Oh make you can make up a pwr tester to see if pwr is arriving at the Gemini sockets. ?Just a resistor snd LED?in series.
?
Plug this into the spare pwr socket (positive pins lhs as looking at the pwr socket, neg on RH pins looking at socket)

Let’s say a 1.5 v vdrop led @ 12VDC leaves 10.5VDC for the resistor to drop so let’s say 20 ma LED, (a guess) I = V/R thus R = V/I = 10.5/.020 = 525 ohms resistor let’s say go up to 580 ohms preferred value. Power = EI = 10.5 x .002 = .02W or 1/4 watts.?

So Solder a std leg resistor in series with a LED ensure you get the LED leg the correct position positive to positive of the Gemini socket (actually doesn’t matter if it won’t work one way it will work the other ).?

Pug it in across neg and positive pins of spare pwr socket plug in pwr to other socket it should light up straight away as it’s sending power before it goes to the fuse and schottky diode?

look you can do this with a multimeter but sometimes little tools like this hep visualise it better. This will tell you if power is arriving at the Gemini. ?If it’s dim (at the LED) maybe power is being lost. It should be nice’n bright.?

FWIW. ?I’d do it as it’s an easy tool

Yes I have seen bad power leads. ?Sometimes over current melts the internal plug fuse holder spring do it no longer forces the spring against the fuse. ?Take apart the holder to test this.?

I saw this happen at 4 amps when load testing using a cigarette plug. Anderson are better bit it doesn’t mean the wire at the other end (plug) isn’t broken.?

FWIW.?
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Brendan

Damn posted before I finished. ?Try these, get back I don’t have my lappy to post power distribution diagram but will get it tomorrow. ?(In hospital again)?

cheers

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Brendan

Hi Kevin I agree it look peer isn’t arriving at the gemini

if you plug it in to the power socket on the Gemini you can measure the spare power socket as they are in parallel. ?The 2 left pins gnd the 2 right pins power (opposite to what Michael said as you are now looking at the plug pins from the rear. ?

Measure this….power ok? ?If not ohm out the cable as said.?

If peer ok check main switch. ?Is it a slide switch or rocker switch. ?The slide switches can gum up and fail the rockers can as well. You can take apart the slide switch carefully and clean it inside. Not the rocker sw.?

Also check the fuse F1 (5Amp SMD) and Diode D1 (schottky) for continuity and v drop across them. ?They are in cct before the main switch.?

Here is a link to the that may help in faultfinding lots of links.?
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Brendan

Welcome to the group Kevin.?
Your power supply for the Dob running 12v should work.? Since you have a voltmeter it probably has an Ohms (resistance) setting or a diode test setting on it that will beep for continuity testing.?
The center pin of the cigarette adapter should be connected to the two pins on the right looking at the connector in the? orientation in this picture.?

Hello! ? I am new to these boards from the Bay Area of California, having recently purchased the entire collection of an accomplished astrophotographer including a beautiful Takahashi refractor, a Celestron C11 carbon fiber body, a wonderful set of Televue eyepieces, and my first ever equatorial mount, a G11 with Gemini 1. ?All of this is in excellent apparent condition, beautifully and lovingly cared for, but untouched for about 12 years. ?Right now I'm stymied trying to get the Gemini 1 component fired up so I can connect it to the G11 and then mount one of the scopes and test the whole rig for visual.

Since I have not yet made my first forays into AP, I am rigging everything first for visual so I can learn these two scopes and also the vagaries of EQ mounts. ?I've resolved almost all the mysteries with the G11.

On the Gemini, nothing I do will light the power indicator light on the unit.

A few background details:

• The rig came with a big Kendrick lead-acid style power box, dead as a doorknob after 11 or 12 years it seems. ? I will be using my rig almost exclusively away from home at a nearby park without access to AC power, so I'll either need to replace the internal battery inside the Kendrick, or find another practical power supply.
• The cable from the Gemini to the Kendrick has a 4pin Din at the Gemini end and a cigarette lighter male plug on the power source end. That cable was replaced by Losmandy exactly 1 year ago, documented by the original owner's daughter who sold me the collection, and has never been used. ?I have checked the fuse in the cigarette lighter end and it appears pristine; the filament is intact and there is no black smudge of a blown fuse. ?I have attempted to connect the cable to an Orion 12v 155wh Dynamo Pro Lithium power tank which runs my 10" GoTo Dob. ?I understand that 12v is at the low end of the amount of power needed by the Gemini and G11? ? That power tank has a dongle with a female socket and power output is right at 12v as measured with a voltmeter with needle style probes, red and black. ?The Gemini does not light up. ?I have replaced the 2032 battery in the Gemini unit in the past few days, and unsurprisingly this didn't make any difference. ?
• With the Losmandy cable firmly planted in the female socket, I've attempted to measure voltage against the pins on the Gemini end of the cable, and nothing registers. ? The male plug doesn't sit super nicely in the female dongle, but no amount of manipulation and fiddling causes the light on the Gemini to light indicating power delivery.

So, I'm trying to figure out what direction to trouble shoot: ?

