EQ5 Dual Axis Motor Kit & Mod

[TopHouse]

After struggling with the control knobs on my newly aquired EQ5 I decided to go for the dual axis motor kit.

First impressions were quite good, packaging was second to none and the motors felt heavy enough to do the job. There are gears that you have to attach where the knobs would normally fit onto the controls of your EQ5, these are slid over the control 'stalks' and fixed with an allen grub screw, there is an extension 'stalk' on them so that you can fit the original knobs back on as well. There is also a quick release clutch on both fixings to enable you to revert to manual control.

The RA motor actually sits enclosed within the plastic shroud on the EQ5, looking at the pictures will illustrate this, anyone inspecting the 'empty plastic box' attached to their EQ5 will see it has a hole in the back, this is where one of the motor 'connectors' is supposed to fit, I say 'supposed' because after fitting the motor and re-fitting the cover, it actually doesn't line up too well, another user has also noted this, however, my modification doesn't even use this hole.

The other slight hitch I noted with mine (I checked with another user who didn't have this problem) was that the enclosed allen head bolt supplied with mine to fix the DEC motor was actually 5mm too short and resulted in me having to go out and buy one.

Another hitch, or should I say design flaw, is the socket on the DEC motor where the controller attaches, I do feel this is too delicate and wouldn't be surprised if anyone had succeeded in snapping this off, I'd actually like to have seen the DEC motor enclosed in a plastic box with the connector fixed to the case, providing some support.

Minor niggles, the battery pack/holder seemed rather cheap and took away from the overall quality of the complete item, a very tacky looking plastic pouch containing a very cheap nylon battery holder for the four D cells.

Although I sound quite negative above, overall I'm actually pleased with the item, quality of the actuall motors and gearing which after all is the importand part, is quite good, as is the control box which allows standard tracking as well as x2 x4 and x8 speeds for adjustment in both axes, however even 8x is rather slow.

MODIFICATION

As an ex electrician, ex RAF electronics engineer and now DJ, I hate straggly wires, the controller in effect has 3 wires going into it, two from the motors which are at opposite sides of the mount, and one from the battery case. I'm still thinking of ideas to complete this, I thought of shrink tubing the two motor wires together but i think this may end up being too stiff. But what I have so far is described below in photos.

The first photo shows the mount with the DEC motor attached, you can see the offending connector which is better illustrated in pic 2

Pic 3 shows the gearing, illustrating the silver knurled 'clutch' and then the original knob replaced.

Pic 4 shows the 'shroud' on the EQ 5, the RA motor fits inside here, the hole in the back is where the connector 'should' be positioned and if used, where the cable to the motor would exit. You can also 'vaguely' see what I've done with mine.

With mine I drilled 3 holes in the black plastic 'grommet', 2 small ones to allow a cable tie to be threaded through, and another for the cable from the RA to be fed out. I also took the DEC cable, allowing sufficient slack to allow the movement of the head not to tear it apart and cable tied this in with the first cable. Pic 5 shows this. The reason for doing this in the black grommet is that if it needs to be removed, only the small grommet is attached to the cables.

I have a pic showing a little more but the forum wont let me add another pic to this post so will add it in a reply. I can't comment on use of this yet as I haven't used it, but overall, niggles aside, and after straining to reach for the manual knobs round a 200P I would definitely recommend them.

[TopHouse]

Overall picture, the last picture i have showing the tidier cabling along with the slack allowed for head movement. That's it for my first review and mod tip, hope you like it.

[Bizibilder]

Hi Tophouse and thank you for the review. I have an EQ5 and intend motorising it very soon - so a couple of questions: The "clutch" you mention - I assume that this unscrews(?) to allow use of the RA slow motion knob? and (probably a stupid question!) but I assume that you can still operate the axis locks with the motors attached ie undo the lock and swing the scope around for "rough" alignment? or do you now have to use "fast slew" all the time? (Having re-read your post it seems that you have to undo BOTH the axis lock AND the clutch to do a "manual" slew?

Thanks again for the notes.

[TopHouse]

No, the clutches unscrew, it basically just disengages the motors and allows you to use the slow motion screws manually. You dont have to use the clutches to operate manually, ie unlocking and swinging manually, imagine it, when you swing manually, your slowmo knobs aren't whizzing round when you do it.

BUT

I've just come in for a warm, am currently waiting for mars to come over my rooftop, and have been using the motors, I would STILL buy a pair of the flexible extenders for the knobs, you know the ones that put the controls on the end of flexible stalks. The motors are fantastic for hunting around once you've got a landmark so to speak. Once you're in 'the area' the motors are FANTASTIC!

I'm having a brilliant time out there tonight, I can't feel my feet though!

[TopHouse]

Well, after an absolutely freezing 4+ hours with the scope tonight, I'm going to give a major thumbs up to the motor kit, GOTO it aint, but I wasn't expecting it to be, but it tracks nicely, and it also is brilliant for searching around objects instead of giving yourself multiple hernias, slipped disks and a very funny walk from trying to contort yourself around a scope, whilst having one eye in the eyepiece, hugging the tube trying to reach and fumble for the slowmo knobs, it even did a reasonable job of tracking mars, with just little nudges on the buttons now and again, when i tried mars before the motors i thought it was on amphetamines! Very very highly recommended.

[Bizibilder]

Thanks for the info Tophouse - I see you're HOOKED!!

[Rusty Strings]

I installed the motors on my eq5 a couple of years ago and I indeed found the socket on the DEC motor very vunerable, so much so that on one occasion the I snicked it off whilst manually slew the scope. I did manage to fix ok and now I'm more carefull withit

John

[TopHouse]

Yep, it's definitely a design flaw and seems so obvious i can't understand why it's like that!

[darkly]

Nice one.

I've had my eye on this mod, planning on getting it late this year / early next year. But, the pics and descriptions never really show what was involved and what it would look like which is always a bit disconcerting - didn't want to get into something I couldn't finish if you catch my drift.

Seeing as EQ5's are so popular maybe this review should be a sticky, or a basis for one at any rate because I'm sure I'm not the only one who has wondered whether to upgrade or not.

One question, when I finally upgrade, my EQ5 willbe on a pier and I'm not planning on using battery power, does anyone have a suggestion as to what would be the best power supply, Maplins do a few but, I was wondering if anyone out there had a preferred item.

It wouldn't be a bad idea in fact to build up a data base of popular items and suitable power supplies, it would save newbies like myself a bit of research when planning ahead if we knew in advance what was guaranteed to work and what wasn't.

Just a thought.

Cheers for the review.

[darkly]

I probably shouldn't have gone off topic like that (above), apologies.

My senile mind tends to wonder when left to my own devices in the early hours ;-) I should really be working, but SGL is sooo much more interesting he he he ...

[sbooder]

It is not too pretty, but here is my solution for the Dec motor flimsy connector.

I unscrewed it from the top of the motor and taped the circuit board bit to the end of the motor barrel, and then cut a L shaped piece of plastic from and old dsl micro filter and slipped it between the back of the connector and the butt end of the barrel with the bottom bit of the L supporting the underside of the connector. It seems to work well and dose not snag during tracking or slewing.

(Edit),

I forgot to mention that the knob above the motor on the mount is in place of the hex nut. I found that the contact between the cogs can vary when the scope is at different positions, and instead of getting the Allen key out every time, it was easier to undo then do up a knob.