NEQ6 Pro & Thesky6 pointing errors????

[Nico13]

Haven't had the gear out much of late due to our lovely weather but got a bit of clear sky the other night and wanted to check the operation of my new guide scope (ST80) with SPC900nc unmoded camera.

Rather than set the complete side by side rig up with the SCT I opted to just mount the ED80 with the ST80 piggy back as it is mounted when side by side. So had to rotate the dec axis by 90 deg to take the single scope dovetail and in doing that had to reset the encoders in TheSky6 EQMOD interface to the new Park position.

Had taken a lot of care with physical alignment and before I started I snapped an image through the ED80 to check SCP alignment was good and was so very close I thought that will do for the new guide scope checks.

When I slewed to a few bright stars to check for Sync with TheSky6 I found it to be a long way off track so I went through the process of syncing about a dozen stars around Crux and then as it was a bit cloudy I picked Antares and synced to that, went back and forth a couple of times due to cloud and it wasn't too bad but still not good.
As the cloud was building and also a full moon I thought I'd just have a look at the moon with the ST80 and the Toucam and this where it went completely wrong.
Told it to slew to the moon and the mount pointed about 15-20 deg lower than where the moon actually was.

Checked clocks and location info was correct, could slew back to Antares or around Crux ok but not the moon. Went to Park pos again that was ok back to Antares ok but the moon, no way, same error
So my Question is how does resetting mount encoders to the new park position with the Dec 90 deg from previous effect the previously synced data settings if at all.
Does TheSky6 store previous sync data and is it lost when a re-sync is performed???

Haven't had a chance to go out since but thought I ask before I do.

Any help would be grateful. :thanx:

[Robert9]

Ken, with a difference of 15°, this sounds like you might have daylight saving still turned on.
Robert

[Nico13]

Thanks Robert,
Yes that was one of the first checks I did to check the clock settings and make sure it was running system time and that it was correct.

What I did find when looking at all this a lot closer was that without realizing it every time I went out and setup going through the alignment and synchronizing that none of data was being saved so modeling and pointing of the mount was like setting up for the first time every time I went out. :screwy:

This has come about due to me being new EQMOD as up until recently I had been using Stellarium to control the mount directly through the Synscan hand piece so there was no need for Stellariumscope or EQMOD and that worked extremely well using the hand piece to do a three star alingment and that was all it needed, but then Stellarium started to freeze up all the time so I changed to TheSky6 and EQMOD.
Great software so it just looks like I didn't have EQMOD setup correctly at this stage. :question:

Just have to wait for some clear sky's, I think it's been almost four months since we had anything decent in the way stars down here. :(

[Robert9]

OK Ken. That's an interesting lesson for me as I am setting up EQMOD for driving the EQ5 from Astroplanner. But like you, I am suffering from lack of sky. Melbourne weather has been atrocious for so long now. My wife tells me I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms and depression. The odd night when we have had a clear sky I've had other commitments. :sadeyes: You would think that being retired would give one plenty of time. But I dunno. :shrug:
Clear skies,
Robert

[Nico13]

So I'm not the only one down here looking like Alchie without a bottle :drink: :P
I think we've been drying out for long enough now, just wish the weather would do the same. :lol::lol:

[Robert9]

Hear, hear! And I'm sure we're not alone. :violin:

[Nico13]

Yes finally it's clear and everything is working, touch wood.
All the software is up and running sync points are saved so mount model is now so much better go to is very close so I'm a happy chappy.

SLR is tethered with PK tether so fully auto imaging at last :D

[Robert9]

Great to hear that Ken. Lucky you, I had to to attend grandson's 3rd birthday party - family do of course! Shouldn't really complain, its wonderful to have grandchildren.
Robert

[2stroke]

lol ken thanks mate we have had the same issue being new to eqmod :) Is the modeling data lost if you move it out of park ect each time? so i take it you have to hit the save icon in eqmod each sync? only had to chances 2 use it so far :( dam weather:mad2:

BTW you can do the BL chip mod with your 900nc which is pretty simple will give you way better results guiding and isn't like the long exposure one with all the chip cutting ect.