CG5 Set-Up Question

[M4lcs67]

Hello Peeps,

Having not really had a proper chance to play with my CG5 since I got it I do have a question regarding it's set-up.

Once all set-up and balanced and ready to start alignment, I have been keeping the RA & Dec clutches loose. With this in mind, once I set the scope off to lock onto a target the tube wanders off all over the place and doesn't therefore lock onto the object that was wanting.

I was told that I was doing things wrong and that both clutches should be engaged. Is this correct??? I do find the Celestron instruction booklet pretty poor and it doesn't tell you that these need to be engaged before you start.

Thanks

[spectre]

Malc,

You definitely need to have the clutches fully engaged. If you don't then the motors won't be engaged with the RA and DEC axes.

[SteveInNZ]

Yes. The manual isn't the best in the world if you are new to it all.

Once the mount/scope is balanced, move the scope around to point roughly to where the pole is with the counterweight bar down and lock the clutches. Then start the alignment procedure. From then on, you should not loosen the clutches until it's time to pack up.

Steve.

[skir]

Yep, iirc the clutches should both be locked with both sets of index marks lined up.

[M4lcs67]

That's excellent guys.

Thanks for that. Doh.... I used to be really good at understanding instruction manuals when I bought a new piece of gear whether it was a new camera, scope or piece of hi fi equipment, but since I had my stroke 4 years ago my ability to understand things and retain information has been reduced. Thank goodness for SGL and the great people who are willing to share their knowledge.

[skir]

As I'm new to all of this I'm finding there is a lot to take in both with the eq mount and the goto system. I can see why newbs are often directed towards dobs as their first scopes because of the ease of use. However I think all the reading and preparing will be worth it once I get some clear skies. And in any case I enjoy steep learning curves!

I got sent this by the guy I bought my mount from http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-487-0-0-1-0.html you need to substitute north for south as its an Aussie website. But I think it might be useful when I come to do my first polar alignment. Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs here!

[M4lcs67]

That is a great resource, skir.

Thanks alot. With the Celestron instructions being so poor, it is great to get some info from people on the ground who use the CG 5 on a regular basis.

Cheers.

[skir]

Well I'm new to all this. I'm going to compare what that website says to the manual to see if it differs drastically. Though to be honest there does seem to be a few ways to get decent alignment.

[Dunkster]

If it's any consolation, the SW manual isn't any better... just talks about position of Polaris in the sky

[M4lcs67]

The CG5 does have a built-in polar alignment routine, but I chose to get a polarscope as well. Once I get a chance to get out with the scope on a regular basis, I should become well versed with all the little tweaks and short cuts I suppose. Hey. You never know. If I do become skilled enough with the use and alignment of it, then I may not need the new SkySense accessory. Maybe save myself £300 or whatever and put it towards getting a camera, so I can start using my scope to take astropictures?

Also with the fact that the StarSense isn't released in the UK until May, it will give me the chance to think about things more clearly and not go off half-cocked. If it was available right now I would have in all probably bought one straight away. And in May you are heading for Summer which is astro off season anyhow.

Lots more to think about......

[skir]

The site that I linked to does use a different alignment routine to that listed in the manual, but the guy did say that the routine he had got to through a few iterations was the best method. So I guess I'll use that and revert to the manual routine if that does not work. All the info you need is in the celestron manual but the way it is ordered is very poor. It would have bee better if they'd ordered it in the way you would actually do it all.

[Dunkster]

Yeah, you'll be alright Malc... the alignment routine is essentially the same as your 127 only the movements are up/down, left/right on the celestial axes rather than relative to the ground. I'm prolly not doing it right, but all I've done the last couple of times is get Polaris more or less near the circle in the middle (using the latitude and azimuth adjustment bolts) and then start the alignment. I don't have the fancy alignment options on the SW, so it's just 1, 2, or 3 star alignment. I find the bundled 9x50 finder scope really confusing... can't really get my head around it, even though flipping left to right with a Mak or SCT is second nature now. Maybe it's just practice. Maybe I just need a RACI

That's not to say the star sense doesn't have value though. It'll be interesting to see what the accuracy is like once people get them on their mounts.

[M4lcs67]

Cheers Dunk,

I think we should all have our own personal telescope specialist on hand who can come over and go through things right there. If only. Sometimes there is no substitute for having someone stood next to you showing you what to do.

[MarkSix]

As I'm new to all of this I'm finding there is a lot to take in both with the eq mount and the goto system. I can see why newbs are often directed towards dobs as their first scopes because of the ease of use. However I think all the reading and preparing will be worth it once I get some clear skies. And in any case I enjoy steep learning curves!

I got sent this by the guy I bought my mount from http://www.iceinspac...87-0-0-1-0.html you need to substitute north for south as its an Aussie website. But I think it might be useful when I come to do my first polar alignment. Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs here!

Something thats worthy to take notice of is the last part of the guide where it says :

Be wary of wild slews - an inbuilt problem with the CG5 mount - press any direction key to stop one of these and reselect a target - the mount will still know where it is and respond accordingly. If you turn the mount off, restart at step 10. If you move the mount, start at step 1.

I have had these wild slewes a couple of times and its easy to panic when they occur. So it is good to stay on guard for this to happen.

About the Celestron manuals i have to agree they are really poor. The part that covers the functions in the Hand Control is since long outdated due to new software releases. I think the manual covers version 4.10 and current version of software now is 4.21.

[billhinge]

if you ever tweak or dismantle the inside of your mount and run it with power on (as an aid to get the meshing correct) you will see why exactly why the clutch need to be on

yes the manual isn't the best but it isn't that bad, just assumes too much and doesn't explain enough

[skir]

Something thats worthy to take notice of is the last part of the guide where it says :

Be wary of wild slews - an inbuilt problem with the CG5 mount - press any direction key to stop one of these and reselect a target - the mount will still know where it is and respond accordingly. If you turn the mount off, restart at step 10. If you move the mount, start at step 1.

