Skywatcher Flextube Auto tracking

[solarwallace]

A quick question about tracking.

Manual says all I have to do is setup latitude (which I've done). You only have to do this once.

Then just remember to 'finish' finding something in the right direction e.g. When looking east, always end with Up and Right on the controller to account for any slackness in the tracking.

Oh almost forgot make sure your mounts level.

Somewhere on here someone from Flo mentioned that you should point your scope at Polaris then turn off and turn on again. Interestingly when I did this I managed to get Jupiter sitting in the eyepiece without any noticeable drift at all.

To get to the point: what procedure are others following for an auto az mount?

I've had this scope since March and not really worried about tracking until now (well I haven't used it much over summer really due to light skies and work demands). I've been playing with it over the last two evenings - last night the tracking wasn't so good - so I'm trying to 'fix' in my mind the best procedure to follow to get good results.

Any tips, great fully received.

Thank you

Steve.

[valleyman]

Had the same problem with my new 200 Auto Dob, took the covers off and remeashed the gears to take up some of the backlash. Your doing right with right and up in the East and Right and down in the West.

I changed the Handset with mine to the GOTO and the tracking is much better because it has Backlash compensation..

[solarwallace]

Thanks for the info. I've read that you can upgrade to goto by buying a new az mount with goto on and swapping the handset. Is that how you did it?

Thanks

Steve

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[valleyman]

Yes , that works fine doing that.

[Space Cowboy]

I've had good tracking recently (admittedly since having a replacement mount).

I'm confident I can image up to f40+. I start off with the scope level at 0 pointing north making sure last button pressed is "up" when zeroing. Switch off and on and slew to target which is centered in eyepiece at high magnification i.e 7mm with 5x barlow. Before activating tracking make sure "up" key is last one used.

I also have the GOTO handset but am now having more success with the auto track.

[brantuk]

With the auto handset everything I've read above rings true for accurate tracking. Level mount, level tube, off/on, then set latitude using polaris. Finish with up/right in the east, then right/down in the west.

With the goto handset I level the mount, then do a three star align within 1/4 to 1/3rd of the sky. Goto will be accurate within that area. If I move to a different area of sky, I allways use the PAE on at least three goto objects in that area, and it stays accurate.

[solarwallace]

Thanks for the replies. It just helps confirm I'm not doing anything wrong. Tracking was pretty good last night

Steve.

[plug]

Had the same problem with my new 200 Auto Dob, took the covers off and remeashed the gears to take up some of the backlash. Your doing right with right and up in the East and Right and down in the West.

I changed the Handset with mine to the GOTO and the tracking is much better because it has Backlash compensation..

Since this is a thread topic on what I was going to ask I won't start a new one. Lads, as some of you know from my other thread Im after running into a bit of bother. The thing won't track at all. I didn't try goto yet. The directional buttons all work. I done the handset swap, changed from auto tracking to goto set up. Can someone give me some tips on what to do, I read the manual with no success. Im beginning to think its the mount:(