Problem with Dual-Axis D.C. Motor Drive for EQ3-2

[Chiz]

Hello,

About 18 months ago I bought my first scope - a Skywatcher 150PL on EQ3-2. At the same time I bought a dual axis motor which has worked just fine - until now.

On Friday night I was having fun trying to image Saturn and all was well. The I noticed it had stopped tracking and the red light was permanently on (it is normally green when no buttons are pressed and the RA is tracking). I tried all four buttons - they all clicked as normal and none of them seemed to be stuck.

The one page set of instructions says that the LED should flash if it thinks the batteries are on the way out. I checked them with a digital voltmeter and that said they were putting out around 5.9V.

Last night I tried again with 4 new batteries (voltmeter said they were just over 6V) and the problem still persists. I tried it without the scope & counterweights to see if that made any difference, unplugging the connectors to the motors etc., but nothing has helped.

If I press any of the buttons then these have no effect - all I have is the solid red light and no tracking

As I said, I've had the scope & motors since around Nov 2009, but due to a number of reasons I have not used it anywhere near as much as I would have liked. Each time I have used it things have worked fine. In total it has probably had less than 24 hours usage. It is all stored indoors in a dry environment (not in a cold damp shed) and everything looks as good as it did when it was new.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to have encountered this problem and I hope someone out there knows what is wrong, and more importantly, how to fix it.

Help, suggestions etc. welcomed

Thanks in advance,

[]kywatcher - Dual-Axis D.C. Motor Drive for EQ3-2

[AstroD]

Hello,

I have the same problem. After 30 seconds of my first (test) use the red light came on and motors stopped working.

As I see, it's now twelve years later, so if you have solved that problem now please write me what did you do.

 

Thanks.

[michael8554]

Hi Chiz

You seem to have isolated the problem to the batteries and the hand box.

Check for volts on the motor plugs when you press buttons.

Check that a solid 6V is actually getting inside the hand box.

Michael

[Cornelius Varley]

13 minutes ago, michael8554 said:

Hi Chiz

You seem to have isolated the problem to the batteries and the hand box.

Check for volts on the motor plugs when you press buttons.

Check that a solid 6V is actually getting inside the hand box.

Michael

You might want to check the date of the post. 12 yrs have passed since this thread was started and the OP hasn't visited for nearly 3 years.

[michael8554]

Good point Peter.

I hate it when someone resurrects a 12 year-old post instead of starting a new one.

He did say "I have the same problem".

So my suggestions may help.

Michael