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Synscan GOTO frustations

johnrt

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johnrt

johnrt

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Have you checked the power pack? Made sure it is fully charged and pumping out 12+ V & can provide sufficient power?

Mine worked fine up till I did the upgrade, then it was downhill all the way. I notice that the weird stuff tends happen when the little red light by the on/off switch on the mount is flashing - that means the power is not at 100%.

I have a 12v power converter on order to get round this.

M.

I have had the power tank on charge overnight.

There is an option under "utility function/show information/power voltage" which says the supply is 12.5 volts. So I don't think the problem is there.

Power pack is the Maplin 4 in 1

:)

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SteveP

SteveP

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John

The altitude looks about right which like AB leaves me stumped.

If it is a power issue as MM suggests, is there a red on-off light? If so, they dim or flash if they have insufficient current.

I have a wacky idea going through my head. The mount seems to be properly pointing north towards the NCP, it has the correct HS settings, it has the correct Home co-ords, it's Goto'ing to the correct co-ords yet finishes up short of where it should be. Is it possible that the gearing of the mount has been reduced? That is, when Synscan converts the Goto co-ords and instructs the motor, the gearing takes it somewhere else, ie short of the expected position?

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MishMich

MishMich

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OK, I thought mine was fully charged, but it started doing weird stuff. I found that when I was tuning mine night before last, it ran down a freshly charged battery in about 40 minutes. Check the power output at the battery - it needs to deliver (on an HEQ5, not sure about an EQ5) at least 2 amps. Amps is as important as volts. Using Synscan seems to drain it quick. And do check whether the light is flashing at the front of the mount. Powerpacks wear out, it seems.

Steve, the motors on the HEQ5 come with new drive cogs, with a slightly different gearing from the original, as far as I recall they were the same size and ratio. Not sure if this is the same for the EQ5.

M.

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SteveP

SteveP

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One last thought, (MM's last post reminded me) when I got my new mount last year - a Gemini controlled mount - I connected the Dec and RA motors the wrong way round and had a very strange GoTo despite what the handset was saying. It was sending Dec commands to the RA motor and vice versa. Is that possible with your 'add-on' kit?

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Hmmm well the mount doesnt need to be level. An EQ mount will cancel out leveling errors.

That leaves only a few possibilities

1/ motors/control board is screwed (possible but eeeeeeeh I dont know)

2/ Theres some bizarre software problem (unlikely in this case)

3/ Something isnt installed right (almost certainly wher its falling down)

I have seen an EQ5 upgrade kit but only briefly - are you sure all the gears are assembled properly ? I seem to recall you have to change one of the gear wheels but my memory is a bit hazy on it espcially as the instructions that came with it werent great (my sis bought it to upgrade an EQ3-2 by accident - then the dealer went bust so we couldnt return it - great eh ?)

Anyway I seem to recall some of the gear wheels needed changing in the kit.

I'm whacked so need some sleep - I'll have a think tomoz.

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MishMich

MishMich

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I just went through mine, checking the motors were correctly installed and connected, and I remembered something that bothered me when I installed the control board. It attaches to the mount with two screws, and the circuit board is held apart from the housing by two thin nylon washers. I had a look, and the exposed joints on the underside of the board stand quite proud of the board, and may have been connecting with the metal housing. May be irrelevant. I cut up a bag some PC memory was shipped in, and slipped two widths of sheet between the housing and the circuit board. Maybe not an issue, but it didn't look healthy to me, and doesn't hurt to eliminate anything that might cause a problem. When I did the upgrade I was surprised that these kits shipped like that, but assumed it must be OK - several of the joints stand 1/10" proud of the board, and I doubt there's much more room than 1/10" between the board and the housing. It did look like they were connecting with the housing, and I had quite a job wiggling the electrostatic protective sheets between the joints and the housing where they seemed to touch.

I did a trial one-star alignment from the park position, and it looked to me like it was going roughly where I'd expect Betelgeuse to be, and then slewed to where I'd expect Sirius and then Aldeberan to be in relation to it. Without access to a clear sky that's the best I can do. I checked with Stellarium after, and it does look like it was pointing in the right places.

