Heq pro 5 tracking speed.

[White Rabbit]

Iv'e been having issues with this for ever. My mount seems to be tracking to slow or to fast I cant figure out which it is.

If I drift all the movement out, say I'm drift aligning in the north, scope on the east side of the mount, you would expect the star to drift up or down and it does until I adjust it out. I can get all the movement associated with polar alignment out but i get this side ways motion that can only be tracking speed. Ive tested this with eq mod by adjusting the tracking speed and i can make this drift faster of slower but i cant get rid of it entirely.
I cant find anywhere to adjust the tracking speed in the synscan controller.

Has anyone come across this?
Know how to fix it?
Is it balance? I’m fairly certain my balance is good.
Could it be back lash?
Could it be the gears arnt meshing properly?
Could it be I’m an idiot and don’t what I’m doing? Probably.

Thanks
Sandy

[bmitchell82]

When drifting do not worry about left right movement.

Make sure you have a star in the East or West then face the north where the maridian meets the celestial equator (perth = 56 deg elevation from the horizon use starry nights or some thing like that to tell you)

once you can keep a star on each one for 2 - 3 min your ready to image with guiding. without guiding you need the star to stay in the same spot for 2 x the exposure length aka. 5 min exposure would mean a 10 min without drift.

[White Rabbit]

thanks but drifting alignment is not the problem, its tracking speed. I can drift align all the movment our but the tracking speed is to slow or to fast. I can never get to star to star centre for more than a few min. it always strays side ways not up or down which would indicate that it's tracking speed not polar alignement.

Thanks

[gmbfilter]

Tracking set to sidereal in the handset?

[White Rabbit]

yes, thanks, what i need to know is how to edit the speed as mine is traveling to fast or to slow in sidereal.

[bmitchell82]

I remember this problem with mine, it would track side to side for a bit but eventually would settle, it has to do with the mounts tracking like you said but was more based on balance and flexure. Is your balance good??? or is it too much weight for your eq5???

If your motors are out and the siderial rate isn't tracking correctly aka too slow too fast, take your mount back and get a new one as your mount is fubar.! the reason why i say this is there is no adjustment for speed in a Synscan controller that i have heard of yet, sure you have some adjustment with eqmod/planetary softwares but don't rely on that to get you though the night!

As for your Mechanical side of the mount, if its all quiet then your gears are meshing correctly. As for backlash grab a hold of the mount does it feel like its slapping... how do i explain that one :D grab the RA and the DEC rotational shafts and try twist them by hand, if it moves then stops suddenly thats back lash how to fix it, theres a load of stuff on the web about it (quite easy to adjust). but still... take your mount back and get a new one save yourself the troubles

[allan gould]

The only way to modify the tracking speed of an Heq5Pro mount is to use EQMOD. The details are in the user manual. You can increase or decrease it so this should fix your problem.

[White Rabbit]

thanks guys