Solder power cable directly to circuit board

[Celerondon]

14 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

A very silly question, and very late in the day, (and I don't have one of your mounts), but does the original power socket have an internal switching mechanism, that ensures no power can 'flow' till everything is firmly seated  ???

I don’t own this particular model of mount but I can tell from the pictures that it, like most similar mounts, has an on/off switch.  As far as I know, these standard DC5521 connectors are simple plugs.  The plugs lack switching mechanisms but there is a main power switch on the mount. 
 

I might replace or even upgrade a connector, but I would never modify an existing system to solder cabling directly to a circuit board.  Any forces that are sufficient to pull a connector loose will wreak havoc at and near the sites of the soldered connections. 

Don

[malc-c]

23 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

A very silly question, and very late in the day, (and I don't have one of your mounts), but does the original power socket have an internal switching mechanism, that ensures no power can 'flow' till everything is firmly seated  ???

Julian, from my experience the only protection against reverse polarity on SW boards is a small diode or more often an ceramic bead inductor which act as a sacrificial "fuse".  Even a basic bridge rectifier could have been added to insure the rest of the board  doesn't receive inverse voltages or AC should the wrong adapter be used.  Most of the time SW are relying on the user using the correct centre positive barrel jack power supply.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

It's not reverse polarity, but a very simple mechanical switch that guarantees the outer '0v' connection, prior to inner +Ve connection as the plug is engaged..

[Chrb1985]

So nice too see this thread getting so much attention 😁 I can gladly just bow to you guys. And hope too me half as wise as you guys some day but for now I can tell you that it works. I followed your advices and I cleaned the circuitboard and resoldered the cables and dibble checked everything and it works. Just too be sure I order a new eqmod cable and a baader 12v 5amp power supply. I also ordered a primalucelab original 3amp power cable since I also followed a local electritions advice. I guess I now know that he is not that educated as it was him who told me that I had "over powered" it by using the 8amp output and cable. Anyway I guess I'll continue too use the 8amp output and the 8amp cable then. And start fresh with new eqmod cable cut to length and a fresh "good" "correct" solder job on the wires to the circuitboard plug.

Even though my pride is hurt 😂🤣 I thank you all for your advices and I thank God for my share luck in this project. I now understand that it was pure luck that I did not burn my circuitboard.

Since it all seems to be sorted out and I did get so much good help here. Mabye you guys can shed some light on one more issue? I got a dewheater ring from Celestron installed on the c11. It's connected to the eagle but it don't seem to be working at all.. in the control application it says it putting out 3v and there is no way to change that number. At least not that I could find.. from reading forums and primalucelabs documentation + their videos, it seems to meet that I need the Ecco unit too? Even though some guys report it working fine without the Ecco unit. On the dewheater ring it's 1input and one output, I guess the output is for a sensor. Do I need that anyway to make it work? I'll attach a few pictures of the dewheater ring.

Again.. thanks so much for your help.

I'll attach a few pictures of the soldering I did that worked. And hopefully I get the power supply tomorrow so I can get that part ready before the EQMOD cable comes. Than I will post the final pictures unless I mess up again 🤣😂

[bosun21]

The dew heater ring is designed to be used with the Celestron electronic controller via your laptop. The controller is expensive and not essential to use the dew ring. All you need to do is either use a standard 12v dew controller to control the power supplied to the ring. Some folk just connect a 12v DC supply to the ring and run it on maximum. Either of these methods work fine however personally I opted for a 2 channel dew controller.

[Stuart1971]

OMG look at the gauge of that wire being used and the soldering job on the revere😮😮 that’s a disaster waiting to happen, even if it work ATM…good luck your gonna need it….

I’m out now stress levels too high..😂😂😂

Edited October 12, 2023 by Stuart1971

[malc-c]

Stuart... these were my thoughts too...   Our advice has been ignored and it will only be a matter of time before some fault will arise.  Given the discussion on polarity of the wires he's used black heatshrink on BOTH wires.  I bet heatshrink manufactures wonder why they bother making heat shrink in a selection of colours including red !

