|
Check the following:
1. On the top of the tripod there is a peg for adjusting your azimuth - it should be over one leg, not between two legs as often shipped - there is a spare hole to relocate the peg above one of the legs.
2. When you set up, make sure this peg is pointing to polar south, not magnetic - adjust for magnetic declination
3. Get a little round bubble level from Bunnings for example and put this on top of the tripod to level the tripod - the bubble on the mount is often placed incorrectly.
4. Have your correct latitude and longitude - use Google Earth if you don't have a GPS
5. The DEC alignment marks are often 180° out of place. The DEC port should be facing you as you look south over the telescope.
6. After the mount and telescope are in position, enter your lat and long (ensuring you enter south and east respectively), time non DST, date (month, day, year) and select a quick alignment.
7. Select Menu, Tracking and make sure you have south entered. Select Tracking Rate and make sure it is on sidereal until after you complete your alignment.
8. While at this stage, select a named star from the list (kepypad 8) near celestial south (eg, Rigil Kentaurus). Send the scope to this - use the azimuth and altitude knobs to do a rough polar alignment until the selected star is in the viewfinder cross-hairs - a mounted laser is excellent for this step
9. Turn off (use power supply to do this - the switch on the mount is not that strong and will break after repeated use). Speaking of power supply, the mount needs 12v (or slightly more) at 2 amps to work correctly - an emergency starting unit will suffice.
10. Turn back on, enter correct time again - lat and long will still be there from the first time. Select a 2 star alignment - follow this with at least 3 calibration stars - by the time you get to the third, the mount will be pretty well spot on.
After these steps, selected objects will be in the eyepiece when you send the mount to them.
For improved accuracy, drift alignment helps. Be wary of wild slews - an inbuilt problem with the CG5 mount - press any direction key to stop one of these and reselect a target - the mount will still know where it is and respond accordingly. If you turn the mount off, restart at step 10. If you move the mount, start at step 1.
Good luck
|