Help please.mount won't track.

[xelasnave]

HEQ5 working last night but now won't track.
Checked power supply ok tried second power supply gave both independent power. The thing will slew at 9 in all directions. But hit tracking sidereal rate and it will not track...any ideas?
Alex

[Atmos]

Under Setup you might have Sidereal Tracking turned off. it has a couple of different settings like Sidereal and Moon so it might be turned off for some reason.

Another thought is if you parked it last night but haven't unparked it today.

[xelasnave]

I am using the hand paddle and don't have the cable to run from computer.
Alex

I haven't been parking it..and solar track and Moon does not work either.
I will try a park and take it from there.
Thank you Colin.
Alex

[billdan]

Alex, did you do a star alignment first?

According to the Synscan manual if you skip the star alignment procedure it goes into standby mode for terrestrial usage (i.e no tracking).

[xelasnave]

Hi Bill
I never do a star alignment.
I turn it on select sidereal tracking and have never had a problem..I have tried everything but I haven't tried that so I will give it a go.
Thanks.
I took off the side cover and all is working as the slew would indicate..but I looked anyways.
So star alignment next.
Alex

[billdan]

Ok, I just read a bit more in the manual.

Note: Users can turn on the tracking without doing a star alignment process. In this case, the polar alignment should be rather accurate for an equatorial mount; and the mount must be setup to the proper home position before turning on the power.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

EDIT: My .pdf manual is for v3.35 so it may be slightly different to the version in your HEQ5

[xelasnave]

Bill you are a genius..at least for the moment as I did a one star and it worked...but it took a couple of goes ..I would tell it to one star align and when U pressed enter the box would show object selection..I tried that to let it run and tried again but it showed object selection???? Third time it went thru star alignment and now seems to be tracking ..I have come inside to thank you..thank you very much...I hope it's ok when I go outside again...what worries me it was making its tracking sound but was not tracking earlier...I have a feeling something is not right...anyways I will get the axe and go check..must put a clear cover instead over the gears .they look so neat...
Thanks again .
Alex

[billdan]

That's good news Alex, if its making a tracking sound and not tracking maybe the RA clutch is not tightened down enough.

[xelasnave]

That was the first thing I checked and checked it a few times after..

Anyways I went after M33 which I find manually it took me a while cause I lost my dark adaption..found it focused and the battery went flat so everything shut down and I had to start again after filling the Genny and it took me a while to find it again cause I hit Dec by mistake so it wasn't a case of just catching up on RA .anyways I have started on it now...but I think I forgot to dial focus in perfect....the gear cover is still off and two power packs hanging off, cables everywhere cause it was cobelled together...and after the work today I am stuffed...but I won.

So probably not a good set of captures but this is my first run with the 115 mm and really should have it on the eq6 but it's all over the place so I really couldn't get it together...such fun..you know if it was a paying job I would have quit ages ago.
Thanks again.
In my moment of panic you don't know how good it was to be able to seek help here.
Alex