I have at least three EQ6 boards that I have fixed and are awaiting swapping out under the "exchange program" set up to help other SGL members... but I would be reluctant to offer one when the OP has messed about with it in this way.

Edited October 12, 2023 by malc-c

[Chrb1985]

4 hours ago, bosun21 said:

The dew heater ring is designed to be used with the Celestron electronic controller via your laptop. The controller is expensive and not essential to use the dew ring. All you need to do is either use a standard 12v dew controller to control the power supplied to the ring. Some folk just connect a 12v DC supply to the ring and run it on maximum. Either of these methods work fine however personally I opted for a 2 channel dew controller.

I understand. But the eagle can't power it? I really hate the idea of loose ends.. but many I can use the spare 12v eagle cable for that? Cut and splice and power the dew heater with that port/output? I can adjust the Amp from 3-5 if that matters?

 

[Chrb1985]

29 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Stuart... these were my thoughts too...   Our advice has been ignored and it will only be a matter of time before some fault will arise.  Given the discussion on polarity of the wires he's used black heatshrink on BOTH wires.  I bet heatshrink manufactures wonder why they bother making heat shrink in a selection of colours including red !

I have at least three EQ6 boards that I have fixed and are awaiting swapping out under the "exchange program" set up to help other SGL members... but I would be reluctant to offer one when the OP has messed about with it in this way.

Hmm Ive been pretty humble up to this point. If that's the only mod I'm doing to this circuit board. And never plan to touch it again. What does the color on the heat shrinkers matter?

And is it s problem to use that thick wires? I followed a other post on this forum when I decided on cables. Can you tell my again what I'm risking here?

[bosun21]

41 minutes ago, Chrb1985 said:

I understand. But the eagle can't power it? I really hate the idea of loose ends.. but many I can use the spare 12v eagle cable for that? Cut and splice and power the dew heater with that port/output? I can adjust the Amp from 3-5 if that matters?

 

You can either power it directly with the 12v output from the eagle but it will be running at 100% all the time. I would place a dew controller into the circuit to allow the ON/OFF of the heater to be controlled by the Eagle and the power supplied to the ring controlled by the dew controller setting. I wouldn’t splice it with the power cable supplying the mount. If you have a spare 12v output on the Eagle use that.

Edited October 12, 2023 by bosun21

[knobby]

2 hours ago, Chrb1985 said:

Hmm Ive been pretty humble up to this point. If that's the only mod I'm doing to this circuit board. And never plan to touch it again. What does the color on the heat shrinkers matter?

And is it s problem to use that thick wires? I followed a other post on this forum when I decided on cables. Can you tell my again what I'm risking here?

You're probably right about not touching it again, but if you ever sell it or have to repair it, it would be good to know which is + and - hence the red heat shrink.

The thickness of the wire will mean stiffness which could result in the tracking being pulled off the board when bending the wires to fit back into the mount.

But keep at it, you're doing surprisingly well 🙂

 

[malc-c]

7 hours ago, Chrb1985 said:

Hmm Ive been pretty humble up to this point. If that's the only mod I'm doing to this circuit board. And never plan to touch it again. What does the color on the heat shrinkers matter?

And is it s problem to use that thick wires? I followed a other post on this forum when I decided on cables. Can you tell my again what I'm risking here?

In an earlier post you needed help on identifying the positive wire from the power jack.  Red typically indicates the positive supply, so if you had used red heat shrink it could help you at a later date or as has been mentioned if the mount is sold and the next owner needs to service the mount. 

Thick wires... have more mass and thus put more strain on the thin copper pads, which on these boards is just 34um (or just 0.0034 cm) thick.  Thick wires also have a larger area in contact with the copper pads so it's more prone to being lifted, and is the reason designers fit sockets or header pins as the terminals are soldered through the board, thus providing a mechanical means of support.  I've not looked back through the thread to see why those wires are so thick, but seeing that at most the mount draws about 2 to 3 Amps there is no need for that gauge of wire to be used.  16/02 (sixteen strands of 0.2mm twisted) is rated at 3 amps ( often stated at a 1000v, which is irrelevant as 3 amps is 3 amps at any voltage)  and has an outer diameter of 1.6mm including the outer PVC covering.