Setting Meridian Limits in EQMOD

[Startrek (Martin)]

I’m running EQMOD with StellariumScope and Stellarium for my Goto and tracking and tried to set my limits an hour past the meridian on both sides but having trouble ( at the moment it stops just before the meridian )
I’ve followed Chris Shillito YouTube clip exactly but my mount won’t move when you unpark it and use the E and W controls while in the Mounts Limits Editor and the enable limits unchecked
I have a suspicion that he was using Carts du ceil and Stellarium Scope / Stellarium maybe different
Also my tracking was off . It only activates when you slew to a target via CTRL 1
Any ideas out there ??

Thanks

[Startrek (Martin)]

Leaving the limits set to default as the mount does track past the meridian by roughly 5 degrees or so which is ok
Tested this last night
Also set EQMOD so Mount will return to home position when the limits are reached to avoid collisions etc...

[The_bluester (Paul)]

I set mine to stop tracking instead, that way I can see what it got up to if it gets to a limit. I have had that a couple of times recently when working my way through SGP setup where a requested goto would send it somewhere silly and the mount limits would stop it before it got to a damage causing position.


If you do set limits manually, you need to watch where the pointing is. To set the east pointing limit the scope needs to be on the west side, pointed west (as in, as though it has tracked through the meridian) then you need to do a flip to set the west pointing limit, if you simply slew the RA until it is at the appropriate angle without re pointing the scope to the west (as in you have the scope pointed at the ground) it will set it as the west pointing limit.

[Startrek (Martin)]

In EQMOD the meridian limits are set in both east and west if you select default
I tried it last night
I prefer to send the mount back to home position in lieu of doing a meridian flip

[The_bluester (Paul)]

I am talking about custom limits rather than the default ones. If you go to set custom ones the scope has to actually be pointing as you want it to be when the limit is reached.

As mine is set up now it is unlikely to be an issue, but it is nice to know that if I have a brain failure of some sort the mount will stop before anything crashes.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Yeh I’m aware with custom limits you have to manually slew the telescope to your desired position past the meridian and save it
I can’t manually slew mine unless I’ve selected a target and then I can use the NSEW eqmod pad to tweak it until centred. I’m using StellariumScope as a driver for Stellarium and you only have 3 keyboard functions
CTRL 1 slew to selected target and centre with NSEW pad
CTRL 3 alignment model sync point
CTRL 5 cancel

There’s no manual function that I’m aware of in EQMOD running StellariumScope and Stellarium
I think it’s only available in Carts du Ceil
The only way I could set custom limits would be select a star past the meridian press CTRL 1 slew to it , centre it , sync it and go into EQMOD and save that position.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

You don’t actually need to have any target as such to be able to set a custom limit. Select a star just before the meridian then using the EQMOD window, slew west to your desired limit then set that, then slew with Stellarium to something just past meridian (and it should flip doing the goto) and then manually move east of the meridian by however far you want it to go and set that limit.

The second limit I reckon has limited use as you would more or less have to manually point there to get to it, the first is good in case of unexpected software issues leaving the mount tracking away by itself.