Really starting to wonder why I bothered

[malc-c]

Even with a raging cold, and against the advice from the wife, I've just spent a couple of hours out with the scope trying to get the mount aligned after I mucked it up using alignmaster.

Here is a brief summary of what I've done:

1) - leveled the pier adapter

2) - set the mount up as per the guides on the web (set DEC to 0 when weight bar is level etc)

3) - released the clutches and parked the scope to the home position, then moved the scope to the home position using the setting circles and locked the clutches

4) - Imported GPS data from the dongle into EQmod

5) - used the polar alignment tool in EQmod to get the position of Polaris

6) - Placed Polaris in the centre of the polarscope reticule, then having used EQmod to rotate the mount, placed Polaris in the centre of the bubble on the reticule

7) - repositioned scope to the home position

8) - cleared all previous points in EQmod

9) - re-synced the encoders in EQmod

10) - opened CdC and connected to the scope

11) - selected Vega as the 1st target star and slewed the scope

12) - used gamepad to drive the scope until Vega was under the cross-hair's of the finder - verified this by taking a shot through the dslr

13) - synced the point in CdC

14) - selected the second point - Altair - and slewed the scope,

15) - again, used the gamepad to centre star in finder and confirmed by taking an image - star dead centre of the image

16) - synced point in CdC

Now this is where the fun starts

17) - selected M27 which is in the same sector of sky.. the circles indicating scope position in CdC stopped slightly to right and above M27 in CdC rather than directly on it, even though I had zoomed the view in to ensure that when right clicking on the target it was directly on it.

18) - took an image and sure enough no sign of M27

19) - used the NSEW buttons on EQmod to place the scope position circles centred on M27 and took an image - M27 was bang in the centre of the image

20) - synced the point in CdC

21) - slewed back to Altair and it again needed correcting to centre the star... synced again and then moved back to M27 - it was still in the FOV but not centred as before !!

22) - opened PHD and calibrated using the same settings I've used before - the resulting graph had the RA and DEC diverging away from each other, even though the calibration was around 8-10 steps in each direction

23) - opened the AA5 demo and having calibrated started guiding... after a second or two the plotting started drifting way out of the circles and the target star was no longer being kept on target.

By this time I my I headed my wife's advice as my cold was taking hold, and to be honest my heart wasn't really in it anymore. I'm getting fed up with the poor goto's I'm getting and the issues with guiding. I would of thought having upgraded from the EQ5 to HEQ5 things would be more precise. I purchased the mount second hand, and it seems in good condition... is there anything I need to do to check for excessive wear in the bearings or such

One thing I will try when I'm back on my feet is to use the handset to set the alignment up and see what accuracy I get with the goto's through that. And then to see if placing that into PC direct mode makes any difference to the goto accuracy. The other option is to use the ST4 direct port and see if that guides any better than via the ascom /EQmod set up. If that doesn't work then I'll e-bay the lot and turn the observatory into a large model railway room, or something equally as daft !!

[ismangil]

Or get a Dobsonian :-D

[Veracocha]

Malc-c, apart from the GPS you have described the night I have just had. I went back to my handset and rememebred what goto accuracy was all about without the faffing. I have just a moment ago ordered a ST4 cable in the hope this has something to do with a complete inability to get any guiding through PHD. So close to knocking all this on the head for a big goto dob.

[malc-c]

Yup... getting a Dob would be as daft as setting up a model railway

[Black Knight]

I always try to place my imaging target within at least 1 "triangle" of alignment points in EQmod, since I understand this is what is recommended. When I do that, goto "quality" is much higher.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[malc-c]

Malc-c, apart from the GPS you have described the night I have just had. I went back to my handset and rememebred what goto accuracy was all about without the faffing.

Glad to hear I'm not alone. When you say "went back" had you been using EQmod prior to going back to the handset ?

I used to get better goto's when I 1st got the 200P / EQ5 with handset and used to use a tripod and crudely polar aligned. Don't get me wrong, EQmod etc are all great programs, but there has to be something fundamentally wrong if using a handset with the same set up produces goto's where the target is in the FOV of the eyepiece... and the software can't

[Veracocha]

For weeks I have been trying EQMOD which is relatively accurate but even when I go back to a pre-dertermined sync point it isn't quite centred. It's like I'm chasing my tail. However, in frustration I went back to the handset just to enjoy some visual and It's centering the object in a 10mm illuminated reticle EP. To me this tells me the mount/gearing is ok.

