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8 Pin DIN Lead

haitch

By haitch
in DIY Astronomer

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haitch

haitch

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I've been getting some dodgy movement from my Dec axis on my DK-3 motors (direct clones of the Vixen motors, older ones of which are 8 pin too I think) and same as go on Bresser's version of the EQ5).

Having tracked it down to the cable where it goes into the plug at the end where it attaches to the motor I've removed the plug but had to butcher it being of the moulded type and so now I need to replace it.

Looking around on Ebay I can find a couple of 8 pin DIN plugs for under £2 posted but I've decided I'm not keen on the current cables as they seem quite hard when they have been out in the cold for a while so I thought I would see if I can pick up some better quality replacemnt leads with plugs already on (or 1 long lead with a plug each end that i can chop in 2) but I can't find any ready made leads except for really expensive ones specific to particular car audio systems.

If push comes to shove I'll make my own up but liked the idea of only having to solder one end so does anyone know anywhere I might get some at a decent price? (Maplins only seem to have 5 pin)

Thanks in anticipation

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haitch

haitch

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I order from them fairly often ( infact earlier today) have a trade account .... I might be able to slip a few on the bottom of the next order if its any help...

I am on the case with 8 way extraflex... have you got any idea of how much current it needs to carry?

Billy...

Thanks, greatly appreciated - I'll be having a play with it this evening as I've found some instructions on adding a guide port so I'll get the multimeter on it then.

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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I need to speak to the "boss" tomorrow about placing a fairly chunky order on them so I'll add them on the bottom...

I Haven't come up with much in the way of cheap 8 way extraflex... did find the 8 way curly telephone leads but they wont carry much current without a significant voltage drop...

Billy...

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haitch

haitch

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Martin thanks for that - when I tried searching it just kept throwing up 5 pin.

Yesyes I should have made it clear it's the full size ones I'm after but thanks anyhow. Fullsize 8 pin on a cable seems non-existent.

Billy, I can see some motors use what looks like phone lead but I think they slew slower than these at 32x. Anyway I'll test them later. Have you got a paypal account I can send payment via?

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haitch

haitch

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I take it you are an electronics junkie?

That's a really kind offer it just seems a lot of trouble for you when I've got a Maplins 10 mins up the road!

Btw is the username a reference to your musical preferences? Although i was a bit more towards the goth scene I spent a fair part of my youth flailing on the dance floor to The Cramps and the Meteors myself.

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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I design and build electronic gizmos for my sins .. currently doing several thousand solder joints a day to save putting the production outside the company...

Nah its a long and forum unfriendly explanation... but basically I needed a middle initial for the document control system many moons ago so PS became PBS and due to my "activities" I was Christened PsychoBillySkank... and I liked it so even my Personalised plate is "PBS"

Billy...

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haitch

haitch

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I design and build electronic gizmos for my sins .. currently doing several thousand solder joints a day to save putting the production outside the company...

Nah its a long and forum unfriendly explanation... but basically I needed a middle initial for the document control system many moons ago so PS became PBS and due to my "activities" I was Christened PsychoBillySkank... and I liked it so even my Personalised plate is "PBS"

Billy...

I shall know who to call on when I'm struggling with electronics now :)

Discovered by multimeter battery was flat and I don't have another lying around. It seems to work for voltage, so I've been able to confirm which wire goes to which pin from the handbox, but it doesn't seem to want to play for current.

Anyhow, looking at the connections inside the handbox there are only 4 of the pins connected so that might widen my search for cable (unfortunately one of them is to the centre pin so I couldn't move to a 5 pin plug)

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haitch

haitch

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Well I soldered the remains of the old plug back onto the cable having trimmed it down to remove the section i thought was damaged and having played with it some more I'm starting to wonder if there isn't something up with the circuit board.

Either of the motors works perfectly and predictably when connected to the RA channel but acts erratically when connected to the Dec. It will choose to go either backwards or forwards using either button and sometimes refuses to move altogether (even when removed from the mount so no force to stop it moving). I find a quick push on the cog can then sometimes kick start it or reverse it's direction if going the wrong way.

Does anyone know much about stepper motors and what might be causing these symptoms? I'm guessing it's either one of the PIC (if that's what they are?) chips on the board, a transistor or just insufficient current/voltage?

I think I might be looking round for a replacement hand controller (DK-3, Duo or the Vixen one) or building a new one with stepper controllers off Ebay (that'll be Psychobilly getting a mild case of amnesia then :)) does anyone know if something like this...

Stepper Motor Speed Pulse Controller and Driver Board on eBay (end time 08-Feb-11 07:13:43 GMT)

could be used to control it or how to work out whether it will?

(I think this might be worth a new thread)

Thanks for any help!

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