A question for an AZEQ6 owner

[The_bluester (Paul)]

I have a Celestron CPC925 GPS but have progressed to the point where I am beginning to find the mount a frustration. The wait times for it to slew to a new target are beginning to really bug me as I am not particularly good at planning a nights observing in an orderly progression that limits the slews between targets (Actually I usually operate by slewing to whatever takes my fancy at the time so one target may be on the opposite side of the sky to the one before)

For any AZEQ6 owners who use them in Alt Az mode, the manual is a little vague on the point when not in EQ mode, does the mount still retain it's alignment if you release the clutches and point manually? That would be a large reason for me to consider buying one. I like the tracking convenience that comes with a goto Alt Az mount but I am often not looking for a goto, I would rather be able to slew manually and quickly. The Alt Az configuration leaves the EP in easy to reach places compared to many scopes on a GEM style mount. The AZEQ6 would probably be even better than a fork mount as the EP will never end up in between the forks.

The fact that the AZEQ6 also gives the ability for me to venture into moderate exposure AP (Without heading too far down that very greasy slope of cost!) is a plus. As would be the ability to side by side mount two scopes in Alt Az.

Then would come the decision on deforking my 925 or selling it as is and replacing it! Presumably with something out of the Meade camp given current Celestron pricing in Australia.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

The AZ-EQ6 has dual encoders and can be moved manually without losing position information.

However you should understand that like your CPC the tracking is only active once you've performed an alignment.

Not sure about your assessment of Celestron pricing in Australia though... it might be fair to say the smaller Celestron scopes are expensive compared to the US, but Bintel are currently selling the Meade 10" f8 ota for $3599 and Andrews are selling the Celestron 11" ota for $3599. If you specifically want the f8 and larger central obstruction for astrophotography, your money would be better spent on a small good quality and faster refractor. For visual, the C11 is better value.

Just a suggestion, but maybe it's worth planning your sessions to minimise time lost to slewing? There's software such as astroplanner out there to help, or just use a simple astro program like Stellarium or SkySafari. A little planning could save you a fortune!

[mg (Mitchell)]

Yep the AZ EQ6 retains its alignment when you undo the clutches and move the scope manually.
I have been using EQMOD and Stallarium on my laptop, and when you undo clutches and move the scope, the little target showing the scope position on Stellarium follows. This shows that the encoders keep track of position even with the clutches undone.

This is usually in EQ mode, but when I have used it with the hand control in AZ mode, alignment wasn't messed up by undoing the clutches either.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Thanks you both, pretty much the info I was after.

I am aware that it still needs aligning in either mode before it is any use (Is that the case in EQ mode if it is well polar aligned? Will the RA drive run without a star alignment?)

Regards pricing, I found that there was a pretty steep rise in Celestron prices not long after I bought mine with it goig from being quite competitive with it's Meade equivalent on price to not being so. I stopped looking about a year ago so they may have settled again since.

Just looking for options which give me tracking, the possability of lowish level AP down the track and the ability to star hop at will, hunting for something using the direction buttons on a hand controller is a pain compared to releasing clutches and pointing manually while looking through a finder.

[mg (Mitchell)]

When I set the mount up in EQ mode, I make sure it's in the home position, then when I turn it on it assumes it is pointing at the south pole until you tell it otherwise. As far as I can tell, the RA motor starts running, bacause it tracks without me needing to tell it to, and before I do an alignment.

Not so with AZ mode though, because it needs some bearings first to let it know which way to track.
In AZ mode, you can just plonk it down roughly level, then do a 2-star alignment and tracking will commence. I find this adequate for visual. It takes literally 2 minutes.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Following on from my earlier hint, have you considered multiple scopes? Obviously depends on what kind of AP you're interested in, but a small refractor on something like a EQ5 (or similar) will be much less of a headache than trying to nail it with a long focal length and heavy scope.

Then something like one of the goto Dobs? 10" is still relatively reasonably priced and portable in a small hatchback. The bonus is you can take pics with one scope and view with the other

The CPC is a great scope in many ways, but they're expensive outside the US. When I bought my C11 the CPC was far too costly, so I put it on an EQ6 instead. Requires a little more setup, but it's nice and solid, and I can use the EQ for AP...maybe someday

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

Following on from my earlier hint, have you considered multiple scopes? Obviously depends on what kind of AP you're interested in, but a small refractor on something like a EQ5 (or similar) will be much less of a headache than trying to nail it with a long focal length and heavy scope.

Actually I am considering multiple scopes! (Just don't tell my wife) One of the benefits I can see to the AZEQ mount is the ability to side by side mount two scopes on the same mount to give rich field views in one and the much higer mag and consequently smaller FOV of the C925 on the other side. Along with the ability to slew manually without trashing the alignment, and or mount GEM style as the need arises.

I had thought of mounting my CPC on a wedge but it still gives only the limited FOV and single scope at once (I have thought about dovetail mounting a short refractor on the 925 but I do not know how the mount would cope) and the problems of the EP ending up in nasty spots to get to, like buried in between the forks, pointed straight up over the mount on the wedge, or more or less at the ground!

I did do an experiment with it and if I put it in EQ mode as if it is on a wedge and then do a fake one star alignment (Not actually bothering to align it, just press the align button as if I had) it takes off fat dumb and happy with the RA motor running and if well polar aligned would allow me to slew manually to my hearts content, just the goto function is toast as it is actually not pointed where it thinks it is. Even that could probably be bodged if I wanted goto to work OK for a time, just tell it to slew to a known object and then manually point the scope to it when the goto finishes.

[mg (Mitchell)]

Originally Posted by mg

When I set the mount up in EQ mode, I make sure it's in the home position, then when I turn it on it assumes it is pointing at the south pole until you tell it otherwise. As far as I can tell, the RA motor starts running, bacause it tracks without me needing to tell it to, and before I do an alignment.

Not so with AZ mode though, because it needs some bearings first to let it know which way to track.
In AZ mode, you can just plonk it down roughly level, then do a 2-star alignment and tracking will commence. I find this adequate for visual. It takes literally 2 minutes.

As a side note. Plugged the mount in, in EQ mode without the hand controller/laptop and the RA motor doesn't start straight up. Guess it needs to be told which hemisphere it is in.

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Originally Posted by mg

As a side note. Plugged the mount in, in EQ mode without the hand controller/laptop and the RA motor doesn't start straight up. Guess it needs to be told which hemisphere it is in.

If it is like the Celestron, the smarts to tell the motor control what to do are in the hand controller.

[frolinmod]

Originally Posted by The_bluester

If it is like the Celestron, the smarts to tell the motor motor control what to do are in the hand controller.

That's correct. The AZ-EQ6 mount itself knows (almost) nothing and can do (almost) nothing by itself. You have to plug the hand controller in and keep it plugged in. The mount will stop tracking if the hand controller is unplugged.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Of course you could just forego the tracking, release the clutches and not bother plugging the power in although you might want some better setting circles than the ones provided...