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cavefrog
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/11/08
Loc: loozyanna
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Intermittent astcg5
#3093236 - 05/08/09 07:15 PM
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I have an astcg5 that is kind of flakey. I have set it up about 15 times. about half of that worked correctly. went goto, and tracked nicely. the other half is running me nuts! I bought it previously owned, so returning is not an option. It has the gps add-on component. at first I thought it was user error. I do not think so anymore. one problem I found and corrected was the drive gear was adjusted too far away from the dec axis, and it would not handle a heavy refractor. this has been corrected. now... well, sometimes when I go for an alignment star, it almost goes to it, then drifts away at about 5x, without ever stopping. last night it did this,and all I wanted to do was look at the moon and saturn with my binos. So I thought no problem, all I want is tracking , so I did quick-align. no go. moon kept drifting out like there was not any tracking at all. There has been a few times when I had no problem at all! has anyone ever had this situation ? If so, what is it and how do I cure it? Any suggestions? 
Theo
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waassaabee
Post Laureate
Reged: 11/26/07
Loc: Central California Coast
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Re: Intermittent astcg5
[Re: cavefrog]
#3093251 - 05/08/09 07:21 PM
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Try a factory reset. If you've had any flaky power it may have tweaked things.
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GaryML
sage
Reged: 02/16/09
Loc: San Diego, California
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Re: Intermittent astcg5
[Re: cavefrog]
#3093442 - 05/08/09 09:15 PM
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My CG-5 ASGT was also acting flakey last night. Must have been the full moon. 
In any event, I looked over the suggestions on the Celestron Web site this morning for a "run-away slewing" problem. They suggested checking your cable connections and your power connections, among other things. I did stumble over my power cord last night and may have partially dislodged it, and I think my battery may have some issues as well, so I will be trying it with the A/C adapter.
I recently added the GPS kit. I found that you need to wait and let the GPS sync and update the data in the hand controller before doing an alignment. I failed to to this once, and the alignment was way, way off because the date and time were from my previous session and were not updated. The second time I waited and saw the time and date update flash by on the hand controller, and then all was normal. It would have been nice if this was mentioned somewhere in the instructions.
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cavefrog
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/11/08
Loc: loozyanna
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Re: Intermittent astcg5
[Re: GaryML]
#3093655 - 05/08/09 11:50 PM
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Allright , well I had done a factory reset in the house. next time I took it out, it worked fine. then the next time I took it out got the results described above. I use a lawn tractor battery for power. maybe I'll try house current next time. on the third time i used it, I had found that one has to wait for the gps to sync, that was one of the reasons for thinking the problem was user error. as far as bad connections... I have had a few times that when I power it up, nothing happens, no writing in the panel, just background red. I unplug, then replug and it starts up as it is supposed to. I have read that the on/off switch is a common problem. when I bought the mount, I was told the switch was bad, so I never used it. I just plugged/unplugged as needed. possibly there is resitance in the switch?
Theo
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waassaabee
Post Laureate
Reged: 11/26/07
Loc: Central California Coast
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Re: Intermittent astcg5
[Re: cavefrog]
#3093687 - 05/09/09 12:11 AM
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Check the contacts in the socket on the mount. Make sure they are making GOOD contact. With care you can adjust .
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cavefrog
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/11/08
Loc: loozyanna
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Re: Intermittent astcg5
[Re: waassaabee]
#3094493 - 05/09/09 01:18 PM
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of which socket do you refer? power or hbx? both?
Theo
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rmollise
Postmaster
Reged: 07/06/07
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Re: Intermittent astcg5
[Re: cavefrog]
#3094814 - 05/09/09 04:49 PM
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Quote:
of which socket do you refer? power or hbx? both?
Theo
The place on the mount where you plug the power cord in. Spread the pins gently with a jeweler's screwdriver and your troubles will likely be over.
Edited by rmollise (05/09/09 05:01 PM)
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cavefrog
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/11/08
Loc: loozyanna
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Re: Intermittent asgt-cg5
[Re: rmollise]
#3095154 - 05/09/09 09:13 PM
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Ah! I should have thought of that ! I have read about that cure before.  more than once! but I was not thinking about this being a power problem. ok, thanks. Im'a gonner try that next time. I'll post ....success or no.  Thanks fer the brain jog!
Theo
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AlanT
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/20/07
Loc: 122º36' W, 47º37' N, WA USA
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Re: Intermittent asgt-cg5
[Re: cavefrog]
#3100562 - 05/12/09 02:47 PM
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Another remote possibility:
My CG-5 had an intermittent power problem. It would turn on or off if I jiggled the jack where it plugs into the mount. Turned out that one of the legs on the power connector that solder to the circuit card was broken. Sometimes it would make and maintain contact, sometimes not.
Had to take the mount apart enough to get the card out and replace the connector. Since then it's been fine.
al
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Pedestal
Post Laureate
Reged: 03/11/06
Loc: Smoggy Bottom, Baytown,Texas
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Re: Intermittent asgt-cg5
[Re: AlanT]
#3101311 - 05/12/09 10:05 PM
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Had this happen on an SLT. Drove me nuts until I finally found the cold solder joint.
Hubert
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