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Old 06-09-2014, 09:59 AM
AstroTom (Tom)
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Wedge Align for Celestron CPC Telescope

Hi Everyone,

I went out with my telescope last night and had my CPC 800 telescope on the wedge. I was very careful setting up the scope so that it would be pointing South and had the wedge set at the right altitude. I checked with several compasses and an angle meter to double check and noted the True South from Magnetic.

After the GPS had kicked in and pin pointed my position and checking the time setting to that of an astronomical clock I went through the usual EQ South align routine with 2 star align.

I used Altair and Antares for the two alignment stars. I then started to do the wedge align. When I checked the "Display Align" it appeared that I was 99 degrees out in azimouth and -57 degrees in altitude from the celestial pole. I know I wouldn't have been bang on with my initial set up but not as much as halfway around the sky. I continued on to sync to a star and then got the telescope to slew back to where the star should be if polar aligned. It was always way off. Antares was below the horizon as though I was in the Northern Hemisphere in the UK.

I am wondering whether this wedge align routine only works for the North celestial pole? The instructions for the CPC all seem to be for aligning on Polaris and the Northern stars. There is very little mention about the South Sky.

Anyway wondering if anyone has any advice. I'm currently waiting for my ED120 black diamond scope to arrive and that will go on my AZ-EQ6 mount which is currently locked in a cupboard but thought I would have a play around with my CPC last night. I'm thinking of asking Celestron the same questions as above too.

Regards,

Tom
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  #2  
Old 06-09-2014, 10:54 AM
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Rod771 (Rod)
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Hi Tom

The Celestron "All Star Polar Alignment" feature on GEM mounts with Nexstar plus hand control (including wedge set ups) has had a bug for all southern hemisphere users since the hand controllers release .

The symptom is exactly what you've experienced. Basically it doesn't work

The good news is, Celestron have finally released a new beta firmware version for the Nexstar HC just this week for beta testers to test and report results. Once the version is stable Celestron will release the firmware to the public.

I tested this version last night and the ASPA performed as it should with all other feature working perfectly as well. I don't think it will be very long at all until this firmware version released publicly.

If you don't want to wait you can sign up to the Team celestron site and have access to the beta version.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Rod
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Old 06-09-2014, 01:37 PM
AstroTom (Tom)
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Hi Rod,

Thanks for the information you have sent. I signed up to the Team Celestron website and am waiting for approval for beta testing. I read through some of the posts and it does indeed seem that I am not the only one who had this issue.

It was very frustrating last night especially not knowing whether it was a fault with my mount or whether the mount had been damaged and the ASPA therefore didn't work.

Is there a specific download I need to look for on the beta testing page when I get approved? I know there are firmware updates for the hand controller on the Celestron main website but there are a lot of downloads and I'm frightened I'm going to cause more problems with my hand controller.

Once my ED120 arrives the wedge wont be really used and the CPC will be used in Alt/Az for planetary photography and general observing. I will align the ED120 with the AZ-EQ6 mount.

Regards,

Tom
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Old 06-09-2014, 04:15 PM
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Once your approved just go to beta testing threads , click on "Firmware" then click "Hand Control" . The update for Nexstar + HC is in the top thread - "Nexstar + Firmware 5.24.4211". Download the attachment in the first post.
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Old 07-09-2014, 01:49 PM
AstroTom (Tom)
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Thanks for this Rod, I'm all approved and found the update. I just need to buy a cable that enables the RS232 cable to be connected to my PC to update this. I have never updated any of the hand control before so only realised that the RS232 cannot connect directly into my laptop

Thanks for your help!
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Old 07-09-2014, 02:04 PM
AstroTom (Tom)
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Sorry Rod, I forgot to ask do you need to update the motor control firmware as well?
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Old 07-09-2014, 05:01 PM
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No problems Tom.

Yes you'll need a serial to USB cable to connect the hand control C to the PC. I have know idea why Celestron continue to supply the RS232 to serial cable.
There's no need to update the motor control to correct the ASPA feature.

Cheers

Rod
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