SkyWatcher EQ5 motor controller

[JohnH_BC]

Does anyone have a schematic for this motor controller?  It looks like it is pre-ARM (no USB connector on the case).  I would like to add over-voltage protection on the 12vdc input (and repair the current input power components).

Thanks.

[malc-c]

Regretfully there are no official schematics for any of the Synta Synscan controller boards.  Some like the MC004 found in Dobs have been reversed engineered by some cleaver folk, but the schematics are not guaranteed to be 100% correct .  That board you have looks to be an old revision as the microcontroller of choice prior to the migration to ARM based processors was the 16F886's.

No expert in electronic design, but I do know that from repairing dozens of control boards there is very little protection (if any) built into the boards.  A simple arrangement of a couple of diodes would protect against reverse polarity, so why this wasn't part of the design I never know.