iOptron Mini Tower Pro problem

[axle01]

I have a problem with my Mini Tower Pro.

I purchased it S/H and last week I set it up and aligned it and worked perfectly for 4 nights in a row

On the 5th night when I was aligning it before I could centre the first star the hand controller would turn off and go back to " Gotonova "

On advise from Graham Beasley in New Zealand I replaced the button battery in the hand controller.

So I try again last night and the same thing happened but this time I was able to align and centre the first star and enter,,,, then align and centre the second star and enter,,,,,,,then it says "align complete" ,,,,,,then it would turn off and go back to "Gotonova"

One time I seen the screen and if I remember right it said something like " no connection to dec" not sure on the exact words I was busy looking for the hammer.

Can anyone offer some advise please.

Alan

[Nikolas]

What power source are you using for it? It could be a loose connection from the power source to the device.

[axle01]

I took the new battery back to get them to test it and it read 10% charge so they tested another 5 they had on the board and they all read 10% so I got my money back and went to Jaycar and had one tested before I purchased it and it read 3.3v so I think that was my problem, I'll know tonight.

[axle01]

Well the new battery didn't work, again before I could centre the star it would go back to gotonova.

I noticed the back light on the controller was starting to flicker.

I put the gear back in the shed and turned it on one more time and now the controller doesn't turn on at all.

Is the controller cable a standard Ethernet cable, if so I'll get a new one tomorrow and try it.

Starting to get pissed.

Al

[axle01]

I packed it up and sent it to Graham Beazley in New Zealand to do the full modded upgrade and fix the problem.

Al

[Nikolas]

keep us posted

[axle01]

Ok mate I'll report back when Graham gives me an update.

Al

[brian nordstrom]

:) Good luck , I had and used a sweet iOptron IEQ45 for years and it did not miss a beat in 100's of observing nights , in Darwin no less , its very damp up there and hard on electronics I also found the software to be easier to use than all the others .

It sounds like yours has a loose connection somewhere ?? .

Good luck and yes , please keep us posted .:thumbsup:

Brian.

[Graham Beazley]

Hi Brian,
No there was no loose connection with Alan's mount. It was in fact a dicky hand controller connection cable (it was dead) and a faulty hand controller circuit board. After loading the correct firmware onto my spare controller all worked as it should. Possibly it was the cable that took out the circuit board.
After testing / running the mount for 3 seperate nights and soak testing the motors on the bench the mount behaved as it should. The main control board sent out no fault messages so I have no reason at this stage to think anything else is wrong with this unit. I also tried a new main control board just in case but no difference in performance was noted.
Cheers
Graham

[axle01]

Good news week, thanks Graham.
My mount is on it's way back from Graham apparently the winning Kiwi Americas Cup boat is bring it over.
While Graham had it he made some mods to the mount to improve the performance like a heavy duty bearing and some other stuff he might like to add.
He made me a extension mount to raise the mount for longer scopes, the quality of the machining and workmanship is second to none, I'll post some picks when I get it all back together.

Al

[Graham Beazley]

Hi Alan,
You should get it quick with that boat bringing it across the ditch.
For those who might be interested.. I changed out the bottom RA taper roller bearing to an NSK high spec one. The original I found to be running on the very dry side and was feeling a bit notchy so not good to leave it in place.
I fitted my own designed motor return spring sysyem along with machining the facing surface of the stop blocks. All this enables me to adjust the stop blocks closer to the motor casing ribs thereby reducing some of the focusing wobble. I trimmed the motor casing ribs so they were on the same plane thereby letting the stop blocks sit on two and not one rib which again reduces wobble.
Also I shimmed out the left/right and up/down movement in the casing pivot points. This also helps reducing movement. I might add that this shimming is not always needed as it just depends on the nylon motor casings. All the above is quite a lot of work I can tell you. Any vibrations left are the result of the motor casings being built out of this nylon and very difficult to reduce the last bit.
As I mentioned before I soak tested the motors on the bench for a couple of hours in each directions and they seemed to hold up well and really was no need to change them. Same with the main control board, no need to change that either but electronics being what can be, we can just hope all will last for quite some time. My original mini tower is still using the same motors and control board since I purchased it new in 2009. Total reliability.
I did a small mod on the balance weight shaft collet nut of Alan's MTpro to prevent it coming loose when using dual scopes. Some have complained about this over the years so I had to put my thinking cap on. This mod fixes it 100 %
I supplied him with a new controller cable and he has ordered a new hand controller himself. After 3 nights of testing outside and many dummy runs in th workshop I'm happy with its performance. Hopefully he will get this new controller before that quick boat gets across this ditch of ours with his mount :) Once Alan gets it onto the tripod extender I built him he will be away and laughing.
Cheers
Graham