Faulty RA drive or other issue?

[jman17]

Hi,

I have recently bought a new HEQ5 Pro and managed to connect to it with EQMOD and StellariumScope/Stellarium for the first time but may have a problem with it. The RA only slewed to one side, to the right when behind the mount, and when I pressed the control on my laptop immediately after that slew to slew to the opposite side the RA coordinates on the laptop changed at a faster rate but the HEQ5 Pro itself did not move at all. The Declination moved both ways with no problem and it slewed to the right also with no problems at all. Could this be a problem with my setup of the software or is this likely a problem with the mount RA motors themselves? It did this even when there was no meridian limit warnings. I don't believe I changed anything between pressing the command to slew to the right and pressing the command to slew to the left and it did this over quite a few attempts. If anyone can give me some advice on what this could be caused by it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
jman17

[brisen]

Does it slew in the RA axis if you use the hand control? I have had issues with a CGEM that will slew one way but not the other and this was a board issue as opposed to motors. If it is new and it is either a board or motor issue it should be covered under warranty. I would moving the RA with the hand control if you haven't already to narrow down the cause to software.

Brian

[jman17]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, I have managed to slew the mount now but have another problem. I set the Stellarium and ASCOM location to my Southern Hemisphere location but when I point the HEQ5 towards the direction of Octans (with the 'N' pointing South) it shows the scope position in Stellarium as pointing North. I set it to the Home position before I open EQMOD. With the hand control I set it previously to a Northern Hemisphere location before I subsequently set it to a Southern Hemisphere one with EQMOD. Could this have caused this problem and does anyone have any advice on how to fix this? I read that I can reset the encoders but I don't know if this would be recommended. Should I be doing this? When I looked it up online photos seemed to show that the tightening screws for the Dec plate should be on the left of the mount when behind it. Is this right?
Thanks,
jman17

[Merlin66]

jman17,
I use exactly the same mount with Cartes du Ciel/ EQmod.

Have you checked that the site coordinates within EQMod are set correctly for the southern Hemisphere?

The Dec plate orientation has no impact on the issue/ problem. The HEQ5/ NEQ6 mounts don't have encoders - just "pulse" positioning.

[jman17]

Hi,

I did check the coordinates in EQMOD and they are my correct Southern Hemisphere coordinates. Stellarium is also set to my correct location. I connected to the Stellariumscope Telescope Simulator and it showed the scope pointing South correctly when I input exactly the same coordinates so I will setup the scope again and see what it does. I made a new profile for the ASCOM location in the off chance it was some sort of bug too. Any more ideas as to what could be the problem would be really welcome though.

Thanks,
jman17

[Merlin66]

I’ll be interested in how you go.

[jman17]

Hi,

Thanks for the helpful info. I have setup the scope and mount again with my laptop using EQMOD and still have the scope position showing pointed towards the North in Stellarium, while Stellarium on loading up is pointed to the South and shows my correct location in the Southern Hemisphere. The scope was pointed nowhere near the South but near the North Celestial Pole. I did do a new profile in ASCOM for my location in the Southern Hemisphere and used it but still have this problem. I did check the coordinates were correct. I did update the Stellarium configuration too. I used the handset also during a daytime setup with the same coordinates and it seemed OK but want EQMOD to work for astrophotography and am wondering if anyone has more ideas as to what settings I have wrong?

Thanks,
jman17