Chuck -- It's odd that you and Anthony should have the same problem at the same time, but yeah, at this point I'd be looking at the Y-cable. If one of the encoder wires is broken inside the

Hello Pierre, The DOVELM2 can be used on the Mach1GTO without any additional adapter, even when using the center knob position. The knob is not quite as convenient in that position, but it does

...then again, maybe not. Turned the mount back on after blow drying it and it behaved normally - but, after an hour or so, the mount started to chatter then run away in RA, it stopped and I got

Rolando I think what Anthony (and I) would find useful is a wiring diagram of the Y cable showing the numbered connector pins. This would make it easy to do simple Ohm meter continuity and short

kattnerk@... writes: Hey, sounds great! Wally does a nice job assembling each mount and testing the gears for accuracy. He rejects gears that don't meet spec and makes sure that

is. When should work tests to Can I trouble you for some further information here in relation to these tests for our information and future reference should something similar happen? Anthony. (both

Chris1011@... wrote: Rolando, Thanks for the explanation since I was curious as to why the attempted slew at start-up and before any initialization by me using the keypad (location etc). I will

Richard, I think you hit it on the head. After using a blow drier off and on this morning, it seems to be working fine again. I think I'll start storing it indoors from now on. I've been keeping

jlc@... writes: Right, and it gives aid and comfort to competitors who must be chuckling over the dozens and dozens of posts with this heading. You know, sometimes a quick e-mail to the

cheber@... writes: From your initial discription one axis ran away, The Dec I believe. Then the servo quit after 2 seconds. You may not have had the cables fully seated, or there is a

Hi Bob, I am in the fortunate position in having a brand new Mach1GTO waiting for action (soon) and which allowed me to test various components common with the AP1200GTO so as to systematically

cheber@... writes: Why would you say that it does not seem to be the Y cable? Have you actually checked the connections on the pins? If the motor encoder signals do not get to the servo,

ayiomami@... writes: By swapping Ra and Dec motors, you can determine if the problem is in the Y cable or in the motor itself. This is the first test that I would do if one of the motors

cheber@... writes: Usually, a motor will run wild because it is in an uncontrolled loop. The servo sends a voltage to the motor to start it rotating, and the shaft encoder on the back of

ayiomami@... writes: The reason your RA motor will slew uncontrollably is probably because the servo is not getting a signal from the motor encoder. What happens is this: the servo sends a

ayiomami@... writes: keep the power cord as short as possible because a long wire will cause significant voltage drop unless it is made of heavy guage wire.

ayiomami@... writes: Gel cells do not last very long. A battery used for trolling motors on small fishing boats is best. Rolando ************************************** Check out AOL's list

rickwiggins@... writes: The problem is this: Once the mount is lost, which way should the axes move in order to find the homing signal? east or west? For a mount which cannot track

Hi Anthony, all, We have similar frustrations, but likely different answers. First it is very important to have a real power supply (like the AC power supply AP offers) or a well maintained battery

Chuck, I had the same problem, random uncontrolled slews, after my CP3 servo and/or its connectors got wet. After drying everything out with a hair dryer everything went back to normal for about an