• I have a dead DC power unit, of course, so I could replace the internal lead acid battery for about 150 bucks from Kendrick. ? But I still wouldn't know if the cable was bad until I'd gone that route. ?If there is a more modern, adequate rechargeable battery solution for this that will run the G11/Gemini I, I'd love to hear about it; I'll have to get the appropriate type of cable with it to feed power to the Gemini.
• Losmandy doesn't appear to sell the Gemini cable; I could swap out with a new cable to see if that's the problem, but special ordering or even attempting to make something (I'm not exactly a shop wiz) seems like a potential wild goose chase.
• Should I expect the Orion 12v to power the Gemini box, not attached to the G11?
• Is there some other way to check that the Gemini box is even functional? ?Keeping in mind that I'll be learning EQ mounts, strongly prefer a type of go-to system (I'm at an age where speed to results is important to me), should I even be messing with trying to revive the Gemini 1 and go with some other solution to controlling the G11 once I've got it rigged up and mechanically operating? ?I have a steep learning curve with EQ setup, alignment, etc. before I dive into AP somewhere in a year or so.

For background, I've always been astro-fascinated but only bought my first scope, an Orion 10" GoTo, about 2 years ago at the beginning of the pandemic. ?I spend as much as 3 nights a week out with that; I also bought a Unsitellar eVscope 2 as a good counterpart to the Dob for the outreach that I really enjoy and to share some images casually with far flung family and friends or small groups when we take some time at night to enjoy DSOs along with the beautiful lunar, planetary, and star cluster objects so well captured in the Dob. ?I don't consider the Unistellar to be a true AP rig, but it has begun to teach me some basic ideas about AP that will pay some dividends as I get into AP at some point with my new equipment.

Thanks in advance for reading this saga and for any thoughts you might have.

Best,

Kevin

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?Haha. Thanks Brian. Yeah, I have watched those videos and will watch them again - I’ll basically start from the beginning. Like I said, Gemini/Losmandy/SGP are all new to me.

I thought that log-file sentence about the starting and ending pier side being the same might have been an obvious “tell” to what my failure may have been…. I’m guessing I somehow set the Gemini limits to be on the same side of pier, somehow…….

Andy

-Everybody wants to be the captain, until there’s captain stuff to do.

Hi Andy

That's not much to go on but check out these videos on exactly this topic:






Thanks

Brian

Brian Valente
Losmandy Astronomical

Losmandy.com
Tutorials and vids at youtube.com/losmandy

骋’诲补测,

I’m a new G11 user. I am, in fact, still relatively new to Astro in general. I just set up my G11 per the Losmandy videos, taking (I thought) great care to set safety limits and the flip allowable range per Brian’s suggestion.
The weather finally cooperated and I was imaging ngc4565 with the rig a couple of nights ago. Halfway through the session the galaxy crossed the meridian and as I sat freezing watching the SGP screen I got all the indications a flip was requested, including PlateSolve2 doing its thing. But no Flip….. I neglected to have the small Telescope parameters window up so didn’t actually see a “countdown” to flip. However, I checked the logs and the one line that grabbed my attention was:

“ASCOM Telescope: Failed to flip because starting pier side and ending pier side are the same!”

So what do I have set wrong…?

Andy

-Everybody wants to be the captain, until there’s captain stuff to do.

Thank you, Brendan and Brian.? I noticed Amazon's prices for the Techspray were 40% less than Grainger.? Yikes.? I'll get a smaller container of the brush-on stuff.? Thanks again for the recommendations.

开云体育

开云体育

We will never drop metric units as it’s the basis of SI units International measuring standards. ?

It’s a real pity sticking with older imperial. ?What was worse was the British version of imperial it was so confusing. ?

So much easier with metric. ?But fine screws, threads is where it kinda doesn’t work as well as imperial. ?When we changed to metric 1/2” bolt became a 12.7mm haha. Finally we are fully metric world wide except ICAO …aka Aircraft altitude feet/knots etc?

I went from French Mirage metric to F18 imperial. ?It was a step back in tools. ?A real PITA.?

I asked a Lorel rep when will USA go metric….he said never! ? He was right. !
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Brendan

Oh sorry I use cheap stuff ! ?What ever onsale.?
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Brendan

Just use the Acrylic sprays. ?Silicon conformal is too expensive for non pro stuff aka this is for avionics of naval electronics. ?

Cap any sockets snd plugs before use. Indeed I wouldn’t spray ICs that are socketed like CPU/Pic42s/EPROM ETC. ?These need good contact surfaces. You don’t need a thick coating. ?Indeed usually spray into cap and brush it on as necessary.?

Clean up with acetone?

cheers, well done?
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Brendan

New cable is here and Gemini seems happier.? That Conformal is expensive stuff, at least I have two Gemini units to treat with it.? Is there any difference between the Techspray, the MG Chemicals and CRC offerings?? Is there any reason to choose the silicone formula over the acrylic for our application?

There’s a bag of assorted screws in the Losmandy store that should have what you need:


just in case you don’t live in a metric country ;-)

Jonathan

Sorry I forgot to provide as this is a great wealth of self help that may assist you.? Site is a little clunky to use but you get the gist.

cheers
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Brendan

Ok we are lacking information.??? What version Gemini 1 or 2 or mini???

What connection are you trying LAN/RS232 to USB or USB?

If using an RS232 to USB what version converter as some chipsets are temperamental.? Buy "Gemini desktop App" I assume you mean Gemini ASCOM Driver?? Sorry but we need more information to progress.?? Glad to help but as said...more info.

Oh please use a signature name as it makes it more personnel than addressing or replying to user xyz.? Just forum etiquette.

Cheers
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Brendan