Description

When connecting the Arduino to the Yaesu controller box, some weird behaviour is shown

Elevation drives to full open (180 degrees) and can’t be controlled by the box
Azimuth refuses to rotate in any direction, but can still be controlled by the box
Neither AZ nor EL reads correctly on the Arduino, or can control it

We need to figure out why.

TODO

4 scenarios:

Without anything connected, pin outputs on the box seem to be fine
- Screws to rotor box are fine (as expected since the box works fine by itself)
- Measuring the control pins provided a higher voltage of 15.5-16V, but this may be due to the lack of electrical loading
Connecting the cable to the powered Arduino
- All voltages are floating when uncommanded (as expected)
- Inconclusive when commanded in one direction

Connecting the cable to the controller box

Connections do not respond as expected, and incorrect wires appear as control signals

Wire label	Internal wire colour (and connection)	Listed Function	Expected Voltage	Actual Voltage
Green	Green, to pin 3 (rotate up)	Power to Elevation	2-4.5V (or ~0V since not connected to rotator)	16 V
Blue	Blue, to pin 2 (rotate right)	Right Rotate	~16 V	16 V (?)
Yellow, 1	Yellow, to pin 1 **(Power to Elevation**)	Up Rotate	~16 V	0 V
Yellow, 2	Orange, to pin 5 (Rotate down)	Left Rotate	~16 V	16 V (?)
Red, 1	Brown, to pin 4 (Rotate left)	Down Rotate	~16 V	16 V (?)
Black, 1	White, to pin 7(Power in)	Power to Azimuth	2-4.5V (or ~0V since not connected to rotator)	16 V
Red, 2	Red, to pin 6 (Power to Azimuth)	Power In	~16 V	0 V
Black, 2	Black, to pin 8 (Ground)	Ground	Baseline	Baseline

<aside> ✅ The external control diagram pinout is for the port on the controller box, meaning the wires on the cable when the connector is facing you.

Solution: relabel the wires in Google Sheets

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