Mount envy

[Somnium]

It is days like these that I sit and peruse astronomy equipment manufacturers and think to myself if I wasn't better off going down a different route for my mount. Both the asa ddm85 and the ap 1100gto (maybe even with the absolute encoders included) are looking like damn fine mounts at this stage.

[RickS]

There's always something better, or at least bigger, out there. Best to make the most of what you have... while scheming about how to sneak the upgrade past your spouse :lol:

[alocky]

[QUOTE=Somnium;1281851]It is days like these that I sit and peruse astronomy equipment manufacturers and think to myself if I wasn't better off going down a different route for my mount. Both the asa ddm85 and the ap 1100gto (maybe even with the absolute encoders included) are looking like damn fine mounts at this stage.[/QUOTE

I've yet to see a DDM85 manage to image through clouds, or beat bad seeing even!
Still, these are consumer grade dreams. As Rick suggested you will then be envying the custom offerings suited to major research programs :-)
Wanting better is natural, assuming money is the only way to achieve it is what limits us (within reason!). :)
Cheers
Andrew

[Slawomir]

Hi Aidan,

I thought you have PMX+? This is a superb mount FWIHS that many astrophotographers can only dream about...

[Somnium]

Yeah I do have a pmx+ but this post was not about a mount upgrade, just thinking back on the year of issues I have had with it . The mount is now stripped down , no scope on it, no through the mount cabling no cables connected on the versa plate and I am still getting errors. I am regretting the decision to go with bisque and wish I had have made the decision to go with ap instead

[glend]

Yes but at a reasonable price. Not asking for much am i?

[alocky]

I only went ASA because I was lucky enough to get a superb second hand one, but while I was trying to decide between AP and SB, I saw reports from many satisfied customers of each, but I don't believe I have ever seen a complaint about the performance or quality of an AP mount.
Regards
Andrew.

[Somnium]

SB has a history of performance and quality, maybe I am just really unlucky but it has been one issue after another and is the only piece of equipment that I can rely 100% on to fail. It has gotten to the point where I can't use it anymore.

[Slawomir]

I'm truly sorry about your mount Aidan. I have read of only a few similar stories, but it was enough for me to pick Mach1 over MYT.

[gregbradley]

isn't under warranty?

SB have had poor quality over the last few years for sure. How many threads are there on this site where someone had trouble with a new PMX or now PMX+.

Did they send you a new worm - that's the usual and apparently the weak spot, that and the belts. once those are sorted its usually very good.
Unless you have something deeper inside like a faulty bearing or something.

Still isn't it SB's problem to fix as part of their warranty? They seemed quite responsive when I had a PMX. Once the worm and belts were replaced it went really well.

Greg.

[Somnium]

Most of those threads are probably mine. I have had the mks replaced and the worm gear. The worm gear fixed my tracking performance and the new mks fixed the connectivity issues I had but I was also getting mount hit something errors and they have persisted. Actually they have gotten worse over time. I am chatting with they bisque guys and they are helpful but all the options and troubleshooting guides I have tried haven't worked. It is a warranty issue and should get resolved but I have lost a lot of cloud free nights due to mount issues

[gregbradley]

For some reason I get slew limit errors using The Sky X. I have to manually reset them everytime I start it up. This used to be an issue then with one firmware update it stopped doing it. Now with the latest daily build its doing it again.

So its TCS/utilities/software slew limits/ I need to reset both of them to 0.330 and the purple zone on the Sky X sky map reverts to being quite narrow at the meridian rather than nearly half the sky.

Just check that is not happening to you. Hit something sometimes means this. Or it means something is tangled or a cord is jammed preventing a slew or the gears are too tight. With the PME you tighten the gear knob and pull it back 1/3rd of a turn so its not too tight.

Greg.

[Somnium]

i will check out the slew limits, i have a thread running on the SB site. i have checked the spring plunders and adjusted the gear. i even ran the mount using only the joystick, without a scope on it and still got the error. i dont think it is a slew limit error but i will check it out anyway, my guess is that some sensor is not playing nice ...

[Somnium]

slew limits appear to be fine, i am uploading a video to show the extent of the issue.

[Somnium]

here is the video if you want to cry along with me

https://youtu.be/tYxYAI0fkJU

more detailed thread can be found here

http://www.bisque.com/sc/forums/p/29225/146380.aspx#146380

[Slawomir]

Access to the thread is denided, but your video clearly shows the problem. I really hope the issue will get resolved quickly and that afterwards you will enjoy years of flawless performance of your mount.

[Somnium]

So do I

[Peter Ward]

I'd suggest reducing both the acceleration and slew velocities to say 60% of their default vales.

[Somnium]

Hi Peter, i have had it down to the minimum speed, i think it is 20%, but still had the issue. it feels like some sort of sensor is being tripped ...

[Peter Ward]

I've once seen something similar...my PME slewed the scope into a storage box in my OBS (my fault). The mount stopped and protected itself...but it took a good 15 minutes before it cooled down enough before it stopped beeping at me on subsequent re-boots. Work fine after that. Box was removed for good measure. :doh:

So you've replaced the MKS5000 controller? Short of replacing the motors
as well, I'd not be doing any more. Best guess something is throwing up an over-current warning, hence the software induced "stop" command.

Ask SB to give you their Fedex account number and send it back (assuming it's still under warranty )

[Somnium]

yeah i am in discussion with them, it will probably come to that. i have had the MKS5000 replaced once under warranty because a connection to the mount couldnt get established, and i have replaced the RA axis motor because the tracking was out of spec.

[Slawomir]

You most likely have already checked that, but maybe low voltage could potentially cause similar issues ?

[loc46south]

Hi Somnium - Serious condolences on the issues you are having with your mount - considering the problems we have both had over the past year or so it may be possible those telescopes are cursed. I have managed to solve mine now - I bought a used Losmanday Titan - after I stripped it, cleaned it and replaced a faulty gearbox I couldn't be happier.

All I need now is some clear sky.

Best of Luck
Geof Wingham

[Somnium]

well they are going to ship out a replacement worm block. so this will be the second new worm block i have gotten along with a replacement MKS5000. fingers crossed this will resolve it but i am not holding my breath.

[Slawomir]

Hopefully worm block replacement will resolve the issue :thumbsup:

[Somnium]

:prey: