HEQ5 Pro won't turn on

[HunterGeo]

Hi folks,

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

[Merlin66]

Is the red light steady on the mount?
Have you tried powering it from a 2A 12V transformer?

[raymo]

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

[HunterGeo]

Hi Ken and 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!

[Merlin66]

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.....

[HunterGeo]

Sounds like a Mobo issue, as you wrote, Ken. It worked fine for the past month until last night - with the same cables and battery.

The controller powers on with the same cable. I'll go and check the cable with a multimeter to see if it is actually producing >11.8V.

Regarding the split pin within the mount plug - it's actually just one thick pin on my mount.

The connector on the cable itself is 2.1mm diameter.


Will run off to my shed and will report on the multimeter test shortly.
Thanks.
D.

[Starcrazzy]

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.:sadeyes:

[HunterGeo]

Ok, some stats from the multimeter:

Voltage from battery: 12.7V.
Voltage from car when off: 12.4V.
Voltage from car when on: 14.1V.

So power supply is certainly over 11.8V, so I assume that's not an issue...(?)

[HunterGeo]

Bugger.:sadeyes:

[HunterGeo]

I wonder what the maximum voltage would be for the mount. Given that my power supply gets up to 12.7V, I wonder if that's what has fried it.

EDIT: http://www.skywatcheraustralia.com.au/?page_id=1164 reckons 15V is the maximum...

[Merlin66]

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??

[HunterGeo]

That's good to know for future reference. Ta.



They were measured at the mount-end of the power cable itself.

[HunterGeo]

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.

[Screwdriverone]

Hi David,

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?

Good luck,

Chris

[John0z]

Hi,

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.

-John

[HunterGeo]

Hi Ken, Chris and John,

Thanks for all your thoughts so far.

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).


Thanks again for your thoughts,
David

[HunterGeo]

Hi John,

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... :)

[Screwdriverone]

Excellent David,

Well thought out testing. Glad we could be of assistance to help you get there in the end.

Cheers

Chris

[John0z]

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

[HunterGeo]

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. :rolleyes:

[John0z]

David,

Hi. This link http://ca.skywatcher.com/upfiles/en_download_caty01316546656.pdf shows how the Synscan is installed into the Heq5. The control panel has two cables on it which is threaded into that tiny hole. To access it, via these instructions, looks like removing the side cover and then the upper cover to get access to the other end of the cables. I will try this with my mount and see how hard it is to remove the control panel - while I have it out, I will work out its schematic, then put it back.

-John

[HunterGeo]

Hi John,

I was able to open up those covers but once I got in there, the cabling really is a tight fit, and they don't really like being unplugged from the main board, either. You'll see what I mean when you get to it - good luck!

-Dave

[stardust steve]

Have you looked at the connections especially the neg- conn on the back of the barrel of the cig connection. Some of them have really small tabs and the wire might have come off. I noticed this as I was soldering up a power lead.
Hope you find it and hope it's an easy fix

Edit- it appears I am a bit late on the scene, glad to hear its fixed :)

[HunterGeo]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the thought, but the wiring itself is intact. Replacing the wire (or re-soldering it) would have been too easy...

I figured out that it's the switch itself that is the problem; not flicking the switch has (temporarily) solved the problem until I can replace the switch itself as it is an intermittent issue (so once I got it actually working, I just left the switch on and now just unplug the power lead when needed). It's not completely fixed, but it'll suffice for now.

Just admired your shot of M42 ( http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=100440 ); will discuss that in that thread, as I have a few questions for you. :)

Cheers,
Dave

[John0z]

David,

Ok - the connectors are a little tight but using a small screwdriver, you can pry each end out a little, then it comes off ok. These are similar to those connectors used on the old printers. Good thing I did this, I found that a spider had taken temporary residence on the board under the power switch connections.

Once the connectors are removed, the control panel can pull out further to allow access to two small screws with washers that fasten it to the housing. This would allow the switch to be disconnected. To put it back together, the board has to slide in so that the RJ12 and RJ45, power socket etc go back into the respective holes in the housing.

I had a quick look at my parts supplier for this switch, but haven't found it yet - I had already put it back together so will open it again to find out the switch manufacturer.

Also, I noticed that my gears were not meshing well, only half a gear thickness, so adjusted this while I had it open - also there was no grease on the gears, another thing to do I suppose.

Anyway, glad that you have it working for the time being.

-John

[John0z]

David,

I took the switch out - it is made by ZhongXun and the closest I can find at their website is http://www.zxgroup.com/en/productShow.asp?TypeAid=34&TypeBid=198&productid=203

The main difference is that the cut-out on the panel is 13.5 x 8.5 mm. A search on eBay found a few suppliers of KCD11 switches which are probably the equivalent - reasonably cheap, so could be worth the chance to see if they will fit. One supplier says the cut-out is 13 x 8 mm, the other gives the size of the switch itself as being 15 x 10 which is very similar to the existing switch I have.

Anyway, just thought I would let you know if you want to go down that road, If I do find a switch in my various parts collections that would work, I will certainly PM you.

-John

P.S. Maybe Skywatcher might have this as a spare part - could be worth a phone call to Bintel or Andrews.

[marki]

A whole $1.25 but it is black not red.


http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=S3201 (http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=S3201)

Some others.

http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=prod&grp=297

Mark

[John0z]

The Altronics switch looks like it works - the diagram shows one dimension to be wrong, but should be ok. S3201 at $1.45, not bad.

Thanks Mark - didn't get a chance to look at Altronics.

[HunterGeo]

Hi John and Mark,

Thank you both very much for all that info. I'll print this off and put it on my noticeboard so I've got it when the switch does (inevitably) die. :)

A thousand thank-you's. :)
David