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Old 08-09-2020, 07:28 AM
Cliff (Clifford)
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Scope crashed into mount last night ?

Hi all,

Not sure what happened was imaging Jupiter which was almost directly overhead and looked pretty clear red spot and all.

So I thought I'd slew over to Saturn not far away and then i heard an almighty bang, went out and the scope was weights up and the scope was hard against the extension on my AZEQ6GT. Switched off checked all seemed ok. Tough old Meade 6"SCT.

Realigned and tried Mars but not very steady seeing only at 22deg over a house not ideal.

Anyway any ideas? I am remoting with a Intel NUC at the scope and using Microsoft Remote Desktop on my Mac to connect and control.

Capturing with Sharpcap Pro and using Cartes de Ciel (Skycharts as my Planetarium software all connected via Ascom.)

Appreciate any thoughts? a Meridian flip shouldn't go weights up ? Not really sure still learning lots.

Cliff
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Old 08-09-2020, 07:55 AM
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The_bluester (Paul)
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Were Jupiter and Saturn before or after the meridian when you tried to slew to Saturn (They are only about half an hour apart in RA at the moment so a reasonably set up mount could track Jupiter far enough to see Saturn on the west of the meridian) And what software are you using to control the mount? In EQMOD you can set mount limits to stop the mount beyond a certain hour angle.

I am wondering if both Jupiter and Saturn were past the meridian but you were still on the west of the pier when imaging Jupiter and the goto resulted in a flip that has had it hit something as the Dec axis moved.
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Old 08-09-2020, 12:38 PM
Cliff (Clifford)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The_bluester View Post
Were Jupiter and Saturn before or after the meridian when you tried to slew to Saturn (They are only about half an hour apart in RA at the moment so a reasonably set up mount could track Jupiter far enough to see Saturn on the west of the meridian) And what software are you using to control the mount? In EQMOD you can set mount limits to stop the mount beyond a certain hour angle.

I am wondering if both Jupiter and Saturn were past the meridian but you were still on the west of the pier when imaging Jupiter and the goto resulted in a flip that has had it hit something as the Dec axis moved.
Hi Paul,

I've been using Sharpcap in conjunction with Cartes de Ciel (Skycharts) has been working well . Using Ascom platform to tie things together. Its only a short scope being an 6" SCT and I also have a pier extension on the AZEQ6 so was a little surprised it happened. Have yet to try EQmod I've actually got the Starsense unit on my unit so using a Celestron Driver.

Just checked yes it looks like it was trying a Meridian Flip but I don't know why it hit still should be able to without hitting .? Maybe some of my settings wrong somewhere in software, I know location and time date etc are ok as they are from a GPS unit.

Appreciate the feedback
Cliff
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Old 08-09-2020, 12:49 PM
jahnpahwa (JP)
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My first thought is that it would have to be slewing pretty fast to make an almighty bang... have the clutches let go when it reached a certain inclination? Were you guiding? It sounds like something must have let go, rather than just being driven into the pier extension?
It sounds like things were going well up to that point, so counterweight balance should have been ok.... interesting.

Last edited by jahnpahwa; 08-09-2020 at 01:09 PM.
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Old 08-09-2020, 01:43 PM
Cliff (Clifford)
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Originally Posted by jahnpahwa View Post
My first thought is that it would have to be slewing pretty fast to make an almighty bang... have the clutches let go when it reached a certain inclination? Were you guiding? It sounds like something must have let go, rather than just being driven into the pier extension?
It sounds like things were going well up to that point, so counterweight balance should have been ok.... interesting.
Maybe I need to slow down the slewing as well. Have to work that out. I can do it at the mount ok but I use it remotely must be a software setting somewhere.
I don't think the clutches let go they seemed still tight, no guiding yet- Balance was pretty good. It ended up Counterweights up , looking at a few videos the counterweights never seem to go above while flipping ?
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Old 08-09-2020, 08:06 PM
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The_bluester (Paul)
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While you may see the mount go a little past the meridian (And so, counterweights up by a small amount) for some photography purposes, or even for visual use, a flip should send it back the other way so it should end up with the counterweights just below the axis on the west side of the mount, not above the axis.

