[Startrek (Martin)]

I reduced my guiding error on both of my EQ6-R mounts 18 months ago by doing the following-

Re oriented the camera from 45deg top facing to bottom straight under the OTA pointing down the front tripod leg on my Newts

Rebalance rig slightly east heavy in Ra
Ensure Dec balance is spot on

Fine tuned Ra and Dec worm gears to minimise backlash

Adjusted Ra and Dec drive belts

Use PHD2 PEC algorithm ( I’ve never gone back to using Hysterisis )

On average I would previously guide around 0.75 to 0.85 total

After the above I guide on average around 0.65 to 0.75 and with good nights 0.45 to 0.55 total

PEC training won’t guide you out of trouble on average to poor nights of seeing , Mother Nature is always the winner

Unless your worm drives are pretty bad and you have fairly noticeable PE definitely go for PEC training especially with fully geared mounts ( no belts ) but I’d opt for the above procedures first and see how you guide over many nights in different seeing conditions first.

2 nights ago I was imaging M104 Sombrero Galaxy , guiding was 0.75 to 0.85 early on at low altitudes around 30 to 35 deg , 3 hours later up at 60 deg I was guiding at 0.50 rock solid until the meridian

Guiding error is so dependent on the ever changing atmosphere.

Cheers
Martin