Hi, so I've never quite understood how backlash works and i think I realized why that is. I'm pretty sure I've not ever had it dialed in right before. So I use a dobsonian. My question is that in the

Hi Mike, Yes, the main issue with backlash seems to be on the altitude axis. I probably will move it to a closer location at some point, but I have 3 different opportunities for campouts to dark sky s

#maxesp3 #backlash

Also, I would like to know if OnStep saves backlash settings after being powered off?

#maxesp3 #backlash

Hi, so I have had a few nights under my belt with my finished goto dobsonian, which uses belt drives and planetary gearboxes. I have been using a 4-star alignment with a 200x magnification, and have d

#maxesp3 #backlash

Alright, so I've done some more reading on here, and found some threads talking about using over 200x magnification and making sure the base is leveled. I had previously been using 80x magnification,

#dob #backlash #maxesp3

Alright, so I've had a night out under the stars with my telescope! I had to increase stepper current to 1000 and decrease microsteps to 32 as I was running into stalling problems due to high RPMs on

#dob #backlash #maxesp3

Cool! thanks for the link.

Hi, I was curious if anyone had made the Smart Hand Controller without going and ordering the custom made pcb? I'm pretty sure I have all the components, but I really don't feel like spending the mone

Alright, so I have the circuitry and 3D printing all figured out and working now! (I think...) I have a Zhumell Z8 Dobsonian that I attached 100:1 stepper motors that have a pulley that has an 8:1 rat

#esp32 #dob

sigh. Well, after spending probably like 20 hours trying to fix the stupid thing, it let out the magic smoke, and the esp32 board no longer works. I don't know if anything else is shorted, but frankly

Okay. So the previous tests have been under consistent voltage as I soldered jumpers to the fuse and increased the allowed amperage to 5amps on the power supply. This doesn't dip at all when I am runn

Oh, also OnStep doesn't show that it is in tracking mode when I power it on and haven't pressed any buttons... That has always happened but I wanted to bring it up in case that helps find the issue.

I changed those settings in the config file and now the motor spins a little faster which is to be expected, but otherwise, it shuts off a little sooner and the driver still overheats and won't respon

Okay, I can try those settings. Is this for ALTAZM or GEM?

Here's my current config.h file

Okay, so here's the latest: I reuploaded the firmware to 4.23r and also reuploaded the wifi firmware from that version just in case that changed anything. The webpage controls seems to have a better c

Okay, so I isolated the short to the ESP32 board and I believe I was able to remove the traces and re-solder jumpers from the pins to the pads. I haven't tested it yet since I wanted to update my firm

Thanks for taking a look into that, Mike! So first off, The picture below shows the 2 pins that I was talking about. On the picture you shared, it would be V_SS/G5 and V_SCK/G18. I also uploaded where

I checked the pcb and couldn't find any visible connections that were touching each other, but I am going through with my multimeter in continuity mode and found that on the ESP32-S that pins p5 and p

I am just using nema17 motors so I was under the impression this is what everyone uses and that they don't need such high current? I just soldered some wires across the gap of the fuse, and used the v