Quote:
Originally Posted by The_bluester
One thing that seems to be missing from the iOptron (And is certainly missing from the EQ6-R, it just wasn't a 'thing" when they were designed) is home position sensors. Depending on your level of automation they can be the difference between a 10 minute interruption to imaging, or the loss of whatever the rest of the night is.
My CEM70G has them and in the case of things going seriously south (Which does not tend to happen with my gear, but a friend also with a CEM70G can sometimes see this) I can have my software (Voyager) do anything up to a reboot of the imaging PC and go again from there as my nightly routine starts with remotely homing the mount. If you can't do that you have to trust that the mount has actually stopped where you expect (Park or home)
With my Orion Atlas (AZEQ6 clone) I can't do that homing procedure so a reboot will mean EQMOD fires up assuming the normal pointed at the pole, counterweights down position, if it is not there I risk either rejected syncs from plate solves or equipment crashes.
Equipment crashes is one other thing I wonder about with the strain wave mounts, if they can produce enough torque to lift a 20KG payload without a counterweight, are they a higher risk of equipment damage in the case of a crash? Thinking of a pier crash around the meridian with 20KG+ of force on the side of the camera.
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One annoying side of using a mount with homing sensors like my EQ8-R and one that doesn’t like my EQ6-R is that I have to reset encoders in EQMOD each time
When using the EQ6-R I have to run up Synscan HC and put mount into standby then park to home position and save. Then start EQMOD select Park to Home Position then rest encoders. The icon then moves back to the Home position or SCP
Similar for the EQ8-R but run up Synscan HC , select Auto Homing, once done leave the mount in standby. Start EQMOD select Park to Home Position then reset encoders
I do run EQMOD at 2 different sites same laptop with separate Site information profiles
Chris Shilito from EQMOD forum gave me the above procedures to resolve my issues. The telescope icon would be sitting out in left field somewhere so not a good place to start your Goto . Now it resets back to the SCP on both mounts.
A nice workaround only takes 10 mins. Chris has given tireless support for EQMOD for many many years
Cheers
Martin