Thank you, Tom.  That explains it (I think).

Park, shut down, then reconnect the same mount and power up, all is well, but if I connect the other mount then that is where the problem occurs. 

mounts + different gear ratios = different interpretation of stored position.  I'll experiment to see if there's a point (Home, perhaps?) where they both coincide.

Thanks for the explanation.

If you park the AstroEQ, disconnect and power down, then power up, reconnect and unpark, does it work correctly? i.e. the EQMOD reconnects with the mount knowing where it was before.

I'm not sure how EQMOD stores the parked position, but at a rough guess it stores the raw encoder values. If that is the case and you then use and park the other mount, then unless EQMOD stores different park positions for each mount (don't know if it does), the encoder values would make no sense to the other mount and result in it thinking it was somewhere completely different.

For reference the encoder values are not in degrees, but rather a number of micro steps of the motor - so mounts with different gear ratios etc. would have effectively completely different unit sizes.

Sorry, the last two paragraphs keep getting truncated. They should read:

A consequence of this is that connecting the AstroEQ controlled mount after a previous session with the AZEQ6 means that the AstroEQ mount believes it is pointing at AZ 120 deg and ALT -33 deg instead of 270 deg and 0 deg.  This doesn't completely explain the observed behaviour (more than 360 deg of rotation in DEC) but it may indicate the source of the problem: why do they disagree?  Is it an EQMOD problem or a decoding of position one?

Sorry if that is abit confusing and not well explained.  Let me know if you need any other information

Hi Tom

Thank you so much for responding, great support!

I am using an AstroEQ 4.6 - my assembly of your board and chips with Farnell supplied resistors, capacitors semiconductors &c.

The Firmware is 8.2 (loading utility 3.93)

EQMOD was version 2.00q but updated recently to 2.00w (made no difference).

ASCOM platform is 662.4294.NewCertificate

Cartes du Ciel (with which I observe the goings on and select goto targets) is 4.2.1

The mount is an EQ5 with NEMA 17 steppers configured with a custom park position of weights down, OTA pointing horizontally west. Controlled by a Panasonic Toughbook running Windows 11 pro.

Since the first post I have got a little closer to understanding the problem.  I also use an AZEQ6 with Cartes du Ciel and EQMOD, connected to the same laptop via a Lynx Astro cable.  This also has a custom park position of weights down OTA pointing west (identical to the EQ5's).  The problem I have discovered is that depsite parking both mounts (EQ5 or AZEQ6) in the same custom position each time, when I connect the other mount and switch on they disagree wildly about what the parking position is/was.

A consequence of this is that connecting the AstroEQ controlled mount after a previous session with the AZEQ6 means that the AstroEQ mount believes it is pointing at AZ 120

Which versions are you using (AstroEQ firmware, EQMOD), and what is your mount config?

Here's a little head scratcher that I have been having with my AstroEQ.

I have a couple of these in use on an EQ5 with stepper motors and very good they are too.  It's only used for widefield imaging with a Canon 200 mm prime lens and regularly guides at under 1 arc sec.

The issue lies somewhere between the AstroEQ and EQmod.  When first connected in my custom home position and asked to slew to the NCP, the mount slews up to the NCP but then the DEC motor carries on right past it and continues to slew through a further 360

I am a happy user of a DIY AstroEQ Arduino Mega 2560 with my DIY EQ mount.
However, I am keen to try TMC 2209 stepper drivers. I am currently using DRV8825 at  1/32 micro steps and have no need for finer steps,(with my mount I am sub 0.3 arc seconds per micro step) my main reason is noise.when slewing.
I would prefer using them in standalone mode, as I think it would be relatively easy to implement ?
So, anybody else that use them ? They are supper quiet and can be plugged directly into the DRV8825  sockets.
I have four  TMC 2209 Bigtreetech modules ready for testing.

Hi thanks for your prompt response
The RA motor is silent no hum, buzzing in RA motor, If I plug in RA into Dec it is still Non Functional
I have found out that the external RA cable to the motor does not show continuity on the rj11 plug on pins 2 and 3 which must be broken wires. I have replaced this but maybe the original RA cable may have broken the wires when the motor was powered. I have replaced a new motor but the controller might have shorted out. I will have to look to check out continuity on both my controllers. The one failing RA motor and the spare controller that will not check out to update the firmware

Regards Charles Clark

Looks like something must have shorted out the motor connector and killed the old driver board.
If you have a multimeter, probably worth doing a continuity check on each of the connector pins to make sure they are still connected.

Does the RA motor make any sound (humming/buzzing) or is it completely silent?
If you plug the RA motor into the DEC connector (and vice versa) is it still the RA connector that is non-functional?

Hi, I have sorted out that i have managed to install the Astroeq firmware update managing to disinfect the problem with Bit defender. I have installed the Astroeq configuration program and have checked that the firmware is updated on one of my controllers. The firmware is installed in my download folder and is firmware update v3.9.3 with v8.20
EQMOD is v2.00w but this controller only operates in Dec axis. RA does not operate the motor
I am beginning to suspect that EQMOD v2.00w might be the problem

With the second controller which is the same DIY build when I try to update the firmware is starts out to overide the baud rate to an Arduino at 56700 baud and just fails

I think that all of my problems started of problems when updating the configuration utility and EQMODv2.00w

Have I missed something where the schematics diagram is needed

Anyone can give me some advice
Can I backtrack to any setups that are required for version 4.6 build