EQ6 firmware version 3.12

[DeanoNZL]

Hi Boys & Girls,
After silently viewing for quite some time, thought it was time to say hi to all.
Fantastic site, keep up the great work
Just to let you know the latest version update for the EQ6 mount is available at the sky-watcher website. (3.12)
Alignment updates and adjustable park position...

Clear Skies

DeanoNZL (Adrian) :D

[davidpretorius]

Welcome Adrian, let us know what toys you have.......we are all big kids here!

[iceman]

Hi Adrian! :welcome: and thanks for your first post!

I've still got the v2 hand controller.. one day i'll upgrade!

[UniPol]

Hi Adrian,

Welcome, I'm sure you are going to get a lot out of this forum, I know I have. I must admit that updating V3 et al is a breeze, thanks for alerting me to the latest V3.12. It takes probably less than five minutes to complete the business provided you have the cables on hand. Seems to be a lot simpler process than updating my LX200 from Meade.

I have a HEQ5 Pro mount with V2 and an EQ6 Pro mount with V3 and when I have the time and energy will try and write up a comparison of the two. I have never had a problem with V2, it seems to do the alignment and the "Go To" bit well enough however it is doesn't have the common names of various globulars, stars, nebulae etc. (compared to V3). If you are happy with lots of NGC and IC numbers there isn't a real issue. If you are wondering whether the two hand controllers are interchangeable between the mounts then the answer is yes. Everything boots up and aligns correctly, only I wouldn't like to say if they have exactly the same pointing accuracy though. I would have to have everything set up and follow the same steps for each, time consuming to say the least.

I think SW have probably let people down with the move from V2 to V3, for a start it comes a a pretty big cost, you could buy a nice ED80 plus extras for the upgrade. I have heard it mooted that it will only be a matter of time before SW will most likely have E-Prom upgrades available for V2.

Cheers,

Steve

[iceman]

HI Steve. I think a comparison article would be fantastic, I know it would help a lot of people (myself included).

When you get the time and energy, that is :whistle:

[h0ughy]

MIne died:sadeyes: :sadeyes: :sadeyes: after only 2 hours of operation and trying to update it..........:mad2:

[SMR]

Hi Adrian

Thanks for the heads-up on the latest firmware.

Alas, SkyWatcher still haven't fixed the bugs in the downloader software. I've not been able to update my handset since 3.01. I've tried two computers, nada. Both of them had real serial ports, not USB adapters.

The sad bit is that their test program says it can connect to the hand controller, but the download software refuses to connect. Go figure ...

Steve.

[DeanoNZL]

Hi Steve,
I had comms problems when the port speed was set to 9600.
Set the port speed to 57,600 or 115,200 and no flow control and it connected. (Computers will be the death of us all);)
May work, worth a check anyway.

Regards
Adrian

[SMR]

Hi Adrian.

You're a genius. I changed the port speed, and it worked. Thanks.

Now why doesn't the software do this itself?

Steve.

[g__day]

The BIOS settings take precedenct. I usually set flow control to hardware, so far so good!

[Scorpius]

As they say when all else fails read the instructions or contact the makers. I received the following from an enquiry about updating firmware and this is their reply... No one mentioned pressing 0/8 on switching on. When you do it comes up with firmware update on the display :) I haven't tried to instal yet. Its blinking freezing outside...DLS :hi:

Later Update: It works... Very slow loading..:lol:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for your report.

We have tested our Firmware Loader(Ver2.6) on Windows Vista Home Premium,it works with no problem.

The hardwares that we used is a Dell laptop and a Prolific USB-to-Serial cable.

The problem might relate to the driver software of your USB-to-Serial adapter. We recommend that you try a Prolific USB-to-Serial adapter.

We also suggest that you try the low-speed-update mode by press the "SETUP" button after you power on the hand control to "SynScan Update" mode,
"Lo" will show at the end of the second line of the LCD.

If you still have problem, please provide the following information when you contact us.
1. Do you press and hold both "0" and "8" buttons before you power up the
hand control when you try to update the firmware?
2. Does the first line of the LCD show "SynScan Update" after you power up
the hand control with both "0" and "8" buttons pressed?
3. What's the message from the Firmware Loader (Ver 2.6)?

Thank you,
--------------------------------------------------------------------

[bluescope]

I updated to v3.12 with no problems at all. However I still prefer Meade Autostar software to SW's effort. Hopefully they will catch up one day with the user friendly features of autostar.
Someone should write a patch so you can operate HEQ5's and EQ6's with autostar. I tried plugging my #497 controller in to my mount and thought I was going to get lucky but no chance ........ any software whiz got any ideas ?

[SMR]

I think you were very lucky you didn't damage your controller or mount ... :doh:

Steve.

[KG8]

Talk about a right of passage, it is a real mystery until you find the 0~8 key combination. It's nowhere in their support files or the manuals.

[rumples riot]

My concern with this hand contoller is this.

The firmware does not work correctly in a time zone where it is in 1/2 hour increments. ie 9.5 hours. The unit will consistently point incorrectly and the target will never be in the field of a 24 panoptic.

Next, v3.11 was supposed to stop the autoslew. Well it does do this, but at hi res this means moving just off the chip. ie when imaging at 10,000mm jupiter will slew and then go back to the same place if I just touch the direction arrow. It does this in both axis's. It would not be visible in the ep because the magnification is insignificant, when imaging at hi res it is really annoying.

Fixing the basics is more important than adding more features. I have emailed them about this often. As the one of the first owners in Australia of the v3 controller I have sent many emails and been their beta tester, but alas they are more concerned with adding features. I suspect they really don't care about getting the issues sorted.

I am really not impressed with the HC. The mount on the other hand is fine.

[Ben_D618]

Hi Rumples.

I have emailed (Several times) sky-watcher to ask this question but haven't received an answer, so perhaps you know in their stead;

With the latest firmware they have released (3.23), the time zone is input as the +/-, then four numbers, rather than two shown in the manual. Does this mean that there is now support for half incerements (ie. +09:30) or do i still have to use 9 and put my time half an hour later?

[garin]

I've just updated from V3.12 to V3.23.
The controller appears to take the timezone to 2 decimal places precision.
What I does with that is to be seen (waiting for the clouds to bugger off)
I expect (hope) the 1st alignment star should be a lot closer.
I've always found the 1st alignment star to be consistently distant requiring substantial centering and I have suspected the timezone to be the cause. The second and third stars are always closer and I've had no problems with the mount/handpiece slewing to objects, generally within my 20mm eyepiece. (certainly in my case most my problems stemmed from mount levelling issues until I made a levelling plate so I could use a bubble level AFTER the scope was mounted)

I'm also trying EQMOD with the new firmware using the PC-Direct mode, tried it in the lounge and it seemed to drive the scope fine.

Garin

[garin]

Oops, one correction the V3.23 takes the timezone as +/- HH:MM not as HH.HH
So for Perth I'm trying +07:42

Garin

[garin]

I was wrong changing my timezone from +8:00 to +07:42 only made everything out by 15minutes. (checked this using the handpiece and my planetarium software)
Still be interesting to see if my 1st star alignment is closer with the new firmware.

But I suspect all will be ok for Adelaide (+9:30)

Garin