TheSkySearchers

I have an avx mount I've barely used about 1yr old. Had not used it in a few months. Went to power it up from the 12v DC portable power pack (used for numerous things and Confirmed with scope retailer that it was an appropriate source), the led on the avx and cigarette adapter (official celestron one meant for avx) both light up. The hand Controller orange backlight on the display and keys is lit up, but no text or display whatsoever. No beeping or error codes. Trying to slew the mount or use anything on the hand controller has zero effect. Trying to reset by booting while holding zero or celestron logo has no effect. Plugging in the hand controller via its USB port to the pc does not change anything, nor does the pc seem to register its connected. I've examined all the cables and reseated everything. At no point has anything been plugged into the wrong port. The connectors are clean. As a last resort, I opened up the body to check the control board. No signs of damage or corrosion that I could see, but still disconnected everything and reseated it firmly just in case, zero change. Any ideas here? This truly doesn't make any sense to me. Nothing has happened to it, nothing physical, no electrical issues should have occurred, and one time it worked fine, next time it's like this. Stored in a dry place. Only really used it about 5 times since I got it too. Also, checked the lithium battery inside was basically full power, but reseated it anyways. I stupidly can't find the damn receipt for it right now, so all apart from REALLY not wanting to have to pay for shipping both ways (on a very heavy piece no less) and wait over a month if I'm lucky to get it returned, losing over a month of very prime time (I live in Vancouver, bc... It's constantly raining or cloudy most of the year).... I can't currently even claim any possible warranty without that proof of purchase. I have a multimeter, and can follow directions safely, but I don't know what points on the mount to contact to test various things and I don't want to risk accidentally frying something by touching the wrong thing. Any ideas? Please help

Anybody have anything at all? I do have some pictures of the board just in case. Even if someone with any knowledge can tell me like "measure between here and here" etc.... That could at least point me in the right direction.

Or, a thought.... Any way I can try to confirm or test the hand controller if it's the issue

Have you tried calling their tech support yet?
They are pretty good.

Sounds like you might
need to download new firmware. At least that's what I would try.

I had to do that many years ago on my Orion SVP and it came back to life.
I think you can get to the firmware page from the main Celestron site.

Ylem wrote: ↑Mon Jul 26, 2021 2:09 am Have you tried calling their tech support yet?
They are pretty good.

Sounds like you might
need to download new firmware. At least that's what I would try.

I had to do that many years ago on my Orion SVP and it came back to life.
I think you can get to the firmware page from the main Celestron site.

Thanks for the reply Ylem. I had considered that. The only issue is I was thinking, how will it be able to load firmware if the pc isn't detecting it as connected?

I keep thinking that it would be a big step towards figuring out what ultimately needs to happen if I could confirm the power getting to the mount and controller. Like confirm for example that the 12v coming from the battery and celestron cable is actually 12v being received internally. That for example if probe point 1 and probe point 2 is supposed to register 12v, or 3.3v, or 5v etc.... That this is indeed correct. If it's giving a different reading, then it's easy to point the finger that the power is the issue or a component is busted, and then I won't waste time hunting down solutions that won't help. My reservations are not knowing what points to probe or what the readings should be. If I have that information at all, even for just a few points, I can test that safely.

Pictures of the board
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Is there any way you can get your hands on another Celestron hand controller?. The Celestron hand controllers are nearly interchangeable between mounts. Even using an Alt-Az mount hand controller will still run the basic functions on an AVX. I know this because I own four Celestron mounts. 3 Alt-Az and the AVX.

Cheers

JayTee wrote: ↑Mon Jul 26, 2021 5:42 pm Is there any way you can get your hands on another Celestron hand controller?. The Celestron hand controllers are nearly interchangeable between mounts. Even using an Alt-Az mount hand controller will still run the basic functions on an AVX. I know this because I own four Celestron mounts. 3 Alt-Az and the AVX.

Cheers

Great idea JT!

I thought about that, but I didn't know that the AVX would function with another Celestron mount. Great info!

Not much to add, Celestron mounts can be quirky things at times.

Check that all pins at the connectors are straight and clean (HC cord and mount plug)
Verify that you actually have 12v power, low powers make these mounts do all kinds of strange things.
There is a shop in Vancouver, that sells and repairs Celestron equipment so they may be able to help.
https://markarianfineoptics.ca/mounts

Yes, verify your portable battery is outputting 12v. I had a similar problem a couple of years ago with my CGX. The battery I had was only outputting just over 10v and was enough to light things up but the motors would not move.
Even a fully charged battery can start to fail by reducing its output voltage.

Also, I do have a spare CGX hand controller if it will work with the AVX, not sure why it wouldn't.
Since I rarely do visual, I rarely use the controller that came with my mount and would be happy to send the spare to you if you pick up the shipping cost.
Please confirm it is the hand controller first though and not a problem on the main board.

StarLord101 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:14 pm Plugging in the hand controller via its USB port to the pc does not change anything, nor does the pc seem to register its connected.

Do you have the Celestron software & Drivers loaded? sometimes it will not recognize a device like a hand controller without those.

