EQ6/HEQ5 polar scope led, too bright.

[Sharnbrook]

In May 08, there was a thread that discussed toning down the brightness of the led on the polar scope of the EQ6 etc.

I have just purchased an NEQ6 Pro, and the led is so bright that nothing can be seen other than the reticle, even from a dark sky.

Has anyone managed to come up with a dimmable modification, other than painting it black? If so, a "how to" would be much appreciated, certainly by me, and I suspect by many others as well.

Here's hoping...............

[bmitchell82]

To be really honest with you, the polar scope that is mounted in syntas EQ series isn't really that accurate. Sometimes you get a good one other times you get the apprentice on a friday job! there are better ways of finding polar alignment i wrote a thred not too long ago upon this subject.

So aka don't worry about the LED being bright enough to read a road map it doesn't matter! Oh and i too have one of these models of supa leds :)

[Moon]

Brendan is right. If you can see polaris, the polar scope is great for a rough polar alignment.
Since I've moving back to Australia, I haven't used it once. I wouldn't take the risk trying to change it, it's not worth it IMHO.

[bojan]

If you are handy with soldering iron, try this modification (changing of resistor values).
I thought (and I still do... sometimes you simply do not want to bother with drift alignment) it was worth the effort.
However, polar scope must be aligned properly, and it is not hard to do, since it can be done in daylight.

[Sharnbrook]

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions.

[dcalleja]

Same here - I have the HEQ5 Pro and its useless. I need to learn how to polar align a GEM now.

Brendan
Where was that thread?

[White Rabbit]

If your in sydney the polar scope is useless with or with out the led. Octans is just to dim to be viewed from sydney.

[allan gould]

Go to this site and download
http://www.naa.net/garzarolli/alignmaster/en_download.html
Fastest and easiest method Ive used

[Bolts_Tweed]

The new Synscan firmware has a polar scope dimming function under utilities. I dont know if it works as I never use it - permanently mounted.
Someonhe did tell me once that the circuitry was there for the dimming function but there was no control so maybe it does work with this latest version.

I agree with the others but - the best way is learning to drift (can be done pretty quickly) or use something like Alignmaster (See Alans previoous post) You will get far better results.

Mark

[Bolts_Tweed]

Just remembered - another trick I used to use was to use a very very dim LED torch or similar and flick it near the aperture of the polar scope - leave the mount turned off so the built in LED was off. Made the 4 star asterism much easier to see and only flick the torch near it to check. I dont know why I say 4 star asterism - only the inner 2 closer to the pole erver lined up anywhere near accurately

Good Luck

Mark

[dcalleja]

Mark et al
Thanks - Which version of Synscan has this dimming feature? - I cant find it on mine which is V3.23

[astro-baby]

Hi, The dimming down option has been much discussed on various boards of late. It seems though (to the best of my knowledge) that it only works on the Orion versions of the mount - not the SkyWatcher versions.

Whether thats down to different hardware, software or a combination of the two no one seems to know. I have version 3.25 with an HEQ5 and its not on that. I am told the control board is identical.

If you wanted to dim the LED a 1k pot in line with its postive lead should do it but I'd be wary of mods. The latest Sky-Watcher EQ6s that are in the UK seem to have an adjuster built in at the factory. I'm kind of supised the NEQ6 which is more recent doesnt have it.

[JohnH]

A low tech solution is a thin coat of red nail varnish on the LED itself - but do ask your if you can borrow the suff from your partner first!

[dcalleja]

Well I downloaded the instruction manual of what looks like the Orion variant of the HEQ5 Pro (the sirius EQ-G) and there is no option listed to dim the polarscope. Another field trial (#2) was far more successful for me though and I took Mark's advice and left it all powered off and used a red torch. Way better result and with careful south and latitude alignment I actually could see the octanis asterism.

And lo! the gotos all worked brilliantly.

Much easier to setup than my 200R on a wedge.

[astro-baby]

This recently came up on a UK board. After much asking around it seems that the LED dimming function via the handset is limited to mounts with a version 2 motor board. You can find out which version you have through the handset 'information' menu.

It seems that EQ6 mounts usually have a version 2 board while HEQ5 Pros seems to have version 1 boards.

Anyway - I decided to carry out a mod to mine and fitted a 100k ohm pot. I found a new(ish) pot thats available where most of the gubbins is in the knob of the pot rather than at the back. This allows it to be mounted on panels where there is very little clearance behind the panel.

I have found that while the 100k ohm pot dims the LED a fair bit it still seems too bright so I will be experimenting with a 220k ohm pot quite soon.

In the interim heres a picture of the 100k ohm cermet pot sourced from RS Components installed on the mount. WARNING - getting this fitted is a complete perisher of a job and not for the faint hearted or those who are less than good with tools.