Skywatcher Synscan problems

[Jocksquin]

Hi all,
newbie here and my first post on the forum - but learning fast.
I have a Skywatcher 8" Newtonian on an EQ5 mount and have recently purchased a new Synscan upgrade kit. No issues installing it but i have to agree the included instructions were rubbish. Plenty of online help though.
The new Synscan equipment is proving excellent in terms of finding objects and a big step up from the manually controlled RA and DEC motors I had previously.
However,the new equipment is not without it's "mechanical" problems.
When aligning or finding objects,in fact when even slewing the mount,the directional buttons on the hand controller can "stick" in the ON position without warning and the only way to stop the slew and keep the object in the eyepiece is to quickly press the opposite directional control which seems to stop the slew. The condition I am describing seems random and one time a button works perfectly but the next,sticks "ON" - occurs on more than one directional arrow button.
Has anyone experienced this same problem with a Synscan hand controller?? Is it a known fault?? Any way to fix it without returning the product?:question:
Grateful for any input

[Merlin66]

Ron,
Welcome on board!
Not a usual problem with Synscan....what version are you using?

[raymo]

Your problem is the opposite to what is often experienced with remotes
for scopes, TVs, etc: The motor speed buttons 4 and 7 on my Synscan
were reluctant to work, so I removed the cover and cleaned the contacts
with metho, all fixed.
I would imagine that you have something mildly sticky in there that could easily be cleaned up.
raymo

[astronobob]

Welcome to IIS Ron, good topic, and I have had this happen only a couple of times over the years, turned mount off and start again - and that it until next time next yr or so, so never thought twice about it except maybe just a command clash or conflict,

But as Ray has mentioned above, Im going to clean the contacts just to be reassured - sounds most feasible -- tho that said, your hand controller is new I gather, so this is interesting - would expect the inside to be spotless, but may be 2ndhand, therefore a clean could be in order :thumbsup:

[The_bluester]

I have had it a few times with my Orion mount (Same same) It does not seem to be a button sticking issue, rather a software one. You press a button for a slew, get near where you want to be and release the button but it keeps on slewing. A little stressful if slewing at high speed if there is any risk of crashing anything into the mount!

As you said, a quick jab on the opposite button generally stops it. It does not happen to me often as with the dual encoders on my mount I often release the clutches and point manually rather than slewing with the buttons.

[Allan_L]

Hi Ron,
Welcome to IceInSpace :welcome:

What power source are you using?
I had a problem like this once when I used a 240v to 12v converter, I think maybe the ampage may have been too strong?
Anyway, no problems since changing to 12 volt deep cycle battery.

[Jocksquin]

Hi all,...firstly thank you for the welcome and your answers/input to my querie.
First I can tell you the Synscan is brand new, bought recently from Astroshop(very helpful people there). Version is 4.37 or something - I assume the latest version,(or close to).
Power source currently is 12v deep cycle batt - I have the 240V/12V supply but want that for the(eventual) laptop and camera stuff, so there are no power supply issues at present.
How I handle this also needs to take warranty into consideration and I am not keen to either pull the hand control apart or send it away just yet, as I'm having so much fun.
Yesterday I inspected the slew buttons carefully and one(the large top one) was definitely "sticking"....so I loosened the hand control casing screws and gently manipulated the cover a bit without going too deep into the box - this definitely freed up the button,so I hoped it would fix the issue.
Unfortunately not though....last night the "freed' button worked perfectly but the issue happened with either the left or the right(or both) slew button and could only be cancelled by pressing the opposite slew button if you get my drift.
Thinking about it more,if a slew button was physically sticking "on",then even if you pressed and released the opposite button,the mount should still keep slewing to the direction of the "sticking' button.
I tend to think,as Paul pointed out,that it is a software issue of some sort.
Not sure if it is a known issue at Skywatcher/Tasco

Will keep an eye on it for a while as I have some time but will probably give Steve at Astroshop a "heads-up" now.
Thanks again
Ron

[billdan]

Hi Ron,

What you describe is a common peculiarity of an EQ6.

When I am centering a star on the crosshair, if I press the East button the star will continue moving east for about 5 secs after I have released the button, or I press the West button to make it stop.

Its all to do with backlash and inertia I think.

Cheers
Bill

[Jocksquin]

Thanks Bill,you are describing exactly what happens on my EQ5 but I am not convinced yet of either the source of the problem or that the problem is limited to just one button.
Tasco are now aware of my problems and I will wait a while to see how the issue progresses or if I can narrow it down before taking further action. Seems like this problem has been around for a while and present in other versions of the Synscan(is in V2 and V3) based on info from industry contacts and I can't fathom why it isn't fixed in such an expensive bit of kit.
Not convinced it is a mechanical issue in the mount itself

Rgds
Ron

[raymo]

I thought you meant that the drive motor kept going after you released the button, but Bill is spot on, backlash and inertia. All gear driven mounts will suffer this to a greater or lesser degree, unless you chance upon the one where the gears and worm have been made accurately enough for the backlash to be almost entirely adjusted out. When centring an object just change to speed 1 or 2 when you get close, and release the button a little early to allow for the over run. You could of course check and adjust the backlash on both axes, to minimise the problem. Its not difficult, just a bit fiddly; there are video tutorials on you tube. You can get a belt drive kit which virtually eliminates the
gear backlash [but not the worm backlash], and quietens the motor noise significantly.
raymo

[doppler]

6.2 Backlash compensation

(synscan user manual v3 page 25) seems to suggest that it might be a software thing that might be adjustible. :shrug:

[Jocksquin]

Last post before I go fishing for a couple of weeks.It's definitely not a backlash issue (as the primary cause). If the problem occurs.the drive motor continues to run until I "cancel" the slew with another button. If I'm using a high speed slew and am not quick enough,I can lose the object in the eyepiece!!
There may well be some backlash in the mount but based on the tracking performance after alignment on both sides of the meridian,there can't be much.
I will probably have to take a look at backlash issue when I eventually start some photography and there are some tools/methods to eliminate/reduce it in the Synscan V4 manual as mentioned in another post

Rgds
Ron