HEQ5 PRO / EQ6 PRO Initial Alignment Star Slew - How Close?

[whmacs]

Hi All,
I've just picked up a new HEQ5 PRO (skyscan v3.12) to carry two small refractors (ED80, 102 short tube), one for guiding and one for imaging.

I was wondering how close should the first slew to the
initial alignment star be assuming that you have entered the correct
lat / long, time etc? Admittedly I didn't do a drift alignment (just
pointed to the SCP using a compass taking magnetic variation into
account, protractor and level to set the correct DEC), but the first
star seemed to be about 20 degrees off. The second wasn't much better,
but I did get a successful two star alignment and goto's seem ok.

How close should I expect the first alignment star with a good drift
alignment and assuming all settings are correct? I've had a search
through the group, but could not find anything specific. Any advice
would be greatly appreciated from HEQ5 PRO or EQ6 PRO owners!

Regards,
Stephen

[Terry B]

I use the polar scope only for alignment on my eq6.
It seems important that you get the scope nice and vertical and set aiming at the pole.
I then usually use acrux as the first star. It is always within the finder field and often in a low power eyepiece. The next 2 stars are always in the low power field and often close to the centre. I find it to be very accurate. If it was 20deg off then something is incorrect in the settings.

[whmacs]

Thanks for the reply Terry. I'll try a drift alignment as the SCP is blocked by a large tree from where I set up so I can't use the polar scope. Hopefully this will improve the initial slew.

Regards,
Stephen

[KG8]

The thing with these mounts is that if the scope itself isn't perfectly aligned with the axis of the mount it wont matter how well you perform a polar alignment, the first star will aways be off to the same degree that the ota is off from the axis. Cone error' The 3 star alignment corrects for it.

[whmacs]

Hi Guys,
Ok, made a bit of progress on why the first guide star is so far off. I'm not sure what is causing this, but I noticed when I parked the scope it goes to +90 DEC. This is Polaris is the Northern Hemisphere! Parking down under should be -90 DEC. Now I can 100% confirm that I have the correct Lat and Long set (151 37 E, 32 45 S), date / time etc. I'm also running v3.12 of the firmware. What do other people's scopes report when they park them?

When I first powered on the scope I double checked the settings and told it to go to Alpha Centauri. It pointed towards the ground. I slewed it to Alpha Centauri and aligned. I then selected Acrux as the second alignment star. This time it was within 2 degrees of it! I obtained a successful alignment and from then on all goto's and tracking where spot on.

I still however noticed that if I park the scope it still says +90DEC on the hand controller which doesn't seem right. I powered the scope on and off a few times and went through the same procedure. Two times in a row it pointed towards the ground for the initial Alpha Centauri alignment star.

Any thoughts on what might be going on here? My initial opinion is a software issue with the v3.12 in the southern hemisphere, but I've seen no other posts with this issue. The scope shows southern hemisphere alignment stars, tracks in the right direction and gotos are fine after the initial alignment issues. I'll try and speak with Skywatcher Australia on Monday.

Regards,
Stephen

[KG8]

What time zone have you input, because it sounds like you may have a -10 instead of a +10? The mount will remember this data till you change it.

My 6 will park at the SCP like you inferred, and this is a good way to check how well aligned your ota is with respect to your polar scope alignment. If the first star is way off target and you correct for it on a 3-star alignment run the S-ware will compensate for the fact that something is not right. It assumes your polar alignment is accurate but that your OTA is not aligned with the polar axis of the mount. Very not aligned in your case.

The secret to getting the first star in the EP is

a) Align the polar scope with the axis of the mount (daytime job)
b) Align the ota as close as possible to the axis of the polar scope
c) Get a good fix on octans via the polar scope.
d) Figure out why the ota points to the dirt when it should be pointing up.

Keep us updated on your efforts here.

Frank.

[DeanoNZL]

Hi all,
Stephen,
I had similar problems like yours with the park position.
There is an option to configure the park position.
As stated in the earlier posts, ensure it is indeed pointing to -90 before powering on the mount, then go to "Utilities, Park, & "set park position as current".
After that, slew away any amount, the go & "park" the scope.
Make sure that you power off after the park.
Power on and it should ask "Start from park".
Hope this helps.

[whmacs]

Hi Adrian,
Thanks for the advice!
I'll give it a go tonight and report back.
I definitely have to correct time zone, lat / long set etc...

Regards,
Stephen

[Terry B]

Another probably obtuse comment is that the time must be entered in 24hr format.

[laika]

Whmacs,
I to own an EQ6 ver 3.12. Last Saturday night I spent time drift alingning before star alingment. Once completed (not that difficult and plenty of how to info on this forum) I did a 2 star alingment due to limited sky view and the first star appeared in the finder scope and in the field of view with a 15mm cross hair eye piece. Up until this point I had not done a serious polar alingment and the stars had to be bought into the field of view.

Lesson (1). Do polar alingment. :thumbsup:

As to the other problem of +90 deg at park. I noticed this to but if you go to position in utility menu and press enter the top line should show RA. hour for SCP and DEC of -90, the second line shows ALT AZ of 00.00 +90. If it is polar alinged and in park position.

But do check that your time zone is set "+" and not "-".

Hope this is of some help

Regards
Brenton.