15 replies to this topic

[SkipW]

I picked up an almost-new Questar 3.5 Duplex at an estate sale last night. According to serial number decoder guides and comments I have found online, its serial number indicates that it was manufactured in 2020 - the first two characters are "20" - and some included parts are still in their original plastic wrap. 

 

It came with a Questar Powerguide (III, I think; it doesn't give any indication of generation that I have seen), see below, Ver. 3.004, 2016, but I have no instructions or other documentation for either that or the telescope yet. [Edit to add: Duh... the '3' in the version number probably indicates Powerguide 3.]

 

 

The guy who is liquidating the estate's astro gear for the family, a local amateur astronomer, wants to sell as much of it locally as he practically can to avoid the cost, pitfalls, and hassle of shipping. He brought some (but not all) of the estate's equipment to be sold to our club meeting last night, but left the Questar's documentation and shipping container in the storage unit with the rest of it. He wants to get that material to me this weekend if possible.

 

I have mostly figured out the mechanical operation of the telescope and mount from decades of reading ads and online sources, including a ca.2004 Instruction Book, but the Powerguide remains a mystery. It has a working 9V battery and powers up, but I am loath to just guess how to use it.

 

In the event that documentation isn't immediately forthcoming, and so I can check out the drive, does anyone have any information on how the Powerguide is supposed to be connected to the mount? The unit came with a 6p6c "reverse wired" modular cable (6 positions, 6 connections, wired pin 1 to pin 1, 2 to 2, ..., 6 to 6 [yes, that's "reverse"]). The bottom of the Questar's base has a single unlabeled 6p6c modular jack and no other connections. Along its bottom the Powerguide has a USB 'B' jack and modular jacks labeled AZ and EL (6p4c), AutoGuide (6p6c), and Encoder (8p8c), and an unlabeled 6p6c jack on the side. Presumably the cable connects between the two unlabeled jacks and controls the RA drive, but I'm unwilling to just hook it up and see what happens with expensive equipment like this!

 

At some point I will be interested in checking out the USB connection, maybe adding a Dec drive motor and other goodies, but that can wait. It also has what looks like 5.5 x 2.1 mm connector for external 12V power on the side. Center positive like all the rest of my equipment, I hope.

 

In the meantime, if anyone can offer sage advice, tips, and known "gotchas", I'd appreciate it.

 

She is as elegant and the optics are as beautiful and give as sharp an image as I remember from reading and occasionally encountering them in the 1960s and early '70s! Wow! I'm looking forward to bringing it with me the next time we visit our daughter in New Zealand. Battery power instead of fixed-direction 110V 60 Hz AC motor FTW!

Edited by SkipW, 04 February 2023 - 03:13 PM.

[Gregory Gross]

I have zero experience with the newer Powerguide III, but what I might suggest is that you contact Questar to see if they have any documentation that they can send you. There is another discussion thread entitled "Powerguide 3, finally," specifically post #27, that may shed some light on questions you may have -- not sure if you've come across that info.

 

Congratulations on your nearly new -- and brand new to you -- 2020 Questar!

[Reid Girling]

I have a Powerguide III and am very happy with it.  Tracking is excellent once properly aligned.

 

The 9V battery works but the energy consumption for a long night may be a problem.

I use a small Li battery pack at 12V, which is permissible, and that lasts for many nights. 

[SkipW]

I have zero experience with the newer Powerguide III, but what I might suggest is that you contact Questar to see if they have any documentation that they can send you. There is another discussion thread entitled "Powerguide 3, finally," specifically post #27, that may shed some light on questions you may have -- not sure if you've come across that info.

 

Congratulations on your nearly new -- and brand new to you -- 2020 Questar!

Thanks for the reply.

 

Yes, I'm not worried about eventually getting the info I need. I'm hoping for an answer to this question so I can go ahead before Monday!

[Johninuk]

Questar send comprehensive booklet out with the PG111,with details on slew speeds, tracking etc.Make sure controller is switched off before plugging into the scope.(You can damage the controller by plugging/unplugging whilst switched on)
The cable is plugged into the AZ socket on the controller.The AL is for Dec drive.
9v batteries don't last that long.I use rechargeable and just use the slew buttons for re centering objects in the FOV.If you need to change the tracking direction for another hemisphere,press setup,and scroll through "STAR N" until you get to "STAR S" then exit.
Hope this helps.

John

[SkipW]

Questar send comprehensive booklet out with the PG111,with details on slew speeds, tracking etc.Make sure controller is switched off before plugging into the scope.(You can damage the controller by plugging/unplugging whilst switched on)
The cable is plugged into the AZ socket on the controller.The AL is for Dec drive.
9v batteries don't last that long.I use rechargeable and just use the slew buttons for re centering objects in the FOV.If you need to change the tracking direction for another hemisphere,press setup,and scroll through "STAR N" until you get to "STAR S" then exit.
Hope this helps.

John

Hmmm... I can see hooking the base to the AZ socket since that's all there is with this machine, but why the 6-conductor cable? AZ only uses 4 (at most).

 

AL? Did you mean EL? I'd already figured that much out; since there doesn't appear to be any possibility for interconnection between the base and optional Dec motor there will be two cables between controller and telescope to control both axes. Yuck! Not elegant - seems pure heresy for something as elegant as a Questar!

 

What is that unmarked 6-pin port for? Does it include functionality of both AZ and EL? I'm hoping the instructions will explain all of this. WTH didn't Questar label these ports on both these devices???

