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Celestron Advanced VX mount

Rudeviewer

By Rudeviewer
in Discussions - Mounts

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Kirscovitch

Kirscovitch

Posted
Posted

I just simply power it down. I too had problems with updating the alignment stars. All the info is stored in the hand held and it only takes a few seconds to start your re alignment process. The illuminated reticle is a great tool for alignment. You KNOW you have the star in the center of the EP. As far as the red dot goes, just make sure you have it aligned properly. I love my red dot. I think it is the perfect tool for aligning goto's.

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Droogie 2001

Droogie 2001

Posted
Posted

Tried the new illuminated reticule tonight though heaven knows why. It was meant to be clear for me tonight but there was a lot of cloud about. Still setup anyway as rest of the week looks even worse..

After performing a 2 star alignment and 4 calibration stars I stupidly forgot to then preform the ASPA and then power down. I powered before ASPA so effectively started from scratch, this wasted 30mins, grrr!

By know the cloud was making life very difficult. I thought I would give it one more go and selected Altair as my first alignment star the scope then decided to start slewing downwards towards the ground. I stopped it fully completing as it was clearly not going the correct way.

I powered off and one and started a new calibration (after checking my location, time, date and Daylight saving were exact) and tried aligning to Vega again same issue. Mount just starts slewing down towards the ground instead of straight up?!

Does anyone know why this is happening, my DEC & RA clutches are tight as I had read strange issues with these. I am sure I have seen this mentioned before not sure?

I am currently recharging my Power Tank as it looked like a power type weird issue but I felt there was plenty of juice within the tank before hand.

Any ideas please. I h its not a more serious issue..

Thanks

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Droogie 2001

Droogie 2001

Posted
Posted

Hi Kirscovitch,

Yes I definitely placed into the home position including before I powered it off and then powered it on. Tried a quick test this morning and it still has the issue. It just slews off to the East or West depending on the test star I goto and then its seem to be the Declination that points the scope downwards. I have crossed checked the time, date, location and daylight saving and they are all correct.

I have left the powertank on charge for the rest of the day but I do not think it is power related unless there is something faulty on my powertank.

I found a thread here which is a similar issue but not exactly the same, it relates to resetting the HC back to factory default. Its an option but not really happy with that as it should not be occurring on a mount I have used just twice...

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/189825-strange-clestron-avx-problem-last-night/?hl=%2Bavx+%2Bmount+%2Bissue

If anyone else has any solutions then that would be great.

Thanks

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Droogie 2001

Droogie 2001

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I seemed to have resolved with a factory reset. I am fairly sure it is ok but weather has not allowed a full test. In doors with a quick alignment seems to slew correctly and does not just suddenly stop slewing like it did before. Do you have a link to the correct firmware location. What version are you using?

Thanks

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Feral Rabbit

Feral Rabbit

Posted
Posted

I took delivery of an AVX with an 8 Edge HD a month ago, with the intention of getting into the murky world of astrophotography and unfortunately due to workload and cloudy nights I've only been able to get out once. Due to being a rank novice, it was a total failure. I tried using the instructions that came with the set up but it didn't seem to help as the scope just seemed to slew to some un-know star  (I had tried, as it was my first time with the mount, to focus in Vega.) I have done some online detective work as I prefer to watch and learn over read and learn and I came across this guy setting up an AVX mount to do some astrophotography on YouTube. I've not been able to put this into practice yet but it looks pretty straight forward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cATYe7kd7U

There are 4 videos (the first two are the setting up of the mount the last two are photographing and processing)

The only thing I can't work out and here my inexperience glaringly shows, is after he has Polar aligned does he return the mount to the home position?

Some advice would be appreciated and perhaps these videos may help some of you guys out too.

Regards

Martin

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timetoreflect

timetoreflect

Posted
Posted

Hello,

I bought the AVX about 2 months ago and for the limited number of times I used it, the operation seemed to be as the manual described. However, I just tried attaching the SkySync accessory, doing the quick alignment and then set it to slew to an object (M51). When I did this, both the RA motor and Dec began to slew as expected but the Dec motor would not stop slewing. Even going around entirely, changing directions and slewing back the other direction. To stop it I had to power down.

I am not sure it really had anything to do with the SkySync since I disconnected that and it still did the same thing. As anyone else had this kind of experience? I have a message and open issue with Celestron support but I haven't heard back yet.

Thanks.

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Droogie 2001

Droogie 2001

Posted
Posted

It sounds like a similar problem to what I experienced though not by using a sky sync. Once you have ruled out everything else out, location, time settings etc.. You may have to reset the HC to factory default.

After doing that I than ran some test routines and it seems to be ok. The weather has been too poor to perform a proper test yet...

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Kirscovitch

Kirscovitch

Posted
Posted

I took delivery of an AVX with an 8 Edge HD a month ago, with the intention of getting into the murky world of astrophotography and unfortunately due to workload and cloudy nights I've only been able to get out once. Due to being a rank novice, it was a total failure. I tried using the instructions that came with the set up but it didn't seem to help as the scope just seemed to slew to some un-know star  (I had tried, as it was my first time with the mount, to focus in Vega.) I have done some online detective work as I prefer to watch and learn over read and learn and I came across this guy setting up an AVX mount to do some astrophotography on YouTube. I've not been able to put this into practice yet but it looks pretty straight forward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cATYe7kd7U

There are 4 videos (the first two are the setting up of the mount the last two are photographing and processing)

The only thing I can't work out and here my inexperience glaringly shows, is after he has Polar aligned does he return the mount to the home position?

