Operating the RA motor

[Rahul Zota]

Hi all,

I just have purchased the RA motor for my EQ5 mount. I want to use it for astrophotography. The question is should I run the motor even if the RA axis is locked? Will the motor track the starts just by clicking the ON button on the hand pad controller?

[eddy]

Yeah you can run it with the RA locked (thats the clutch lock right?)

You need to polar align the scope as best as you can and then turn the motors on, this will track in RA depending on the accuracy of your polar alignment will dictate how good the tracking is, this needs to be VERY accurate for long exposure images.

Hope that helps

[rwilkey]

It is essential that the RA clutch should be in the 'lock' postion when you run the motor.

[Rahul Zota]

thanks for replies. Now the main issue is that the mount must be perfectly polar aligned. I will need a polar finder scope for that!