Need to program a telescope drive

Projects Programming
1

Many moons ago, the electronics in my Meade LX6 telescope quit working. It uses a small unipolar stepper motor to drive the RA (right ascension) and two DC motors to drive DEC (north and south) and the focus. I THOUGHT Arduino would be a good fit for replacing the electronics. Well, not so far.

I have come a long way and got the stepper motor to run in the correct direction, and at the correct speed. But, I need to be able to be able to change the direction EAST and WEST for the stepper motor, as well as NORTH and SOUTH with the DC motors, and then have the computer go back to its regular job of tracking. All my attempts so far have failed. It seems like whatever code I write interferes and stops the stepper motor completely.

There a tons of sketches out there that move a motor a few steps and then go back a few steps, or other goofy things, but I have found nothing that will do what I need. Everything I think will work, just doesn't.

I am not a programmer, although I do have some experience years ago writing BASIC programs. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. There must be some way to do what I need. The original designers of the drive system did it. We should be able to, also. Or, am I asking too much of the Arduino?

Rick
Tucson

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To get help here:

  • post your attempted code in code tags.
  • post what you expected your code to do.
  • post what it is doing instead.
    ...
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And post a wiring diagram, along with links to the motor drivers you are using.