HEQ5 Pro Hour Angle/Polar Finder Question

[Seraph_69]

Hi all,

I get my Altair Astro 8" f5 tomorrow (first scope) and was going to mess around with the polar finder app to try to see if I could successfully use the setting circles on my mount to get polaris in correct RA position.

The app shows a live feed of where Polaris is. However the hour angle of polaris appears to be in degrees and not HHMMSS. This doesn't really help me to be accurate as I want to use my setting circles.

At the time of screenshotting the app (above) polaris was at about 9pm (clock face time) - I don't know what the official name for that is lol Now, I can see where it tells me that, and some other figures, but essentially, when I rotate RA to get polaris at transit (at the bottom of the polar scope as everything's inverted) I've then set the RA clock to 0 and rotated it through RA again until polaris is at the 9 o'clock position, as shown in the app. But my setting circle now reads 6 hours (makes sense as this is 1/4 turn from bottom to 9 o'clock position) BUT this doesn't match any HHMMSS figures displayed on the app screen so can't equate to my setting circle!

Am I doing anything wrong? Or it just because the app reads HA in degrees? (nearly 270deg, which again, makes sense for where polaris is appearing (3 quarters of the way round the orbit circle would equal 270deg)).

ALSO, when calibrating my polar scope (horrendous job, the reticle dropped out at one point before I got used to the mechanism! Nearly cried, thought I'd broken it!) I put it back in and rotated it so that polaris was at 9 o clock position and all the font was right way up when my mount was in the HOME position. Is this right/default? Does it even matter?

Thanks.

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[jambouk]

I wouldn't bother trying to use the setting circles on the HEQ5; I've tried and they just don't work as they don't seem lock in place.

Just use the handset routine to tighten up your polar alignment.

James

[Owmuchonomy]

Agree totally with James.

[Seraph_69]

Two problems with that, I have no PSU yet so no power to the scope or handset. Going manual at first (by choice and money constraints). I bought the mount second hand BTW. No idea if they come with a power supply new? I imagine not!!

And also I want to practice getting the hang of getting it right while indoors using setting circles, so when I go outside I have the hang of using them. Also was a neat trick I saw on astronomy shed which allows you to do 90 of the polar aligning indoors, and just plop polaris in its circle in the polar scope using Alt/Az once you're out there.

I know most setting circles aren't great but as far as I'm aware, the RA circle will ONLY lock on the 0 position anyway? This is correct and not a fault, DEC should lock anywhere).

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[jambouk]

Seraph, not having power is an issue for doing a handset polar alignment routine indeed But if you have no power you won't be able to track so being acurately polar aligned won't matter anyway.

They are shipped with power leads new.

I can't help you any more, as my efforts to use the HEQ5 setting circles failed, and my advice is always never to bother with them. Hopefully someone on here may have a solution for you other than getting a power lead and power source.

Good luck.

James

[Tinker1947]

you will need a PSU as without one all you will see are star crossing the FOV, Maplin do a 13.8v 5amp out site sponsors also sell the same unit....you will also need either the handset so you can set the mount tracking or a PC/Laptop with EQMod running plus a EQDir cable to connect the PC to the Mount. tracking a EQ Mount by hand isn't the way to go......

[Seraph_69]

OK, I was under the impression this was what slow-motion controls were for?

And I have the synscan handset, I also bought the mount with an EQMod EQdirect USB lead thingy. I plan to use stellarium or EQMod once fully up and running to track slew and track etc.

OK, how about a different question then: Can someone please explain to me whether or not you can just buy a lead and power your mount off of a mains socket? Everything I have read has said about voltage spikes with turning things on and off in the house and it being a very bad idea. People keep saying you will potentially destroy the very delicate electronics inside the Mount?

If a dedicated PSU is the way forward, I plan to get one of these tracer batteries I keep hearing such good things about.

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[jambouk]

I tun my mount off the mains. I converted the end of a laptop charger which kicks out 15v; just had to change the tip to one which fits the mount but make sure you get polarity correct else You'll fry the board inside the mount.

I've not encountered spikes which have knowingly caused problems.

If you eventually need your battery to power other things like dew controller or laptop, you'll need a bigger battery of the leisure variety. A 20amp hour battery will be OK [probably] for the mount for a night, but you'll be running in to trouble if running dew bands too and other things.

This is where mains-sourced power helps, but only if near a mains source; and always be careful of using mains where there is damp, or where wires can be tripoed over in the dark...

James