I second the suggestion.   Even better, try to power it from a fully charged 12v battery.

I had a Pyramid 20 amp power supply fail on me.  This was as Oregon Star Party, and I was running the power supply from my motorhome’s AC inverter.  The power supply went “click” and started buzzing.  At that moment, I had a bunch of equipment fail all at the same time.  I always run with a power meter inline, and it showed that the power supply was putting out 20v.  That was enough to shut down a bunch of gear.  I switched out the Pyramid and went to straight 12v from a spare set of batteries.  Fortunately, there was no permanent damage (except for the power supply), and I was able to get everything up and running again.

Since then, I’ve switched from Pyramid to a 30 amp PowerWerx power supply.  It is much smaller than the Pyramid, and runs *much* cooler than the Pyramid ever did.  I’ve also stopped using any kind of AC power when I’m out in the field.  The observatory tent gets its own pair of 75 amp hour AGM batteries in parallel, along with 300 watts of solar charging.  And I always run a buck-boost converter between the batteries and the astro gear to keep the voltage regulated at 13.5 volts.

One other suggestion as I think about it, if the mount looks like it’s getting no power at all, check out the center pin on the power socket in the CPx on the mount.  If I remember right, the pin has a slot in it.  If that slot has become compressed, it can cause a faulty connection.  In that case, take a small, slotted screwdriver and gently widen the slot in the center pin.

Dean,

We hope to finish up the keypad program soon so that they can ship with the mounts. If your mount is ready before the keypad program is complete, our office staff will give you the option of waiting for it or not.

The weather was cloudy in IL and did not allow testing of the new modeling functions, so we escaped to our observatory in HI. Roland has had a few clear nights so far and we hope to have a few more next week.

Meanwhile, our staff at AP is continuing assembly and testing of Mach2s that will ship after our return once Roland has reviewed them.

As the first owners receive their mounts and begin using them, we will update our manuals based on any questions that they have so that later recipients have the benefit of their experiences. Many thanks to Terri and Wayne so far.

Clear Skies,

Marj Christen

Astro-Physics, Inc

11250 Forest Hills Rd

Machesney Park, IL 61115

Phone: 815-282-1513

Fax: 815-282-9847

www.astro-physics.com

Even if that power supply has worked in the past, try a different one.  I’ve had one Pyramid not only die on me, but almost take a couple of other pieces of equipment with it.  Smoke suddenly coming out of a 12v video monitor was the first clue something was wrong. 

And when I did a simple test of the PS with a volt meter, it tested fine.  But it wasn’t.  Never did figure out what the problem was with that PS.  But everything worked (and still works to this day) with other power supplies.  So that one is gone now.  And I’ve also retired my other older Pyramid to emergency spare status.

Woody

Dominique,

The keypads are not supposed to be sent with Mach2 mounts yet. However, Terri noted that she received hers. According to our records, you mount has not shipped yet. Before it ships, our office will be in touch with your dealer to find out if you require the keypad to operate the mount or if you can operate it with the V2 driver and APCC while the keypad program is being completed.

Clear Skies,

Marj Christen

Astro-Physics, Inc

11250 Forest Hills Rd

Machesney Park, IL 61115

Phone: 815-282-1513

Fax: 815-282-9847

www.astro-physics.com

Wayne,

I just updated the APCC software update page to link to the newest version, version history and the PDF.

https://www.astro-physics.info/tech_support/software/apcc/apcc-download.htm

Clear Skies,

Marj Christen

Astro-Physics, Inc

11250 Forest Hills Rd

Machesney Park, IL 61115

Phone: 815-282-1513

Fax: 815-282-9847

www.astro-physics.com