Cord Wrap protection

EFRIDAY

Testing my rig inside, I failed to notice the power card and one USB cord were wrapping around the mount. Rinehart one USB cable and almost ruined the $2000 AM5 mount connector
Seems simple to put in a "Cord Wrap" button, like Celestron,to allow the mount to take the "long way around" to get to the selected GoTo point.
You can't a always observe the mount for unattended operation.

Tech@ZWO

EFRIDAY Thank you for your feedback, i forwarded this suggestion to our AM5 team, we will consider this in the future.

Foxtrot127

Dear ZWO, I have recently invested in the AM5 mount, ASI-Air Plus, PE200 pier extension and TC 40 tripod, as well as a 50mm Guidescope (coupled to my ASI-224MC camera). I am now just starting to learn how to drive it all in Altazimuth mode, and basically use plate-solving to Goto/navigate the sky. It's early days yet, but I believe that (power) cord wrap is a real potential risk when in Altazimuth mode. Has this been fixed in a software update yet ie. the software will now avoid cord wrap ?

Foxtrot127

Dear ZWO, I can confirm that in AZ mode, the AM5 mount certainly does CORD WRAP ! The mount is so oblivious to cord wrap, tonight (14th Aug 2024) when I went from Omega Centaurus (globular cluster) to Centaurus A (radio galaxy), only about 5 deg apart, and the AM5 did a complete 360 deg goto, the long way around ! This is a bizarre oversight in programming, and one which needs to be solved by ZWO to help prevent loyal customers from accidental damage to their expensive equipment. May I ask ZWO to please look into this issue: the goto’s need to be sensible and tracked during an observing session to prevent WRAP !

Foxtrot127

Hi ZWO,

Just a bit more information I noted about this cord wrap issue. The previous night (13th Aug) I did the same goto from Omega Cent to Cent A, and the mount behaved fine, although it was somewhat later in the evening and Centaurus was closer to setting towards the horizon.

The next night when the mount did the cord wrap (14th Aug) I was observing a few hours earlier, so Centaurus was higher in the sky. Somebody suggested that the cord wrap might be a software artefact related to the mount doing a meridian flip somehow (despite being in AZ mode).

Cheers
Foxtrot

Tech@ZWO

Foxtrot127 Thank you for your feedback, we noticed this problem and will optimize this as soon as possible.