HEQ5 Pro Electronics problems...happy ending!

[dugnsuz (Doug)]

Hi all...
Buzzing from fixing my HEQ5 Pro!

When I bought the mount, it had a click in RA which prompted me to wade in with all guns blazing - opened mount to try and identify problem instead of taking as step back and thinking logically(simply a worm gear tweak being needed!!!).

In the process I think I must have pulled some of the wires in the master circuit board resulting in intermittent
“No link to M.C. Stand alone mode” messages on the handset at startup
When imaging M4 last night the mount suddenly gave up completely - went to bed thinking my imaging 'career' was over for the foreseeable!!!

Posting this in a hope to help any others in a similar situation - in the morning I opened the curved front panel of the mount to get access to the master circuit board (about 11-12 screws in all on either side of the mount to remove it).

Straight away saw the problem - all the wires that can be potentially/ accidentally "pulled" when trying to tweak RA worm adjustment lead to connectors which 'plug in' to the main board and I had just pulled out the "plug" so to speak. Pushed this connection fully in and voila - back to as normal operation and major, MAJOR sighs of relief from moi!!!!
One happy dugnsuz
Cheers
Doug

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

Well done.

Dave

[RobF (Rob)]

Congrats Doug - for screaming down the rollercoaster then getting back up the other side just as quickly!

[pjphilli (Peter)]

Hi Doug
Thanks for the "heads up" if I ever feel inclined to tweak the RA worm on my HEQ5.
I also have not-so-fond memories of getting the dreaded ".....stand alone" message which in my case was solved by loading up newer handpiece firmware. Others initially had problems with that silly short curled RJ45 connector cable (which I replaced with a 2 metre flexible Cat 5e patch cord).
Cheers Peter

[legoman_iac (Daniel)]

Hey Guys ... bit stuck/panicked at the moment ... I also encountered the "No Link to M.C." on my new HEQ5, done several searches on Google and here and people mention several things, like power supply, cable, etc ... however I suspect my error message was due to me incorrectly plugging my Orion Autoguider (connected to laptop by USB) into the mount, rather than the handset? I believe I should have plugged it into the handset? I then heard some loud clicking and powered off the unit, since then I only get the "No Link to M.C." error on the Handset ... any ideas? The shop I purchased from is closed until after New Year's and was hoping to get this up and running ASAP???

[dugnsuz (Doug)]

Perhaps a factory rest?
It's in one of the submenus on the handset.

My QHY5 (similar to the Orion) plugs into the autoguider plug on the mount not the handset. I thought that input was for software upgrades.

9/10 times though it's the curly cable from handset to mount that's faulty.

good luck
Doug

[legoman_iac (Daniel)]

I did a factory reset ... no luck. I also tired a regular Cat5 cable, as some posts mention the curly cable at fault.

Mmm ... so not so likely something I've done ... that's a glimmer of good news, ok, will play around some more. Thanks for the uber quick reply!

Other thing I noted, when I do get past the error msg, and I go into 'Show Position' ... it's all over the shop, RA and DEC bounce around like madness, at first I thought Earth's orbit was off axis and gone crazy but the sun didn't seem to waver, haha.

Will let you know if anythign works. Thanks again!

- Daniel

P.S HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Originally Posted by dugnsuz

Perhaps a factory rest?
It's in one of the submenus on the handset.

My QHY5 (similar to the Orion) plugs into the autoguider plug on the mount not the handset. I thought that input was for software upgrades.

9/10 times though it's the curly cable from handset to mount that's faulty.

good luck
Doug

[legoman_iac (Daniel)]

Just took it into the shop, needs new M.C. board. Covered under warranty luckily!

Originally Posted by legoman_iac

I did a factory reset ... no luck. I also tired a regular Cat5 cable, as some posts mention the curly cable at fault.

Mmm ... so not so likely something I've done ... that's a glimmer of good news, ok, will play around some more. Thanks for the uber quick reply!

Other thing I noted, when I do get past the error msg, and I go into 'Show Position' ... it's all over the shop, RA and DEC bounce around like madness, at first I thought Earth's orbit was off axis and gone crazy but the sun didn't seem to waver, haha.

Will let you know if anythign works. Thanks again!

- Daniel

P.S HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

[dugnsuz (Doug)]

Glad you're getting it sorted out Daniel
All the best
Doug