setting up skywatcher autotracker

[caleb]

I have a skywatcher scope and the autotracking feature dodnt work to well, any tips.

I point it magnetic north to set it up, but I have a feeling it should be the north cellestial pole even though in the instructions it just says north.
So, is this the case. (I also programmed the latitude into it)
My scope details are in my sig....

[Babalyon 5]

Is it an Equatorial mount? Doesn't it hafta point south if it is?

[caleb]

Originally Posted by Babalyon 5

Is it an Equatorial mount? Doesn't it hafta point south if it is?

alt-azimuth

[Kokatha man]

Hi Caleb - is it one of those GoTo types of scopes/mounts with the hand controller and the single or double side "arm(s)" that holds the scope coming up from the base, which is on top of the tripod?

If so, you'll need to make sure the whole thing's level (a "bullet" bubble level of the round type used to level fridges is good - rested on the ep tray) and then just go through the "3 star" alignment after punching in your co-ordinates and time etc. If it's an older model they require pointing north (I think) even tho' we're in the southern hemisphere.....

Once you get a "alignment successful" read-out on the h/piece screen you can enable tracking and it should function.

If it aint this type (or a version similar) I've wasted our time....!

[madwayne (Wayne)]

Hi Caleb,

A couple of obvious things, is your latitude is set to South? Your longtitude set to West? And do you have the facility to accept or decline daylight saving? Do you have your date set in American mode mm/dd/yy or yyyy, of course given today's date there is no 16th month so I may have eliminated that one for myself .

And finally do you have your mount set for the correct time zone? UT plus 11 hours.

Try these as a few that I can think of, let us know how you go and then also please tell us what type of mount it is as there may be others on this site who can shed some more light on it for you.

Regards

[caleb]

your all thinking something different, its autotracking but not go-to.
It has a latitude but no longitude.
here are some images....

[Vultz (Andy)]

Hi,

I may be wrong based on the images and his signature, but I am assuming Caleb is talking about a Sky Watcher autotracking dobsonian as I am having the same problem. I bought a Sky Watcher 12" auto tracker just this week. The scope itself is great, but so far i've had no luck getting the tracking working properly. The instruction manual is pretty vague and extensive Googling is yet to bear fruit. The instructions from the manual are as follows:

...
11. Point the telescope to the North.
12. Locate the altitude scale on the inside of the left side board. Lower the telescope tube in altitude till it reads 0. This will be the HOME position of the telescope.
13. Turn off the power and turn it back on again.
...

So on the next page it continues with the following heading "Setting the local latitude for accurate tracking"
Setting the local latitude enhances the tracking accuracy for astronomial (spelling as per manual) objects.It requires that you know the latitude of the observing site. To set the latitude for the Northern Hemisphere, use the directional buttons to adjust the telescope tube until the latitude scale reads 0. (i think they mean altitude as referred to previously as there is only the one scale) Turn off the power and turn it back on again. Now use the hand control to move the telescope tube until the latitude scale reads your local latitude. Press the "Fast" and "Slow" buttons simultaneously to store the local latitude into the system

For Southern Hemisphere, use the direction buttons to adjust the telescope until the latitude scale reads your local latitude. Turn off the power and turn in back on again. Now use the directional buttons to move the telescope tube until the latitude scale reads 0. Press "Fast" and "Slow" buttons simultaneously to store the local latitude into the system.

This is about it in terms of the setup instructions. I spoke to Luke at Andrew's Communications and he recommended trying orienting the scope to the South in setup. Gave that a crack tonight and still not having any luck.

Has anyone out there had success orienting these and getting the auto tracking to work? Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Andreas

[allan gould]

Caleb
As a courtesy to the people you are asking help from, give them as much information as you can in your initial post. Being verry crptic in your postings doesnt help but winds up wasting peoples efforts to assist you.
Just a suggestion.