Why would flat along the top be preferred? Having it on the eyepiece face of the scope makes it easy for me to align on stars for example, when I have Sirius in the middle of the field I can hit the button to say it is centred, without having to lean over my scope and possibly move the telescope with my belly!
Also, putting it close to the alt-bearings did less to unbalance my scope.
I just did a side by side comparison between my iPad 3, my LG Gpad 8.3 and my Galaxy S3 phone, running compass apps.
No two devices agreed with each other very closely, but the LG was clearly the outlier. Its response to rotation was also less than reassuring. I can see how Skeye would get a little confused if those inputs are what it's working on! According to specs lists, the G Pad has all of the standard Android sensors including compass, gyro and accelerometer. What the specs don't seem to mention is that these sensors are apparently rubbish!
I will trial my S3 and report back on how it goes. I think though the best long term plan would be for me to spend the $143 and purchase BETI bluetooth DSCs, which would be more accurate than any phone.
Travis
Quote:
Originally Posted by Regulus
Mokusatsu,
Can I ask why you mounted the phone on the side of the scope? I would have thought flat along the top would be preferred.
I mount mine flat on the top of a SK 150Mak and I get a reasonable return. Although you do need to do a quick alignment when you move an appreciable distance across the sky from you initial alignment. This is quite quick taking only a minute, or two at the most, and there are usually a few bright stars that can be used in the new area you want to look at.
Always calibrate the phone because it may have been effected by magnetic fields throughout the day, or since you last used Skyeye.
Watch this on calibrating the compass. It doesn't need huge figure-8 movements as I once thought. (the video is 3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1EPbAapaeI
I use a Samsung Galaxy Note II. As mentioned in the thread, some hardware is better than others and, although I don't know where mine falls on the scale of things, it gives a good result.
You can see in the video link that an LG model just won't calibrate but I suspect it may not have the sensors at all. |