Help, problem with electronic focuser

[04Stefan07]

I have an electronic focuser hooked up to my 130 SLT and recently just discovered a problem. When focusing clockwise the fast and slow speeds work fine but when focusing anti-clockwise full speed is about half speed and half speed doesn't move at all!

No idea what the problem could be, anyone have any ideas?

Here is a link to the video of what I took which can be viewed online.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64891728/focuser.mp4

Thanks!

[rogerco]

If that is a universal joint coupling between the motor and the focusor spindle then it could be that it just prefers to move in one direction, a little bit of grease and loosing it up might do the trick.

[04Stefan07]

Will try that out and let you know!

[Clancy Lane]

Stefan,

The small control that changes the speed gets clogged up and slowed down the speed on my focuser.

I remembered the dimmer light switches that froze up, so I tried quickly turning from fast to slow a dozen times or so.......and it came good.

Hope this helps,

Phil

[04Stefan07]

Cheers mate I will have a look at that as well tomorrow and report on my results :).

[04Stefan07]

Still having a play around with it.

Is there any way to fix the issue when the focuser moves a bit before it actually moves up or down? It doesn't have any wiggle room but it acts as if it does.

[04Stefan07]

Been at it for over an hour and still cant fix it. I am so over it. :mad2:

The focuser moves smoothly going in but struggles going out. Have tested the electronic motor on it's own and its fine!

I think I will try again later tonight when I have cooled down.

[Merlin66]

Coming in late.... but which focuser motor and which voltage?
I use the SW focus motors on the Modded PST the C11 and the ED80..
Just needs a good voltage 9-12V....

[04Stefan07]

This is the one I got:
http://www.bintel.com.au/Accessories/Focusers/Orion-AccuFocus-Electronic-Telescope-Focuser/1647/productview.aspx

Just the Skywatcher version. It's exactly the same.

[04Stefan07]

I tried it again and maybe thats how it is meant to be???

I tried doing it manually just by rotating the metal bar and focusing inward was really smooth and outward was a bit harder. Could be just the way it always was I just don't remember, wish I had a reference!

[Clancy Lane]

Stefan!

I have these on 3 of my scopes and I do remember one of them playing up like this!

It turned out to be the tension on the focuser.

A bit of adjustment to the 4 allen key screws tensioning the focuser and it came good for me.

The problem with the dimmer switch was with a Orion branded motor.

Cheers,

Phil

[04Stefan07]

Haha OMG I just found the problem. After about 2 hours and taking it apart about a dozen times it was this stupid little tightening screw.

I never knew what it did so I tightened it and the focuser wouldn't move, untighted it and now the electronic focuser can move at any speed in the direction I was having trouble with!!! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Next issue to tackle is when moving from one direction to another the entire focuser moves horizontally before vertically but not sure if that issue can be fixed due to the way the motor makes the metal gear move.