Concrete pier cable management - advice needed

[hpavlov (Hristo)]

Hi all,



I have a 14" Meade LX200 ACF on a concrete pier and polar mount and I need to do some cabling.

I was wondering what other people are doing to manage their telescope cables (cameras, dew shield, etc cables) so they don't stuck as the scope is slewing. I would like to ideally be able to control the telescope remotly and unattended.

Are there any commercial solutions for attaching the cables? What experienced people would recommend that works best? What should I be careful about?

Thanks for your thoughts in advance.

Cheers,
Hristo Pavlov

[icytailmark (Mark)]

you could use cable ties

[hpavlov (Hristo)]

One thing that scares me is leaving the cables unattended with a rotating telescope. Has anyone had accidents with cables getting entangled and a slew damaging telescope equipment?

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Telescopes don't normally 'rotate'. That implies doing a full revolution on an axis. They just cover about 270* plus or minus a bit for special situations. So it's possible to arrange sufficient cable slack to allow that degree of movement with some extra just in case.
I use some Velcro bands at the top of the pier to secure cabling and allow changes when necessary. I also keep power away from data in case of possible corruption. Routing close to the head minimises lengths and twisting on connections. Every situation is different.

[scagman (John)]

I use corrugated split sleeve tubing, I put power in 1 and data cables in another, so only have 2 cables coming from the mount.