This might explain some of the other issues I've had (battery flattening, mysterious smoke, etc. - all could be explicable by a short somewhere, which no doubt would have an effect on general operation). Again, this is an HEQ5 - perhaps worth checking to see if there is a similar issue on the EQ5? I checked the battery output while it was running - 12.5 to 12.8 volts, until I switched the attached torchlight on - then it dropped down to 11v. I noticed this when i attached the EOS to the battery, the power to the mount drops as soon as you try doing anything else with these power packs.

M.

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Marmite

Marmite

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Although this is probably unrelated to the OP's problem, since the subject of batteries came up I thought I'd harp on again...

1. Buy a brand new battery of adequate capacity from a reputable dealer. Used batteries, no matter who or what is doing the donating, should be avoided.

2. Buy a regulated charger and charge your shiny new battery until the charger indicates it is fully charged, or your voltmeter says it is (~14V), and/or your current meter agrees. (Input to battery from charger reading in the low mA region.)

3. Use your freshly charged battery, discharging no more than 50% max. at the stipulated rate, as suggested by the battery manufacturer. (The key here is "Always buy a battery with adequate capacity"...)

4. Immediately recharge the battery with your regulated charger. Check the voltages and current.

Follow these steps and your battery will love you long time.

Now, back to the thread...

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johnrt

johnrt

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Fixed!

I had installed the gears wrongly. The wheel on the motor has 2 sizes of teeth. I had lined up the big size on both motors. Should be the second smaller set of teeth that mesh with the cog on the spindle.

So obviously the program knew the correct amount of revolutions to make on the gears but as the gear ratio was higher this resulted in too much travel and the scope pointing at the wrong area of sky.

I feel a little silly now, but hey, it's not like the gears were even mentioned in the instructions!

So pleased to have it sorted.

Thank you everyone who has taken the time to help me get this sorted throughout the thread!!

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MishMich

MishMich

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That's good to know, and at least it led me to go and check mine was installed correctly. My power pack has never worked properly since doing the upgrade. My 12v power supply arrived today. So, hopefully that and insulating the circuit board will have fixed any of my problems. Time definitely well spent, so thanks for bringing it up.

M.

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Cornelius Varley

Cornelius Varley

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Fixed!

I had installed the gears wrongly. The wheel on the motor has 2 sizes of teeth. I had lined up the big size on both motors. Should be the second smaller set of teeth that mesh with the cog on the spindle.

So obviously the program knew the correct amount of revolutions to make on the gears but as the gear ratio was higher this resulted in too much travel and the scope pointing at te wrong area of sky.

I feel I little silly now, but hey, it's not like the gears were even mentioned in the instructions!

So pleased to have it sorted.

Thank you everyone who has taken the time to help me get this sorted throughout the thread!!

Same with the instructions on the goto conversion for the EQ3-2. Luckily the locationn for each gear wheel was fairly obvious but could cause problems like yours. It is probably best to read the instructions then do the opposite. Glad to hear that it is all sorted.

Peter

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johnrt

johnrt

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Just having a warm drink in from the cold!

I have to say I'm pretty made up. Did a 2 star alignment on Procyon & Capella (successful) then asked for a slew to M31 and it put it within my field of view with the 25mm eyepiece. Magic.

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omneferuss

omneferuss

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BINGO! johnrt, I'd done the same... now we know why the new EQ5's come with preinstalled motors!

the upgrade motor for RA has no locating-jig whatsoever, and attaches by one 3" allen-key bolt that slops in a hole thru' from the back of the mount.. originally, holding the motor inplace and tightening until no apparent play left, it seemed that the larger cog lined up with the one on the wormshaft.. but now, forewarned I deliberately aligned the smaller of the motor's cogs and retightened...

Yet to test drive it, but evidence of wear on the cogs shows they were misaligned before, and I have every confidence it's problem fixed !! ;)

CHEERS ;)

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johnrt

johnrt

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I'm happy this has helped someone else along side myself.

When installing both motors it felt to me like that 2 larger set of teeth married up easier than the smaller set on the motor wheel. It just felt and looked right.

I wonder how many other people this has flummoxed?

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MishMich

MishMich

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Can you post an image showing these? I am thinking, why? If there are two cogs, and only one is used, then why are there two cogs? Or is it that the motors used on both axes are the same, but differentiate their rate by using the different cogs?

M.

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