11 replies to this topic

[arrowspace90]

My EQ6 was really acting weird.  It wouldn't hold a PA though mounted on a permanent pier.  It had great difficulty slewing to a target and took multiple plate solves.  It would stop tracking in the middle of a session.  I couldn't figure it.

A nice guy offered to look at it for me, and he saw that the motherboard had a significant "burn mark" on it indicating a short. So it's no good.

 

The SkyWatcher motherboard is a MC015 model.  SkyWatcher says they are backordered and they don't have any.  One place in Europe won't ship to the US.  

Does anyone have any ideas where I can find one?  The gentleman says that, apart from the fried board, the mount is in fine shape.

 

 

[RTLR 12]

My brother lived in Europe for over 20 years and spent a lot of time in England as well. It was easy for me to get parts and equipment, because he would just pick up whatever I needed and mail it to me here in the States. Unfortunately he has moved back to the states now and I don’t know anyone there that could help out.

Stan

[bdoyle]

I'm afraid that putting a new board in will result in the same result. PA is a physical adjustment. I don't even power my EQ6 during polar alignment. (and I forget to turn it on for first slew) Sounds like scope is not moving correctly on axis. I would watch amp draw while slewing each axis. (if they still move) Something is dragging causing increased power draw and burnt board.

[Sunsparc]

Where's the burn mark at?

 

I made a stupid mistake and stuck the USB plug into the HC port on mine back in February. There was a pop (5A fuse in the cigarette plug of the power supply blowing) and the mount went dead. I had initially gotten a quote from Sky-Watcher for a replacement board for about $200 but managed to salvage the board by cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol. The burn mark was on the backside of the board at the L5 point behind the HC port.

 

I haven't noticed any weird behavior from mine since then, I think I got lucky it didn't damage anything aside from the HC port which I never use. I've since taped over it so I don't make that mistake again.

[arrowspace90]

Where's the burn mark at?

 

I made a stupid mistake and stuck the USB plug into the HC port on mine back in February. There was a pop (5A fuse in the cigarette plug of the power supply blowing) and the mount went dead. I had initially gotten a quote from Sky-Watcher for a replacement board for about $200 but managed to salvage the board by cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol. The burn mark was on the backside of the board at the L5 point behind the HC port.

 

I haven't noticed any weird behavior from mine since then, I think I got lucky it didn't damage anything aside from the HC port which I never use. I've since taped over it so I don't make that mistake again.

In this pic you can see the burn mark.  The mount had been having significant issues, and I could mostly not get it through a session.

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[OzAndrewJ]

Gday Arrowspace90

That looks like the L5 inductor has blown, which is quite common

If you clean the board with isopropyl alcohol, you should find all the surrounding bits

are still OK but just covered in soot.

Many people have simply replaced this to get it going again

but IIRC one found the switchmode stepup controller was also damaged.

There are lots of threads on this failure mode and how people fixed it.

There is an active group of "fixers" in Europe

Just Google "EQ6 L5 inductor"

https://www.cloudyni...t#entry13591264

https://www.cloudyni...ors-to-replace/

https://stargazerslo...erboard-repair/

 

Andrew Johansen Melbourne Australia

[arrowspace90]

I'm afraid that putting a new board in will result in the same result. PA is a physical adjustment. I don't even power my EQ6 during polar alignment. (and I forget to turn it on for first slew) Sounds like scope is not moving correctly on axis. I would watch amp draw while slewing each axis. (if they still move) Something is dragging causing increased power draw and burnt board.

The scope is at a remote site.  The staff insists that all equipment there be set up and maintained by their own people.  When I had the scope at home here (bortle 7) I did a PA every night so I wasn't aware of a problem with PA.  They reset the PA several times, and it would quicky drift out again.  

Now that the board is damaged (I don't know how long ago that happened) I have no choice but to replace it and then I can talk to the staff about the setup.  I don't hear about multiple other scopes there having mount problems however.

[arrowspace90]

Gday Arrowspace90

That looks like the L5 inductor has blown, which is quite common

If you clean the board with isopropyl alcohol, you should find all the surrounding bits

are still OK but just covered in soot.

Many people have simply replaced this to get it going again

but IIRC one found the switchmode stepup controller was also damaged.

There are lots of threads on this failure mode and how people fixed it.

There is an active group of "fixers" in Europe

Just Google "EQ6 L5 inductor"

https://www.cloudyni...t#entry13591264

https://www.cloudyni...ors-to-replace/

https://stargazerslo...erboard-repair/

 

Andrew Johansen Melbourne Australia

Gday!  Well this is certainly an interesting post.  It's difficult to imagine that just cleaning the scorched board will fix a short.  I will however check out your link!  Thanks for this post.

Edited by arrowspace90, 17 June 2025 - 01:46 PM.

[OzAndrewJ]

Gday Arrowspace90

 

that just cleaning the scorched board will fix a short.

It wont.

Some form of overload/polarity error has caused this

Cleaning the board will show if the nearby traces and bits are OK

in which case you just remove the residual  bits of the old inductor,

clean the pads and replace the inductor with a new one  and try it out

using a fused power supply.

 

Andrew Johansen Melbourne Australia

[Dan Crowson]

The scope is at a remote site.  The staff insists that all equipment there be set up and maintained by their own people.  When I had the scope at home here (bortle 7) I did a PA every night so I wasn't aware of a problem with PA.  They reset the PA several times, and it would quicky drift out again.  

Now that the board is damaged (I don't know how long ago that happened) I have no choice but to replace it and then I can talk to the staff about the setup.  I don't hear about multiple other scopes there having mount problems however.

Losing PA would not have anything to do with the board. It sounds like something is physically loose. 

 

The board would be a different issue. 

 

One of the downsides of a place like I'm guessing StarFront where you can't touch your equipment (not that I think they're doing something wrong with the setup). 

 

Dan

[Reid W]

I ordered a board for my Atlas from here.  Shipping was a tad high.

 

 ttps://www.microglobe.co.uk/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=Skywatcher+motherboard 

[Sunsparc]

In this pic you can see the burn mark.  The mount had been having significant issues, and I could mostly not get it through a session.

Yep that's exactly what happened to mine in the same place, at the L5. As I said, I cleaned it and it's been working just fine since.

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