Droogie 2001

Thanks Micky. Yes will be getting cable very soon (next week I suspect) but just wanted to get a idea of what to expect as things can get confusing when in the dark trying to sort this. Also cannot fully test plate solving until outside. So if I Pole Align with my Polemaster. Then use SGP to Plate Solve at Polaris as a means of creating an alignment point in EQ Mod then this would the same as performing a 1 Star Alignment? I would then set this as the Park point as well. This is what I did with the AVX before doing the Quick Alignment option on the AVX handset. After this I would then perform a solve and synch plate solve in SGP for the target image, preloaded by me. Also do I need the other ASCOM SkyWatcher SynScan Mount Controller (6.0.6262, June 2017) , is this as well as the EQ Mod EQASCOM driver? Thanks

Hi. I have just received my new Sky Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount. Being new to Sky Watcher mounts means I am having to learn a few extra things but hopefully I can get up to speed quickly. Since receiving the mount I have updated ASCOM to the latest version, installed the EQ Mod EQASCOM driver successfully. I am currently using the Syn Scan to connect to the mount and laptop so using PC Direct Mode. Will get the EQ Direct cable soon.. I have managed to get everything to connected up correctly, so far so go. With my old Celestron AVX mount I would use my Polemaster to Polar Align then use the Celestron Handset to perform a ‘Quick Alignment’ after having inputted time and date. No need to actually line stars up in reticules just literally press Quick Alignment I could then use my Plate Solving in SGP to go to the target and begin imaging. I will of course still be using my Polemaster. But with the Syn Scan there does not seem to be any sort of Quick Alignment option. There is a 1 Star, 2 Star and 3 Star alignment options. How do I use EQ Mod without having to aligned any stars up? Surely it needs some sort of map built up even if it is not accurate. I am sure this can be done but not sure what I am missing? Note. I have not installed the ASCOM SkyWatcher SynScan Mount Controller (6.0.6262, June 2017) . Do I need this as well as the EQ Mod EQASCOM driver? Thanks.

Very nice. Lovely colours. What exposures? Not long if it was in one night which is even more impressive!

Glad to hear you got it solved. Is my video showing the exact same issue you were having? My flowerpot adapter shows heavy scoring inside but not sure if that is just because yours is newer? It is odd that from new yours is doing this, clearly a design flaw and not great for a new mount. Maybe worth keeping and eye on as understandably the issue plays havok with your tracking.

This sounds very much like the issue I have / had. When I first got the mount the issue was not present but then one evening it started occuring for no apparent reason. If I rotate the DEC head the counterweight bar / weight would not rotate at the same rate meaning they would be left off centre. I have included the video below that I sent to Celestron to demonstrate the issue, is this what you are experiencing? After many different ideas with the vendor it went back to Celestron. They could not see the problem and low and behold when I got it back the issue was still there... Tried different counterweight shafts and different 'Black Collars' (AKA Flowerpots). I can see a scoring inside the flowerpot so it seems to be rubbing on this. The only way I solved this was to remove the collar (flowerpot) as my mount is well out of warranty, its not needed and is simply there for cosmetic reasons. Not something you want to hear on a brand new mount I suspect? I would suggest arranging a replacment if it is brand new as I have never found a solution to this... AVX_DEC_FAULT.mov

Another good idea, thank you.

Thanks. The property does needs some work so there are a number of other factors involved. From my understanding there are some odd laws regarding purchasing properties in Spain some of which may well have changed since they originally purchased about 10 years ago. Really just getting a feel of where they could focus on. Its possible that none of this will make any difference as the situation is a difficult one... Its good to have the SGL forum to raise this sort of question.

Thanks for all of the ideas it has given me a number of possible avenues to follow. I haven't actually discussed this in any depth with my friend as I wanted to try and get a feel for how to make my suggestions.

Thanks I think you are right in that less is more in this case. If the person is interested then I sure that sort of text would be enough to invoke further interest.

Thanks Dave. Certainly sounds like a gap in the market (albeit it a small one) However your post has proved useful in the fact of simply adding the details into the advert may help should anyone be searching for such a property.

I have a bit of a strange request. A friend of mine has been trying to sell a property in Spain for a while now. Having visited the location a while back I know one of its potential selling points is its Dark Sky location. I wasn’t really into Astronomy at the time though I remember how dark the skies were. It’s not far from a National Park and the properties location is also ideal for Astronomy. Any ideas in trying to promote this aspect aside from adding these details to the existing advert? Are there any Astronomy or property websites that may be useful in trying to target a potential buyer who maybe has Astronomy on their interests in selecting a suitable property? Thanks

Glad to hear you got it solved. I was disappointed with the level of support I got from Celestron. They seem to spend a lot on marketing but they need to invest some effort into their support service....

I received this as a block email. I was in contact with the support guy Will. I had to confirm to him that you could actually downgrade the firmware as at first he said it was not possible. Not sure why they mention weeks of public testing as I believed it was released in August 2015, this means 20+ weeks of testing!! I believe that Celestron either did not know of the issue or just ignored it. I did ask why they were still publishing the firmware if it is corrupted so its hard to say if their answer addresses this? All in all pretty poor. I think James you contributed to the solution in this email i.e. Downgrading. Though their instructions are not very clear and unless you place the CFM in offline mode I feel it will still update to the corrupt version. Anyway as far as I am concerned it is sorted and unless I feel the need to upgrade the firmware in the future I will leave it well alone.

