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[GigiG]

Hi Tom, I'm trying to help a friend in using his DIY board and I just had a concern regarding stepper's powering. I'm not sure if AstroEQ firmware disable the drivers, in order to save power and heat, during 'no-motions' condition, or the steppers are always powered. Thanks.
Gigi

[TCWORLD]

Hi Gigi,

The steppers are always powered. If they were to get turned off the motor shaft is no longer being held in place so you could easily turn the shaft and lose alignment.

Tom.

[GigiG]

Ok, we know that the steppers shaft could be easily turned and then steps could be missed when they are not powered but, in practice, the mechanical gear train of the mount axes makes this almost impossible to occur. At the same time, disabling the stepper drivers during 'stand-by' situations will allow us to cut down battery power consumption and motor's heating.
So, I was wondering if there is a chance to have a new configuration option that makes it possible to choose between steppers always powered or not.

[TCWORLD]

The AstroEQ has no way of knowing when it is in a "stand-by" situation other than turning them off whenever it isn't moving which wouldn't be ideal as it would turn off in between movements even if they are moments apart.

EQMOD has the ability to disable the motors as well via command (in fact it enables them when it connects). You could ask on the EQMOD Yahoo! group if it is possible for the feature to be added in to EQMOD.