USB2EQ5 cable wrong way around?

mill (Martin) · #1 27-07-2014, 05:52 PM

Hi all, i did set up my new EQ8 yesterday and connected a brand new usb2eq5 cable.
I powered up my power supply and then my computer and the mount had a white puff of smoke coming out of it and smelled burned.
It looks like the wires on the usb2eq5 have been reversed in the rj45 connector from the factory.
Can anyone have a look if the wiring of their usb2eq5 is the same as mine?
Photo below and from the flat side with the copper tracks.
The mount is dead and has to go back to Bintel

coldknights (Cathy) · #2 27-07-2014, 06:34 PM

Hi Martin,
white Pin 1 and Green pin 4 are Gnd ....pin 5 Yellow TX pin 6 Blue RX and we see no wires in the plug going to VPP+ which is pin 7 and Pin 8 as per the diagram in the EQ8 book the problem seems to be in the other end which you would need to open and take some pics and put them up here so we can see.

Where the wire that goes to the RJ45 plug is there a piece of heat shrink over a join ?
If so that might be where the problem is ! when they were making the cable ( Who ever made it ? ) .

Where did you buy the Cable from ?

mill (Martin) · #3 27-07-2014, 07:26 PM

I bought it from Bintel together with the mount.
And the pins 1 to six are populated which seem weird to me.

Eden (Brett) · #4 27-07-2014, 07:31 PM

Hi Martin,

Wow... sorry to hear that this shonky cable fried the board in your new mount!

Cable looks good as far as the wiring goes, at least with respect to their pin assignments. They haven't been reversed. Without seeing what the white and black wires were like prior to the meltdown, I would be inclined to say that the problem is not the wiring itself but the core logic which is embedded in the USB plug at the other end of the cable (see attached image).

I hope you're not left waiting too long for replacement equipment.

coldknights (Cathy) · #5 27-07-2014, 08:03 PM

I seen a picture of the cable on the web site mentioned and near the RJ45 socket you can see where they join the 2 cables together flat and round .....
When we make these cables we open the USB end unsolder and put a whole new cable from USB end to the RJ45 end ....

joining cables like flat to round in our book is not a good practice and is best to replace the cable and solder and crimp ...what is the old saying check twice cut once !
Hope you get it sorted out that experience would be enough to scare people from using a EQMod cable ever again .

mill (Martin) · #6 28-07-2014, 10:55 AM

Very good news

I called Bintel in Sydney this morning and Don will send a new board over.
I checked the usb2eq5 cable and only have to crimp a new connector on it.

If Don watches this thread, thank you very much for this

coldknights (Cathy) · #7 28-07-2014, 11:10 AM

Was there a join in the cable near the RJ45 connector ?

What was the problem why it smoked up would be good to hear why smoke came out from a new cable and destroyed the Mc board.

Just to confirm was it a shoestring cable ?

mill (Martin) · #8 28-07-2014, 11:27 AM

It has a join from a round to a flat cable so i am going to put a flat cable from the usb to the rj45 connector without any joins.

coldknights (Cathy) · #9 28-07-2014, 12:40 PM

I had seen that flat cable in the RJ45 and the round to USB end in the pictures and on that site that sells them so I knew that there was a join there.

I use a special cable (Round ) shielded as the flat is a little difficult to put into the USB plug end I have made a 2 Metre cable and works great as the cable that comes with them are about. 1 m long

So was the fault in the join area ?
If you cut the RJ45 socket off and no wires are touching have you plugged it into the computer USB port does it register when you put the plug in and take it out ?

Was it the shoestring ?

Glad you have it sorted out now !

Don't forget go put the new motor control firmware on it after you have it up and running .

mill (Martin) · #10 28-07-2014, 12:50 PM

It is working and installing drivers and also it gets a com port assignment.
A 2Mtr cable is a lot easier than a 1Mtr cable so i am going to put a 2Mtr cable on it.
It is a Shoestring cable.

coldknights (Cathy) · #11 28-07-2014, 01:00 PM

That's good it still works when you plug it in to the USB port on the computer.
Yes the 2m cables makes it a lot easier going from mount to pc.

Best of luck and hope it is not long before you have it all up and running again
With the new motor control board and (fixed ) cable !
Cheers