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Author Topic: AstroEq stopped working  (Read 2281 times)

DucSky

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AstroEq stopped working
« on: September 10, 2018, 16:15:08 »

Hello,

This weekend i have finished building a diy V4.6 astroeq. First of all i would like to thank everyone that was involved in creating this project. You can learn a lot from this. Also, in the proces i have build a pic programmer for programming the 18f14k50, it connects to the com port of the pc.

At first it seemed i couldnt get a connection with eqmod. After reading the message about the v8.13 config utility(in the support forum) i switched to the v8.12. And hey! After some tweaking and soldering the motors were working correctly with eqmod.

Then a problem started: the connection was lost to the usb. And i think that while trying to reconnect, i also made a mistake, plugging in the motors with power on..  :-[

I had to reprogram the 18f14k50 to get a connection again. After this i have not been able to get things working as it should. I have written the bootloader to the AVR, tried versions 8.12 and 8.13. Tried things out with a second AVR, same problem. Switched driver boards also, just to be sure.
Two times it connected with config utility, reparing the eprom. It enters the configuration field but it stops writing this configuration after a while.
It writes everything down to  adress t010, but at t020 it stops writing, giving an error.

Surely i am doing something wrong; programming and pics/avr is new stuff for me. Could someone help me plz?


Greeting and thanks in advance,


DucSky
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TCWORLD

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Re: AstroEq stopped working
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2018, 18:55:40 »

Sounds like there is an intermittent connection issue with the PIC, which is likely either due to a power supply issue (have you checked the 7805 outputs 5V?), or a dry solder joint somewhere.

I'd start of by checking through all the solder joints to make sure that there are no dry joints, and making sure the power supply is stable.
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Tom Carpenter (AstroEQ)

DucSky

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Re: AstroEq stopped working
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2018, 18:57:33 »

Thank you for your reply. Yesterday I have checked and resoldered my diy pcb. It did have several weak/dry solder joints. After that it was no problem to get things working.  :D  I'll post some pictures soon in the diy forum. I have only one question
. Is it normal that Windows (10) does not recognize astroeq with the hardware removal tool? And if so, what way is the way to disconnect astroeq. I'm a bit afraid to ruin things when removing it from the usb port.

Greetings, DucSky
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TCWORLD

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Re: AstroEq stopped working
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2018, 21:22:03 »

Glad you got it sorted.

The AstroEQ is a CDC class device (serial port). It doesn't need to be ejected like a flash drive does. You can simply unplug it.

Kind Regards,
Tom.
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Tom Carpenter (AstroEQ)