Celestron AVX playing up

[Spacer]

So I bought a used avx mount locally in Sydney. The seller said that the controller is damaged but assured that the mount works correctly. I believed him and bought the mount.

Bought a new controller and the issue doesn't seem to have been fixed.

Old controller: with the controller that came with the mount, once plugged in, it only lights up but doesn't display any text. Pressing buttons make no difference (pressing buttons too hard makes the controller lcd flicker!)

New controller: Powers on, display initial verifying package and comes to life. Then if I try to slew, the slewing starts but keeps going and doesn't stop even after releasing the button, unless I switch off the mount. On other occasions, it slews for a fraction of a second and then stops, hand controller restarts and then nothing works. I have tried Aux1 and Aux2 ports as well, makes no difference.

Can anyone help me with some directions please? I am happy to take it to a professional for repair if anyone can recommend one in Sydney. Thanks.

[Drac0]

Have you tried to connect the mount directly to a PC/laptop and use Celestron's software to control it? That could help you tell where the problem lays.

[Dave882]

Check to make sure that the hc has the correct firmware installed in it. This can change from mount to mount. And if not you can update it with a pc. Might be worth doing a check on the mount firmware as well and update if necessary.

[alw50]

I agree with the advice from Mark and David.

Through experiences with my Celestron Evolution 6, I can say that the best first step is to check the firmware in both the handset and the mount. And then make sure that the settings in the handset are correct.

A good starting point might be this link:
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/661344-celestron-hand-controller-for-an-avx-mount/
Look in particular at the post by Michael Swanson. His website is a goldmine of information about such matters. It was certainly very helpful to me in sorting out my problems.

[Spacer]

I tried updating the handset using CFM, but it ended up displaying invalid package on the handset. If I reconnect, it gets stuck at "Initialize". It did not detect the mount at all. I plugged in usb from computer to the handset that is connected to the mount. As soon as I switch on the mount while having handset connected to CFM, the handset lcd goes all black.

[Spacer]

Thanks all, I will go through the link that Andrew shared. Will report back once I have gone through all those hacks.