EQ6 and Skyscan (Synscan) help wanted

[EzyStyles]

Hi Guys,

A few questions about skyscan to relief some frustration. being out all night with mozzi bites everywhere, i still can't set it up correctly.

1) Do i have to do the 3 star alignment everytime i turn it off and on again? does it save into the controller because mine doesnt or am i doing something wrong. It will be quite frustrating if it doesnt save the 3 star alignment and each time i turn it on have to do it again:(

2) . with the goto feature, it doesnt seem to be accurate? i have to place the EQ6 mount directly facing south octans region each time?

3) Do you guys carry it out to your backyard all the time or just leave it there in one spot? the mount i find it is quite heavy and each time i carry it out to my backyard, have to take counter-weight, scope off just to carry the thing.

4) i've got a gps system thingy so i grabbed the lattitude/longitude off that. not sure if this is 100% accurate. how do you guys find yours so accurately?

Many Thanks :)

[Jonathan]

I'll try to answer your questions, but I haven't had a lot of experience with my EQ6 and still have a lot to learn.

1) I'm not sure, but I think you can select "park" (or similar a named function) on the controller. I'll know in a few weeks when I've finished building my pier, because I plan on leaving the mount set up on it.

2) As long as your close to the SCP and do a 3 star align it should be accurate. Have you checked out how much backlash is in the drives? If it's really bad that wouldn't help, but it should still be fairly close.

3) I carry the mount, tripod and counterweights out as one piece each time but it is very heavy and awkward. (partly why I'm building a pier!)

4) GPS would be the most accurate, otherwise look on http://www.heavens-above.com/countries.asp

Hope this helps in some way.

[Striker]

Unless you have the mount permanantly positioned you will have to do as follows every time.

1)Set scope and polar align mount and leave scope set up at octans..polar align position.
2)Enter the time and date.
3)your coordinates are stored so you only need to change these if it's a different site.
4)1, 2 or 3 star alignment...try even doing a 1 star alignment...I had more success with 1 star then 3 for a long time period.
5)Use goto functions
6) Park scope at end is preferable but all this does is keep Pec training if you have done it in the first place....I would not worry about the pec training until you have found the use for it.

Thats it.

[JohnG]

Whilst I dont know anything about SkyScan, one little bit of advice I will give is that when you have the mount in a position in your yard where it is reasonably Polar Aliagned, mark the position with a bit of marking paint then put three tins in the ground where the tripod legs go and fill them with a bit of cement, you will have a permanent position to place the tripod, will eliminate one step of your aliagnment procedure

JohnG

[EzyStyles]

thanks for the help guys. when doing a 3 star alignment, do you guys use the stew control to the designated star or adjust it manually?

[Striker]

You must pick the star to goto using the control pad...let it slew then just center the star with the keypad arrows......you never manualy slew whilst your doing your 1,2 or 3 star align.

While doing the alignment....your first star might be a long way off...thats ok...just let the mount slew to where the first star should be and just manualy center the star to finish the first star alinment then goto the second star and do the same and so on.

Once aligned you can manualy slew all over the place as the mount will remember what you have done and you can still use the goto functions even if your no longer pointing towards your initial goto target...so yes once aligned you can use both the goto and manualy slew.

Never release the clutches on the mount to move the scope after your inital alignment...if this is done you will loose all accuracy and you will have to start again and do another alignment in the polar position.

Hope this make sence.

[matt]

Yep. That's about the size of it Tony.

It's also worth experimenting with backlash settings in RA and Dec to see if they have a positive effect on Goto accuracy.

[h0ughy]

Also don't be too perturbed that the planets are in a different location to where the scope wants to go, there are several errors in the software

[matt]

That's right houghy. It's probably the one area of the set-up which is a disappointment.

I was having a chat with one vendor of the EQ6 and synscan the other day and I'm told there is an update in the pipeline which should fix the problem:)

[h0ughy]

I have the 5a version, so does 33south and I think Striker.

[matt]

I bought mine in Dec. Think I've got the same as all you guys. Mine's a shocker on planets.

[EzyStyles]

thanks guys. How do i check how much backlash i have on my drives?

[Striker]

Backlash is just a pause in the movement...you will see this when for example you push the up arrow then push the down arrow...if their is any backlash their will be a pause before the star starts to move in the opposite direction.

If the star reacts and continues to move along the axis then their is no backlash..when you have backlash you will see a considerable pause before the star moves in the opposite direction...this is all to do with how the gears mesh and the gap between gears that is associated with backlash.

[EzyStyles]

thanks Tony. You've been great helping this newbie out. Ok, i noticed there are pauses when skewing from one direction to another. What should be set on backlash?

thanks

[Striker]

Its just trail an error...if the backlash is not that bad just go into setup and go to set backlash for the correct axis....it will have a default setting but try incresing the value...for eg...it may be set to 2500...increase it to 5000 on the correct axis.....remember you have both RA and DEC axis.....the up and down arrows are DEC axis and left and right arrows are RA axis...so try adjusting the correct axis and test....if all fails just put it back to the default backlash setting as first seen.

Let us know how you go.

it's all trail an erroe...and unless your imaging and guiding as long as it's fairly close it wont make much a difference....it does not have to be perfect....it really only needs to be spot on if your guiding for imaging.