HEQ5 Troubles

[E_ri_k]

Right, so I'm trying to drift align my HEQ5, and 10 Inch reflector in the southern hemisphere. I have followed a toutorial, and tried out an online drift simulator, seams pretty straight forward. However either I am doing something wrong, or my mount is playing up.

After lining up the reticle with a guide star, so the star follows the crosshairs, is it correct to assume that UP is North, DOWN, South, etc, because I have an even amount of reflections?

If so, I am looking West and adjusting the latitude. I'm watching the star drift N or S. It drifts to the East (Right in the eyepiece), but very minimally N or S. Only after 5 mins does it start to cross the line.

Seams like its going ok.

Then I move to the azimuth. Now, because the scope has moved about 90 Deg,(Pointing North) I am thinking that the line that WAS East in the eyepiece, is NOW North? Since this is where the drift happens?

So I leave it for 5 minutes again, and the star has drifted to North East (Down and to the Right). So after adjusting the azimuth, I can get the star to stop drifting to the North (Right in the eyepiece), but it still drifts East(Down in the eyepiece) rather quickly, only about 2 minutes, if that.

Why does it drift so quickly Down in the eyepiece, when I had no drift for 5 minutes when looking West?

Sorry if my explaination seems confusing.

Now I have got 20Kg of counterweight on the mount alone, just to balance the scope, which is probably around 10Kg. Do you think it is to heavy for the mount and it is struggling? I have noticed that it moves slower in certain directions than others, when using the hand controller, like it is having trouble moving?

[E_ri_k]

Also, forgot to mention that the motor drives tend to make quite alot of noise when slewing with the hand controller.

[Woody]

Gday mate

I am by no means an expert but that does seem to be like a lot of weight on the mount, which may explain the noise from the gears as they struggle. Possibly try less counterweight? The scope should be fairly evenly balanced with it being a bit heavy on one side so the gears are meshed together when tracking.

Like I said,I am no expert and fairly new to all this.

Cheers

[x6gas]

I'd also say that the payload is exceeding what the mount can handle. It's probably ok for visual use but anything requiring the accuracy of drift aligning will, I think, be too much. You'll need an EQ6 minimum for a 10" Newt...

[malc-c]

The HEQ5 has a load capacity of 18kg (exc weights). My guess is that the mount is out of ballance if it's struggling in one direction and your drives are straining to move the scope.

[E_ri_k]

Been doing a bit of research and investigating today. I didn't realise that for imaging it is recommended that the payload be a maximum 50% or so of the mounts max payload. My HEQ5 max's out at 15Kg, and my scope weighs 14.5KG!

I'm looking at the Losmandy G11. Im certain it will handle the weight, just hoping it will do ok with the tube being 1200mm long.

[E_ri_k]

I have the mount well balanced, but it has taken four 5Kg weights right at the end of the weight shaft, I thought that the max payload was 15Kg?

[dph1nm]

20kg seems a lot to balance a 10kg scope. I have 15kg (at the end of the shaft) on my HEQ5 which balances a 11-12kg 8.5in Newt. Maybe your scope weighs more than you think.

Mind you, I have never got drift aligning to work either!

NigelM

[Stephen]

Just my humble opinion, but I'd put several crash mats under the scope - that amount of 15KG OTA + 20KG of CW could end up in a bad way if you sneeze .....

[malc-c]

Opt for the longer weight bar, this should allow less counter weights to be used as you are shifting the weight further away from the scope and hopefully maintaining the CofG to the centre of the mount. - basic leverage physics

[E_ri_k]

I'll look into getting a longer weight bar and see what happens.

[sirmetin]

Should be able to half the counter weight with a long enough bar