Project:
HEQ5 as portable mount

Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Power terminal of HEQ5 changed
3. Installing the 300 mm lens on HEQ5
4. Rewiring the electric cables
5. Connecting the Raspberry
6. Power consumption
7. Battery power cables
8. Tweaking auto guiding parameters
9. Rowan Belt Modification Kit
10. Making the tripod to a low rider
11. Redesign of mount head details
12. Raspberry Pi4 bracket
13. Brackets: temperature sensor, spirit level and stepper motor
14. Transport box
15. Brackets reinforced and adapt it to EQ6
16. HEQ5 and TS130 refractor ?
17. To be continued

Related projects:

1. HEQ5 as portable mount
2. Pentax 645 300 mm ED IF f/4 lens
3. KStars / EKOS and Raspberry Pi4

Note:
I take no responsibility or liability for what are written here, you use the information on your own risk!

4: Rewiring the electric cables

Now when I have use my new setup for a while I can see clearer how wiring the cables to be more practical. I want it to be easy to change between the Raspberry Linux system and the PC Windows system. Minimal cables between the mount and the camera.

Power cables and fuse terminal:

When I did the first test I move the fuse terminal up to the dove tail as a temporary solution. Now I move it out once again. More practical to have it closer to the power source.

Bottom:
Power cable 12 Volt. To this I can connect the 230 to 13.7 Volt transformer or a 12 (13.7) Volt car battery. In the future maybe a Lithium Ion battery.

Middle:
Power cable for the mini PC, not used when Raspberry is in use.

Top:
Power cable for the mount fits both HEQ5 and EQ6. Serial cable for HEQ5, has to be replaced when using the EQ6 mount.

When changing between PC / Linux computer I only have to change the USB cable that go between the computer and the Hub.

When changing between the HEQ5 /EQ6 I have to change the EQDirect cable.

The power to Raspberry doesn't need 12 Volt, it need 5 Volt and at maximum 3 Ampere. I have that on the powered USB Hub. It can deliver max 2 Ampere on one port, if more is needed it should be possible to connect it in parallel to two ports.

But where shall I place the Raspberry ? In this case it's better to have the computer mounted on the dove tail which gives shorter cables. Here I have placed it standing upright but it collide with the guest camera mount.

If I lay it down it clear the mount, but the cables protrude to the right outside the dove tail, not good.

Rotate it 90 degree. This looks much better, easy to reach the USB memory (the red device) where I place all the astrophotos on. Also easy to connect the LAN cable when I use that, normally the Raspberry setup a WIFI hotspot to connect to.

The mess with all cables is almost gone now.

Moved back the guest camera mount to get the dove tail in better balance.

The Raspberry has a couples of LEDs that is very annoying, at the night they are very bright and blend. The arrow point to the LAN port, only light up when connected, I placed a black tape over it.

Two other LEDs indicate the status of the computer, another black tape over them.

Good, now I can concentrate me on the software problems, and there are plenty of them as usual.