage has been done to the motor board.  The fact the LED wasn't on suggests that power wasn't actually getting to the mount, and as the silicone power cable got warm would suggest that it has a fault that prevented the current reaching the mount.  As the mount was unpowered it would not be possible to establish connection through the serial port.

I would suggest you contact FLO and aske them for a RMA number and return the cable to them for inspection.   But there could also be a compatibility issue, in that the polarity of the outlet of the AISAIR may have its pins reversed so in essence the reverse polarity protection of the mount saved the motor board, but effectively shorted out the supply form the AISAIR unit...  A simple digital volt meter could be used to test which pin is 12v and that the corresponding socket on the cable is the centre port of the 2.1mm connector and not the barrel 

 

Thank you for all the information. I used the cable to power the mount and not the ASIAIR Pro. If it was the ASIAIR I wouldn't have been stressed as much due to the price difference of ASIAIR and EQ6-R.
Thankfully the mount seems to be ok though. I used the cable with Lynx Astro 12v DC 5amp Low Noise Mains Power Supply after reading somewhere a suggestion of these products.
I will contact @FLO and see if I can get the cable replaced. I am wondering though, if the cable is replaced will everything be ok? Did I do something wrong I wasn't supposed to do or was it the cable's "fault"?
I'll post a pic to show in a bit

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23 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

OK first relax, seems no major damage has occurred and you are dealing with reputable suppliers and brands.

  •     The EQ6 mount may have a USB port on it which can be used with a simple USB printer cable - but the Asiair Pro does not have a driver that recognises all of the EQ6 mounts due to updates to the mount, ZWO provide an update to fix this (it's a kernel update in the Raspberry Pi inside the Asiair).  This uses baud rate 115200.
  •     If you have an eqmod/eqdir cable that uses baud 9600 not 115200
  •     The DSLR needs certain settings to be spotted by the Asiair as per the manual
    •         Camera Mode: M
              Shutter Mode: Bulb
              Image Format: RAW (RAW + JPEG not available)
              Image Quality: L (maximum size)
              In addition turn off any any power saving mode or long exposure noise reduction. If
              using a DSLR camera with mirror lock functions you should also turn these functions off.
    •     Check the PSU is working as that is fused (if have you a multi-meter to check it). The Lynx Astro Silicone Power Cable 2.1mm DC Socket to GX12-2 DC Jack has no protection as FLO warn on the product page so if a fuse was blown it may be the psu. Or were you powering the mount via the Asiair?

You'll get plenty of help here to assist in setting up once the fault has been rectified.

 

 

Woah thank you SO much! All this makes perfect sense!!! I will look for ASIAIR firmware that covers this mount and I will make sure the camera has these settings.
I really appreciate you taking the time to inform me!!!

Regarding the cables, I'll post a pic in a few mins to show how they were connected.

Vasilis

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41 minutes ago, malc-c said:

In FLOs defence they don't claim the silicone power cable is compatible with the ASIAIR Pro.  They do state that the cable is unfused, and you need to check with the manufactures of the equipment you are intending to use.

But with the emphasis in that each cable is checked and tested then you would expect that there would be no fault with it that would cause it to get hot.  When something gets hot it's down to either a short, high resistance or far more current being drawn through the wire than the wire is rated at.  The fact that mount worked without issue after using the standard 12v cable after is a good sign as it means no damage has been done to the motor board.  The fact the LED wasn't on suggests that power wasn't actually getting to the mount, and as the silicone power cable got warm would suggest that it has a fault that prevented the current reaching the mount.  As the mount was unpowered it would not be possible to establish connection through the serial port.

I would suggest you contact FLO and aske them for a RMA number and return the cable to them for inspection.   But there could also be a compatibility issue, in that the polarity of the outlet of the AISAIR may have its pins reversed so in essence the reverse polarity protection of the mount saved the motor board, but effectively shorted out the supply form the AISAIR unit...  A simple digital volt meter could be used to test which pin is 12v and that the corresponding socket on the cable is the centre port of the 2.1mm connector and not the barrel 

 

 

29 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

OK first relax, seems no major damage has occurred and you are dealing with reputable suppliers and brands.

