Great! Glad it's working and not needing repair.
Yes, the spur gear locking screw can come loose over the years on the 900/1200 mounts. Both on the RA and the Dec gearboxes.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Panish <scpanish@...>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Sent: Fri, Aug 6, 2021 9:07 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Debugging Dec failure to move w/1200 CP3
Hi All,
Problem is resolved. The lock screw on the worm spur gear was loose. Diagnosis by George...Thanks! Big improvement in guiding too.
Steve
On Tue, Aug 3, 2021 at 3:28 PM George < george@...> wrote:
Steven,
Please use my email below.
Regards,
George
George Whitney
Astro-Physics, Inc.
Phone: 815-222-6538 (direct line)
Phone: 815-282-1513 (office)
Thanks George. I considered freeing up the box, but that mucks up my cabling. A new y-cable will be here tomorrow and **maybe** that will work. If not I'll give you a call since the issue is deeper, and
at that point I really will need to start taking things apart.
On Mon, Aug 2, 2021 at 10:12 AM George < george@...> wrote:
Steve,
If the cable won’t come to the box, take the box to the cable! You have to free the CP3 from the mount and then reverse the cables…yes,
the box will dangle in the air.
Regards,
George
George Whitney
Astro-Physics, Inc.
Phone: 815-222-6538 (direct line)
Phone: 815-282-1513 (office)
Unfortunately the RA branch of the y-cable is too short to make it to the DEC motor connector. I may be able to pull off the CP3 and get the cable
to connect to the DEC motor. I did put the DEC cable onto the RA and the motor did not come on. So that would support the idea that there is a fault in the cable or CP3.
There is no visible corrosion on any of the connector pins. They do not appear to be gold plated, this is an old mount. I put DeOxIt on the female connector
sockets. Didn't help. I'll open the CP3 up and see if any corrosion is visible. Seems unlikely, this is in an observatory, but NH does get humid.
There are no software limits set that would do this. The problem appeared out of the blue.
Guess I'll order a spare Y cable next week.
Also consider getting a spare motor Y-cable and try that. EVERYONE should have a spare motor Y-cable in their kit. A spare power cord too.
Fwiw.. I also have a spare Y-cable for the 1200.
I broke the original cable once, and fixed it… but after that incident I decided to get a spare just in case.
And there is an outside chance that a software axis limit setting is involved.
Wasn’t there a problem with the CP3 where the inside board became loose or had a corroded connection inside the box that might make intermittent problems come up with power to the motor
or control to the motor? I don’t have a CP3 just a later model CP4 so I can’t really comment technically I just remember a conversation
On Jul 29, 2021, at 08:18, Steven Panish < scpanish@...> wrote:
The CP3 is connected through a serial/usb converter, but the RA still responds to a nudge even when the DEC does not, so the port is still alive.
And the handbox shows the same issue. I think the fault has to be later in the path than the comm between the PC or handbox and the CP3. Although I don't know the architecture. Good thought though.
Some will sleep, removing power from the port when it's considered inactive.
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
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