Quote:
Originally Posted by Startrek
Michael,
A few more diagnostic things to check -
1/ Unplug your EQDirect cable and plug back in your handcontroller. Slew to a target and track up to the meridian. If no issues at all then it must be your connection from laptop to mount.
2/ When using handcontroller if mounts suddenly stops tracking or slews uncontrollably somewhere else, it could be the handcontrollers firmware or a faulty mount control board
3/ Don’t use Wifi dongles to control your mount with EQMOD from your laptop ( They are too unreliable ( refer to my previous post for PC Direct or EQ Direct ) Always use an EQ Direct cable with a FTDI chipset and driver like Shoestring Astronomy ( Not a Prolific chipset like the wifi dongles and other cable connections as they are unreliable ). If EQ Direct with FTDI chipset cable is too short you can add an additional 2m USB2 male / female extension cable to mount ( Refer to my previous attached procedure to control the mount with EQMOD and Stellarium )
4/ Check your Power Management settings in the USB drivers ( Windows ) see attached
5/ Disable Limits in EQMOD
6/ Check settings in EQMOD , especially location , longitude and latitude etc...
Ensure your planetarium has the identical location details , longitude , latitude etc.... as EQMOD
7/ Ensure your mount has a clean reliable 12V power supply with spare capacity
I use a Powertech 12V 7.5amp power adaptor available from Jaycar or Bintel
8/ Ensure your mount is well polar aligned ( ie under an arc minute )
9/ Ensure you mount is set in the Home Position at the start
10/ Ensure your Dec and Ra clutches aren’t slipping
There are numerous other things to check but the above are a good start to diagnose the problem
Cheers
Martin
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1. Yeah I should really try that to prove the HEQ5 control board is fine.
3. Yeah apparently my skywatcher dongle doesnt use FTDI which is the better chipset.
4. Previously all ready checked the usb power management
5. Yeah this is the thing that fixed the issue
6. Location etc is all good, and limits actually work correctly which is why I didnt expect option 5 to actually help
7. Yeah tried 3 different power sources going upto 8A and even tried going upto 14V which is recommended for better tracking
8. I use sharpcap and get it under 30 arcseconds
9. Always do, otherwise its a disaster
10. They appear to be fine
My money at this point is on option 3 being the culrpit, have been advised lynx 2m eqmod cable is a good one to buy.