SkyWatcher SynScan GOTO - what the Manual doesn't tell you!

[knobby]

Hiya,

I bought my newbie husband this for Christmas and after wrestling with the alignment thingy for 2 hours he gave up. Thanks for this really useful thread and hopefully he will have better luck tomorrow.

wish him luck and keep us posted

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mickshere]

Thankyou for that honest unbiased report, its helped me decide which telescope to go for

[oldstout]

A great post for newbies like myself! Thanks for the info!

[NigelCampbell]

Wow - you write a post - wander off to look at stars (clouds!) and when you finally pop back you see so much activity!

Glad it was useful and that it has fostered so much discussion and some great tips.

[AndyBray]

I'm still getting to grips with the Skywatcher SynScan. When doing a two-star alignment it slews to the approximate correct direction for fine-tuning. However on pressing the direction arrows (I am using the four arrows just below the screen) they don't always all work. I have watched the tutorial on YouTube. Tonight I had the message that I had over-slewed.

I would just like to use the arrows to point the telescope at objects I know are relatively easy to find such as the Orion nebula or Jupiter. However I I cannot get the handset to go into this 'freestyle' sort of mode. The direction arrows just won't  work. Can anybody assist. I don't want to assume I have a faulty handset, its much more likely I realise, that it is user error.

[Cornelius Varley]

You probably need to increase the slew rate to see the mount move. Press button 2 on the keypad and then button 9 to increase the slew rate to maximum. Pressing 2 and then one of the other numbered buttons gives different slew rates.

[Tums]

Can anyone tell me about updating the handset firmware please.

I have downloaded the relevant files from SW, put them in a separate folder on my desktop. bought a USB to Serial cable.

I can get the Loader up and put the update file in it.

But when I click update or hc version, it pops up straight away telling me it can't find the handset. I've tried on a Windows 8.1 computer and a windows 7 netbook. both do the same error.

is it necessary to update the handset?? or should I just leave it as is???.

Thanks on advance for any suggestions.

[Cornelius Varley]

To put the handset into update mode hold down buttons 0 & 8 and then plug in the 12v power supply into the handset. Which mount do you have ?

[jam1e1]

Can anyone tell me about updating the handset firmware please.

I have downloaded the relevant files from SW, put them in a separate folder on my desktop. bought a USB to Serial cable.

I can get the Loader up and put the update file in it.

But when I click update or hc version, it pops up straight away telling me it can't find the handset. I've tried on a Windows 8.1 computer and a windows 7 netbook. both do the same error.

is it necessary to update the handset?? or should I just leave it as is???.

Thanks on advance for any suggestions.

some 'brands' of the USB to serial cables have cheap chip sets in that are unreliable and dont always work - ensure the cable you got came from reputable supplier, else from supplier that confirms that compatible for this sort of upgrade

[Tums]

Peter, Thanks have been doing that.

Jam1e1, have tried 2 different cables, maybe I need to spend more and buy a decent one . will the operating system make a difference???. Thanks for the reply.

[Zakalwe]

Connect it via a powered hub. I find that it fails evertime when connected to a USB port on the pc or laptop. If I use a powered hub then it works perfectly.

[Cornelius Varley]

Peter, Thanks have been doing that.

Jam1e1, have tried 2 different cables, maybe I need to spend more and buy a decent one . will the operating system make a difference???. Thanks for the reply.

The OS shouldn't make any difference, I've done mine on win7 64bit. A good quality usb/serial adapter is essential though, cheaper ones don't always work. Also, look in the device manager to see which port the usb/serial adapter have been assigned. You can manually set this port in the Firmware Uploader or select auto detect to allow the uploader to find it.

[purdo]

Great subject, very very informative, something else to consider before I buy my first telescope.

[tteedd]

Hi

Going back to the original subject of the synscan goto.

As reported previously I found all my problems were due to the instability of the original mount. To cure this I attached heavy beech legs to the orignal tripod legs using U bolts.

This gave me a much better viewing height as well as absoulute stability. Synscan spot on every time.

