JDKay1

On 20/04/2022 at 13:43, malc-c said:

The mount doesn't run off mains supply.  The power unit that plugs into the mains will rectify the 220-240v ac and drop the voltage so you get a DC supply that the mount can use.  Two values that will determine if the supply is suitable are the voltage and current rating.  It needs to be able to supply 12 to 14 volts under load, and the current rating needs to be 3Amps.  If the power block you are using isn't able to supply 12v whilst delivering the current the motors will draw whilst both are slewing then the mount will not slew correctly.

I got the power supply with the mount from the shop where i have bought all my stuff - Rother Valley Optics. Its a 240v in / 12v 8A out so should all be fine.

Interestingly i believe i have managed to set it all up whilst inside (cloud out till later...) whereas i can control the telescope as planned. I have sent it off in all directions & it seems to respond well. 

Next step... photos....

At least my star adventurer takes only 10 minutes to setup and away it goes.....!

12 hours ago, malc-c said:

@JDKay1 How are you powering the mount.  In other threads with similarities they have resolved the issue by using a 13.8v regulated supply that can deliver upto 5amps

As it’s in my back garden, I power it from the mains so power not an issue.

8 hours ago, malc-c said:

If it were me I would try a different approach before buying more equipment.

Assuming you have installed the ASCOM platform,  download EQMOD and  Cartes du Ciel.  Un-install NINA for now.  Enter the same data for your location in both EQMOD and Cartes du Ciel.  (EQMOD install guide).  Open up Cartes du Ciel and goto "telescope" select "telescope settings" and under "telescope" tab ensure its set to ASCOM, if not set it to ASCOM and apply.  Then select "Telescope" once more and select "Connect Telescope" to launch the Ascom Telescope interface box - Under the ASCOM local tab click the "select" button and in the ASCOM telescope chooser window select "EQMOD HEQ5/6" and OK to close the ASCOM box.  The Ascom interface box will still be visible.  Click "connect" which will launch the EQMOD "driver" .  You can then click the "hide" button to make the Ascom telescope interface window vanish.

EQMOD will be displaying "Parked".  It is expecting the mount to be in the default home position. (as described above).  Click "Unpark".  Now select a visible star in Cartes du Ciel and right click on it. on the pop up menu select "Telescope" and then "Slew: [target name]".  The scope should then start to slew to that target.  Keep the mouse pointer over the "stop" button of the EQMOD interface just in case the mount goes off in a tangent !

All being well the scope will end up pointing the right direction and very close to the target, or at least have the target in the field of view in a WA eyepiece.  If you get this far then it would suggest that the issue is with NINA and how it is sending the commands to the mount (assuming you are using NINA's inbuilt driver).  The next step would be to install NINA and rather than have it use the inbuilt driver, select EQMOD as the connection to the mount and see if the mount still slews to the correct location.

Thanks for that. I will give this a go next weekend when I get the chance.

Thanks

31 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

You say you polar aligned manually already?

If so why and how are you trying to polar align in NINA?

As an aside NINA WILL control all this kit AND do it well so it's up to you if you want to persevere. What are the error messages you are seeing, which kit is throwing errors, is it ASCOM drivers or native?

Thanks for your reply. I am trying every which way, however repetitive, to get this right. I understand that NINA can control everything and it looks a great program if I can get it to work but NINA keeps saying that the polar alignment is constantly failing. Coupled with that I get a ZWO windows error saying that it now cannot find the ZWO drivers. I will take some photos later and hopefully it will make more sense..!

Thanks all. Here is what I managed to achieve last night after 4 hours (until the clouds rolled in…)

• Levelled & pointed the equipment / scope to North. No issues.
• Switch on mount & manually polar aligned using the reticle / iphone. Switched off mount. No issues.
• Connected the guide camera and mount cables to the laptop. No issues.
• Fired up ASCOM, PHD2 and then NINA. Clicked ‘Connect All’ in Nina and it connected the guide camera, guiding and telescope. No issues.
• Checked all the settings and seemed fine. So far so good…
• Clicked on Polar Align in NINA and it fails every time. I can see a black picture with some stars but it never gets aligned. It has also started to throw up some ZWO driver errors which I haven’t seen before.

Should I just bit the bullet and get an ASIair plus..?! Really don’t want to do that yet as I need to prove this concept.

Thanks 

Thanks all for your replies some good stuff there that I will try when 8 get my stuff back out. Looking at the forecast, clouds all the way now….

6 hours ago, malc-c said:

We need a little more information as it's slightly confusing as it seems you are setting the scope up with the handset and then using a the laptop to control it?  

Reading between the lines it would seem you have both the Handset connected to the mount, and a PC connected via a USB A-B cable.  If so remove the handset, it is not needed.

GS Server is expecting the mount to be in the default park HOME position, pointing North, weights down, scope pointing towards Polaris.  Most of the software will take the time form the PC's time, so that's one thing to check.  The other is that all applications are using the same location and date values so long and latitude are the same in all programs.

When you state that the scope is now where near the target, is it that it's more or less pointing in the correct area, or is it point in a totally different direction, ie West instead of East ?

One possible cause is that you have the DEC axis 180 degrees out of phase.  Try removing the scope, rotate the DEC axis 180 degrees so the two bolts that secure the dovetail are now on the opposite side to what they were and re-attach the scope.  You can test in the daytime by leaving all the covers on the scope and place it in the same HOME position (approx) and then select the sun as a target and see if the scope ends up pointing more or less at the sun, or at least close to it rather than miles off

Malcom, 

that’s correct - I leave the handset connected as I tried to get it without the PC first then switch over. Obviously this then may have caused some issues and I will disconnect prior to trying again. 
When it comes to star alignment, it’s not as much as 180 or even 90 degrees off - something like 30-50 degrees. 
There a few things in your reply that I will try when I get my stuff back out. 
I appreciate the reply.

