USB Type B pins adjustment?

[bluesilver (Peter)]

Hi, I think i have this question in the correct section.
I have a USB 2.0 Type B plug on my mount ( USB Type B as in the printer type USB Plug)
At times i am getting a loss connection, mount sometime may start to slew and then the connection just drops.
I am thinking i may have a ill fitting USB fitting on the mount side.

I am running 5 meter USB2.0 cords, I have tried high quality and low quality ones and get the same result.
I have tried swapping USB ports around on the laptop with no change, i even went out a got a powered USB hub to see if that would fix the issue, but no luck.

I am just interested to know, is it possible to just slightly bend up the contact pins on the mount side to give a more positive contact.
i wouldn't need much, just a little bit i am thinking.

Is it possible to bend these just a bit, or would i be better of just cutting the end of the USB cable and solder it directly onto the board, making it a permanent fixed USB cable?

Any suggestions would be appreciated,
Cheers.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Hi Peter,
Hope your well
First of all I wouldn’t recommend touching the pins inside the USB2B plug
Both my SW EQ6-R mounts and SW EQ8-R mount have USB2B connections which are not solid connections ( you can wiggle the plug left and right 2mm ) and I’ve had no issues with drop outs during Mount operations for years.
USB2 is usually pretty stable up to 5m , however your PC / laptop may not be supplying enough USB power at various times to the mount.
Make sure you check USB Power Management ( attached )
As far as the cable being at fault , if you have replaced cables with different quality brands , I’m sure you’ve reduced the risk of the cable being at fault but in saying that I’d try a shorter 1m or 2m USB2B as well ( I only use Startech cables available through Mwave )
Also make sure the USB2B socket contacts on your mount are not corroded or tarnished due to moisture etc… contacts inside should be shiny tinned copper
The only other suggestion would be to monitor your USB traffic on your laptop to ensure it’s ok
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...6-2345d9c215ef

Hope others can pitch in and suggest other ideas

Hope you find the issue

All the best

Cheers
Martin

[bluesilver (Peter)]

Hi Martin, Thanks for the reply.
Sorry for the delay in replying,
Yes i had checked the power management and all was good there.
This has only just started to happen in i guess the last 3 months.
i was using a 5 meter Startech cable, then after a while it lost connection, this may have been in use for maybe a year i am guessing possibly.

I have just been running a cheap run of the mill cable since, it work perfect for about another 6 or 9 months and now playing up.

I went and got a 5 meter Lindsy cable and get issues pretty much straight away.

After reading through that link, i may be worth will uninstalling the USB driver and re install it.

I should of also mentioned that i tried using the 3 different USB ports on the laptop to see if that made any difference also.
Every now and then i have an issue with the camera not connecting, and this is through a USB 3.0 cable and a different port on the laptop
The laptop doesn't go online, but it sounds like it may be worth a try.
Other than that, as you mentioned, going for a shorter cable.
Bit of a pain as 5 meters lets me run the cable under the observatory floor nd up the wall.

The USB ports work fine though if i am using a USB stick in them to transfer data though, I figured if there was an issue with the USB drivers, i would also have issues transferring data with a USB stick, I am not sure if i am thinking on the right track here though.
But worth a try.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Looks like you’ve checked the obvious things and on the right track
As far as swapping USB ports on your lappy , I’d avoid that as when you have multiple programs running that can cause issues. I’ve connected up using the same configuration and USB port every time.
Maybe power up , connect the mount , confirm it’s connected , go into device manager , check correct port connectivity and then unplug and plug back in a few times. If you see port connected and then disconnected ( as well as the audible tone ) then I’m sure your USB port connection and cabling is sound.
These annoying spurious events are hard to pin point but hopefully you eventually nail them , even by accident sometimes
Good luck with it
Cheers
Martin

[bluesilver (Peter)]

Appreciate all the advice.
I do get that chiming sound when you plug it in, or if it is plugged in and you turn it on.
I get the disconnect chime when the mount starts to slew.
I did find something else to try just by accident, they call it ( usb selective suspend setting )
You just select everything from enable to disable
Enable is for power saving and disable the opposite.
So a few things to try there, but as a rule, only try one thing at a time.

[AstroViking (Steve)]

Sounds to me like the cable is loose in the mount. Can you secure the plug so that it doesn't move (gaffer tape?) when the mount begins to slew?

Originally Posted by bluesilver

Appreciate all the advice.
I get the disconnect chime when the mount starts to slew.

[bluesilver (Peter)]

I did try that idea, tried holding it in there while it slews, tried even chocking it up and also down to see if that did anything, but no luck there.

I thought it might be my electric fence playing up with it as the observatory is about 2-3 meters away from it ( Corrugated iron shed with roll off roof )
But even with the fence turned off the issue was the same.

I uninstalled all the USB driver yesterday and reinstalled them, also updated windows10 to the latest version.

Tried it again just now and same issue.

It appears it is now either:
1.
The 5 meter cable is just too long for this mount ( even though it worked fine for months, possibly a year )
Or 2.
It has a bad USB type B fitting at the mount end.

Seams to work fine with my spare 2 meter USB cable ( just a bit short to be practical at night )

So options so far is either get the next size down cable from 5 meters, which appears to be 3 meters, or get another USB B plug, un solder the one from the mount and re solder a new on in.

Or another option is to make a USB cable for cat5 cable to see if that improves things, ( may be overthinking it at this stage though )

I forgot to mention that the mount is a iOptron CEM120, issues only accour once the mount starts to move.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Peter,
That’s unusual that a 2m cable works fine but a 5m doesn’t
USB2 signal performance is generally up to 5m before you start to lose signal voltage

I’m not guaranteeing the cable below , but I’ve seen quite a few folk ( eg: Astrobloke YouTube) use these USB2 active extension cables to resolve connectivity issues from Laptop to mount

They are not cheap but they have resolved many connectivity issues
All you need is one of these Startech “active extension cables” plus a 1m Startech USB2A to USB2 B cable from Laptop to mount

https://www.mwave.com.au/product/sta...ble-mf-ab68977

Maybe the ioptron mount has different characteristics than my SW mounts , however I do use 5m Startech Active USB3A to USB3B cables from my laptop to USB3 Active Hub at my mount ( at both my sites ) and never had a drop out

Cheers
Martin

[bluesilver (Peter)]

Appreciate the reply and advice,
I will take a look at those active extension cables in that link, appreciated.
Something that i haven't really heard much about.
The Startech cable that i was using was this one:
https://www.mwave.com.au/product/sta...ble-mm-ab64803
(Mount only runs of a USB 2.0 )
I tried this one from Lindsy Cables but failed
https://www.lindy.com.au/5m-usb-2-0-...ble-cromo-line

Definately will read up on those active cables.
Just an odd fault that may take a bit of tracking down.

[Leo.G (Leo)]

I would also recommend an active cable. Power from laptops isn't always as stated but an active cable will stabilise the voltage and you shouldn't get any signal loss.