Soft ST4 cable

[LewisM]

Is there such an animal? Every ST4 cable I have is stiff and a real pain sometimes on the mount as it tends to twist the handcontroller around etc during slews and the like.

Is there one made with round cable instead of the flat cable? (I will ask SX if they can make the old style Lodestar ST4 with a softer wire :))

First world problems, eh :)

[Merlin66]

Lewis,
You could make your own...a 6P6C Rj11 plug on either end of a length of 6 core cable.....
I actually find the flat cable easier to use...I got a CAT6 flat cable for my Syscan hand controller.... works well for me!

[AndrewJ]

Gday Lewis
What i do in cases like that is get the flat 6 wire phone type cable and stip off the outer cover. Then just do a light plait of the wires and crimp on some plugs to suit.
Very easy to make to a precise length and very flexible.
Andrew

[pmrid]

Yeah. Me too. Only difference is that I leave a length of a few centimetres at each end behind the RJ11 plug - just to be sure it is not strained unnecessarily or accidentally enough to loosen any of the connections inside the plug.

Peter

[LewisM]

Good idea - i'll try that! I am just not sure about gutting one of Starlight Xpress' Lodestar cables (the one that is ST4 one end, and flat ZH plug at the other) - though I do have a new spare if I goof.

I also use a Lodestar X2 that is RJ11 each end, so I'll desheath a cheap Chinese one and see.

[Lognic04]

I believe the solution is to stop using ST4 :lol:

[Merlin66]

Yeah,
An option for SW EQ mounts running EQMod only.....

[JohnG]

Most mounts with a modern ASCOM Driver can be run in Pulse Mode, no need for an ST4 cable then..

[Merlin66]

John,
ASCOM have quite a list nowadays for telescope mounts....
https://ascom-standards.org/Downloads/ScopeDrivers.htm

I haven't tried to "Pulse guide" with any of these...maybe the members can confirm??

[JohnG]

Hi Ken, I use Pulse Guide with PHD2 for my Takahashi EM-200T2 mount and LodeStar 1 guide camera without any dramas, gets rid of that extra cable, you do need to experiment with the settings though..