 

Thanks for the other tips and info, too. It's good to know they do have comprehensive documentation; now to get it! Since the original documentation will not be forthcoming before next weekend at the earliest, I have emailed Questar. Hoping for the best!

Edited by SkipW, 05 February 2023 - 08:26 PM.

[SkipW]

John was indeed correct. Connect the AZ socket on the box to the RJ socket under the base. I should have had more faith, but I am a coward at heart!

 

I wrote to Questar last night and got a nice reply this morning which included what sounds like the same information booklet that John described. Very comprehensive for the most part, and it's apparent that the system is very much a work in progress with lots of features described as "not working yet".

 

NOTE: The unlabeled 6p6c RJ jack on the side is for an RS-232 port. I'm not sure if that is enabled on my HC or not, but plugging that into the base of the mount could have been a catastrophe, so I'm glad I held off trying! The RS-232 standard calls for positive and negative 9 to 15V signals; these can cause havoc for circuits not expecting that.

 

After assuring myself that John's instruction to connect the cable between the AZ jack and the base and then turning the HB on was indeed correct, it does seem to be working. Yay! I was concerned at first that it wasn't moving at all, but then remembered that the RA circle is driven, so whatever you set it to won't change while tracking - there's a section of the pamphlet about this very thing, too. With it sitting on my desk, I can tell it has moved approximately an hour in RA after about an hour, based on the RA circle position relative to the legs.

 

It's also eating up the 9V battery. It's down from 70% when I started this experiment to 40% an hour later. Yikes! This makes the external 12 VDC input appealing, but that brings up the next question: what polarity? The pamphlet describes an early version of the PG3 as having a smaller DC connector that was wired for center negative, but later versions changed to the 2.1 mm x 5.5 mm DC "more standard connector" that is installed in this one. Does anyone know if "more standard" also means center positive? I suspect so, but don't know, and again do not want to experiment with this new (and spendy!) equipment.

 

Here is a TL;DR of the various connections on the HBX:

 

USB: for firmware updates. Questar-supplied uploader required.

 

AZ: Azimuth (RA) motor control. Connects to the 6-pin RJ socket (maybe some have 4-pin sockets; dunno) under the bottom of the base with a modular cable wired with Reverse configuration. These cables can be "Standard" with pins wired to opposite pin numbers on the two ends, or "Reverse" with pins wired to the same pin number at both ends. [I hate this nomenclature!]

 

EL: Connects to optional Declination motor. 

 

AutoGuide: Not implemented with 3.004 2016 firmware.

 

Encoder: Not implemented with 3.004 2016 firmware. Requires optional hardware installed on telescope.

 

RS-232 (side): Not implemented with 3.004 2016 firmware.

 

12 vdc In: External DC power. Polarity TBD.

[Johninuk]

Yes,that label should be EL and not AL.(typing on a phone!)
It uses a 4wire stepper motor,so they may be using an easily available 6 core connector/cable. Sounds like you're up and running with the info from Jim.

John

[SkipW]

Sounds like you're up and running with the info from Jim.

Pretty much. Do you happen to know if the 12V in is positive center?

[Johninuk]

I received a AC adapter with the PG3. This is positive centre (12v 1a).
Double checked with a meter.


John

[markmanner]

Hi, a bit of a mild hijack, but with respect to the life of the 9V batter on the PGIII, can you turn off the screen on the handpaddle and just let it run at sidereal rate, and get a bit more life from the battery?

[SkipW]

I received a AC adapter with the PG3. This is positive centre (12v 1a).
Double checked with a meter.


John

Thank you! This is exactly the information I needed, and exactly what I wanted to hear!

[SkipW]

Hi, a bit of a mild hijack, but with respect to the life of the 9V batter on the PGIII, can you turn off the screen on the handpaddle and just let it run at sidereal rate, and get a bit more life from the battery?

Not a hijack at all. I asked for tips. This is a good one and I appreciate knowing it.

 

Every little bit helps.

 

I'm not seeing how to do this in the Setup menu. Is this available in Ver 3.004? If so, how?

[Optics Patent]

I'd suggest deferring adding anything like a dec drive motor until you get comfortable with the scope, and determine what you really want.  

[markmanner]

Thank you! This is exactly the information I needed, and exactly what I wanted to hear!

Hi, I was actually asking if it was possible to do a lower power mode, not suggesting you do it.  It may not be possible, but I'm sure someone on this forum will know.  I'm about to get a new Q3.5 with PGIII and I was hoping to get some information on it along with you.

Mark 

[SkipW]

Hi, I was actually asking if it was possible to do a lower power mode, not suggesting you do it.  It may not be possible, but I'm sure someone on this forum will know.  I'm about to get a new Q3.5 with PGIII and I was hoping to get some information on it along with you.

Mark 

Oh, yeah... I misread your comment.

 

With the firmware I have, as far as I can tell it's not possible to turn off the display. By default the backlight turns off after a few seconds to save a bit of battery power, but the LCD display always remains on.

 

Backlight brightness defaults to 7 (range is 0 to 9, 0 is off) and reducing to the minimum usable might help a little, but probably not a lot in the grand scheme if it shuts itself off after a few seconds anyway. They suggest some power-saving strategies like turning down backlight brightness and reducing the "AZ Power" setting (default is 20) to just above the lowest value that works by experimenting. I haven't done these yet.

 

I'm less concerned now since I successfully used a 12V 11 Ah Talentcell battery as auxiliary power last night. Still, reducing power use to the lowest practical is worth some effort.

Edited by SkipW, 07 February 2023 - 12:58 PM.