As I spend some of the winter in Spain I ordered a scope for delivery to and use there. I bought a 130p on a supertrack mount. The tripod on the supertrack mount is much more sturdy than the one on the synscan mount. I took the synscan handset/computer to Spain with me in my luggage.

Using the handset on the supertrak is a dream. Even if you are slapdash with the time, cordinates and leveling of the mount, after 2 star set up objects are in the EP every time.

Conclusive proof to my mind that the accuracy problems are cause bu the instability of the mount.

Happy Stargazing!

[G-Man]

I have to commend this thread. A year ago I bought myself the SW127 Sky Max on the goto mount. I assumed it would guide me across the night sky like a magic carpet. As you've all suggested, it didn't and I fell back to the ground rather quickly. I laughed out loud when I realised that I was not the only one to have input the date wrongly, to wonder what time to put in amongst other handset dramas! It didn't help when I tried following the SW manual, not a comfortable read! A year later I have a good understanding of how my mount and scope work, but the world of astronomy is ever changing and thankfully there are threads like this and people like you to help us novices along! To sum up I have now managed to align my scope several times but now link it to my Mac with the wonderful and highly recommended Stellarium which is much easier to use than the handset! I look forward to conversing with you all soon. Good luck everyone and I think the sign off that I should use is, 'Clear Skies'!

[NickK]

I found that using a finder scope aligned with the scope was faster - even with the goto setup. The reason being is that you get a wide field, so although you may not be massively precise, it will get you set up faster. It means that when you look at stellarium and at the sky you're not looking a microscopic portion of it to navigate.

I too found that that most systems assume a perfectly flat (hence constant rate for alignments). 

My setup goes:

1. Pull out the Garmin Gekko GPS - get the GPS position, elevation and accurate north.

2. Position EQ6, I'm lucky my spirit level in the EQ6 seems to be pretty good.

3. Sit gekko on the top and align with the gekko.

4. Mount kit and rotate about to align - this simply means the entire kit isn't going to cause a [removed word] in alignment.

5. Polar align (if nighttime)

Now for AP this gets more complicated.. but basically that will get me into a good visual accuracy. I was doing solar at 6700mm with minimal movement just doing steps 1-4. However using alignment tools for EQMOD I've done 20 minute exposures (at 1340mm) on the EQ6 BUT and here's the but.. this is usually without a merdian flip at which point the mount alignment usually needs checking and redoing.

Edited March 20, 2014 by NickK

[Terragon1]

I saw this discussion and thought you'd be the people to ask...

I'm new to the whole goto mount thing and have bought an EQ3 goto mount. I know the 3 stars I want to align the telescope by so... can I simply align it using the tube mounted finderscope or do I need to align the mount itself using the view finder in the mount?

[NickK]

The stars have to be in certain locations to allow the approximations of the maths model to work. 

[ronin]

You set up and then polar align the mount with a polar scope preferably as you need the general accuracy and the mount needs to be polar aligned to operate correctly.

You then leave the mount alone and align the scope via the alignment procedure using 2 or 3 stars.

There may be two options for this scope alignment:

The software may tell you which two/three stars to use, or,

The software may allow you to pick the stars.

You centre these in the finder THEN in the main scope.

The finder and scope should already be aligned to each other but you look through the main scope at something not the finder.

[stvo0000]

Hi guys anyone know if it auto tracks and if so what setting it needs to be on

thanks guy

"just look up"

[patricmooriamnot]

Since I've had my SW130p Alt Az Goto scope for almost a year now I thought I would write a little something for anyone thinking about a similar GOTO scope as their first step into astronomy.

My thought process when I got the scope was probably fairly typical. I figured that the GoTo system would allow me to find my way around the sky fairly quickly without having to learn every inch of the night sky manually. I also had limited time for observing and thought that this scope would get me going much quicker from the start.

Neither of these things turned out to be true.

So before you make the choice to Goto or not to Goto here are a few things they don't tell you in the manual.

1. Mount set up.

Stability is the key here - don't fully extend the legs (keep the scope low if you can. It must be level - I can't overstress this - buy a spirit level and triple check that it is level - with the scope on and balanced. Rotate the scope all the way round and check that it stays level.

