Fried mainboard? EQM-35 Pro mount.

[Drac0 (Mark)]

Seems to be 'fry your gear' week.

Had everything running well last night when I had a short in my power setup. And the only problem seemed to be a couple of blow in-line fuses to my laptop & mount which were quickly replaced - laptop kept running on it's battery & I didn't even think much about the mount, except for some failed corrections in PHD2 it seemed fine. It ran for several more hours without incident, even returning to Park at the end of the night.


Tonight I went to test something using the handset - nothing. Direct to pc - nothing. PC through the handset, nothing. The control boxes on these are so basic they don't even have power lights so nothing to indicate if it's powering up. Not being savvy enough about PCB's, all I managed to do when I opened it up was confirm it was getting 12.9v through to the switch, so all I can guess is 'something' is wrong 'somewhere'.


Just emailed Sky-Watcher AUS hoping I can get a replacement pretty quick & not too expensive. It's probably something an electronics wizz could fix in a few minutes but that's above my pay grade.


Oh well, at least an unusable mount *MIGHT* make the next week of rain more survivable - at least I don't have to sit here looking at clear skies...


Cheers,
Mark

[LewisM]

If worst comes to worst, I have a complete EQM35 (no tripod) sitting in a box doing nothing that I'd sell complete for $500. (I won't sell individual part from it though)

[Drac0 (Mark)]

Thanks Lewis. Waiting to hear back from Sky-Watcher but there is a good chance I'll take you up on this.

Originally Posted by LewisM

If worst comes to worst, I have a complete EQM35 (no tripod) sitting in a box doing nothing that I'd sell complete for $500. (I won't sell individual part from it though)

[carneb (Barry)]

I managed to fry the mainboard on my EQM-35 quite a while back. I contacted Skywatcher Australia about buying a new board but they said none were available. There do seem to be some on European websites but they and the postage are not cheap, plus they are places I've never heard of before.

I've replaced mine with an AZ-EQ6 but it still annoys me I have another mount in a box that I can't use.

[Drac0 (Mark)]

Originally Posted by carneb

I managed to fry the mainboard on my EQM-35 quite a while back. I contacted Skywatcher Australia about buying a new board but they said none were available. There do seem to be some on European websites but they and the postage are not cheap, plus they are places I've never heard of before.

I've replaced mine with an AZ-EQ6 but it still annoys me I have another mount in a box that I can't use.

That's sort of what I'm expecting, availability is limited & seem quite expensive. Looking into if the current one is repairable.

[iangallagher76 (Ian)]

my mainboard for my fried ZWO 533 is due to get here next tuesday apparently but im not holding my breath.

I just checked the same site and they have a mainboard in stock for your mount:

https://teleskop-austria.com/MotherE...oard-EQM35-PRO

I think shipping is another 50 euros or so to Australia

[Drac0 (Mark)]

OUCH! Quite expensive aren't they. I've taken Lewis up on his offer of the head he has. Works out it's about the same cost. Hope yours arrives quick and is up and running soon.

Originally Posted by iangallagher76

my mainboard for my fried ZWO 533 is due to get here next tuesday apparently but im not holding my breath.

I just checked the same site and they have a mainboard in stock for your mount:

https://teleskop-austria.com/MotherE...oard-EQM35-PRO

I think shipping is another 50 euros or so to Australia