Atlas EQ-G Slewing Problems *Newb*

[iskywatch]

Good day everyone....

I setup my Atlas for the first time last night and had a very hard time performing 1 , 2 or 3 star alignment. I made sure the scope was polar aligned using the built in polar scope. I centered polaris in the indicated circle on the polar scope. I added my long /lat, time, date, etc... I added the Atlas head unit and properly balanced my c8 in RA and DEC.

The problems begin:

I chose 3 star alignment and chose Sirius as my first star. The Atlas slewed to where it thought it should be. It was off by a fair margin so I attempted to use the directional pad to manually get Sirius into view. Pushing the directional buttons didnt appear to do anything. I tried to adjust the Rate to see if it would move faster, it didnt.

I unlocked Ra and Dec and pushed Sirius into view. I then locked it all in and accepted it. I then went for the 2nd star, Rigel. At this point the automated slewing pointed towards the ground.

I tried this many times and even reset the controller back to factory as not to use any settings that may have been saved. I gave up after a couple of hours in the cold and brought it all back in the house.

Was it wrong to manually push the scope to the target then lock it in and accept on the scope? If this is wrong how do you use the directional pad buttons so they actually move the scope?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

-Rich

[Cornelius Varley]

You can check if the mount is slewing correctly at speed by ignoring the alignment procedure, when the handset asks you to begin alingment select NO.

Other things to check :

1. Date entered in the correct format mm/dd/yyyy

2. Time entered in 24 hr format

3. Longitude and latitude entered correctly ie 123 45 W/E, 43 21 N/S

4. Daylight Saving set to off or on as required and time zone set to your location.

5. Setting the mount to the home position before aligning (counterweight pointing down and telescope pointing at the celestial pole.

Do a 1 star alignment.

Select a star to align to and then allow the telescope to slew to it. Unlock the clutches and then manually adjust the telescope to centre the star in your eyepiece. Relock the clutches and accept the alignment.

Park the telescope in the home postion and when the telescope has finished slewing and the handset asks you to switch off the power do so. Now unlock the clutches and manually adjust the telescope to set it back to the home position, (counterweights pointing down etc) relock the clutches.

Switch on again and reenter time, date etc. Do a 3 star alignment, the mount will slew to the first star and you can unlock the clutches after the mount has finished slewing to manually adjust the alignment, relocking the clutches again. The next alignment stars need to be centered using the handset.

Peter

[iskywatch]

You can check if the mount is slewing correctly at speed by ignoring the alignment procedure, when the handset asks you to begin alingment select NO.

I did what you said just now and the scope motors make a sort of low whine when the buttons are pushed, but it does not slew like it does when its automatically trying to find an alignment star.

[Cornelius Varley]

Have you increased the slew rate by pressing button 2 and then button 9 (max speed).

Peter

[iskywatch]

Yes, i set it to 9 but it made no difference. if i look though my finder scope it is moving, albeit extremely slow. so slow that it would be impossible to perform an alignment. Standing there it does not seem to move at all. its as if its set at the default, i think, of .5 and never accepts the Rate increase. Do you think this is a call to Orion?

[Cornelius Varley]

Yes, i set it to 9 but it made no difference. if i look though my finder scope it is moving, albeit extremely slow. so slow that it would be impossible to perform an alignment. Standing there it does not seem to move at all. its as if its set at the default, i think, of .5 and never accepts the Rate increase. Do you think this is a call to Orion?

Possibly. Or you could try reflashing the firmware if the handset is V3.

Peter

[iskywatch]

Cornelius.. I contacted Orion and they told me that under no circumstance should the mount not slew faster after the Rates have been set to 9. They are sending a replacement controller today. I'll give it another shot as soon as it comes in.

Thanks!

[Cornelius Varley]

Cornelius.. I contacted Orion and they told me that under no circumstance should the mount not slew faster after the Rates have been set to 9. They are sending a replacement controller today. I'll give it another shot as soon as it comes in.

Thanks!

Hopefully the new handset will sort things out.

Peter

[Atlas]

Mine was acting screwy when I first bought it, turned out I was using the US -3hr timezone instead of the universal time zone and I was hitting yes for daylightlight savings when I should have chosen "no". Made my scope do some funky dancing. Make sure your settings are 100% correct. Also, don't start the alignment from the "Home Position". The EQ-G doesn't seem to like that very much.

Also note: after you do the alignment, if you marked the ground for exact telescope placment for future reference, when you turn power off... it'll remember your alignment settings. Only time I ever have to realign is when my clutch slips. (happens occassionally when slewing hard east.)

When you go to turn off your scope, I don't use the home position to park to, I just use the custom position. (which is the same spot) Only thing I ever need to change on the remote is the time and date. Everything tracks perfectly.