Are you using CDC to control the mount directly via an ASCOM driver? I have never used CDC to control slews so I have no idea how it behaves. But still, if you used EQMOD as an intermediary, unless the mount sync got messed up somehow, so long as you switch on mount limits EQMOD should stop the mount for safety. Mine was set up to allow it to track as far past the meridian as safe before something was going to crash into my pier and stop it there as for imaging I wanted to be able to track through the meridian for up to an hour.

That is one aspect of my new CEM70G mount that I really like, I might damage the mount if I get things messed up badly enough but the physical stops mean that my scope and camera physically can not be crashed no matter where I try to point them.
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Old 08-09-2020, 09:13 PM
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muletopia (Chris)
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As Paul says, EQMOD would have stopped the mount at a specified distance past the meridian. So I guess bite the bullet and learn to use EQMOD.


My Sitech mount does this, with an annoying Yankee drawl "Nearing meridian limit" and quite shortly thereafter the mount stops.



The down side of this arrangement is that the mount must be slewed back past the meridian and then told to goto the target again. I have yet to gain the confidence to write a scrip to do this but it should be possible.


Chris

Last edited by muletopia; 08-09-2020 at 09:14 PM. Reason: typo
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Old 09-09-2020, 08:18 AM
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The_bluester (Paul)
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That is one good thing in EQMOD. Provided you have it set to stop the mount at the limit a simple goto wakes it up and sends it on it's way again with a flip. The alternative behavior has it park the mount if it reaches the limit.
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Old 09-09-2020, 09:31 AM
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Sunfish (Ray)
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My worst nightmare. Sounds like the default limits were turned off. That could not happen if limits were on and adjusted correctly. I often think that slewing near the zenith. “ did I turn the limits off ?” And keep my hand on the power button or the stop button. Should have a big red stop button like a cnc . .
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Old 11-09-2020, 08:16 AM
Cliff (Clifford)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The_bluester View Post
While you may see the mount go a little past the meridian (And so, counterweights up by a small amount) for some photography purposes, or even for visual use, a flip should send it back the other way so it should end up with the counterweights just below the axis on the west side of the mount, not above the axis.

Are you using CDC to control the mount directly via an ASCOM driver? I have never used CDC to control slews so I have no idea how it behaves. But still, if you used EQMOD as an intermediary, unless the mount sync got messed up somehow, so long as you switch on mount limits EQMOD should stop the mount for safety. Mine was set up to allow it to track as far past the meridian as safe before something was going to crash into my pier and stop it there as for imaging I wanted to be able to track through the meridian for up to an hour.

That is one aspect of my new CEM70G mount that I really like, I might damage the mount if I get things messed up badly enough but the physical stops mean that my scope and camera physically can not be crashed no matter where I try to point them.
Thanks Paul,
Yes I was using CDC to control the mount through ASCOM and I checked my Mount has default settings for limits so might have to change them.
Was surprised when the weights were up.
Have not used EQmod or even have a cable at the moment try but looks like a good suggestion.
The CEM70G sounds like a great mount.I have the old Minitower Pro and really like that. Fast and easy to use a bit iffy when remoted but thats another story.
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Old 11-09-2020, 09:15 AM
Cliff (Clifford)
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Thanks for all the suggestions I think I will try EQmod seems it might work well. I like Rays suggestion of a big Red button to stop the slew only I run it from inside the house otherwise i could have seen what was happening,
I need a security camera so I can keep an eye on it .
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Old 11-09-2020, 09:19 AM
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multiweb (Marc)
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Good to hear no damage. I wouldn't be game to let the scope out by itself while slewing. I've had nightmares where my scope got lose and crashed into the pier with a big broken glass noise.
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