  •     The EQ6 mount may have a USB port on it which can be used with a simple USB printer cable - but the Asiair Pro does not have a driver that recognises all of the EQ6 mounts due to updates to the mount, ZWO provide an update to fix this (it's a kernel update in the Raspberry Pi inside the Asiair).  This uses baud rate 115200.
  •     If you have an eqmod/eqdir cable that uses baud 9600 not 115200
  •     The DSLR needs certain settings to be spotted by the Asiair as per the manual
    •         Camera Mode: M
              Shutter Mode: Bulb
              Image Format: RAW (RAW + JPEG not available)
              Image Quality: L (maximum size)
              In addition turn off any any power saving mode or long exposure noise reduction. If
              using a DSLR camera with mirror lock functions you should also turn these functions off.
    •     Check the PSU is working as that is fused (if have you a multi-meter to check it). The Lynx Astro Silicone Power Cable 2.1mm DC Socket to GX12-2 DC Jack has no protection as FLO warn on the product page so if a fuse was blown it may be the psu. Or were you powering the mount via the Asiair?

You'll get plenty of help here to assist in setting up once the fault has been rectified.

 

 

248418894_287697856410797_4281412293460734431_n.thumb.jpg.a500623ce22cb56939b6912071b45bff.jpg

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/lynx-astro-12v-dc-5amp-low-noise-mains-power-supply.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-cables-leads-accessories/lynx-astro-silicone-power-cable-21mm-dc-socket-to-gx12-2-dc-jack.html

and the part that smells burnt is this:

248265892_2150234218464132_7302762513367905213_n.thumb.jpg.0589fe6cbe7441d2d8a5bd5a8c3d1d6f.jpg

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I had the same problem with that cable - I noticed the burning smell before the mount was even swtitched on so I disconnected at the mains pretty sharpish. The mount was fine when I reverted back to the stock cable and a PSU with cigarette lighter adapter from Harrisons Telescopes. The cable went back to FLO for checking a few weeks ago and I haven't heard back. I've lost confidence in that cable so won't be using it. BTW how are you connecting the EQ6R Pro to the AAP - EQMOD cable or USB? I could not get the USB working having loaded the EQ6R specific firmware to the AAP from ZWO (wouldn't boot), EQMOD works like a dream and I'm very pleased with the mount.

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17 minutes ago, GoldTop57 said:

I had the same problem with that cable - I noticed the burning smell before the mount was even swtitched on so I disconnected at the mains pretty sharpish. The mount was fine when I reverted back to the stock cable and a PSU with cigarette lighter adapter from Harrisons Telescopes. The cable went back to FLO for checking a few weeks ago and I haven't heard back. I've lost confidence in that cable so won't be using it. BTW how are you connecting the EQ6R Pro to the AAP - EQMOD cable or USB? I could not get the USB working having loaded the EQ6R specific firmware to the AAP from ZWO (wouldn't boot), EQMOD works like a dream and I'm very pleased with the mount.

I appreciate you replying. It looks like I need to get in touch with Flo about it. I am glad it seems I haven't done anything wrong and it's the cable at fault, basically.
I connected the EQ6-R to ASIAIR Pro via USB but it didn't seem to work. I guess an EQDir cable will do the trick?

Can you please recommend a PSU adapter I can use with the original stock cable?

Thank you :)

Vasilis

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Hi I bought this and it works fine: https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/universal-mains-telescope-power-supply.html#SID=1667 

I also got this from Rother Valley: https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/rvo-ftdi-eqmod-direct-adaptor-for-skywatcher-mounts.html you need to set the baud rate to 9600.

Hope you get everything sorted.

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3 minutes ago, GoldTop57 said:

Hi I bought this and it works fine: https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/universal-mains-telescope-power-supply.html#SID=1667 

I also got this from Rother Valley: https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/rvo-ftdi-eqmod-direct-adaptor-for-skywatcher-mounts.html you need to set the baud rate to 9600.

Hope you get everything sorted.

Thank you very much for the recommendations 🙏 

It’s great help for me and I appreciate it!

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