g11 problem

blink138 (Pat) · #1 13-09-2012, 11:28 PM

hello members
please can anyone help me?
i had my g11 out yesterday and i started the normal alignement but the thing pointed no where near a-centauri!
anyhow i tried again CWD of course and the same thing
i did note however that as it was querying its parameters it had the date as 01.01 etc.
i changed the lithium battery in the computer set the date/time (+8) geo. local for perth (east) long and (-) lat. losmandy g11 etc. and tonight thought i would settle in for the long haul imaging session...... wrong! it is still bloody well pointing no where near its intended target
its quite upsetting for me because i am not really tech minded and relatively new at this
anybody had a similar experience with a g11?
regards and expectantly
pat

silv (Annette) · #2 13-09-2012, 11:42 PM

No G11, here.

But did you align the scope and mount itself to the south celestial pole, too?
Telling the handheld controller where you are is one thing.
"Being there" is the other thing.

And then:
Leveling the mount with a builder's level at the site of your observing is necessary, too.

First align the mount roughly but as accurately as you can
(use "solar noon method" which you can google),
and then level it properly.

When SCP alignment and leveling is done roughly-but-accurately, do the balancing in both axis.

And only after these preparations, power up the controller and begin your 3 star alignment aided by the controller which should be set to "sideral speed" - and of course the correct locations and time and DST.

Hope his helps.

blink138 (Pat) · #3 14-09-2012, 01:07 AM

thanks silv i should have said also i have set it up many times before so i know it is not an SCP problem
nah.... its something else
pat

Barrykgerdes · #4 14-09-2012, 08:11 AM

Hi Pat
I think the G11 uses the same protocol as the LX200 and to set the offset you need to enter -8 not +8

Barry

PS I ran into the dead battery problem in my LX200 at a display night. I had 3 goes at a two star alignment and got terrible results til I checked the date time. The battery was only 15 years old.

B

blink138 (Pat) · #5 14-09-2012, 10:07 AM

ooh barry..... you could have something there! it could be right because it sounds like complete nonsense ha ha! just like the utc/date/time i have to load yesterday was 1209.13! i mean how are you supposed to make sense of that!
pat

blink138 (Pat) · #6 14-09-2012, 10:16 AM

actually barry thinking about it im not so sure because when i give it +8 in the timezone it actually does come up with W.A
hmmm.

Barrykgerdes · #7 14-09-2012, 10:48 AM

You set your Longuitide "E" (Perth?)

I am looking at the manual now 2.4.2.2
Enter the Time and date in UTC (not local)
format is yymm.dd hh:mm:ss

Thus When you look at the time zone it should show +8

Barry

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #8 14-09-2012, 11:24 AM

Pat...sounds like just a dead battery...not un-common. When you replaced it you probably didn't enter user data correctly.

I use Gemini ASCOM to save a profile and if I need to re-enter it (aka battery change) I just up-load that saved profile...takes all of 2 mins.

Gemini DTG input is well ..."different"...see down bottom of this page Gemini UTC DTG input.

Oh and you really don't need to level an EQ mount for polar alignment. As long as you have polar or drift aligned it doesn't matter as your RA axis will now be pointing at the celestial pole.

blink138 (Pat) · #9 14-09-2012, 11:55 AM

thanks a lot barry and brendan
yes barry i am set on E for perth...... but when my mount is going through its checklist it always scrolls past with perths current time...... so what you are saying is enter gmt as per internet (docgoelich etc....) and then in the time zone enter +8?
that sounds sensible mate i will do that
thanks too brendan i am sure it is the idiot pressing the buttons and that ASCOM sounds great and i will have to upload that one
so i am gathering you put the whole gmt into the gemini first exactly as it is written on the "docgoerlich..."
i wont be able to try until later tonight..... but god i hope i can sort it, the sky will be wonderful tonight in perth
thankyou my friends
pat

Barrykgerdes · #10 14-09-2012, 12:05 PM

Yes
except that if you entered your latitude and UTC the time zone should automatically set itself to +8

Barry

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #11 14-09-2012, 12:08 PM

Hi Pat, the hand-set is a bit of a bother in-putting data and indeed the methodology of data input is counter-intuitive. Gemini ASCOM makes it easier and puts the data to the appropriate places for the Gemini computer. Indeed it is easier to see all the data in Gemini ASCOM.

The only thing Gemini ASCOM cannot do is to save your location "name"...you have to input this by the handset. It will save all other data and you can re-import it (via RS232 or serial BT) if you need to.

I got sick of re-entering data manually so I went to Gemini ASCOM via RS232 and now us a serial Bluetooth connection for this.

blink138 (Pat) · #12 14-09-2012, 12:54 PM

ok barry so am i correct in setting the utc/date/time EXACTLY as per the goerlich site with the GMT and then setting timezone +8?
and brendan in my endless hours with the hand controller last night i found something in the geo location that when scrolled through read:
#1 hollywood!
#2 (a place in CA?)
#3 berlin
# sydney
can this be ignored or do i have to put perth into it?
pat

leon · #13 14-09-2012, 01:49 PM

Hey Pat, I sent you a PM, before i read this lot, sorry.

Leon

wasyoungonce (Brendan) · #14 14-09-2012, 02:19 PM

The place names are just location entries for HGM and ATS telescopes. You can enter your own with the handset, page 74 G11 manual, enter geographic location sub menu:

“Geogr. Location→ Name Site”. In this “Geogr. Location menu" these are default locations, HGM, ATS etc

You really don't need to name the location unless you move around to a few spots.

In Gemini ASCOM you cannot "name" the loaction nor will it display the "named location" (a quirk of the software?...maybe this is not an ASCOM std message?) but it will remember all other Gemini data.

blink138 (Pat) · #15 14-09-2012, 02:42 PM

thanks guys i have a few thing to try tonight
pat

HCR32 (Peter) · #16 14-09-2012, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blink138

ooh barry..... you could have something there! it could be right because it sounds like complete nonsense ha ha! just like the utc/date/time i have to load yesterday was 1209.13! i mean how are you supposed to make sense of that!
pat

Don't forget that the date must be set mm/dd/yy lots of people don't enter it correctly. Should have been 09/12/12

blink138 (Pat) · #17 15-09-2012, 03:23 PM

thanks guys i think it is working now
i looked up the doc goerlich site and entered exactly what was written:
yy/mm/dd (a bit strange even for america i reckon) and put the time to GMT then in the hand controller put the timezone as +8
got stellarium happening found acrux which is at its highest point now so that was much easier to check and my rig seemed to behave and go there
the only thing is my handcontroller is showing GMT instead of local which it had done before, i wonder if i put my local time into it and set the timezone as GMT would that be the same?
anyhow wont be able to check properly for a few hours
thanks for all your help
pat