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Showing results for tags 'az-eq6'.
Found 7 results
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I have recently acquired an AZ-EQ6 mount but am struggling to get decent GOTO accuracy so need some help/advice. On the plus side the mount is tracking fantastically - I have taken 4 minute unguided exposures with my DSLR and the stars are nice and round. I am using a refractor which has 1000mm focal length and I'm just using the hand controller with the skywatcher GPS attachment that sets the date and time. i.e. no PC software involved. I have disabled the auxiliary encoders as I don't need them and have heard they can be a source of problems. I polar align using the polarscope which I find plenty good enough to get good tracking accuracy. When I turn the unit on the GPS sets the date and time and I select daylight savings on and I have the unit in the home position so weights down and scope pointing parallel up towards the north pole (I've used the spirit level to set the setting circles so I can get the home position more accurate). I've tried 1, 2 and 3 star alignments but always have the same issue - it succeeds but then when I slew to another star (even a close one) it is a long way off (i.e. nowhere near being in view even in 30mm eyepiece). The oddest thing is that after centering the star and completing the alignment if I slew away to another star and then back to the alignment star it still points way off! In my mind I at least expected that to work - I thought it would just have some offset map between the calculated astronomical coordinates and where you've told it is really pointing so I don't understand at all how this can happen. Late last night for example I did a 1 star align on Vega and then told it to go to Deneb and had to move with the hand controller the end of the scope up a good foot to find it! It's like its completely ignoring the alignment adjustment I have to make each time to find the star so any initial error never gets corrected. Any ideas?
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I have just built a pier at the end of my garden: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/245847-it-started-with-a-hole-never-thought-it-would-come-to-this/ Is there anyone here that uses a custom home position with ASCOM/EQMOD? I ask because if I can park my scope horizontally, it means that my roll off shed can be about 40 cm lower than if I park in the classic counterweight down, scope up position. I have read other posts that some use this custom park feature in EQMOD, but I have also read that some people have endless problems with it. Who has experience of using this? I also think I will set up this afternoon and conduct some dummy runs, but, of course, I won't be able to check the alignment this way. Any tips/tricks (or dire warnings) would be appreciated.
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Hello, I need the the help of you guys in analysing my mount's PE and maybe tuning my guiding performance. So far I've been using the PHD settings almost on default but I've now decided it's time to make the jump and learn if and how to fine tune them. My setup consists of a AZ-EQ6 GT used with EQMOD, the scope is a SW ED80 with a 0.8 focal reducer (so my imaging FL is 480mm), the imaging camera is an Atik 460ex mono. Im guiding through a TS 60mm f4 guidescope (240mm FL) with a QHY5 camera piggybacked on the ED80. So, I'm imaging at 1.95"/px for bin 1x1 and at 3.9"/px at bin 2x2 and my guiding resolution is 4.47"/px. The whole setup is a mobile one, so I set-up and take everything apart after each session. Last weekend I decided to give Periodical Error Correction a try and used the automatic tool included with the EQMOD. Just by visually analyzing the PHD guide log I see there's a slight improvement (see "guiding_session_overview.jpg" printscreen from PHD2 Log Viewer): to my eyes there's a change (in good) after second half of the graph). I loaded the PERecorder file into PECPrep for analysis and this is what I got ("PECPrep_overview.jpg"). I'm having a bit of a hard time understanding the numbers as I don't have what to compare against. Are those numbers good or does the mount require some tweeking? What is the PE of my mount (I'm curious to see how it compares to figures from other mounts)? Should I look at the RMS PE, or Peak PE? Zooming in on the PHD log I noticed that there's some "bounce" on both RA and DEC when making corrections (see "DEC_bounce_example.jpg" and "RA_bounce_example.jpg"). I belive the "official" term is that PHD is overcorrecting. From what I've read I should decrease the aggression and/or hysteresis parameters. Am I right or the "bounce" is not that bad? Should I also alter some other parameters? I've also attached the PHD guide log form that evening. My "target" is to try and reach the 30min subs mark. Thanks and clear skies, Andrei pecapture_07022016234934_EQMOD.txt PHD2_GuideLog_2016-07-02_221125.txt
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az-eq6 AZ-EQ6 will not guide or calibrate in Y Axis
MeyGray3833 posted a topic in Discussions - Mounts
Hello. I have an unusual problem with my AZ-EQ6. I decided that I wanted to try pulse guiding rather than ST4, to get rid of a cable. I use MaxIm for all my controls, capture, guiding, pointing etc. and I use the EQMod ASCOM scope driver. My initial pulse guiding efforts worked ok, the mount would move and guide etc, no worries. I was not pleased with the pulse guiding results after some fluffing around so I moved back to ST4 and this seems to be where my issues started. Now, whether I choose ST4 or pulse guiding, my mount will no longer calibrate in the Y axis (Dec, I believe), or for that matter, guide. I have tried the move commands from inside MaxIm guide tab and X responds to a 10 pixel move but not Y. I tested with both PHD 1 & 2 with the same results. If it were a hardware issue, as in the mount has a Dec problem, would I be able unable to operate the mount with the hand controller or on screen motion buttons, both of which slew the mount fine? I could understand if the guide port were malfunctioning that ST4 would possibly have an issue but not when the mount slews as directed, so pulse guiding should work. Could it simply be that my EQMod driver has got confused and needs to be re-set, or am I looking down the barrel of sending my mount back to the dealer? Does any of this make sense? Thoughts and feedback most welcome. -
I see some people are using a C11 on the smaller AZ-EQ5 and wondered for visual use only would it be possible to mount a C14 on the larger AZ-EQ6? 20kg's plus eyepiece, diagonal, finder etc? Madness?
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Hi, Does AZ-EQ6 needs polar alignment? I live near equator, 1 degree from equator. both Northern celestial pole and Southern celestial poles are nearly at the horizon. Can I use 2 or 3 star alignment? will it help me? does 2 star or 3 star alignment is different from polar alignment? can someone explain. Thanks
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Despite some clouds yesterday night, I managed to get a few hours staring at the Cygnus Wall. This is very much a WIP (am shooting more subs right now, less cloud) So far, 17 of 31 frames stacked (only about 6 - 7 rejected due to poor tracking, the rest due to low contrast = clouds) 17 x 480 sec subs (unguided) + calibration frames @ ISO 800 (total time on target: 2 h 16 min) scope: SW 150P on AZ-EQ6 GT camera: Pentax K20D (not astro modified) software: PixInsight (stacking, cropping, colour calibration, noise reduction, stretching and slight sharpening). I may restack these with the low contrast frames to see if I can get the noise down. At which time I will also make an effort to reduce the stars and sharpen the nebula. Comments welcome.