Some advice would be appreciated and perhaps these videos may help some of you guys out too.

Regards

Martin

I watched this video in the past and it was helpful. After you align the mount with 2 stars and then the calibration stars you do the ASPA. After the ASPA you have moved the mount so when you chose a target to slew to it will be off. The manual tells you how to unsync the alignment stars and re sync to new ones but I have found the easiest way to do it is to just power down, set the scope to home and then power back up and redo the alignment. Each time you power down and realign and then redo the ASPA the mor accurate you will be. I usually do the ASPA at least twice and the third time I power back up just do the 2 star alignment.

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Blazar

Blazar

Posted
Posted

Have to agree with Matt. at least two ASPA's then you are pretty close. Its really important to remember the sequence. might be good to write one up, print it out and laminate it whilst you get used to it. The VX is my first powered EQ mount, and I think its excellent. I have not updated any firmware or anything..it just works. I do run off of mains owed though when in the back garden. Not sure where you view, but might be worth getting a solid supply?

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Thalestris24

Thalestris24

Posted
Posted

Hi - just a quickie question. I'm on the point of ordering one of these mounts! Before I commit, I'd be grateful if someone could confirm the minimum height of the dovetail mounting - is it 44" they quote or is that just the minimum tripod height?

Thanks

Louise

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Feral Rabbit

Feral Rabbit

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Posted
Kirscovitch, on 15 Aug 2014 - 07:48 AM, said:

I watched this video in the past and it was helpful. After you align the mount with 2 stars and then the calibration stars you do the ASPA. After the ASPA you have moved the mount so when you chose a target to slew to it will be off. The manual tells you how to unsync the alignment stars and re sync to new ones but I have found the easiest way to do it is to just power down, set the scope to home and then power back up and redo the alignment. Each time you power down and realign and then redo the ASPA the mor accurate you will be. I usually do the ASPA at least twice and the third time I power back up just do the 2 star alignment.

Thank you Kirskovitch. I think I understand now.

Regards

Martin

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timetoreflect

timetoreflect

Posted
Posted

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to post a follow up to my previous post regarding the Dec motor non-stop slewing issue I am having. As I mentioned, I contacted Celestron support and the following is the correspondence thus far:

My latest reply:

Hello,

I tried disconnecting the Skysync and the mount acted the same way.

Besides, are you suggesting that the Celestron power tank I have, which is rated for 7 amp-hours, cannot deliver enough power for proper mount (with Skysync) operation for any amount of time even if it is fully charged? That does not sound right to me.

To test this possibility, I also just tried running the mount off the 12-Volt output from one of my vehicles and it acted the same way. Again, I tried setting the hand control back to the factory settings and then attempted an alignment with the same result. The RA motor slews to the location and stops but the Declination motor keeps slewing, first in one direction and then reverses and continues slewing. It does not stop this until I power it down.
Please help!

Thanks,

The follow up from Celestron:

How about the powersource? For some reason when using the Skysync and the Advance VX it requires 5AMP powersource. 

My next reply:

Thank you for the reply.
I am using a Celestron power tank (the 7 Ah one, I think). The mount is doing the same thing with the Skysync removed.

I have already tried resetting the hand control to factory defaults.
Also, one interesting thing I noticed after disconnecting the Skysync is that when I go into the startup procedure, the mount now prompts me to check the RTC and has the correct local time and says ‘Enter to accept or Back to Edit’. It did not do this before I first connected the Skysync. I don’t know if this matters.

Thanks.

First reply from Celestron:

Thank  you for contacting Celestron Technical Services. What powersource are you using? What happens when you remove the Skysync and just use the handcontrol? 

Thank you,

Celestron Technical Services

My original message to Celestron:

I have one of your Advanced VX mounts which I purchased a couple of months ago. The mount initially worked fine and operated as the manual described. However, about a week ago I also purchased the SkySync accessory for the mount and after I connected it, turned on the GPS function, did one of the alignment procedures and then attempted to have it slew to an object, the dec motor just kept slewing and never stopped.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do to correct this.

Thank you.

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PeterCPC

PeterCPC

Posted
Posted

I use a 7Ah powertank (Skywatcher - same thing) with the AVX and Skysync with no problem. Do you give it time to connect to the Skysync? From memory there is a flashing G that appears on the top right of the HC display when it is connected ok.

Peter

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timetoreflect

timetoreflect

Posted
Posted

Peter,

Thanks for your reply. I have tried connecting the Skysync again to see if it has any effect and have ensured that the connection has been made before resuming the alignment procedure. The mount acts the same way whether it is connected or not. I also don't see any difference with different power sources. I do not know what else I can try at this point.

It occurs to me that I could create a short video and upload it to YouTube to better demonstrate what is happening. Maybe that is something I could get Celestron support to view also.

Thanks.

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