Hello, Earlier today, I put the mount in Alt az mode and observed the sun. Everything was going quite smoothly. Later on this evening, i put the mount back in EQ mode, and when i powered up the mount, I ran into issues with power. i was using the Bluetti EB 120 as I was using earlier....and this unit is fully charged. The unit will power up, it will connect to wifi but when I try slewing the mount, the power cuts off. I think the dec axis is the problem. I also tried ac power from the house but the result is the same. I've attached an image of how the mount looks.
HELP!!! When trying to slew the mount the power cuts out
7 days later
Confirming with the team.
gwzapo I think the dec axis is the problem.
Did the power cut off only when slewing DEC? Can you try slewing RA and see if the power will be cut?
Please make s video to show the issue to the team, thank you in advance!
The AM5 has some low end DC connectors and the mount requires a LOT of power (AMPS) Try these suggestions:
- The connector is a 5.5mm x 2.1mm OR 2.5mm inside diameter. Almost all connectors are designed to fit both and that can mean a poor connection with a poorly made plug.
- Don't assume your battery will power the mount. I use mine with a 100 amp lead acid battery (80 pounds) and the mount still buzzes at times throughout the night.
- Use the heaviest gauge wire you can find. 12 is great and 14 is good. 20 is too small.
- Make sure AC transformers are at LEAST 5 amps. 8 is better.
- Use a separate battery or transformer for the mount. Run everything else off of other batteries or transformers.
- Use a DC splitter (2 male connectors from one female connector) and plug into BOTH DC ports on the AM5 at the same time. This will let you know if you have a poor connection on one port.
Bobby
- Edited
bobequus Use the heaviest gauge wire you can find. 12 is great and 14 is good. 20 is too small.
If you are going to use anything heavier than 18 AWG, make darn sure that you have an inline fuse. I have a fuse even with the 18 AWG that I use.
18 AWG is adequate if it is truly 18 AWG and copper, and is short. Most of the cheap spools at Amazon that claim 18 AWG are at best 20 AWG and many don't have much of a copper core.
In my case, I use a 25 ft 14 AWG cable run (SLA battery with a 15V buck/boost converter) in series with a 4 ft 18 AWG cable run just to power my RST-135 (worst case 2A when slewing -- the RST-135 uses a real servo motor, rather than the stepper motor that is used in the AM5, and my mount has a power supply tolerance of 11V to 16V). The 4 ft section is one that has silicone insulation, so that it stays soft even in sub-freezing temperatures. At 14 AWG, the usual vinyl insulation will stiffen too much in cold weather -- even regular 18 AWG will already stiffen too much.
The key is to use a short cable. 18 AWG is 6.4 ohms per 1000 feet. Since the cable also has a ground return, that would make a 18 AWG cable pair come in at 12.8 mΩ per foot. At 5 Amp draw, that would be a voltage drop of 65 mV per foot. A 5-foot cable would represent a voltage drop of 325 mV, which should be within the specifications of even your mount.
FWIW, a 14 AWG wire pair has a resistance of 5 mΩ per foot (compared to 12.8 mΩ per foot for 18 AWG), so you can use a cable length that is 2.5 times longer for the same voltage drop.
Chen
2 months later
Thank you guys. i actually RMAd the mount and the new one I received works as advertised. i do apologize for not responding---something i will do better with on this forum.
Thank you again!!!
Gary