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Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi: Declination Spinning after a Couple of Hours

Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi Equatorial Mount Guiding Troubleshooting
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abaxworld5000 avatar
abaxworld5000 avatar
Hi, everyone.

I have my SW Star Adventurer GTi since March and have been working with it since then. Both with ASIAir Plus and INDIGO A1. Suddenly, for the last couple of weeks I'm experiencing a strange issue:

after guiding for about 2 hours or so ( sometimes is quite random ), the mount stars moving in Declination without any apparent reason. It starts spinning non-stop and can potentially damage the cables.  I have to switch off the mount, disable the mount in the ASIAir software ( EQMod driver ) or in INDIGO A1 ( SynScan driver ), even unplug the mount's power and start over. As I said, nothing of this have happened for the last 6 months until now. 

I have checked if I have something wrong configured with the SynScan Pro app, but haven't seen any possible interference between the internal software and the external control.  I also tried to reset the mount with the SynScan controller from my other SkyWatcher mount and seemed to work for 1 night.  Tonight the issue is back.

A month ago I made an adjustment to the AR axis to reduce the backlash, and it did, but haven't touched the Dec axis at all. 

Any idea what could cause this? 

Thank you
Helpful Engaging
Jackson Datkuliak avatar
Jackson Datkuliak avatar
I would contact skywatcher support before you damage any equipment. Maybe a corrupted firmware issue? I would have no idea, I have literally never heard of a mount just slewing randomly like that unless the software controlling the mount completely crashes.
Supportive
TiffsAndAstro avatar
TiffsAndAstro avatar
Is there any chance of a dodgy usb lead becoming intermittent and possibly a drive crash?
Maybe wiring being stretched a bit?
Ive had my mount do something possibly vaguely similar. Pushing usb lead into hub seems to have solved it.
Johannes Maximilian Möslein avatar
Johannes Maximilian Möslein avatar
The only times when I encountered a problem like this, were when my WiFi was acting out. The connection between the phone and the ASIAIR was lost during a slewing input, so the AIR continued the slewing until the telescope hit the tripod. This happened multiple times. So I guess either a connection issue, a dodgy cable like @TiffsAndAstro suggested, or the Amp input of the AIR is to low (which created all kind of funky behaviors for my setup).
Concise
abaxworld5000 avatar
abaxworld5000 avatar
TiffsAndAstro:
Is there any chance of a dodgy usb lead becoming intermittent and possibly a drive crash?
Maybe wiring being stretched a bit?
Ive had my mount do something possibly vaguely similar. Pushing usb lead into hub seems to have solved it.

Hi. Thank you for your post. I will try with a different USB just in case it has been damage during the last sessions.
abaxworld5000 avatar
abaxworld5000 avatar
Johannes Maximilian Möslein:
The only times when I encountered a problem like this, were when my WiFi was acting out. The connection between the phone and the ASIAIR was lost during a slewing input, so the AIR continued the slewing until the telescope hit the tripod. This happened multiple times. So I guess either a connection issue, a dodgy cable like @TiffsAndAstro suggested, or the Amp input of the AIR is to low (which created all kind of funky behaviors for my setup).

Thank you for your info. The ASIAir is a standalone computer, so even if you loose the connection with the phone/tablet/computer, it shouldn't be affected. Anyway, I'm using an Ethernet connection, so there's no chance to loose the connection. I have tried with INDIGO A1 too and it happens the same, so it's not an external software/ control issue. As the weather here is awful this week, I will try with a different USB cable and doing "fake" sessions. If it keeps happening, I will contact the reseller for a solution as I bought this mount las March.
Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar
Yup, new cable and daylight testing, I doubt very much that it's the software.
abaxworld5000 avatar
abaxworld5000 avatar
After some sessions with a different USB cable, I can confirm that the issue is solved. Thank you to those who pointed to it as the origin of the problem.
Well Written
TiffsAndAstro avatar
TiffsAndAstro avatar
After some sessions with a different USB cable, I can confirm that the issue is solved. Thank you to those who pointed to it as the origin of the problem.


It's always a usb cable. 

Except when it's something else. Happy  you fixed it