Carl Gough Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 Hi all, I’m after some help/advice or suggestions with my HEQ5 go-to mount. i run the mount via a powered USB hub. And it’s powered with a 12v 2amp mains plug I purchased from Amazon. The USB hub is new and all other devices behave ok. problems. the mount randomly disconnects. I get an “external disconnection of telescope detected” in SGP. It periodically will not centre on a target. Sometimes clearing alignment points in EQMOD helps, sometimes it doesn’t. It will randomly loose its park position and park in a different position to home. I’ll manually put it where it should be. Most mornings I find the scope pointing in a weird position due to a random disconnect. I’ll re-open eqmod and it will park. interestingly PHD doesn’t seem to disconnect. From what I’ve noticed. However I get random spikes in guiding on both or either axis. just after some opinions on what could be failing. Power problem maybe? Faulty cable? Motherboard going south? any comments very much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ibbo Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 Hubs can cause all sorts of issues. Try and run without the hub and see if things improve. Check the power input jack to the mount. Carl Gough 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPB Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Windows includes the USB selective suspend feature that lets you automatically put USB devices in a very low-power state when they're not actively in use. This may be causing your hub to drop the mount connection. you can try to disable selective suspend on Windows to see if that helps. I would also check your USB power supply it may not be stable particularly after a few hours use. The other thing I would check / swop is the USB hub cable to the PC as the ones supplied with budget hubs can be a bit poor quality. Carl Gough 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 I use an orico usb3 12v powered hub never had any problems with power disconnections , how far from mount to pc , and is hub at mount or pc end , if it’s a long distance then you need to use active usb cables or it may be a defective cable , does red light on mount Flicker when slewing which would point to a power issue , you could try as a test running and setting up Apt during day it has a usb monitor clicking it opens it up and let’s you see what devices are connected connect all your devices set mount to sidereal leave it on and see if anything disconnects Carl Gough 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPB Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 You don't say if its a USB 2 or USB 3 hub there are differences in the power available on each port of the hub or how many other devices are on the Hub. The USB 1.x and 2.0 specifications provide a 5 V supply on a single wire to power connected USB devices. A unit load is defined as 100 mA in USB 2.0, and 150 mA in USB 3.0. A device may draw a maximum of 5 unit loads (500 mA) from a port in USB 2.0; 6 (900 mA) in USB 3.0. So depending upon what devices and their power requirements connected to your hub the 12v 2 amp mains adapter may not be man enough for the job. Carl Gough 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 I use a separate power supply to the mount and one to my powered hub, no problems. My power supply is a 10-17 amp PSU. Ron Carl Gough 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 My 12v power to my mount, output at mount is 13.8v fed by a 12v 15amp supply . Carl Gough 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Graham Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 A 12 volt 2 amp power supply is not enough for an HEQ 5 mount. You will need at least 5 amps bare minimum to supply enough power to enable the mount to work properly. An HEQ 5 will pull a minimum of 3 amps when slewing and more if the load is not balanced. As soon as the supply drops below min power requirements it will cause the mount to drop out thus causing all your issues. Carl Gough, +RonC and Bottletopburly 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Derbyshire Dave Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Carl, I have exactly the same problem. Sequence Generator Pro disconnects at random intervals. I simultaneously connect to Cartes De Ceil and that never disconnects. I have also used APT Astro Photography Tool as the controller in my setup instead of SGP, and I’m 99% sure it never disconnects. So, in my mind, the issue is to do with the timing of the commands and retry times in SGP. I have posted messages on the SGP and EQMOD forums to no avail. I’m not ruling out power supplies or hubs, just that’s the way it seems to me at the moment. Have you got APT? I’d be very interested to see whether yours disconnects Carl Gough 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Gough Posted May 14, 2020 Author Share Posted May 14, 2020 Thanks everyone. It’s a USB3 hub and I use a 5m repeater cable from pc to hub. The Windows USB selective power is disabled. based on the consensus. I’ve ordered a 12v 5 amp power brick from FLO. I’ll report back with my findings. all comments very much appreciated. many thanks, Carl BAZ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 4 hours ago, Carl Gough said: Thanks everyone. It’s a USB3 hub and I use a 5m repeater cable from pc to hub. The Windows USB selective power is disabled. based on the consensus. I’ve ordered a 12v 5 amp power brick from FLO. I’ll report back with my findings. all comments very much appreciated. many thanks, Carl Is your hub 12v powered Carl ? Carl Gough 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Gough Posted May 15, 2020 Author Share Posted May 15, 2020 8 hours ago, Bottletopburly said: Is your hub 12v powered Carl ? 5v I believe. It’s an atolla 4 port I got from Amazon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottletopburly Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 34 minutes ago, Carl Gough said: 5v I believe. It’s an atolla 4 port I got from Amazon Think about having a 12v powered hub . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Derbyshire Dave Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 Sorry for coming back late on this, I've been out all day (yes really!). My original post on the subject was here To summarise, 1)I didn't use to have the problem, blew up the mount, and then did. 2)Have thought of uninstalling SGPro and all drivers from my laptop and re-trying. Haven't done this yet, but have done the opposite, installed all drivers and SGPro on a new desktop PC. I still had disconnection issues on the new PC. 3)currently I'm supplying the mount off a single 12V 8A power supply, and have no USB hub, so that potentially eliminates any hub issues. I'm wondering if when the mount blew up, the power supply was strained at the same time (problem was caused by a short to the PSU which took out the mount) and maybe now drops out sometimes? I should try another pwer supply. 4)The really weird thing though is that APT seems to work OK and not drop out, but SGPro does. I'll re-test this premise. In my mind this implies they are using different EQMOD protocols, and that maybe the SGPro is less robust. Carl, Really desperate to get this sorted, I love SGPro, so happy to do test and tie in with you.. we can personal message if you need to Cheers Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now