29 replies to this topic

[NeckStrain]

Well alright then.  Thanks to mlord's information and much troubleshooting I've solved my problems.  When I initially set everything up I fried the AZ encoder and partially fried the ALT encoder (in one direction only) .  I made a test harness with the correct wire colors and extended the Az harness.  I then stripped tiny sections of each wire in the harness so that I could test with a multi meter while operating the mount.  I immediately discovered the polarity was reversed on the AZ encoder harness.  I replaced the encoder and everything immediately worked .  I followed with a new encoder for ALT and that resolved that axis also.  I had to play with the green and yellow wires a bit to get things straightened out but finally got that right.. 

So now all is well and the first thing I noticed was how quiet the motors got once they were under proper control.

I want to thank the OP for this great project.  My 25 year old mount has a new modern brain and controller.  Lot's of new features.  Like having a brand new mount.  Now I can start on mlord's Homebrew project.  Can't wait.

 

Thanks all,

Mark

I also received the same news that the NXW431 and NXW437 are functionally identical. Tried it a few more times but to no avail, so i gave up.

Reading your story though gave me a new set of motivation to try it another 100x tomorrow.  Let`s see 

[bert@mccoyok.com]

Upgraded the boards in my Nexstar 8 (old 99 silver model) and the HC doesn't work.  Can I use the original hand controller without firmware update or changing it?  

Thanks,

[mlord]

If one replaces the original boards in a pre Nexstar-GPS mount with newer versions, they will require a newer hand-controller (V4 or V5) for compatibility.  Or a WiFi adapter instead, or an HBG3 instead of that.

 

Cheers

[flyul1]

Good Day All, My hand controller display died on my 1999 Nexstar 8. Time to up grad it.  I have bought the new NXW-437 Motorboard, NEX6F00-5 Aux-board and Various cables, connectors and a CELESTRON Remote Controller NXS for Celestron Nexstar Telescopes. Are there any new developments or refinements to these updates I can use?

 

Dark Sky's

Kaylee

[flyul1]

If anyone is interested. I just finished my upgrade. Both to SE and adding a dovetail on the OTA and a dovetail mount on the RA mount. Yay Thank you  

 

Edited by flyul1, 25 March 2025 - 07:20 PM.