G11 RJ45 cables

[multiweb (Marc)]

I had a problem with my mount going full throttle in RA tonight just after booting the Gemini. Tried a few things, one of them swapping cables and I narrowed down the problem to one faulty cable. The end plugs are RJ45. I have the old gemini style box. I checked all the prongs with a multimeter and as far as I can tell the cable is straight through. Like a network cable (blue type). Am I right in assuming I can replace the faulty cable with a straight network cable rather than crimping another one from scratch? Thanks for any hints.

I've put the whole mount down again tonight before realising this. On a side note I spent probably over an hour getting the QHY8 with the Hyperstar all ready to go and the mount cable packs it. Typical.

[allan gould]

This is exactly what happened to me (except a DEC runaway). Thanks to Acropolite who rescued me at Astrofest a few years ago with a blue network cable I was able to continue. Ive been thinking of getting a hyperstar and last week almost pulled the trigger but Ill wait to hear from your experiences.
Hope all goes well Marc - just use blue straight through internet cables and you are good to go.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by allan gould

This is exactly what happened to me (except a DEC runaway). Thanks to Acropolite who rescued me at Astrofest a few years ago with a blue network cable I was able to continue. Ive been thinking of getting a hyperstar and last week almost pulled the trigger but Ill wait to hear from your experiences.
Hope all goes well Marc - just use blue straight through internet cables and you are good to go.

Oh good! Lesson learnt. Carry some spare cables in the bag. It's already full of various fuses

[allan gould]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Oh good! Lesson learnt. Carry some spare cables in the bag. It's already full of various fuses

I have spare cables as well as several 3 Volt batteries for the Losmandy. Just like you I had the runaway problem which scared the schmitt of of me as I just stopped the mount power before it ran into the tripod. It was an intermittent fault with the Dec cable and not the RA one. Took some scary moments as they are different lengths to swap and replicate the runaway before the cable tore loose. Throw the Losmandy ones away as the contacts in mine would slowly contract with the cold at night, give intermittent connections, then a runaway and lastly a heart attack.

[DavidU (Dave)]

In the music industry we have a lot of cables in spiral config like the old phone cables, why don't they make Rj45 cables in spiral for us Astro folks?

[multiweb (Marc)]

The cold is definitely an issue with the mount and the meshing. Every aluminium part in the mount exposed to the sky goes really really cold. I'm seriously thinking of covering it up to keep it warm. I'm also very close to have a spring loaded meshing block done so I'll keep you posted on this too.