Got to my observing site last night only to find that my HEQ5 Pro mount wouldn't turn on. It is a second-hand mount bought from some guy in QLD so no chance of a warranty replacement.
I run the mount using a portable battery pack (that has a cigarette lighter plug). This has worked in the past without problems... just not last night.
I did some problem-tracing while I was freezing my you-know-what off...:
If I plug the hand controller into the power directly, it works fine (so the power cable and the battery aren't the issue).
I tried jiggling the power plug inside the mount in all directions to check if the plug had a loose connection. No luck.
I tried turning the mount on without the hand controller plugged into the mount (long shot, I know). No luck.
I unmounted the telescope to look inside the power plug on the mount (to check if there was anything in there preventing the power cable from connecting to the mount). No luck.
I tested other devices (laptop, iPad and digital camera all simultaneously) powered by the battery pack to ensure there was enough juice. They all worked fine, so I am confident the battery isn't the problem.
So it seems to me as if the issue is with the mount itself. Does anyone have any ideas as to how to figure out what the problem may be and how to fix it?
Thanks in advance,
Dave
Last edited by HunterGeo; 14-01-2013 at 01:45 PM.
Reason: Added last bullet point.
Hi HunterGeo,
Skywatcher products have 5 or 6 yr. warranties, which I 'm
fairly sure are transferable. Maybe if you contact the person you bought
it from he has some proof of purchase he could send you. Even the name of the supplier might help you, good luck,
raymo
The red light doesn't turn on at all. I haven't tried powering it from a 2A 12V transformer - what is that, exactly? I have tried it directly from the car cigarette lighter as well with no success.
Thanks for that advice, raymo. Unfortunately, the guy I bought it off is a major ..... so there's no chance of getting any help from him. Might talk to the Australian agent, though, which I hadn't considered before. I wonder if the mount has a serial number that they could track as having sold. Thanks for the tip!
Hmmm
If the red light doesn't come on that generally means the power isn't getting into the motherboard.....
This could be as simple as a duff connection between the power lead and the power socket..
Are you sure you have a 2.1mm connector on the power lead...there are two readily available sizes a 2.1 and 2.5mm The 2.5 also seems to fit but it doesn't give a good reliable connection to the central pin on the socket.
If you look (from the outside) into the power socket on the mount you'll see a central "pin" - if you look carefully you'll see it's actually a split pin...using a small instrument screwdriver you should be able to gently prise the pin and make it a bit bigger - this may give you a better connection.
A 2A 12V mains transformer from JayCar etc with the correct socket will definately ensure that the voltage is above 11.8V - which seems to be the drop out voltage for these mounts.
Summary:
No red light - no power getting in.....
Sounds like its fried mate...sorry... This happend to me a few months ago. Andrews wouldnt replace it because it was a bit beaten up but did offer me a cheap replacement.
Just last week i think something similar has happend to replacement aswel, its turning on but freezing and wont guide at all.
Ill be sending it back and giving it one more chance, if I get another electrical problem ill bail on SW mounts.
Don't worry too much about the higher voltage...
I've been running my HEQ5 and NEQ6 at 15V (via a car computer step up transformer) for the past six years - no issues, no problems.
Were those voltages measured at the source ie at the battery etc or at the connector end to the mount??
Don't worry too much about the higher voltage...
I've been running my HEQ5 and NEQ6 at 15V (via a car computer step up transformer) for the past six years - no issues, no problems.
That's good to know for future reference. Ta.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Merlin66
Were those voltages measured at the source ie at the battery etc or at the connector end to the mount??
They were measured at the mount-end of the power cable itself.
Went and had another look at the plug on the mount itself. Something I hadn't noticed last night was that the plug itself moves around slightly inside the mount, so I assume something in there is loose.
Just read through this, noone has suggested the curly cord between the mount and the handset yet.....
If the mount doesnt power up without the handset, therefore, if the handset is not "connected" properly to the mount via the RJ45 cable, then it wont power up then either.
I cant remember if my HEQ5pro has an RJ45 on each end, if yours does, then try a standard computer CAT5 patch lead and see if this works.
I have seen a few threads here talking about the pins on the mount or the handset being pushed down and therefore not connecting securely to the handset cable.
See if this helps, maybe jiggle the handset cable in the mount while the power is on?
If you look at the control panel for the HEQ5Pro, you will see underneath, two small holes - each hole has I think a M3 screw in it, you can undo this with a #1 philips screwdriver. Once the panel is loose, it should hang down a little, since the two cables are not very long. You may have to rotate the RA axis to get a good look at it. Basically, the switch has a red and black wire going to a small two-pin plug/socket arrangement. The led is driven on this board, so if the switch isn't working, then the led won't light up. At the same time, you can see the socket for the power connection - the pin is the connection at the end. If the socket is somehow loose, occasionally the pin has either come adrift or maybe the connection to the board has broken.
I can try to take a photo of my control panel if it helps you.
Ken - I tried that adapter from Jaycar as you suggested, but no joy.
Chris - I'll give your idea (a replacement CAT5 cable, and jiggling that inside the mount) a go.
John - I was able to open the mount up yesterday and found it difficult to actually see the board that has the plug and switch on it (as the wiring are too short). I didn't feel too keen about disconnecting them from the main board as I didn't know if I would be able to get them back in there, but I used the multimeter (connected into the power plug itself and onto the soldering on the main board (at the terminal where the power plug plugs into the main board, and measured complete resistance, so it seems like the issue is between the plug and that main board, somewhere. Do you know how difficult it is to reconnect the wiring once I get them disconnected? Can you recommend any way of doing so (rather than just yanking on those delicate wires)?
(To clarify, when I talk about the main board, I mean the one that doesn't have the plugs and switches attached to it).
Managed to get into the mount again and re-tested the wiring and found that there was no resistance between the power plug and the main circuit board, so I then thought it may have been the board itself that was the issue.
Then, I tried Chris' idea of a replacement CAT5 cable. Suddenly, it worked! However, I was skeptical of the idea that replacing the CAT5 cable could fix it, so I decided to test things...
I turned the mount off and back on about 50 times by flicking the switch itself. On eight occasions, the mount failed to power on (i.e. it only turned on 42 times).
Then I left the switch in the ON position (once I had it actually on) and removed and replaced the power cable 50 times. The mount powered up all 50 times.
Hence, I conclude that there is an intermittent fault in the switch itself (or the wiring on the PCB).
Huzzah!
Thanks everyone for your help in identifying the issue. Now to figure out how to fix it...
As you mentioned, yes - it is a bit tight, but I did manage to take a reasonable photo. The switch is connected to a plug through a red and black wire. I know from experience with other devices, that switches can sometimes cause problems, but also the plug/socket arrangement can also suffer from oxidation which can make an unreliable connection. I am still busy with my volunteer work tomorrow, but will see on Friday if there is an easy way of getting this board out, without damage of course.
As you mentioned, yes - it is a bit tight, but I did manage to take a reasonable photo. The switch is connected to a plug through a red and black wire. I know from experience with other devices, that switches can sometimes cause problems, but also the plug/socket arrangement can also suffer from oxidation which can make an unreliable connection. I am still busy with my volunteer work tomorrow, but will see on Friday if there is an easy way of getting this board out, without damage of course.
-John
I was able to unplug the red and black power cable from the main board (rather than the PCB) and partly push it back towards the PCB to allow better movement of that section. I wasn't brave enough to completely remove the power cable from that main board section as I wasn't confident I'd ever be able to thread it back through that tiny hole again.
HEQ5 Pro won't turn on
