skymax polarscope field illumination

[Rob Moseley]

Hello All     I wonder if anyone else has had problems using the Skymax EQ6 "polarscope"?  I was looking forward to using this convenience on my new Maksutov 180 -  no more tedious star drift determinations or plumb bobs suspended in troughs of mercury - or so I thought.

                  What I was expecting was the Polaris circle and guide constellations illuminated against a dark background sky. What I got was a full, bright red illuminated field with pole and constellations superimposed in black. Polaris itself is all but INVISIBLE! - and there is no way to turn down the illumination.

                  This seems pretty crazy to me. Have I got a defective unit?

[m.tweedy]

if it is the skywatcher with synscan.

utility function-polar scope LED

it can be dimmed from there mine was at 100% and i needed to reduce it to something like 2%

[m.tweedy]

http://www.skywatcher.com/downloads/HEQ&EQ6+Hand%20Control.pdf

page 17 of the manual

[Rob Moseley]

Thanks a lot, guys! No manual, so that really helps!

[oldannie]

I had the same experience on my HEQ5 pro synscan and had to use the Set up mode>handset setting>polarscope LED.  Mine was also set  at 100% but  worked much better just dimmed to around 70%.

Good luck

Annie

[Rob Moseley]

Thanks Annie -  do the handset settings also control the polarscope led?  There is no separate function for polar led  on my handset. Do I need to update the firmware?   Rob

[m.tweedy]

what version are you running. in the handset go to utility function and scroll down until you get to polar scope LED.

[Rob Moseley]

Hi Michael       I am running ver 03.28   Polar scope LED is not on my utility function menu.  I assume that I need to update the firmware?       Rob

[m.tweedy]

sorry for late response. thought it was in that version. can you contact your supplier to confirm or maybe contact skywatcher

[Herbig]

I think the function is only available on 3.3 and above and is not available at all on older mounts.

Try polar aligning before you switch on the power, if you do this just as Polaris appears you won't need any illumination, if you do need some light to illuminate the reticle just shine a red torch over the edge of the top hole, control the brightness with your thumb over the lens. You need to be a bit of a contortionist to do it on your own but it's how I used to do it before I found out how to dim the LED.

If you find yours is non adjustable I think there is a thread somewhere on here on how to modify the circuit and add in a rheostat to turn it down.

[m.tweedy]

get one of these

http://www.365astronomy.com/Polar-Scope-Illuminator-for-Various-Telescope-Mounts.html

[Rob Moseley]

^{Sorry for the late response.  I'm very grateful for the advice.}

[Astro_Baby]

You need motor board version higher than 2.o for this to work off the handset. You can find out the motor board version off the utilities menu on the handset.

If you have a lower version motor control board all is not lost. You can paint some red nail varnish onto the led to mute it down or fit a resistor inline with it or even a small rotary control to limit its brightness. The polarscope brightness is not as wrong as some people think, on most mounts its bright enough to mask any stars that arent Polaris. On my HEQ5 thats the case but a lot of these mounts had very variable LED brightness ranging from too dim to too bright.

Fitting a rotary contraol to vary the brightness is not as hard as it seems so long as you are careful and have basic soldering skills.

This is a guide for the HEQ5 but the principle is the same for the EQ6

http://www.astro-baby.com/articles/polarscope%20dimmer%20for%20HEQ5/HEQ5_polarscope_dimmer.htm

[Rob Moseley]

Thanks Astro Baby!       I updated the firmware and all is now well!