[malc-c]

Uhmmmm... just need to run an extension cable from the mount to the warm room so I can use the handset in comfort

It will be interesting to see if using the serial connection cable to the handset and placing that in PC direct mode works any better with CdC than EQMod. I would love to get my head round how exactly the mount ends up pointing to a target with CdC, EQMOD and the ascom drivers and how the mount then works out where it is... if you follow my drift

One thing I forgot to add in the points above, was that the PC time etc is synced to the same local GPS data, which is also manually entered into CdC so all applications were singing from the same hymn sheet !

[Veracocha]

If my new cable doesn't play ball I'll go the handset/cable route too. I have had up to 10 sync points in CDC which I thought would increase accuracy further but it still doesn't beat the handset. I need another star party where some of the experts can tell me where/if I am going wrong. Until this is all sorted I'm holding back on the purchase of the final item I need for imaging; a CLS-CCD filter for the 350D. Hang in there, it'll all be worth it in the end.

Just to qualify, by accuracy I mean almost dead centre in a 10mm reticle eyepiece.

[swamp thing]

Blimey Malc. I feel your frustration just reading that.

You deserve a break mate.

Good luck with it.

Regards Steve

[Zakalwe]

6) - Placed Polaris in the centre of the polarscope reticule, then having used EQmod to rotate the mount, placed Polaris in the centre of the bubble on the reticule

OK, I'm a noob, but are you sure that you are doing the EQMod PA correctly? AFAIK, you use a level on the CW bar to get the bar horizontal. Then rotate the mount in RA 90 degrees, so the bubble on the reticule is in the 12 o'clock position when looking through the polarscope.

Centre Polaris on the reticule centre (which is what you appear to be doing) then using the altitude bolts, move the mount until Polaris is in the bubble*. Now tell EQMod to use the 12 o'clock position, and then to align the mount. EQMod will rotate the mount to the correct position.

Then use the altitude and azimuth bolts to centre Polaris in the bubble on the reticule.

Oh, and make sure that Limit Protection is turned off in EQMod too.

See this video here:

*Strictly speaking, the mount does not have to be horizontal, as you can centre Polaris using altitude and azimuth bolts. Putting the CW bar horizontal just means that you only have to use the altitude bolts.

[malc-c]

Thanks for the encouragement Steve.... just trying to decide on whether to go for N gauge or OO.... N gauge would allow me to have longer trains

Just wish I wasn't so full of flu... I could then take advantage of this clear night to try out the handset to see if I get the same accuracy as Veracocha

[malc-c]

Centre Polaris on the reticule centre (which is what you appear to be doing) then using the altitude bolts, move the mount until Polaris is in the bubble*. Now tell EQMod to use the 12 o'clock position, and then to align the mount. EQMod will rotate the mount to the correct position.

Then use the altitude and azimuth bolts to centre Polaris in the bubble on the reticule.

Sorry should of made that clear in the 1st post. Yes, having centred Polaris on the cross-hair, I then use the altitude bolts to lower polaris until it disappears behind the line of the ring in the recital. I then rotated the mount until the bubble is over the star, centred as best you can in the bubble and lock the RA clutch. Having selected 6 O'clock as being the starting point, I let EQmod rotate the mount to the HA position for Polaris, and then used the alt / az bolts to place Polaris back in the centre of that bubble

[Zakalwe]

Sorry should of made that clear in the 1st post. Yes, having centred Polaris on the cross-hair, I then use the altitude bolts to lower polaris until it disappears behind the line of the ring in the recital. I then rotated the mount until the bubble is over the star, centred as best you can in the bubble and lock the RA clutch. Having selected 6 O'clock as being the starting point, I let EQmod rotate the mount to the HA position for Polaris, and then used the alt / az bolts to place Polaris back in the centre of that bubble

Ah well, I thought that it might be something really obvious. I'll shut up now

[malc-c]

No... it was a valid point, and thanks for the input. Obviously something is going wrong, and I'm not beyond making mistakes...

[themos]

17) - selected M27 which is in the same sector of sky.. the circles indicating scope position in CdC stopped slightly to right and above M27 in CdC rather than directly on it, even though I had zoomed the view in to ensure that when right clicking on the target it was directly on it.

It's this bit that made me sit up. Are you sure you asked for a slew to M27? CdC's right button menu should say M27 if you've actually selected it otherwise it will go somewhere near.

