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Finally had the time to upgrade my HEQ5 Synscan to V 3.28 Beta and to test this polar re-align feature.
The upgrade process was very touchy, had to try many times before it work, below was what I did, I had a USB-to-serial adapter:
1. Press 0 & 8 at the same time & power up Synscan handset
2. Press "Setup" button to lower speed to "Lo" on lower right corner. (Lo settings set the transfer rate at 9600bps, by default the Synscan to set to 115kbps, but most USB-to-serial adapter runs at 9600bps)
3. Start up Firmware loader software
4. If you have installed a USB to serial adapter, your PC should have assigned it a COM port, for me it was COM8, so I untick "Auto detect COM port", and select the COM8
5. Click the HC Version button, it should display the current version
6. Now click on "Browse" to select the firmware file, XXXXXX.ssf
7. Click on the Update button
If upgrade fails or come up with error messages, just power cycle the handset, repeat the steps above and/or restart firmware loader software a few times until it works.
After the upgrade, I did a 2-star align and then did the polar re-align process. The process is surprising fast & easy, it only requires you to select a single star, the center it using the handset, the mount then slew a correctional amount, then it will prompt you to centre it again using the adjustment screw/bolt (Alt & Az). I repeated the process twice.
So far I'm impressed with the result:
- the Goto is now very accurate, selected various objects and slew centered within my 26mm eyepiece
- centered a test star in my illuminated eyepiece, the star stay centered for over 12 minutes before moving slightly off my cross hair
The handset did show some Mel & Maz misalignment figures, which I didnt understand what they are yet, will do some more reading & testings.
Victor.
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