I have had these wild slewes a couple of times and its easy to panic when they occur. So it is good to stay on guard for this to happen.

About the Celestron manuals i have to agree they are really poor. The part that covers the functions in the Hand Control is since long outdated due to new software releases. I think the manual covers version 4.10 and current version of software now is 4.21.

what improvements and changes have they made in the later versions?

[MarkSix]

what improvements and changes have they made in the later versions?

V.4.21

- Custom Rate 9 on the ASGT (requires 5.18+ of Motor Control)

- corrected meridian flip when slow goto started

- Improved user feedback on "No Response" errors occurring after start up

- Corrected an error in the GOTO RA-DEC sequence

- Changed text strings in the GPS linking stage

- Fix for syncing on stars in southern hemisphere via RS232 sync command

- Bug fix: soft sync(e.g. polar align) when using OTA_Orientation (tandem mode) feature

- Bug fix: hard sync(set mount Position) when using Meridian Mode (favor East/West)

- Bug fix: land objects with negative dec are handled correctly

- Other bug fixes

V.4.19

- adjust communication protocol to assist MCUpdate

- Customized RATE9. This feature requires CGEM/CGEpro_Series_6.12 or later.

- Fixed bug in goto_RA-DEC function

- HC now reports immediately if the are communcation difficulties at start up.

V.4.16

- southern hemisphere fixes

- SAO align star fixes

- Improved GOTO approaches on extended meridian

V.4.15

add support for CGEM mount

- add support for CGE Pro mount

- polar alignment is now under the Align menu and allows alignments on stars other than Polaris

- retain celestial alignment after polar alignment completes

- add OTA Orientation under Setup menu to support tandem/side-by-side configurations

- add extended meridian feature to support mounts that have travel past the meridian

- add serial command to get/set meridian mode

- Improve the way that RA limits are handled (and support them for CGEM and CGE Pro)

- swap order of switches and PEC menu in utilities

- rate=5 on wake from hibernate

- change time/site menu so that user is prompted for time if unknown

- cancel rate selection when direction button is hit (to prevent silent change of rate)

- add ability to lock HC when doing MC upgrades via HC

- add undo sync RS232 command: 'u'

- add 'l' command to retrieve LST

- add 'g' command to get side of pier given RA/DEC

- add 'p' command to return current side of pier

- hitting ALIGN while in the named stars menu now takes you to the Align menu.

- fix Abell objects with negative magnitudes

- add precession

- change factory settings so that they force a reboot and zap the MC settings

- revamp RA switch calibration

- fix home position menu so that home is always first

- change display of dec offset so that it is signed

V.4.13

- add support for upgrading motor control firmware via the hand control

V.4.12

- fix potential cordwrap position error after wake from hibernate

- add support for LCD and Keypad brightness levels from 0-8

- display HC firmware build in version menu

- display connected mount model in version menu

- re-init LCD in flash firmware to make is less likely to come up blank

- various stabilizing changes

- fix display of time in View Time/Site

- make timekeeping more accurate

- change scrolling so that it doesn't speed up when buttons are pressed

- bump up default date to present

[skir]

Ok, hanks for that. Looks like it will be worth updating m system if it has old firmware installed.

[skir]

^ that should read "thanks"

[Anweniel]

Been using my CG5-GT a few months now and although it took a little while to get used to it has proven to be a fantastic mount, I've had the odd polar alignment problem in the past and some odd slews but most of these have been down to my own mistakes.

There is a good guide for polar aligning the mount that astrobaby made (she has designed the guide specifically for the HEQ5 but it still applies for the CG5) I have used it and now polar alignment is simpler. Here is a link: http://www.astro-baby.com/HEQ5/HEQ5-1.htm

Hope this helps a little

[skir]

Thanks for that. I don't have the optional polar scope for the cg-5 so will be just 'eyeballing' Polaris and then using the goto to get aligned properly. But that is still a useful guide for me for understanding how the eq mount works.

[Anweniel]

And for visual astronomy that should easily be enough

[skir]

I certainly hope so. Sadly skies here seem to be permanently cloudy currently.

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Guys, just got the cg5 from FLO and found it to be a really good mount. read read and read the manual - not used an equatorial for a long time - the last one I used was made by my Dad and had an 8" f8 (David Hinds mirrors) on it - probably the first big scope I had, just bought the mirrors and made/assembled the other bits for it - I really miss that scope - the planets were amazing through it.

Back to the cg5 - not got the polar scope so Thursday night the sky cleared just could see the moon and Jupiter but not really enough stars to align - put the 127 Mak on the mount, after levelling and positioning to the pole - with the index marks lined up on both axes - looked through the finder and adjusted azimuth and dec (actually moving the mount adjusters) to put Polaris dead centre, switched her on and ran through a quick 2 star alignment. I'm just visual and to be honest - very accurate, I know that the Moon and Jupiter were in the same portion of sky and didn't bother with calibration ( so other parts of the sky may have been out) - but moving between the 2 - bang on and dead centre - the motors are a little noisy - the cpc 1100 is the same - think it may just be Celestron motors.

I'm probably going to see if I can get an 8" SCT OTA in the near future to put on the mount (Astronomy, for me = EMPTY BANK ACCOUNT) and when the snow clears I'll set the mount up again and when I'm happy with the position of the mount on the patio, I'll put some permanent marks where the feet go to get it right for next time

[MarkSix]

Congratulations to the new mount. I think it is very good mount. I have very accurate gotos and i find the tracking excellent too. The only issue I have had is with the handcontrol in cold weather (below -15C) the LCD is almost unreadable at this temps.