eq6 slewing

[andrew2008]

Just out trying to setup the eq6 for the first time. Everything was going ok which should have been the first sign of a problem somewhere i guess.

Tried to do an alignment. 1 star first as its sirius that is visible. Tell it to find sirius and it slews to position ok. It's not even in finder view which i'm not concerned about as just means need to work on polar alignment.

Problem is when it asks me to use the direction keys to centre the object the scope isnt moving at all:shrug: Anyone have any ideas?

[Aprid]

Hi have you tried pressing the rate button (2) then setting the speed with any of the other numbered buttons, you should be able then centre the object.

[dugnsuz]

100% correct - after the first slew, it's set on rate 2 as default. 6 and above will have you scooting around.
Doug

[andrew2008]

Did try rate 5 and still had nothing but will go and try something higher.

[andrew2008]

:thumbsup:

Well that was an easy fix and also a slightly emabarassing error to make:doh:

[bmitchell82]

You think thats embarrasing, it took me half a hour to figure out why i was getting alignment stars that where in about june. being new to the eq6 i didn't take too much notice when i set up the hand piece that the 7 looks awfully like the 1 and that dyam american date system really throws you grrr. Not to mention Daylight savings.

Synscan = Please enter your time
User = 20:32:15
Synscan = Daylight savings
= Yes/No
User = Yes

then you do your alignment

Synscan = Alignment Successful

HAZZAR. Slew to Orion neb. hangon we out in the RA by about a hour :S

redo alignment ---> Success.... same thing. restart input your information (with the right date not 7/1/2009) :D Same thing.

Synscan = Daylight savings
= Yes/No
user = NO.

HAPPY DAYS.!:lol:

Im happy with the goto now it seems reasonably accurate well within a few degrees.

One thing that im unhappy about is the non ability to Sync to nearby stars for greater accuracy and the fact that PEC you have to park the scope and make sure you have no stuff ups or you have to re record the information :( I guess this is why alot of people eliminate the hand controller and run the EQ mod EQ dir software and then use that to do your syncs):D

[mrsnipey]

I usually do a 3 star align, then pick another star nearby, identify it using the Identify function on the scope, make sure it's pointing to the correct star using stellarium, I then centre it and finally hold down the Esc key to re-sync the scope (EQ6).
I keep doing this until I can GOTO any star/NGC/IC and it's dead on.

[bmitchell82]

wtf, i thought you couldn't sync with the eq6
i couldn't find it for the life of me. is that where it is, esc. grrr ill go home and see if that is true then.!

[mrsnipey]

I only found it by accident. I got lost in the menu and held the button down too long and it did a re-sync. I think you have to be tracking something for it to work and luckily I was tracking tuc at the time.

Hold it down for about 3 seconds and off it goes.

[mrsnipey]

Hi Brendan, I thought I'd check the exact procedure I use to re-sync my EQ6 and make sure I hadn't led you down the garden path.

Here's the exact procedure I follow to do a re-sync:

1. I do a search for an object like Canopus. This is how I set which object I want to re-centre as I couldn't figure out how to change the object once in the re-centering menu.

2. I then press '8' on the number pad, choose 'Named Star' and press the 'Enter' button.

3. I then press the up or down buttons (bottom left and right of the keypad) until the star I want is displayed. (you can do it on any type of object though)

4. I then press 'Enter' 3 times and the telescope slews to where it thinks Canopus should be.

5. I then keep pressing the 'Esc' button until I get out to the main menu. The telescope should still be tracking Canopus.

6. I then set my slewing speed to 3 (I'll explain that in a minute).

7. Then I press 'Esc' to get back to the main menu again.

8. Then I press the '0' button to identify the object the scope is looking at. It should pop up saying:

Canopus off 0.00 degrees

9. I then 'press and hold' the 'Esc' button. At first it goes back to the 'Identify' menu but if you keep the button down it changes to:

'Re-centering obj Canopus'

9. I then use the arrows to center Canopus. The reason I changed the slew speed earlier is that you can't change it during the re-centering process.
I use an 8mm ep to centre the object and at a higher speed the star whooshes all over the place.

10. Once the star is centered, I press the 'Enter' button and it should go back to the main menu and you're done.

11. I then check I have re-centered it by pressing the '0' button to identify the obect I'm pointing at and it pops up with:

Canopus off by 0.00 degrees.

It sounds like a lot to do but once you've done it a few times it only takes seconds.