Not that's it relevant anymore I finally had a response from Celestron which is clearly incorrect as you can downgrade the firmware. What hope do customers have when their support team don't know their own product... "Unfortunately, there is no way to downgrade to a previous firmware version...." Anyway time to move on. All I can add is thank goodness for Forums like SGL otherwise I would be left with a mount that is half broken.

Hi James. You are a star. After a few tries I managed to downgrade to 5.25.4320. As James mentions you must be offline to do this (off of the Internet entirely). The latest firmware will get automatically downloaded even if you say skip to newer version pop up. It will also download in offline mode if your are connected to the Internet. It is such a small file of 80Kb that you wont notice it has downloaded the latest corrupt version. This happened to me a few times and I couldn't understand why it kept updating to the latest version. If you check in \CFM1.9.5030\Packages\Plus and see APP_AAM_5.25.4320.cfm then you will be okay, if it shows 5.28.5300 then it has download the newer version and you need to delete the folder and unzip a fresh copy. One other thing to note. Not sure if this will be the same for everyone but the downgrade also reset my mount back to its defaults so I had to input my Time Zone and Lat & Long back in. Worth checking after the update. I tried all of the a couple of weeks ago but I was not aware of the Offline mode, so thanks James for resolving a lot of headaches. Need to decide if I want to sent the replacement serial cable back to FLO as this is surplus to requirements... Anyway still no response from Celestron. I do wonder if they have something wrong with their support system. I seem to get an error after logging the case however I do get an automated case email from them with all of my detailed text. In either case to allow a piece of firmware to be out there from what looks like August 2015 with this issue is pretty poor in my mind. Wont be upgrading my firmware for a long while yet.

Tried a new serial cable and the issue is still there. I have now changed and tested all components meaning that it is the hand controller, firmware or both. Needless to say heard nothing back from Celestron...

I am updating this thread as there is someone else appears to a similar AVX issue in this Sub Forum I would recommend no one updates their Firmware at the moment. BTW The Serial to USB cable was swapped and made no difference. Serial cable is on its way but doubt it will resolve the issue. This means it is the Hand Controller or Firmware. Celestron Support do not respond to a call logged a week ago. Very poor service...

Thanks for the response. I will be collecting a new Serial to USB cable tomorrow and after that I will test out the other telescope Serial cable. Will post an update when I get the results back...

Apologies for the long post…but I was wondering whether anyone can advise me on a recent issue I have discovered with my Advanced VX mount. I like many other users connect my laptop to the mount via the serial cable underneath the Nexstar + handset. This is connected so that I can guide the mount with the Celestron / ASCOM software. I recently started to experience issues with connecting the mount with PHD 2 (v2.5.0) however this issue is not exclusive to PHD v2. When the issue occurs it produces the same results in Nex-Remote, PHD v1 etc. Basically after I have aligned my mount and I am ready to guide I will slew to a target to image. Once I finished imaging I move onto the next target however after I have slewed I find the N, E, S, W pop up hand control becomes unresponsive. In that if I click on any of the direction buttons nothing happens. If I then disconnect the mount via PHD and reconnect it will say the Celestron Telescope Driver could not connect to COM3. If I unplug the serial cable (via a USB adapter) no effect. Even if I restart the laptop it still reports the issue. Which lead me to believe the issue is between the laptop and mount. It was then by chance that I noticed that if I press any button on the NexStar + remote handset then I can reconnect the mount. However whilst it is connected the issue of the direction buttons can reoccur (though not all of the time.) On some occasions I have simply pressed the 'Back' button and the mount slews off on its own accord?! These are the checks are have ruled out: It is not a power issue. A fully charged Powertank all other slewing options work it is only ASCOM and when plugged into NexStar + handset that the issue appears. It is not the Operating system as I tested this on another PC and had the same issue. Tried Windows 7 OS and Windows 10 I do not believe it is not the software itself (as detailed above) I have reset mount to factory defaults. I have tried to run through Celestron Firmware Manager again to sees if there is any new firmware but it reports it is all up to date. Have updated the serial /USB adapter driver / have also downgraded driver as a test. Have updated ASCOM Platform to v6.2 Have updated Celestron AVX ASCOM v6.0.5644 This problem seems to have occurred since I performed a Firmware update a month ago but I cannot be a 100% sure. The update went smoothly with no errors. I have only recently noticed the issue as the weather has been terrible and have not had much chance to image! My current firmware is: HC: GEM 5.28.5300 - app version Nex Star+ 3.1.5075 - Boot version MC: 7.11.5056 - app version I realise I still have the Serial / USB cable adapter as possibility as well as the serial cable itself. After that it could be the hand controller? I will try and address the cables and adapter issue today however I have my suspicions on the handset. Has anyone had a similar occurrence especially since latest firmware? Is there any way to downgrade the firmware or is a replacement handset required? I have emailed Celestron Support desk but felt the SGL forms is another ideal place to raise this issue. I realise ST4 guiding is also an option but I really need to get ASCOM working as it controls so many other areas. Also that fact that is was working perfectly previously means I need to solve this issue. Any suggestions would be very helpful Thanks