2. Handset set up.

Entering the LAT and LONG - These coordinates have to be correct. Also make sure you are not using decimal coordinates found on some websites. Get the correct ones for your location - Don't enter them the wrong way round - Most sites give you North then West buy the SynScan wants West then North (made that mistake a few times!)

Get the right timezone. +00.00 for the UK

Be accurate when entering the time.

Daylight Savings - can't tell you how many times this confused me - for clarity this means British Summer Time (when the clocks go forward) so for right now the answer is NO.

Then you can begin alignment (I use 2 star align)

This is where the fun starts. The handset will list possible alignment stars. At this point you will realize that you really don't know enough about the night sky and may not be able to locate Mizar or Alioth without a star chart. Also the handset assumes you have an uninterrupted 360 degree view. So when the Handset suggest Dubhe (front tip of The Plough) and I'm at home on the patio - that is behind my house and obscured from view.

So then I had to use Stellarium on my laptop or starwalk on my iPhone to work out which star is which.

Having located a star which I can see I then line up the red-dot finder on it and then get it centred in the EP - It will inevitably then suggest a second star which is either obscured by houses or trees or list some that I just don't know.

Suffice it to say that this takes some time. If it takes too long between the first and second star alignment things are not great form there on in.

So Quick set up? - NO not at all

Easy to find my way around with no knowledge of the sky> - NOPE

Don't get me wrong - when it is all set up and working it is great. (providing you don't get overexcited and accidentally kick one of the tripod legs causing you to have to do the whole alignment again!)

But I have only been able to get up and running quickly by being very prepared in terms of having the right coordinates before I go anywhere with the scope and being very careful when entering data into the handset.

In addition I have had to learn the night sky so as to be able to locate various stars for alignment. So I bought a good star atlas and also a copy of Turn Left at Orion. Knowing the night sky really does make things easier.

Other issues.

As I said - it assumes a 360 degree clear view. So if you go on the Deep Sky Tour and choose Andromeda - it might still be behind a tree or house.

It also does not know what scope you are using. So some of the DSO's it is listing may be well beyond the resolving power of your scope - The 130p is great but some targets are beyond its power.

Batteries - Don't use rechargables - the power output drains and the scope goes out of alignment. Invest in some kind of PowerTank if you want a full night's observing.

Try and find a 360ish clear viewing point if you can - it makes a world of difference.

Plan your observing session - I will use Stellarium (free to download for Mac or PC) to plan the night's session - choosing targets and times before hand. I will use a star chart to make sure I know where the scope should be pointing.

In many ways (bad weather aside) it has been great getting to know this scope and it certainly forced me to learn the night sky. If I could have a "Do over" I would have bought an 8" Dobsonian but there is still a lot to recommend the 130p Goto.

My next purchase will be a SW250px Dob - but without learning the night sky first I would be as out of my depth with that as I was with the 130p.

Hope that helps someone in making the right decision on a scope - or if you bought a Goto scope maybe it will be useful to you.

Clear Skies - Nigel

Hi Nigel, just read your post. how true I have just bought a SW130p goto scope and have no idea how to set it up. How do I set up home position for parking? because I can alter altitude by hand,. how does it know where it is. How should I position the mount before tuning on power? I have not been able to do a star alignment yet as the skys have been cloudy. Ive tried stting skewing limots but that doesn`t seem to work. I am most confused. Can you help?

[Kardell]

I got MAK127 and I had not problems setting it up. I just sat down and red the instructions. To locate stars or planets quickly I use free SkEye app on my Android phone.

[Kropster]

I got MAK127 and I had not problems setting it up. I just sat down and red the instructions. To locate stars or planets quickly I use free SkEye app on my Android phone.

I like your radical approach! 

[xtreemchaos]

great post mate,im a star map man myself"i like the hunt" but this will be helpfull to people thinking of getting a got system.

[jambouk]

Hopefully attached to this is a file which shows the menu tree on the Handset when using v3.37 of the firmware with the Alt-Az GOTO mount; I'm not sure why some of the options are listed when they cannot be used, or how some of the other options are useful. The menu tree listed in the official Skywatcher manual for this mount is now out of date and wrong and I've made this list for a friend.

James

v3-AZGOTO.doc