Help with Goto alignment

[Rod771]

Can anyone please help with Nexstar+ hand controller

I have the Cgem DX mount and have tried the "polar alignment" procedure after completing the all star alignment, and I'm getting quite annoyed.

I slew to Sirius then "synced" on it as the hand manual says, then I started the polar alignment procedure (Where the mount slews away from the star and you adjust the mounts azimuth and latitude manually to re-center the star in the eye piece)

As I have the scope pointed south, time, date and location enter correctly and have completed the two star alignment with four cal stars, I would assume the scope would not slew far from Sirius when starting the "polar alignment", however the mount swung all the way around to the west??? (opposite from when Sirius was at the time, as if the hand controller was trying to get me to swing the whole mount around to the north)

I have gone right the hand controller settings to double check the settings a correct and I'm still puzzled.

The only thing I have noticed is when do the all star alignment the hand controller list the two alignment stars as "w" (west of meridian) when in fact they are east. Vice verser for the cal stars, it lists them as "E" instead of west.

Any thoughts would be appreciated

[Starblazer99]

Have you checked in the menu on the hand controller that it is in EQ South and not EQ North.

[Rod771]

Yep tracking is in Eq south.

see pics

[blink138]

hello rod my brother has the cg5 gt and that is doing the same thing
very frustrating!
celestron were not very helpful unfortunately and they just emailed him (after about a week) with the standard procedure of alignement which he already knew
we cannot get to the bottom of it at all
pat

[Rod771]

feeling your brothers pain Pat, blood pressure rising :mad2:

[Starblazer99]

Have you updated the handcontroler with the latest available update from celestron I Had the same problem with my CGE pro after two star alignment when I first got it point to Jupiter it went in the operset direction to wear it should be, updated software the problem had gone and worked like it should do, as well I got the GPS ad on that seemd to bullet proof it.

[blink138]

thanks brian he has not done that.... i will tell him to do it
pat

[2stroke]

This is from there website

[icytailmark]

the general idea is you choose stars u can view from your observing place. Slew to the star. Center in eyepiece. Press align. do about 4-5 stars in total and u should be fine. Btw polar alignment has nothing to do with goto. If your mount is pointing at True south, then your mount tracks very well. If your mount is polar aligned well then your goto's will be fairly accurate.

[2stroke]

His doing a polar alignment not a goto sync lol, if you didn't know snycscan and the celertons now support polar alignment much the same as align master works. I thought the same when he said sync but if you read his post fully you will see his doing a polar alignment not a goto sync.

[blink138]

god i hope rod is reading this also.... i feel i have hijacked his thread!
now jay they are the instructions we have followed....... however when we press the "undo" it does not and the mount carries on and re centres that star
in my brothers mount there is no "undo" button it is called "back" on his
maddening!

[Rod771]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys :)

Yes I had updated the firmware to HC 5.21.2200 MC 6.17 .617 yesterday, I was have the troubles with old version and are still having trouble after update.

[Rod771]

I understand your point Mark :) . The goto alignment procedure is fine (apart for some over slewing on targets on other nights, that's another story) Its the "polar alignment" procedure that's in error.

Its like the mount knows its position for goto functions but has no clue at all when I start the polar alignment procedure.

When you pay thousands for equipment you expect it to do what it says it can do.

[Starblazer99]

I use Acamar or Achernar for polar alignment stars seem to work fine cums up whith 000-0000 on the test you need to use a high mag eye piece http://www.nexstarsite.com/download/manuals/NexStarHandControlVersion4UsersGuid e.pdf and try this...

[2stroke]

I would send celestron a email and tell them whats going on, sounds like a firmware issue for sure. Seems pretty odd though since they fixed the southern hemi issue with the syncscans :( To be honest i use the old school method of plumb bob and compass then a drift lol. I used align master but its gotta be perfectly level and not far off to start with, so now the Heq5 goes old school.

[Rod771]

Yep I'll be emailing Celestron and the Dealer, lets see what they come up with :question:

I've been practicing drift aligning tonight :thumbsup:

[Poita]

Weirdly though, my CGEM works beautifully for the polar alignment. Every time.

I do a sync, and add the maximum amount of stars and then do the polar alignment routine and it just works.

I'll check what firmware I am on.

[blink138]

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-487-0-0-1-0.html

rod i think(?) you and my brother have the same problem and he has told me to pass this link on
although untried on his part he is almost certain he has at least found his problem
take particular note of point 7, as when he got there found his hemisphere registered not north or south but "OFF"!
hope this helps
pat

[Rod771]

I know this thread is a few months old but I just wanted to document Celestrons feed back, in case someone comes across the thread while searching.

Celestron's normal support pretty much just made suggestions we had already discussed. So I decided to go higher if you will.

I emailed Derik , Celestron's software engineer and I received a very quick reply. Quoted below:

"This is now a confirmed bug in all versions of the Nexstar+ when operating in the southern hemisphere.

This is one of those Schrödinbugs that you hear about. Once I have the Dec Guiding bug wrapped up I will be working on this one next."


In summing up, I'm happy it wasn't me going crazy:screwy: and that there is a definite bug in the HC firmware.

A sucessfull fix was installing alignmaster on my laptop ;)

[sil]

Rod, thanks for the update. I got my C11HD CGEMDX a few weeks ago and am still learning it (finding it less friendly and (surprisingly) less accurate on tracking than my C102SLT AltAz). Loving the scope but not loving some of the "character", the learning curve and lack of help from Celestron.

[Rod771]

Update:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=125773