Just got a new AP900 Goto about 2 weeks ago. It's been working fine
t'ill tonite. No response in the Dec motor (yellow Lite). RA motor is
working fine. No voltage problem, no balance issue. Also wiggled
cable connection no luck. Either worm gear is really bound-up, broken
cable, or some other electronic issue. I will call AP for
help...............in the meantime any trouble shooting thoughts out
their.

Any help appreciated!

Regards,

Jim Collins

In a message dated 6/18/2007 10:01:39 AM Central Daylight Time,
jimstar11gps@... writes:

Just got a new AP900 Goto about 2 weeks ago. It's been working fine
t'ill tonite. No response in the Dec motor (yellow Lite). RA motor is
working fine. No voltage problem, no balance issue. Also wiggled
cable connection no luck. Either worm gear is really bound-up, broken
cable, or some other electronic issue.

First remove the motor gear cover. Next remove the large spur gear (ordinary
screw driver will remove the shoulder screw). Then try running the motor with
the N-S keys.

If the motor does not move, try plugging in the RA cable into the Dec motor
box and look to see if the motor moves now. If it does move, then the Dec motor
is fine and the problem is either in the cable (bad connection or loose wire
on one of the pins), or the servo box is kaput.

If the motor does not turn with the RA cable either, then there is something
wrong with the motor itself (highly unlikely).

Rolando


**************************************
See what's free at
http://www.aol.com.

In a message dated 6/18/2007 10:18:42 AM Central Daylight Time,
jimstar11gps@... writes:

Dec motor problem.............Oops my newbie error. Just an FYI-- it's
possible to get the control box connector plugged into the RA motor and
the RA Motor connector plugged into the control box. MY
DUMB ERROR. I realized this right after I shot-off this "Help" post.

Regards........"the cable fumbler"

Jim Collins

So your mount works ok now?

Rolando


**************************************
See what's free at
http://www.aol.com.

Dec motor problem.............Oops my newbie error. Just an FYI-- it's
possible to get the control box connector plugged into the RA motor and
the RA Motor connector plugged into the control box. MY
DUMB ERROR. I realized this right after I shot-off this "Help" post.

Regards........"the cable fumbler"

Jim Collins





--- In ap-gto@..., "Jim Collins" <jimstar11gps@...> wrote:

Just got a new AP900 Goto about 2 weeks ago. It's been working fine
t'ill tonite. No response in the Dec motor (yellow Lite). RA motor

is

working fine. No voltage problem, no balance issue. Also wiggled
cable connection no luck. Either worm gear is really bound-up, broken
cable, or some other electronic issue. I will call AP for
help...............in the meantime any trouble shooting thoughts out
their.

Any help appreciated!

Regards,

Jim Collins

Dec motor is just fine..............Thanks for your help...I just had
the cables reversed.

Thanks again for the response.

Jim Collins





--- In ap-gto@..., chris1011@... wrote:

In a message dated 6/18/2007 10:18:42 AM Central Daylight Time,
jimstar11gps@... writes:

Dec motor problem.............Oops my newbie error. Just an FYI--

it's

possible to get the control box connector plugged into the RA

motor and

the RA Motor connector plugged into the control box. MY
DUMB ERROR. I realized this right after I shot-off this "Help"

post.

Regards........"the cable fumbler"

Jim Collins

So your mount works ok now?

Rolando


**************************************
See what's free at
http://www.aol.com.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Jim,

I didn't notice the discrepancy, until you mentioned it.
The rule for selecting sex in the design of a cable connector is that if it
provides power, the receptacle should be a female, socket type, so there is
little chance of accidentally shorting the power carrying pins. In the case of
the Y-Cable, the GTOCP3 provides power for the motors, so the controller
end of the Y-cable should be, and is male (pins), because the hot power
pins in the controller socket are effectively already "guarded" from shorting.
At the far end, the RA/DEC Y-cable connectors should be female, for the same
reason, with pin receptacles, rather than sockets, on the motor housings.
In such case, Jim, you would not have made the accidental cabling error. But
this was likely a rare occurrence. Perhaps colour coded connector
sleeves/boots could be used, or painted - e.g. AP white on the controller
end, red and blue for RA & DEC. (Just a thought, for next cable design).

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule - the DB9 serial port on a
laptop has male pins, yet it carries signal power to the external serial
device. I'm just glad that house wiring receptacles do follow the rule -
imagine facing the "fangs" of 110 VAC on a wall, especially if they got bent,
if it weren't a female socket :-)

But surely AP must have known this when they laid down the harness spec,
so I assume this brand of high quality connector wasn't available in both
sex types for cable use - or there was some other good technical or practical
reason for this selection.

Joe