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TROUBLESHOOTING
Additional tips related to specic mounts are in the mount instruction manual.
The Keypad displayed the message “motor stall.”
This error message indicates that the Keypad and servo box are unable to communicate with each other. If the mount was
shipped after February 16, 2000, the LED on the control box will also turn yellow indicating that the overload protection
feature has been activated. Although older mounts do not have the yellow LED, the overload protection feature is active.
These are the conditions that will cause the error message:
● Your telescope is not balanced properly. Refer to your mount manual for guidance.
● The motors are not connected to the servo box. Be sure all connectors are locked in place.
● A wire connection in one of the mount cables is broken.
● One of the motors is not functioning.
● The mesh of the worm gear and worm wheel is too tight. This will cause the motors to overload, which will cause the
overload protection feature of the servo box to activate and shut down the signal to the motors.
● The microprocessor chip, which contains the program logic, is missing from the servo box.
● One of the small gears in the motor box of the 1200 or 900 is jammed.
● Foreign material got into the motor gearbox.
Solution:
Check all possibilities above and correct, if possible. To initiate tracking again, press the N-S-E-W buttons, initiate a slew
or go to Main Menu and press “0” Status (if you still get an error message, press the button a second time, just to be sure
that the buffer cleared). If you have not moved the telescope while diagnosing the problem, the position will still be in
memory and you can continue as if nothing ever happened.
If the “motor stall” message appears again, you have not corrected the cause of the problem. If you are unable to resolve
it, check the technical support section of our website before contacting Astro-Physics. Additional troubleshooting and
adjustment information will be posted there in the future.
A problem was discovered in the E1 and KE1 chips (in GTOCP1 and GTOCP2 control boxes) that makes recovery from
a motor stall a bit more problematic. This ONLY applies to the E1 and KE1 chips. Initiating movements with the direction
buttons does not always fully reset the stall condition with these two chips. If you experience a motor stall with the E1
or KE1 chip, it is recommended that you power-cycle the mount. The mount will NOT be lost if the scope has not been
moved by hand.
The Keypad display says “low battery.”
Your battery output has dropped below 11 volts. If you plug in your Kendrick heater, CCD camera or other power-hungry
device into the same battery that operates your mount, your battery voltage will drop momentarily. We recommend
that you power your mount from a separate battery. You might consider a large marine battery. If 110V is available, we
recommend that you use a power supply (ltered and regulated) with a minimum output of 5 amps at 12V DC. DO NOT
use a wall-transformer.
The Keypad locks up on the “Astro-Physics” screen and will not advance to the next screen.
There are several conditions that may cause this to occur.
● Battery power has dropped. If you measure the output of your battery to be above 11.5V, but the Keypad is locking
up, please contact Astro-Physics. If your battery measures below 11.5V, recharge or replace your battery.
● Recent lightning strike or power surge damaged components in the control box. The control box will have to be
returned to Astro-Physics. Please call ahead for a return authorization number.
● Other unknown chip failure in the control box. Contact Astro-Physics.
● The Keypad was loaded with version 4.12 with Auto-Connect set to yes and Keypad was not reset to default values.
This may have occurred during programming at Astro-Physics or following an internet download before this issue
was discovered. To remedy, refer to the Technical Support section of the website and read the revised instructions
pertaining to the 4.12 upgrade.
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