Bought an Orion Accufocus

netwolf · #1 12-03-2006, 12:29 PM

Ok So after the recent review on here about this, i decided to get one. Called Bintel and they were very helpfull about it, they had some on order and called me when it came in. I went and collected it on Thursday.

Friday night it was a little cloudy so i just thought i would test the device was running with no load , and it did (though a little noisy).

I put it back in the box and next day i went to install it on my scope, on completion it did not work.. I

I did not know what i had done wrong. I followed the guide step by step but the motor would not rotate.. I could feel it tensing inside when i pushed the button but no rotation. I took it of the telescope to see if it was a load problem, but it did not work then either but it did tense when u pushed the button. So I put it back in its box and left it there. This morning i took it out of the box to take a closer look and it works (still noisy)

whtats going on here..

What do you guys reckon is it faulty, is it something else... I am guessing this is a stepper motor and perhaps it has a gear thats locked up or some such. Not sure, why it stops and starts working. Its not the battery, I tried that comes with it in my Telrad, works fine, and i got a new Energizer 9v did the same thing. Should i return it and get a new one? Or giver er a go on the scope again.

On the upside its well made as far as i can discern, i will report after first light if it still works..

Regards

netwolf · #2 12-03-2006, 12:37 PM

Ok after playing with it a little i also notice the spped control knob is out a little. When u turned it all the way down the motor does not turn at all. If u slowly increase it it still does not turn, if u increase to half way it turns then if u decrease slowly it turns untill u decrease to the off point. But on increasing it does not start at the off/on point. But when when it did not work previoulsy i had it turned almost all the way up, so this was not the problem before but something additional to note about the product.

asimov (John) · #3 12-03-2006, 12:40 PM

Hi Wolfie.

Thats not good to hear, rather than muck with it....or be tempted to try to find out what the problem is, I would immediately email Bintel & tell them the problem.

netwolf · #4 12-03-2006, 01:51 PM

It seems to be working now, tried it several times. The speed control is still as described but that could just be how it is designed. I will email Bintel and inform them of the problems, and that for now i will monitor its function.

Edit: I emailed info@bintel.com.au my findings and asked if i should return or monitor the device. I also asked if they could test another unit to see if it does same.

Regards

Netwolf.

asimov (John) · #5 12-03-2006, 02:07 PM

I'm not electronic minded at all, but I assume it's just a motor with a potentiometer as the speed control? I've built a couple & had the same trouble as you describe with the speed control problem. People were telling me it was the wrong potentiometer for that motor. But this would not be the case for your unit you just bought surely? It's a mass produced item..

Good luck with it anyway.

barees63 · #6 12-03-2006, 06:51 PM

FWIW, mine turns when set all the way to slow, but - it is _so slow_ (one revolution of the shaft takes 40 seconds) I can only tell by watching the remaining knob on the focuser.. could that be it? looking at the shaft alone might be a bit like watching the hands of a clock.. As far as the noise is concerned I would assume this is because it has no load? Mine is silent at slow speed and make a slight noise on fast, never tried it without the load attached.

netwolf · #7 12-03-2006, 10:52 PM

Hi Bruce,

When its bellow the point where the arrow starts it stops ( i guess this is off). If you increase it half way it starts, but bellow this point it will not start. Well maybe i can not hear it but i can not feel it tense either. When it is half way u can feel the motor tense and start. If you reduce it from half way while its runing or while its off u can decrease the speed till the off point where it stops. Increasing it from this off point does not start the motor again, till u reach half way. You maybe correct about the noise being caused by no load.

Regards

barees63 · #8 13-03-2006, 07:31 AM

on mine at least there is no "stop" position.. I would suggest sticking a wheel or disc (even cardboard) of some sort on the shaft and observing it at the lowest setting just to be sure..

netwolf · #9 14-03-2006, 05:22 PM

Thanks all, got an email back from Don at Bintel and asked me to bring it back for replacement. He indicated that the unit he tested at the shop was not ver noisy at low speeds and did turn very very very slowly at lowest speed setting, he used a prncil to test it.

Hmm no stop position well mine definetly stops when you slowly reduce the speed down while it is turning it has a sudden cutoff and stops.

Regards
Netwolf.

barees63 · #10 14-03-2006, 06:30 PM

That's disappointing! I'm sure you'll be happy once you get a good unit..they do work very well when they work..

netwolf · #11 15-03-2006, 01:24 PM

Well i poped in today, Don @ Bintel tested mine and it did not work at all. So he gave me a new one.. Thats A+ for customer service.

netwolf · #12 15-03-2006, 10:24 PM

Ok I tested it without installing onto the scope an dit does turn very slowly at the lowest setting, unlike the previous one i had. If you hold down the go button and rotate the speed control, the speed is increased or decreased to full limits of the pot. So looks like my previous one was a dud. The replacement is very promosing, the noise is also much less. Willl advise post first light..

Regards

rmcpb (Rob) · #13 17-03-2006, 08:56 AM

With service like that they can't go wrong!