The CGX HC will work with the AVX, at most he may have to re-flash it to make sure PEC and such are right for the mount.
Celestron basic programming is Az/Alt or EQ with a few refinments for individual mounts.

I run the NXS programming (CPC mount) with my SLT instead of the limited original program. It gives me 2 extra catalogues and more precise goto.

Hi. I have no idea how I missed your reply when I posted this before. I gave up on it temporarily for the winter since there is so very few clear nights in Vancouver in the fall/winter. I realize how ridiculous thia request is given how long ago you made this offer, but is this something you would still be willing to do? Do you still have the unit?

AstroBee wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 9:01 pm Yes, verify your portable battery is outputting 12v. I had a similar problem a couple of years ago with my CGX. The battery I had was only outputting just over 10v and was enough to light things up but the motors would not move.
Even a fully charged battery can start to fail by reducing its output voltage.

Also, I do have a spare CGX hand controller if it will work with the AVX, not sure why it wouldn't.
Since I rarely do visual, I rarely use the controller that came with my mount and would be happy to send the spare to you if you pick up the shipping cost.
Please confirm it is the hand controller first though and not a problem on the main board.

StarLord101 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:14 pm Plugging in the hand controller via its USB port to the pc does not change anything, nor does the pc seem to register its connected.

Do you have the Celestron software & Drivers loaded? sometimes it will not recognize a device like a hand controller without those.

A slight update to this after a break for the fall/winter:. I had an old celestron hc that was basically useless as it froze after boot for all functions except it still could slew the scope when the arrows were pushed. So it wasn't a viable replacement and wasn't repairable or upgradeable. So it was buried in storage. I remembered it with this issue and it occurred to me I could try it just to see if the mount would act the same or if it could at least be slewed to try to narrow down the issue to the hc or mount. And I was able to get the mount to slew with it using the arrows. So that makes me think it's the hc.

What version is the HC programming?
The firmware reflash should sort it out.

Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Sat May 21, 2022 4:46 pm What version is the HC programming?
The firmware reflash should sort it out.

It would have been on the latest version as of last July. Sorry I can't even check since no display or connection. It can't be reflashed as it is not detected by any computer regardless of cable, software or drivers. Also can't factory reset it. It's almost like the power rail is getting through but the data isn't.

After re-reading the posts above I would have to assume you received a broken HC.
Did you ever contact Markanian in Vancouver?
They may let you try a new HC or take a look at yours.

The saga has a HALLELUJAH!!!..... kind of

I'll update more info when I'm done packing up, but the short version is: I actually got my bloody Avx to actually slew! Heck, I even got it to align technically. So is this mission accomplished, end of story? Somehow, not quite. Nothing has changed re: hand control. Same as before. Backlight, no text, no slewing or signs anything is working controlling with the HC. If I connect the HC alone to a computer with all the celestron drivers and software that had anything to do with this setup, including ascom, the only thing that will detect it is cfm, and at that, only if manually pointed to the port. An attempt to update firmware gets to 2% progress and freezes for a while only to cancel out. Now the HC connected to the pc and the mount and mount powered up, cfm finds nothing most of the time. If I have the mount off, connect the HC to the pc and then power the mount and then launch cfm. It actually thank God detects both the HC and the mount! Yay... But trying to update has the exact same results as above. The ONLY circumstance at all where I can actually connect to the mount (for more than a detection) AND end up have it be communicating with the mount (able to slew, align, see pointing model data etc), is if I follow the startup process mentioned above and connect via cpwi hand controller mode. And I do mean the only. A list from memory of other stuff I've tried: PHD2, ascom celestron driver, ascom cpwi driver, hub mode, cfm (only detects then fails to detect or be able to communicate after initial detection), hc update, mcupdate (these last two not even sure if they are able to work as model not listed and firmware dates and numbers are older) but still neither of those two can even detect or see either the HC or mount. Nexremote either. Maybe a few more but I can't recall. The ascom cpwi was reporting it couldn't have or find a cpwi instance. All the other ascom options fail and say cannot connect /find it. If cpwi is connected and operating the mount, I wasn't sure if it was able to be open and connected while other software tried to interface, but it returns com port in use obviously.

My apologies for the mouthful, but after almost 9 months of frustration, I'm partly giddy and elated as I was able to control the mount, which means it still works and I hope means I can rule out things like board and electrical failures. At the same time, even more confused why everything else is failing utterly including all other official celestron resources. If it wasn't for the cpwi somehow connecting and seemingly having full control over the mount, I would be convinced I had a paperweight after a few hours of testing tonight. And it is a bit of an issue if I can't use any other software resources for things like guiding, imaging etc.... I have pictures of various states and messages as well as logs if anyone thinks it may be useful

Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Sat May 21, 2022 4:46 pm What version is the HC programming?
The firmware reflash should sort it out.

I finally got this information

Not sure if I cannot speak the language or something is lost in translation.

Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Thu Jun 09, 2022 5:24 pm Not sure if I cannot speak the language or something is lost in translation.

I was answering your question about the firmware versions. Previously was unable to find out until tonight. Cfm reports the HC boot version 3.1.6100 and motor control app version 7.15.8270

I can get Cfm to detect and report that info, but attempt to update gets stuck at the image below before failing