54 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

Being polar aligned ie the mount is physically aligned is the first thing to achieve but you then need to be star aligned so the scope knows where it is pointing in the sky.

You have NINA (hopefully you have 2.0 installed) so you could actually use the TPPA plugin for polar aligning and then also use plate solving to get aligned. Once you've done that your gotos will be spot on, or at least pretty accurate.

Thanks for the reply. What I cannot understand is, if you strip away all the photography stuff for the minute, why the mount still does not go anywhere near a star for the first star alignment. I can understand if it was in the vicinity and I could then fine tune but it is always way off. If I cannot get that right then surely all the computer stuff is going to be way off as well..?!

Hi all again. Well, first clear skies last night for a while and the conditions were great and I loved being outside for 7 hours and still managed to achieve….. nothing..! Well, not strictly true so I will give you a summary and I would really appreciate your help again as I do not know what steps to take next. Here goes…. 

- EQ6R Pro mount is located on a sturdy and level base (my patio). I have imputed the time, date and Co-ordinates correctly.
- SW120 EDDS Pro scope is attached to the mount.
- Canon 600D DSLR is attached at the end of my telescope. 
- Dedicated laptop is attached to my mount using the USB A/B connector.
- Guidescope - ZWO120mm. Connected with cable from camera to laptop
- telescope and mount, I believe, are in the home position I.e weights down and telescope pointing up and the mount and scope aligned.
- used the Bahtinov mask on my scope/canon camera and managed to get a bright star focused after a couple of test shots.
……all good so far (I think)….

I have installed many programs including NINA / ASTAP / ASCOM / Prolific USB drivers / GS Server. My laptop now sees my telescope and my guide camera and I can control them from my laptop. Before I have connected all the programs, I believe I have successfully manually Polar aligned using the mount polar alignment reticle and my phone tells my where Polaris should be in this reticle.
 

This is when i have the issues and maybe I am missing a step..? If I then, for example, use the laptop to send the mount to a known star, it sends the mount to a completely different part of the sky from where the stars are. I have also tried this using the handset with the same results - the mounts just moves to an area nowhere near the star..!!

I have no idea where to go next. Although I love being outside, it is demoralising when the mount doesn’t seem to know where to go. I appreciate this is a learning curve but could there be an issue with the mount or is there something I have overlooked..?

 I am resilient and will persevere however long I takes..!
Thanks

Thanks all for taking the time to reply. Just to confirm the mount is connected to my laptop via the B USB cable. However it got me thinking - this cable is 10m long which may not be as reliable after a specific length.

I have ASCOM/GS Server installed but there are other things from the replies that I will also check.

On a side note - If I take away the laptop & once I was Polar Aligned (I believe accurately) when i try and align an object (a bright star) it slews to a completely different area.  Surely i am missing a step here..? Also, if everything is working/aligned etc. how does it then track..? Does it do it automatically or do i need to tell it to do it..?

current equipment:
- EQ6R Pro mount
- SW120 EDDS Pro scope
- Canon 600D DSLR
- Dedicated laptop
- Guidescope - ZWO120mm. Cable from camera to laptop
- USB B cable from Mount to laptop

Got this mount a few weeks ago and it’s solid and sturdy to say the least..! However, it will remain as a permanent external decorative fixture unless I can get this Polar alignment / tracking sorted out……

I have the Star Adventurer 2i which I use with my Canon 600D DSLR and is soooo easy to PA / find a target then track (I have a little finder scope on top of my camera which puts me roughly where I need to be). Had some really good wide FOV photos.

Not so easy with the EQ6R Pro though… when I think I have PA with this (same principal as the SA) I then use the handset to align. I pick one star (just to get going) and it always slews to a different place from where the star is..! I use a spirit level on the RA & DA and twiddle the number things to what it shows in the manual (and online) but still it is way off from the stars. 

if I do actually manage to get the PA and alignment correct, how then does it track..? Do I have to tell it or does it do it automatically..?

I have my laptop hooked up to both my guide camera and mount with all the required programs and drivers but it doesn’t see my mount at all.

All in all - very frustrating but determination and some knowledge from others will definitely help..!

Great advice. Basically, if I want go better than what I currently have then it wall cost a bit more than I thought..! 
I think I will squeeze the Canon for all it’s worth before looking at upgrading.

(That Calculator tool website is great.!)

Thanks for all your help.

Hi all,

I currently have the following equipment:

- Skywatcher 120 EDDS Pro Telescope

- Skywatcher EQ6R Pro mount 

- Skywatcher 50 Evo guidescope

- ASI 120mm guide camera

- Canon 600d camera

i have had some decent shots from my camera but looking now at the next investment. What the best Astro camera for around £500..?

thanks 

I currently have the following equipment:

- Skywatcher 120 EDDS Pro Telescope

- Skywatcher EQ6R Pro mount 

- Skywatcher 50 Evo guidescope

- ASI 120mm guide camera

- Canon 600d camera

i have had some decent shots from my camera but looking now at the next investment. What the best Astro camera for around £500..?

thanks 

I currently have the following equipment:

- Skywatcher 120 EDDS Pro Telescope

- Skywatcher EQ6R Pro mount 

- Skywatcher 50 Evo guidescope

- ASI 120mm guide camera

- Canon 600d camera

i have had some decent shots from my camera but looking now at the next investment. What the best Astro camera for around £500..?

thanks