Telescope Reviews: Is my iEQ45 defective?

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Equipment Discussions >> Mounts

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nomosnow
sage

Reged: 03/21/11

Loc: Fort Saskatchewan,Ab ,Canada

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: Midnight Dan]
#5531375 - 11/21/12 12:09 AM

Dan it is where the firmware is loaded /stored.You take the back off of the handset to get to it. So when you turn on the mount and it says loading firmware it is accessing the micro sd card.
It is a 2 GB card available from Amazon and at a reasonable price too. You can then download the firmware from the Ioptron site and have a new card ready to go.Using your computer card reader.
The reason I know all this is of course Ioptron support information.

Edited by nomosnow (11/21/12 12:11 AM)

Post Extras:

mgwhittle
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 08/24/11

Loc: Chattanooga, TN

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: Midnight Dan]
#5531497 - 11/21/12 04:18 AM

Yes, inside the hand controller is a micro SD card that holds the firmware. It might need to be reseated if someone is having problems with rebooting. Usually it is a one time procedure to correct the problem.

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mgwhittle
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 08/24/11

Loc: Chattanooga, TN

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: nomosnow]
#5531502 - 11/21/12 04:25 AM

Quote:

Now it tends to lock up and require a reboot when in the alignment menu displaying the polar alignment clock??

I suspect, based on my experience, you still have an issue related to the SD card. I would have iOptron replace the hand controller as it might be the SD card holder that is not fully holding the card in place and not the card itself.

Post Extras:

Midnight Dan
Postmaster

Reged: 01/23/08

Loc: Hilton, NY, Yellow Zone (Bortl...

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: mgwhittle]
#5531791 - 11/21/12 09:36 AM

Good to know! Thanks!
-Dan

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shakafell
member

Reged: 09/28/11

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: Midnight Dan]
#5535490 - 11/23/12 01:16 PM

I returned my mount. I didn't spend $2000 to be limited to visual objects. The tech support was not very helpful other than saying "well gotos always seem to be accurate for us". They did mention that there is a bug in the two-star. You would think that they would at least put a message on their website about something so vital to the mounts operation.

I did everything I could think of to get it working but I really think they have put out a bad batch. If you are considering purchasing one I would recommend you wait until they've ironed out the issues or go with a different brand.

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John Carruthers
Skiprat

Reged: 02/02/07

Loc: Kent, UK

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: 1074j]
#5543444 - 11/28/12 09:13 AM

handset dark: ours powered down to save juice after a preset time, bit odd as it has a heater? press any button to light it up again, the time can be adjusted in the settings menu and ours is now on permanently as power is not a problem.

We had the ieq45 out again last week for 12/14 year old students to use as part of their Astronomy GCSE. They love it, after a quick 10 minute demo of how to polar align and star align they were seeking their own targets. The built in gps is a boon.

With a careful polar align this particular mount has ~25" PE but the PEC reduces that to ~15". I suspect lapping the worm could improve that considerably.

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Erik30
member

Reged: 10/16/12

Loc: Cottage Grove, MN

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: John Carruthers]
#5543668 - 11/28/12 11:19 AM

I bought my iEQ45 in October. After a good polar alignment my goto's are always within (Center) my 12mm eye piece on my 80mm ED. When I fist received the mount the goto's were off a little. Tweaking the polar scope and making sure the handset was set to normal time and not daylight savings resolved that issue for me. I had one other issue with it tracking one night. After about 10 minutes the object would be out of the eye piece. After aligning and realigning I found out my tripod was not level. One legs slipped down about 1" and threw it way off.

Other than that I'm Very happy with my iEQ45 mount.

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Phillip Easton
super member

Reged: 12/24/10

Loc: DFW

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: Erik30]
#5546997 - 11/30/12 11:21 AM

To those having GOTO problems there may be another source of errors. My GOTO's where not what I thought they should be so after doing all the other things like polar scope collimation, etc. I decided to chance down the play in the axis. With the worm gears the hinges need to be snug against the housing. If they are not there is a lot of play in the axis. Once I corrected this my GOTO's seem to be much, much better.

I created a video to show the play in the axis and the housing moving between the hinges.
http://youtu.be/swyO7Emd63w

Cheers!
Phillip

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mega256
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 05/10/07

Loc: N of Tampa

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: Phillip Easton]
#5549385 - 12/01/12 08:51 PM

Is there a sd card in the 8407 hand controller ?

I have a brand new Ieq45 and tried to load the dec and ra software....V120717 and it wont load and now my mount is not working..
HAS ANYONE used these file versions???????????

When I got my mount 2 days ago it had

V11121....does anyone have a copy of this version I can download...?

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germana1
sage

Reged: 05/14/09

Loc: New Jersey

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: mega256]
#5549392 - 12/01/12 08:58 PM

It's on the Ioptron web site under software firmware.

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mega256
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 05/10/07

Loc: N of Tampa

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: germana1]
#5549427 - 12/01/12 09:32 PM

I can only find the new version of the dec and ra software on the ioptron site ..?not version 111121 (my original)
I would like to try that version..

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mega256
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 05/10/07

Loc: N of Tampa

Re: Is my iEQ45 defective? new

[Re: mega256]
#5549452 - 12/01/12 10:00 PM

FIXED IT!!
Had to put the software on a 3rd computer..
It worked

I had to use a 3rd computer...

I tried with my win 7-I7 with 8 cpus...no luck
win xp dual core with a real serial port...no luck

Finally my netbook with the same usb adapter as b4.....but its a single cpu and the slowest
computer i got.....lol....
All is up to date and well

wow-lucky me.....

Edited by mega256 (12/01/12 10:49 PM)

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