[Gina]

It's very cold tonight (after all the mild weather) - that doesn't help. And if you're below par everything goes wrong. Nice clear night here too but my gear is just not yet ready for even a half decent session. Any night now Jupiter is going to be behind the moon

I too feel your frustration Malcolm. I think you should keep warm and get plenty of rest and get yourself better. My experience tells me that if you're not feeling well and things start going wrong, give up and try another day. Of course, I rarely take my own advice

Good luck and hope you get well soon

[Zakalwe]

15) - again, used the gamepad to centre star in finder and confirmed by taking an image - star dead centre of the image

Another obvious question, but is the finder aligned with the scope? Has it been knocked out of alignment

[malc-c]

Yes, having asked CdC to find M27 I right clicked on the circle that was around M27. The top of the menu had "about M27". I also had zoomed the view to make sure I could easily select the target.

This was the sort of result I got having performed the above operation. Like I said, once I had used the NSEW buttons on EQMOD to position the centre of those circles over M27 it was bang in the centre of the image when I took a 30s sub

[malc-c]

Another obvious question, but is the finder aligned with the scope? Has it been knocked out of alignment

Good suggestion. The finder has been aligned with the scope, and appeared in the centre of the image when a test shot was taken (point 15).

[chrisshillito]

Malcolm,

Don't use your finder for doing alignment, or even a dslr image - use a high power reticule eyepiece in your main scope. Define three points in a triangle around your your target and don't ever sync on nebula, galaxies, planets etc - they are too big!. You'll only get accurate gotos if you define accurate alignment points.

Chris.

[FrankieValley]

Feeling the pain too!

I think you have a connectivity issue between the EQDir box and the mount motor control board. Not too long ago I had an intermittent fault that gave some strange behaviour. The mount would slew and then stop somewhere before the target. It didn't beep that 2nd time as it does when it 'arrives' where you sent it. This happened a few times and then stopped, but guiding was pants. To cut a long story short, just before I bought a new motor control board I got my continuity tester out and found a broken, but touching, solder joint on the back of the RS232 socket. Re-soldered and all good now. I think it had come about because I had stripped down the mount and the wear and tear of pulling the board in and out, etc had caused it. Perhaps the previous owner liked a tinkle too.

So, listen for that tell tale 2nd beep when it falls short of the target, if you don't get it, get out a continuity tester and look damn hard for a break somewhere. Good luck and hope the cold gets better.

Your wife sounds nice, by the way. Understanding rather that dismissive :-)

[StevieDvd]

Hi Malc,

Not able to offer expert assistance, but if I can help with trying out alternate leads etc.

I have:

unused eqmod adapter

SW GPS mouse

HEQ5 mount

usb, serial, power leads etc

Could even try a fresh install on my laptop (win 7 64bit) of controlling software.

Let me know if you want to try.

Steve

[malc-c]

Anyone want to buy a telescope !

Felt well enough to venture out and spend a few hours going over this again.

Here is a brief summary of what I've done:

1) - leveled the pier adapter

2) - set the mount up as per the guides on the web (set DEC to 0 when weight bar is level etc)

3) - parked the scope to the home position, confirming that everything is as it shgould be with weights down and at 6 O'clock position

4) - Imported GPS data from the dongle into EQmod

5) - used the polar alignment tool in EQmod to get the position of Polaris whilst following the video on youtube

6) - opened up CdC

7) - repositioned scope to the home position

8) - cleared all previous points in EQmod

9) - re-synced the encoders in EQmod

10) - connected to the scope in CdC

11) - selected De as the 1st target star Deneb and slewed the scope

12) - used gamepad to drive the scope until Deneb was under the cross-hair's of the finder - verified this by centering in an 8mm eyepiece

13) - synced the point in CdC

14) - selected the second point - Markab - and slewed the scope,

15) - again, used the gamepad to centre star in finder and confirmed in the 8mm eyepiece

16) - synced point in CdC

17) - repeated this a third time using Bellatrix

18) - Set targein t on M42 and picked a star in PHD to giude on. Calibrated

Here are the results

This is doing my head in !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Veracocha]

Malc, I achieved my best results tonight and I used only Polarfinder to PA. On slewing to my first star in CDC I manually adjusted the mount to the chosen star and then sync'd. Same agian for subsequent stars but accuracy by then was very good. Here on in PHD worked really well. It'ss come together, it's taken me six weeks to get to this stage due to using the incorrect cable.