What is cordwrap? How can I prevent it?

Cordwrapping is when your scope slews more than 360° in azimuth and tangles your power and accessory cables around the base and damage them, as well as the scope’s casing and electronics.

Celestron’s cordwrap technology when select Cordwrap from the Scope Setup menu, you will be asked to move your telescope opposite to the no-cross line (NCL). It is a user definable line that the SE will not pass in order to slew to an object; rather it will slew the long way around in order to get to the object. For example, if you want the NCL to be towards due north, then you would need to slew the telescope in azimuth until the front of the tube is pointing towards due south. Once in position, press Enter to set the NCL.

This is useful when powering the telescope with an optional AC adapter or any time that cables are plugged into the base of the telescope.

Cordwrap needs to be set when the scope is aligned in alt-azimuth (the default is off). Flashing the firmware will reset it to the default (off) position. Simply reset it under Scope Setup – Cordwrap

If you are following the instructions in the manual and cordwrap isn’t working, most likely you need to upgrade your motor control firmware/ MCUpdate (for NexStar*) or your Celestron Firmware Manager/ CFM (for NexStar+).

First, check which version you have in the menu under Utilities – Version. If the MC (motor control) number is 5.13 or less, you need to upgrade the firmware using Celestron’s MCupdate program. Newer versions correct a problem with the cordwrap prevention feature and allows you to successfully set up cordwrap for your scope.

For NexStar* hand controls, see how to flash update your motor control firmware with this how to.

For NexStar+ hand controls, see how to flash update your motor control firmware with this how to.