lifeonmars

Hi John Presuming you have the saddle on the right of the mount John , I have the Rowan mount atop a skywatcher 200mm pillar and is attached to a Berlebach Planet the end of the panhandle as you approach the zenith could do with being 15mm shorter. I can live with that at the minute so I haven't set any limitations to the slewing of the mount.

Thanks very much for all your help on that one,it updated ok in the end ,just seemed strange.would have expected the reboot dialogue just to finish automatically,thanks again panic over! Now when is the rain going to stop and the skys clear is the next question. Cheers Frank

Hi John Thanks for the heads up on that ,just doing mine now it downloaded the file and the progress bar came up and updated to 100%.The green reboot dialogue bar came up in green but still rebooting after 30 minutes.Not sure whats going on how long did it take yours to reboot. Probably me being impatient. Cheers Frank

Could I please ask for some info regarding the panning handle and eyepiece balance weight clearance with the azimuth motor housing as it moves in altituide. Is it possible for the pan handle it to collide with the motor housing anyone with this set up any practical hands on experience with this. Any info greatly appreciated. Ta Frank

Hi John I think if I have this right there is a option somewhere to reset your start position to another point. At the moment my start position is horizontal and facing south and when the app is initialised the current south field of view displays the stars in the southern part of the sky. Have a look in the configuration menu have a look at page 7 of your instructions 4th item from the bottom of the page Titled 'Initial AZ position 'hope this helps.Good Luck. Frank

Doing a two star align in AZ100 app and switching to SS no problems with subsequent goto's I dont use the joystick( I did when I first used the motor kit update and found after a while it was quite intuitive)but still find it easier to manually nudge the scope to centralise the two alignment stars in the eyepiece so that's my method now. If I try and align in skysafari when I tap my first alignment star and centralise in my eyepiece ,then press align it slews off somewhere random maybe 5 to 10 degrees away very odd. Now Aligning on AZ100 app and switching to Skysafari then everything is fine. Cheers Frank

Thanks Stu The way I carry out alignment is 1.set scope level and south switch on Rowan control box, connect to WiFi hotspot,switch on motors on Rowan webpage. 2.Switch to SS 3. Select a star lets say Rigel point the scope and centre in eyepiece. 4 Tap Rigel on my Tablet touchscreen to select then press align. 5. Repeat step 3 with second star and press align. Moving between stars for alignment I manually push the scope but the motors are running and the encoders are counting. If I remember correctly on pressing align the Ist time, for some reason the scope starts slewing,rather than allowing you to move to a second alignment star.

I switch the motors on via the button on the rowan AZ100 webpage and if I go straight to SS it will not do a two star alignment. If I switch motors on and 2 star align via the rowan webpage its spot on. I can then switch to SS and it will go to objects no problem. My starting position is pointing south and level(well level by rack of eye). I am running Android. I have resigned myself to aligning in the Rowan app and switching over to SS Hope this helps

I have had the Rowan motor kit now for a month or so and the two star alignment on the Rowan app is simple to do(even for a Dinosaur like me). What I am struggling with is using Skysafari to do a 2 star alignment. If I do a two star alignment on the Rowan app and switch to sky safari it works fine. If I initiate the motors via the Rowan app and switch to skysafari to do a two star alignment its not accurate at all. I am obviously doing so something wrong. The method I use is as follows 1 Select a star in Skysafari by tapping it ie Rigel then press goto ,the skysafari app slews my telescope to Where it thinks Rigel is. 2 I then move my scope to centralise Rigel in my reticule eyepiece. 3. I then tap Rigel again and press Align,the Skysafari app then asks me if I wish to use Rigel as a alignment star which I accept. 4. I then use the same procedure for the second star ie Castor. Can anyone clarify the correct procedure step by step in skysafari as I am doing something wrong. Thanks in advance for any help Cheers Frank

Very sad news indeed- RIP John,he was a avid poster on this forum and passed is in depth knowledge to many a beginner on this forum. He will be sadly missed. Condolences to you and all the family Frank

Great thanks for the reply Dek,think I have tried clicking the scope icon .I must say the layout of the Rowan webpage its quite intuitive and works very well. I'm not that familiar with Sky Safari app so I am on a learning curve with that ,so it could be me but I can connect to Sky Safari 3 or 4 times and then for some reason the next time it fails,but like I say it could be me! Frank

Hello Stu Thanks for the reply,yes I have checked all the settings in SS and altered the settings in scope set up page as per Rowan Instructions. The only thing I can think of,is I may have had my phone and tablet connected to the hotspot at the same time ,dont know if that could cause a problem no expert at these sort of things,but overall very pleased with motor upgrade. Cheers Frank

So you can just switch the motors on in the Rowan app and switch over to SS and do a alignment? My method was to do my alignment in the rowan app with two alignment stars ,switch the motors on and then switch over to SS ,having aligned in the Rowan app. On a few occasions I have switched over to Sky Safari from the Rowan app and SS would not connect and I haven't the foggiest idea why. Cheers Frank

Nice report Steve,good to hear it works well.Have you tried the Rowan AZ100 Planaterium App out by any chance if so what's the verdict. Nice set up by the way. Cheers Frank

Thanks for that Stu shame the handle wasn't the same diameter all the way down. Frank

Can I ask does the counterweight slide over the handle end of the panhandle ie the larger diameter of the panhandle thankyou. Frank

Hello could someone please elaborate how the motor controller box fastens to the front of the mount please,does it require the tray the Nexus DSC utilises? Many thanks in advance Frank

Would repeat what budgie says,but I think there should be a thrust washer between the underside of the tripod hub and the step on the shaft that you are hand tightening ,from your photo you can see a gap where the washer should be good luck with it patience and perserverance will pay off. Hope this helps

I presume it will fit on a EQ6 tripod hub, not just the Rowan tripod hub? Thanks for the pics John

I think your alt problem is play between worm and wheel,it just needs adjusting out as per instructions supplied with mount.I have the same problem developing but will adjust it out shortly The stuttering is due to imbalance but can be damped out with the damping knobs,if I remember correctly the instructions don't explain the function of the damping knobs but I worked it out by trail and error. Its a great mount and I really enjoy using it especially with nexus dsc it works really well. Hope this helps Ce

Looks like a good solution, does the clamp mark the legs on your uni tripod? Do you think this solution would work on a Planet tripod. The Monkeygrip looks a great idea but way to expensive Looks like a great alternative solution. Frank

Hello Derek Thanks very much for your detailed explanation about the slo motion aspect of the driven mount ,looking forward too see it develop and ultimately go on general sale. Many thanks Frank

Looking forward to following this thread John,interested to see if you can still use the slo mos manually. Interesting Black Friday delivery!

Just purchased one of the above Powertanks ,charged it up (when fully charged the four red leds stay lit and dont flash when fully charged). When you check the state of charge by pressing a seperate button only three of the four leds light up before I even use it! Anyone had this problem with one of these powertanks? think it may be going back. Any help would be appreciated cheers.

Seeing not bad up here in South Manchester Io's shadow quite distinct,and a prominent barge in the NEB but struggled with the GRS,cloud started to move in so time for a Beer with the other half!