I should mention that I do all this after I'm happy with my alignment.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any problems.

Denis.

[bmitchell82]

That has so much awsomness attached to it:thumbsup:

[andrew2008]

Still trying to get the polar alignment on this right. Am going out tomorrow to buy a level and engineers protractor to check on the accuracy of the settings. Will also try and figure out a way to try and get the mount pointing to the SCP more accurate. Have seen a link to one someone on the forum has made with a place for compass and markings on small piece of wood but cant find the page again so if anyone knows of something like this would be great to see it again.

[Moon]

Out of interest, what sort of noise does it make during the fast slews?
Out of the box, mine didn't sound too good. There's a video here where you can hear the before and after noise:
http://swisspics.blogspot.com/2008/11/eq-6-tune-up.html

[bmitchell82]

Well i can tell you this now, i thinks that when its a cloudy night im going to be pulling my mount head apart and fixing that up. I work at a lubricants factory (bp) so ill get some good lithium grease to put back in :) yay thank you very much for helping us out!

[DJDD]

This may be the one you are looking for:
"A Simple Polar Alignment Jig for a GEM Tripod"
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-499-0-0-1-0.html (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/../63-499-0-0-1-0.html)

[telecasterguru]

This is a related question as I have just used my brand new EQ6 for the first time last night.
My question is, after I have done a polar alignment and balance and the scope, should I have the axis locks on or off to do the star alignment? I was very nervous last night using it for the first time.
Sorry if this sounds like a silly question but I have never used an EQ mount before.

[bmitchell82]

Theres one more step that your missing. and it is fairly important.!

My Method.

1. using a compass and a wooden bar across the back legs get your polar south orientation (remember to allow for magnetic deviation).

2. Use a very good level (engineers level) or a digital inclometer (bunnings 30 bucks, but make sure to calibrate the inclometer best to have double redundancy!!!) to level the tripod as accurate as you can get it this is important also make sure that you have tightend up the spreader plate tight then try and pull the legs out futher, they will sometimes keep moving even if the spreader plate nut is tight as.

3. Put your head mount on and screw in the pole from below so its just tensioned. now this is where you set your home position (important). Get your RA rotation (the biggest of the moving axis) with your level in the middle it should be perfectly level. now set your setting circles to read 6 hours, the trick is that when you bring the mount back to 0 hours it is perfectly inline with the south pointing leg.

Now with the mount at zero turn the Dec axis (where you attach your scope to) horizontally, and get it perfect with your level once again. Once you have done this set your setting circles to 90 degrees so that when you spin the mount back around to zero degrees your telescope, mount head counter weights and south facing leg is all perfeclty aligned in a straight line.

Once you have done this congratulations your mount is set up the best it can be and if you have taken your time and got it perfect octanis should be in your finder scope (seen as the shepards crook then in the ep octan can bee seen as the classic triangle)

Now this is where you do a drift alignment before going for a star alignment, this takes care of any miss alginment that you have done during the initial setup. do some reading into this as it is important if you wish to get into astro phtography later.

do your 3 star alignment and every star you goto after that hold the esc key, this syncronizes your hand paddle.

hope this helps you be less affraid.

[33South]

Once you turn the power on and use the handbox the axis locks must always be kept on.

[telecasterguru]

Thanks for the info, it was as I suspected but you never quite get all the information in the manuals.
Away I go for round 2 tonight!

[rider]

I have a very restricted sky in my backyard, so a 3 star alignment is out of the question.
I was fairly dissapointed with the results of a 2 star calibration until a SW agent told me a trick. it goes like this...

- level your heq(doh),
- Align the 1st star by using the alt / az controls.
(yes, the dreaded easily bent bolts and nobs at the bottom of the mount)
This fools the mount into thinking it is perfectly Polar Aligned.

- then use the hand contol to align the second star.

accuracy goes up by a hugh factor. -give it a go. Ive never been able to do a 3 star alignment using this method, but I imagine the results would be even better.

by the way, it works for Mrs Rider's Argo Navis guided eq5 too.

Rider2

[dpastern]

Andrew,

As a newbie to the EQ6PRO myself, I just went through the same thing. I figured this out fo rmyself last night by placing with the controller. As others have said, press the rate button, and pick your speed and voila. If it makes you feel better, my scope wasn't even remotely close to Sirius :( Once I got it within the FOV, and did a 2nd alignment star, it was much better.

Dave