Telescope Cable Management

With most of my initial testing finished on my Losmandy G11 mount, I finally took the time to tidy up the cables a bit. The G11 doesn’t have any internal cable routing, so everything has to go on the outside. I made new serial cables for my Robofocus and G11 Gemini 1 computer connections. That alone got rid of about 10 feet of extra cable that was hanging on my mount. I also swapped out a few USB cables for ones that were better lengths for my setup.

For bundling cables, I prefer braided sleeve cable wrap. The stuff I use has a split side, so it’s easy to get cables in. It’s also easy to have individual cables split off at any point so you can connect each device with the right amount of cable. For most things on my mount the 1/2″ cable wrap works great, but there are other sizes too. 1/4″ is a little too small to fit two standard sized USB cables, so 3/8″ is probably the smallest that’s useful for most mounts. I then used zip ties to anchor cables in specific places and snug down the ends of the cable wrap.

After everything was done, I moved the telescope through its full range of motion to double check the new cable management. It’s not perfectly pretty, but everything is now secure and routed such that there won’t be any snags or tugs as the telescope moves around.

I plan to write up how to make your own custom serial cables for controlling Robofocus focus motors and G11 Gemini 1 mounts. Coming soon!

Disclaimer: I paid for all items above with my own money. Some links above are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

bryan
  • bryan

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.