Eq8 pec

[Strawb (Dave)]

I've had trouble guiding with my EQ8 - seemed to have an excessive amount of inertia in RA when balancing and I didn't need to be very precise on where the counterweights sat. I adjusted the loading on the RA taper bearings and I think its better. After using EQ Align to set it up in the obs I ran PEC as well and got the attached . Can someone review it and give me their thoughts on the amount of variation ( good , bad, average?)and the obvious drift also ( is alignment still off badly )
Many thanks
Dave

[Shiraz (Ray)]

what is the vertical scale Dave?

[Strawb (Dave)]

Ah sorry

the vertical axis is Px

cheers

[Shiraz (Ray)]

assuming that you are guiding at a bit below 1 arcsec/pix, that would be a pretty standard result - most seem to be getting around 8 arcsec p-p with a few getting better.

the drift looks normal to me, maybe a bit of PA error in there.

interesting comment on the axis drag - mine is similar and I thought of backing off the bearings, but didn't yet. Be interested in how you went about it - looks fairly straightforward, but then so do a lot of things.

FWIW, I have found that short guide exposures are useful - I use a fast guidescope and normally guide at 0.5s. The EQ8s have low PE, but what little there is changes pretty fast, so I get best results with fast updates.

[Strawb (Dave)]

Thanks Ray

Have PM'd about the axis