EQ5 Synscan Alignment trouble

[Sman1971]

Hey Guys,

Newby just starting out.
I place my mount true South get everthing ready.

Having problems aligning my refractor with a 3 star alignment. When I put my lat long, time zone ect... I start with my first star Sirius , when it statrs moving its way off finding it, The second is wayoff again and its pointing to middle Earth.
When Iv finnished it says alignment error.
Ive double checked and still cant figure the problem.:help:

Cheers Shayne

[M_Lewis]

Make sure sidereal tracking under setup is activated (it doesn't activate by default when you startup the eq5).

Make sure you start the scope off in the "parked" position - ie dead level, and make sure your clutches are locked and they are dialed in on the zero points - ie horizontal/vertical level. (and I'm assuming you're also leveling the entire tripod mount as well).

3 star alignments aren't really necessary, use a 2 star alignment, you'll realistically not notice any difference in the goto.

Make sure the latitude is set correctly on your mount - use an inclinometre for this, the scale on the side of an eq5 is really not that accurate enough, hence you'll need to do a drift alignment to get a more precise result.

When you first align your first start it may well indeed be off, don't let this discourage you, the 2nd star should be much closer.

Hope that helps

Mark

[Sman1971]

Thanks Mark, will try tonight.:)

[M_Lewis]

If you get really stuck, you're more than welcome to come over one night and I can walk you through an alignment on your setup and/or see how an alignment is done. Just send me a pm.

[toryglen-boy]

Check the date, the default is the "American" layout, of M/D/Y

confused the hell out of me for ages.

:)

[Rockah]

Hi guys

This is my first post on the forum - I definately am not trying to hijack the thread, I just thought it would be better to ask another EQ5 question here rather than starting a new thread. I've tried looking around to find the answers I'm after, but I've either read mixed opinions/haven't found what I'm after so far. So I'll try to keep it short. Basically I got my first scope/mount the other day, and after a lot of research I thought I'd go for a mount that I wouldn't need to upgrade in the immediate future, so I got a Skywatcher Mak 127mm combo with a HEQ5 pro.

The HEQ5 seems to be a great mount - a little too great for a beginer like me, but I just wanted something that will last, and will allow me to expand my horizon (no pun intended!) in the future. So I have two questions regarding the mount:

1. I'll be getting a wall power supply on the weekend, one that meets the specific requirements for the mount (12v, regulated, 2amp+ constant current, positive tip), but for now I have a jump start power pack that I got from supercheap auto - I had been reading around and a lot of people seemed to suggest these as a simple portable power solution. It seems to fit most of the criteria so far, but since I am not very good with electrical stuff (amps, watts, volts etc), I have no idea if it's providing the necessary constant 2amps that the mount requires. It is a 1200amp, 24Ah pack with a 12v output, but it doesn't say anything about the output current - not that I'm sure it's meant to.. that's where my lack of understanding lets me down! Is the current just what the mount will draw out of it constantly, which will then determine the life of the battery between charges? Sorry for my cluelessness!

2. Reading through the instructions of the mount was fairly confusing given my little knowledge. I'm trying to get my head around polar alignment (I'm getting there very slowly), but right now I'd just like to use the "manual" control of the scope, i.e. the directional arrows on the Synscan controller once connected. My main concern is trying to get it to move when it's not ready. I could, thus far, find anything in the manual about what state the mount should be in before trying to operate with the controller. Does anyone know if/what knobs have to be locked/unlocked before I try to operate this way (e.g. R.A, Dec)?? And finally, how on earth do I get to a stage where I can control it myself without it going to a specific object in the sky? Assuming I've entered in my long/lat, date/time etc - do I HAVE to polar align it even before I just want to slew it myself??

Sorry for the hugggge long post, but I would really appreciate any help you guys can offer as I'm sure many of you are experienced users.

Thanks so much!

Zal

[M_Lewis]

I think an alignment night in my backyard is sounding more like a plan.

[Sman1971]

Sounds good Mark. I think my hand controller when it goes to the first star, thinks its facing north as the degrees starts of at 360.:eyepop:

[pecham34]

I have a similar problem, set up to home position: 3 star alignment, successful but much manual direction to achieve same. GOTO then heads into very strange direction; nowhere near target.
Tried 5 aligmnenmt procedures with complete off , on method.
Fellow astronomer tried 3 times, still no success.
Won't even go back to one of the alignment stars.
Most puzzling of all when I manually point at an object (eg The Jewel Box and later Omega Centauri ) at 5mm EP on 900mm ED120 the object tracks for 30 minutes before drifting to edge of FOV so I guess the tracking mode is working as advertised but the GOTO is not.
What am I doing wrong?
:eyepop:

[Steffen]

I believe this is a bug in some (many?) of the SynScan versions. When it happens to me I often have success by running the alignment procedure again, ignoring the first offered alignment stars and picking some further down the list and in different parts of the sky.

Cheers
Steffen.

[pecham34]

Thanks Steffen
That may be part of the trouble, and it now works well.
However I also found heaps of backlash in the Dec drive, as well as mismatching of the worm drive for same; ie a lot of slop in the gears.
Adjusted same to get a smoother and less noisy operation and the whole system is running well.
GOTO now drives to target within FOV of a 5mm lens for a 120 ED Saxon 900mm; which is near my effective limit for useful magnification.
All I have to do now is tighten the focuser and I'm ready to race.
:thanx:

[intheisa]

I purchased a 2nd hand EQ5 goto and 200mm newt skywatcher last week. Had all sorts of drama as it was slewing all over the place, mainly because I'm a newby and working it all out on the fly.

The next day, I did update to the latest firmware afterwards, do a factory reset and started over.
I think the main issue I had at first was the co-ordinates need to be correct in the setup, I think I messed that up.
I did a pretty rough true south alignment, did a 2 star alignment. It was in the right neighbourhood this time.
When the weather clears up again up in the Isa, I'll have another play and try getting it set up more accurately.

[2stroke]

You guys do know you have to polar align before doing a star sync goto align? You can't just plonk a eq mount down and do a sync goto align and expect it to work lmao. As for fixing the sync problems if your mount is very nicly polar aligned to start with lol, on your first star loosen the clutches and move the scope onto the target to make corrections instead of using the hand controller, the next star should be perfect. This is because your home position isn't set correctly to start with, also its the best method to set or correct the home position of the scope :)