If it wasn’t bad enough that there were repeated electronic failures due to lightning,  both Paramount ME’s were disabled because of mice damage.   Plug the rear of your Paramount!  The mice climbed right up the cables and went into the mount.  When they couldn’t get anywhere, they decided to chew on the cables.   It turns out that the ribbon cable used on the homing sensors are coated with a vegetable based coating that must taste good.   The mice chewed ONLY these wires.  I contacted Ken Crawford about this since he had a similar issue in 2008.   Sure enough, it happened to me too.   Fixing the mount is a horrible effort.  It took over 4 hours to repair.  You have to fully disassemble the unit, pulling out the servos, side plates and ruining your alignment in the process.    I’ve only fixed one so far.  The second ME is on the todo list within a week or two.

DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!  Steel wool is mice kryptonite.   Use it.