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Skywatcher Alt-AZ EQ6 GEQ First Thoughts

jam1e1

By jam1e1
in Discussions - Mounts

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AlistairHowie

AlistairHowie

Posted
Posted

Alastair about the alignment stars, somebody has pulled together a PDF referencing them, I'll post here when find it - I know the feeling about finding them :) but as you say SS is just as good tool

That would be great - many thanks.

Hadn't seen SkySafari before but have just bought it, very impressed.. Thanks for the heads up.

No problem. I've also got Star Walk and Stellarium on my iPhone too - unfortunately can't remember which I prefer. I haven't been using them much recently!

On a separate note, I have a quick question for anyone with the new AZ-EQ6 mount ...

My fork adjustment screws don’t particularly seem to be doing anything. Whether they are tightened or not, the mount can be jacked up in elevation quite easily. I noticed this when I forgot to loosen the screws and jacked it up with no issues whatsoever. I’ve spoken with another owner and their experience is exactly the same – no difference in tension with the jack screw whether they are as tight as can be, or completely loose. Is anyone else experiencing this?

Also, what purpose is served by the larger/shorter of the two knurled screws which come into play when changing the mount from EQ to Alt-Az mode? I can see how the longer, shorter screw does into the mechanism to hold the mount in Alt Az mode, but when in EQ mode, does that larger screw actually do anything? Seems like it's too short to have any purpose. Is it just to fill the hole when the mount is not in Alt Az mode, maybe to keep the dust out?

All thoughts appreciated.

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tingting44

tingting44

Posted
Posted

it seems a bit mad to me that such an expensive scope does not come with a manual or even a pdf??? seems mental, mental!! considering how technical the actual mount seems to be! granted the online manual will/should be out soon. id not be happy as im still quite a noob and would not have a clue how to assemble lol :( i cant understand why this is being sold when no instructions are readily available, for me if your going to sell something priced so high (imo) it NEEDS basic instructions lol

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AlistairHowie

AlistairHowie

Posted
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I think the lack of instructions is probably just a packing error.

I'd agree on that for the mount instructions, but I do believe the Synscan instructions are not actually available yet ... although probably not materially different from the latest Synscan ones, except for the Alt-Az alignment options.

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jam1e1

jam1e1

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It's adds to fun of finding out what you could do ;-) to be fair it's mainly setup and go, albeit if owned a GEM mount before then should be more or less straightforward. To me the manual was more confirmation of capabilities, but the handset manual would certainly help due to complexity of some functions.

To be fair issues picked up to date are early teething issues, partially to be expected ,all of which all are addressable.

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Black Knight

Black Knight

Posted
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No point in a manual, no one ever reads them anyway, certainly not men. Most men feel they have some intrinsic abaility with technology which is a kind of mass delusion as I have never met one yet who actually has :)

Personally I blame Microsoft Windows. Before Windows came along, everyone knew you had to read a manual before you should attempt to do anything. Now, the prevailing wisdom is that you shouldn't need a manual at all: whatever it is you are attempting to do, it should be inherently obvious. So I blame Windows. And TV. And calculators. And rock and roll. And the end of national service.

NB: I may not be entirely serious with this post .... :D

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Marki

Marki

Posted
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No point in a manual, no one ever reads them anyway, certainly not men. Most men feel they have some intrinsic abaility with technology which is a kind of mass delusion as I have never met one yet who actually has :)

The ridiculous thing is, I am completely aware of my own inability with any form of technology and I STILL don't read the manuals...drives Mrs Marki to despair!

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starguest

starguest

Posted
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It seems the old 'YMMV' applies. My AZ-EQ6 is pretty good for GOTO. On the first night a couple of weeks back it was variable in accuracy as I tried different setups in both EQ and AZ but lately as I stick with AZ it's fairly spot-on. Meaning even with EPs giving up to 150x, not dead centre but still in the FOV.

The point about the procedure for Brightest or 2-star align with first slewing to it, hitting ENTER and then being asked to centre.

That I understand is similar to the Celestron Nexstars, where you find that the initial slew is done at a high rate to get the star in the EP FOV but the centre movement is done at a slower rate to help accuracy.

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starguest

starguest

Posted
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The mount and handset instructions are now available for download at our website :smiley:

Skywatcher AZ EQ6-GT Mount

Ah great, thanks.

Interesting they say that turning off the Auxiliary Encoder (used to allow de-clutch and manually move) will enhance pointing accuracy.

I have tried a de-clutch and move in Alt-Az mode and it kept up fairly accurate GOTO. Perhaps if one doesn't intend to use a manual move during a session then starting an alignment after disable the Aux-Enc might be the thing to try seeing if accuracy is better.

I think I would have liked more about the display of Polar align error. Obviously it's for EQ mode, but should they have said do some more tweaking using the polarscope to get it to zero?

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Desanctb

Desanctb

Posted
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I received the azeq6 today, very impressed so far. As a previous owner of the eq6pro, I welcome the changes made. To answer the question does it interface with Eqmod, the answer is yes! No special adapter is needed except a serial to USB converter and the cable that came with the mount to interface with the hand controller. The synscan hand controller has to be set to PC direct mode.

Burt

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AlistairHowie

AlistairHowie

Posted
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Thanks, Desanctb, and welcome to SGL! That will doubtless be of interest to others. I'm knew to equatorial mounts so I'm still finding my feet. But just to clarify for me newbie mind, you're confirming that it works fine under Option A, right? Does that mean it definitely works under option B and C as well, or not necessarily? I ask since the EQMOD website mentions the PC Direct set-up as being potentially not as reliable. As I say, this is all new to me, so apologies if it's a dumb question!

Welcome again!

post-17479-0-26685100-1355503707_thumb.j

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Desanctb

Desanctb

Posted
Posted

I can verify I have tested option A and it works with a USB to serial converter. ( In pc direct mode) Regarding stability issues I did not test it extensively but it connected and I was able to control the mount through eqmod.As far as option B and C, I do not know.

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AlistairHowie

AlistairHowie

Posted
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I can verify I have tested option A and it works with a USB to serial converter. ( In pc direct mode) Regarding stability issues I did not test it extensively but it connected and I was able to control the mount through eqmod.As far as option B and C, I do not know.

Understood - many thanks

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chrisshillito

chrisshillito

Posted
Posted

As far as PC-Direct is concerned the words of caution expressed on the EQMOD Project website are intended only to make folks aware that EQMOD itself has not been developed specifically with PC-Direct in mind and that PC-Direct mode remains an undocumented feature of the Synscan about which the EQMOD developers know very little with regard to its implementation or operational limitations.

This all said many folks are happy to use PC-Direct mode, and do so with no problems at all.

If the PC-Direct method works with the new mount then a direct connection via an existing EQDirect device will work as well provided the hardware interface is the same as used on the HEQ5 (i.e. no change in pin assignments).

Chris.

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