Eq5 + Dual Axis Motors Tracking Problem

[Rihard]

Hi all,

Tonight I was attempting to image Saturn, but eventually Saturn faded away sidewise and I was unable to follow the planet in the RA axis. I then noticed that the box of the DEC motor was hitting the RA knob and wouldn't let it move any further!

This basically ruined my image session (the seeing was the best ever, so crispy and detailed regardless of the moon, the roofs and the LP!) but I was stuck in a pretty narrow balcony and wasn't easy to try anything else.

Is throwing away the DEC drive a good work around? I really hope to get another clear night to image Saturn before she sinks in the horizon for a good while!

Thanks in advance for any tip!

Clear Skies

Riky

[ronin]

Suppose that it is a possible solution however the Dec motor should not interfere. So it sounds as if there is something wrong.

First thought would be that the motors are positioned wrongly so would drive incorrectly , the second is should the RA knob be there.

I assume the knob is to move the mount and should you have removed this when putting the motors in place. I would have thought that the idea was remove the manual adjustment and replace with motorised adjustment.

[Rihard]

Suppose that it is a possible solution however the Dec motor should not interfere. So it sounds as if there is something wrong.

First thought would be that the motors are positioned wrongly so would drive incorrectly , the second is should the RA knob be there.

I assume the knob is to move the mount and should you have removed this when putting the motors in place. I would have thought that the idea was remove the manual adjustment and replace with motorised adjustment.

Hi Ronin,

thanks for your reply.

I guess knob was not the right word in this case (English is not my first language and the dictionary gave me this word ) . In fact, the manual control knobs were removed when I added the motors, but there is that thing were you actually fit the knob in the RA axis that is still there sticking out, and that's the place were the DEC housing gets stuck at a certain point when tracking Saturn. I suppose the assembly of the motors is correct as I was able to track jupiter few weeks ago.

I might post a picture later

Clear Skies

[Steve Ward]

Would a "meridian flip" not cure this . . . ?

There comes a point with Equatorial mounts when you have to unlock the clutches and swing the scope to the opposite side to prevent collisions between various components ,

It's usually the scope and tripod legs that cause problems but the motors on my EQ3-2 get in some strange positions at times.

[Scott]

I was thinking of either a meridian flip or (and I'm not sure about this) when you set up, put the ota facing the other direcion (turn it 180 degrees on the mount). just a thought?

[nephilim]

As above, meridian flip was my first thought, I was imaging Saturn last night aswell with my 200p/EQ5 with no problems apart from NOT getting a decent image due to the xbox cam been naff (need to upgrade) although the seeing was fantastic & Saturn the best i've ever seen her.

Steve

[JamesF]

Chalk up another vote for a meridian flip. I don't think it's that uncommon for parts of the scope and DEC axis to be in danger of fouling the mount if they're allowed to run forever. A meridian flip usually fixes that.

James

[Rihard]

Thanks all for the replies!

I reckon I did read about this "meridian flip" before on SGL but I had no clue what it was about

I guess that will do the job

Clear Skies