Eq6 & Pec

[Zuts]

Hi All,

I am trying to setup PEC on my EQ6, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. When I read the manual it says to complete a PEC run with a reticle giving at least 300 mag. I have a meade ED80, 480mm focal length. Even with my 9mm reticle barlowed i only get 106 mag. Also at 300 i would be lucky to see anything in a 80mm scope.

Is this the reason it doesnt seem to make much difference as i cant see the PE enough to correct it or am i doing something wrong.

(1) Polar align, drift method.
(2) find a star on the meridian at about 20 degrees dec
(3) turn on sidereal tracking
(4) record a PEC run, as per the manual, RA corrections only
(5) set tracking to sidereal + PEC

Thanks
Paul

[xelasnave]

I do it with only an 80 x 400 but I train it with in the area that I intend to shoot... I use the 9 minutes to capture a nine minute shot..the buzzer is a good timer ..will be using a barlow to get higher mag some but that the way I do it so far. Capture scope is only 750mm f/l so it is forgiving but my lastest horse head at 1170 seconds was ok by me ...maybe you PE is fine mine has vary little PE and I am not complaining.. how round are your stars is all taht matters
alex
alex

[Terry B]

How are you doing the training- manually or with an autoguider?

[Zuts]

Thanks Alex, i will try a few more times. If the images look better then fine, otherwise i will leave it off.

Paul

[Zuts]

Hi Terry,

I dont have my USB cable yet for the autoguider so am training it by hand. Its just that the manual says at least 300 by and i am nowhere near that.

Maybe when i get autoguiding set up i wont need PEC.

Also under a barlow the star seems to jiggle around a bit. You would think it would ruin photos but it doesnt seem to, maybe the jiggling is not much at prime focus on an ED80. The star never actually moves outside of the square in the middle. Does this happen with your eq6?

Paul

[Zuts]

Just a thought, and i dont know if anyone can answer this

I have a 9mm meade illuminated reticle. When 2 by barlowed on my 480mm scope what would be the angular size of the square in the middle of the reticle. And what would be the equivalent size with the 400d at prime focus.

I want to know because that will tell me how big the jiggling is.

two questions

Thanks Paul

[garymck]

The eq-pec cannot be trained by an autoguider. It will only accept training by manual correction using the handbox - this is a major deficiency.

EQmod provides a better way of doing pec training, and this module is now actively being tested. The problem with it currently is that using pec then makes autoguiding incompatible - this may be fixed at some point. Pec is not normally necessary if you are autoguiding, most eq-6's can image satisfactorily when guided.

hope this helps

Gary

[Terry B]

This is what I had found also so haven't bothered with PEC. I thought maybe someone had found a workaround.
I did try once autoguiding via ASCOM sending corrections to the synscan controller rather than using the autoguider port on the mount. This should be the same as manually correcting with the buttons but I wasn't able to fine tune the guiding enough and abandoned the process.