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Removing and Reinstalling the micro-SDcards in the Gemini 2 Hand Controller and Main Unit |
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| Removing and Reinstalling the micro-SDcard in the Main Unit |
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To See a movie of removing main micro SDcard either
click here for one from this site, or here for a U-tube version. |
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| 1. Gemini with cover in place. Remove the 6 Allen head screws. 1/16 Inch Allen wrench will be necessary |
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| 2. The Gemini 2 with cover removed. See the micro-SDcard socket on the left middle side. It is always a good idea to slide a piece of paper under the battery clip when removing and replacing the micro-SDcard |
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| 3. This is a picture with the cover vertical. You do this by first sliding the cover to the right slightly, to unlock it. Then you can grab the left side and slowly lift it up. It is on a sliding hinge, hinged on the right side. |
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| 4.You can see it even more opened. |
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| 5. Here it is fully opened. I have turned over the micro-SDcard. Notice the contacts still point to the right. |
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| 6. This is with the micro-SDcard complete removed. To replace the micro-SDcard, just follow the reverse steps. Make sure that the micro-SDCard is seated correctly before trying to close the cover. After you get the cover closed, make sure you slide it to the left to lock it in place. Don't forget to remove the piece of paper from under the battery clip. |
7. To reprogram the micro-SDcard in the main unit with a reader/writer go to: Rebuilding Main unit SDcard Firmware Remember that doing this will normally reset the Gemini-2 default IP address back to 192.168.0.111 |
| During the development phase of Gemini 2, you will likely need to update the firmware in the hand controller and main unit fairly frequently. While this will normally be done through the web interface or the FTP interface, or the new Firmware loader program, it is possible that you may need to disassemble the hand controller or remove the cover from the main board. Please be aware of these warnings if you do so. |
Please note, that if you damage either the Hand Controller or the Gemini Main Unit, you are doing this at your own risk. Repair will be solely at Losmandy's discretion, and you may be liable for repair cost and shipping cost. You might want to contact Losmandy for permission before doing this, to maintain your warranty. |
1. When disassembling the hand controller, be forewarned that the gasket that is between the LCD and top plastic cover sometimes sticks to the LCD. If it does stick, this can be very strong, and several have broken their screen trying to get it unstuck, or pulled the LCD off the base PCB that it is mounted to. The best way to remove the top cover after removing the 4 screws is to gently push down on the LCD glass while slowing loosing the top cover, separating the glass from the gasket. See Movie on how to open up the HC in MP4 format. Putting the Hand Controller in a warm place also might help loosen the gasket. If you place it in direct sunlight, turn the LCD down, so that the sunlight is not shining on it. Direct sunlight can damage LCD's. I cannot give enough of a strong warning about taking the hand controller apart. This is especially true if you do not live in the USA. If you live in the USA and feel that the hand controller must be taken apart, call Losmandy and see if they are willing to do it for you. There are now 2 different versions of that hand controller. The first one is internally referred to at Losmandy referred to as BlueScreen version. This document deals with that version. I found out today July 12, 2013 that a newer version has been shipping and about 200 of them have shipped. The micro SD card holder in that hand controller is the same type as in the main units motherboard. It does use the same size LCD, and suppose to have non-stick Gaskets, and I think no hidden buttons at the bottoms of the LCD. It was designed by Losmandy, and is not quite as dependent on manufactures dropping the manufacture of LCD screens as the older BlueScreen version was. This was a necessary change because the manufacture of the BlueScreen LCD module stopped producing it. Since I don't have that version yet, I cannot tell you more about it. |
2. Also while apart, there are icons at the bottom of the LCD screen. They are touch sensitive. If you are touching any of these while you apply power to the LCD module, or hand controller the hand controller will not boot. The gasket can also cause this same effect if pushing on these icons to hard. In later units this gasket has been shaved a few hundred’s of a mm to prevent this. |
3. If you remove the front panel of the main Gemini unit, do not plug the motor cables into the unit. Sideways pressure on the motor connectors can break them. The front panel provides the mechanical stability to keep this from happening. You can safely power up the Gemini 2 without motors connected. You might receive motor lag messages, but that is normal, when no motors are connected. You can stop this by using the Track menu and select "Terrestrial" as the speed. |
| The micro-SDcards supplied by Losmandy are 2GB cards
for both the main unit and hand controller. This
is the recommended size. Both SD and SDHC types are supported.
Use the default Fat size for the 2Gbyte size of micro-SDcards to
format them. 4GB is the maximum size but has not been tested by the writer of the
firmware. If using 4GB micro-SDcards, they MUST be formatted using
Fat32. The default under Windows 7 is FAT64, Do not use this for
formatting the SDcards, it will not work.
If you have to format the SD card it is best to download the official SDcard format routine from the https://www.sdcard.org download section. This instructions of updating the main card is at Updating SDcard with reader/writer |
| To go to the Removing and Reinstalling the micro-SDcard in the Main Unit click here. |
| There is now a new version of the hand controller.
It is much harder in my opinion to remove and replace the the micro-SDcard
in this new version. This is because the micro-SDcard holder is on the bottom board, and uses the flip style of holder.
The top LCD board almost has to be removed to replace the micro-SDcard.
I highly do not recommend removing the top
board from the bottom board. I find the 40 pin connector
extremely hard to get apart without flexing the LCD display on the
top board.
Here is a picture of the opened HC. You can refer to the movie about removing and replacing the micro-SCcard in
the main unit to see how this SDcard holder works. They are the same type holders.
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| Removing and Reinstalling the micro-SDcard in the
Original Style Hand Controller
Is in this first section of instructions. |
| You can see a short movie of me removing and replacing the original version of the hand controller micro-SDcard here. For a U-Tube version click here |
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| 1.The first step is to completely remove the 4 screws from the back. |
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| 2. Then hold down on the LCD screen while gently prying up the top cover. |
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| 3. Remove Face Plate |
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| 4. You can see our target socket in the upper right corner of the picture. It is silver in color. No SDCard is in the socket. This is the back side of the PCB that holds the LCD. |
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| 5. The micro-SDcard is below the PCB-but above the screwdriver tip. |
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| 6. The micro SD card partly popped out. This is accomplished by pressing in on it first then letting it pop out. When you reinstall it you do the reverse. Push it in until it stops and then let go. |
 7. You can see the card part way out now. When you pull it out completely you will see that it has the contacts pointing up. |
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| 8. See gold contacts. You can now take the card and put it into a micro-SDcard reader. You would follow the instruction on rebuilding the file structure on the that. This will be out lined in a different document. |
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| 9. You can see that I have found the holder and started to slide the card back into it's holder. |
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| 10. micro-SDcard almost all the way in. |
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| 11. micro-SDcard fully inserted |
12. To reprogram the micro-SDcard in the Hand-controller unit with a reader/writer go to: Rebuilding Hand-Controller unit SDcard Firmware |