Why does it do this??

[Paulus17]

Well i set up last night in the back garden with my EQ3 GOTO and ED80,polar aligned using Vega and Capella,first target was Jupiter which it went straight to bang in the middle of the EP.

Then as the Moon was so bright thought i would have a quick look at that so set the Moon for the next target and the GOTO was way off target slewing right past it by some margin???

So i slewed to get it in the EP and re-centered it,but i wasn't happy so targeted Jupiter to see if that would be found  but again was way off.

So parked the scope and set up again and got exactly the same results this happened half a dozen times with me trying after double checking everything again and again.So packed up in the end in frustration.

Yet last time i was out on the 28th Dec the GOTO worked a treat all night.

But the night was not a complete waste of time as before i went to bed i was looking out he bedroom window using the bins and had a orange coloured meteor shoot across my FOV with a thin long tail then just as i was looking north a really bright meteor shot down with a green and white flame that lasted a good few seconds so was chuffed seeing those.

[simmo39]

Are you using a power pack or batteries? If its batteries the cold may have killed them.

[Pig]

Another cause for Solar system objects to be out of alignment and not DSO's & stars etc... is the date and time format, especially if the GoTo is missing the moon by the same amount each time.

If it is missing the moon by different distances each time it is probably down to the batteries as the post above suggests. You can eliminate this by connecting the unit to the mains and trying again.

You may also want to try a lower power eyepiece for aligning solar system objects and swapping once centred.

[Paulus17]

I am using a new power pack 17ah fully charged.

I could see just by looking that the Moon wasn't going to be in my FOV it had gone that far past.

MDY and time were all correct.

My first star Vega when aligning wasn't that far out and Capella was in the EP,25mm by the way and it was tracking Jupiter fine all the time i was looking at it,staying bang in the middle of the EPs as i changed over,for well over an hour.

[Pig]

Paulus,

This does sound a little puzzling and I can understand your frustration. However, there isn't much more to eliminate other than a power fluctation.

Check the power connection and leads going to the mount, the plastic coating is extremely vulnerable to abrasion and can be easily scuffed or cut and can be very misleading, if there is a cut ( very hard to see) they can work fine for ages but you move them or they touch the tripod or even get wet and bam they become erratic

Just because the 17ah power pack is new it does not mean it is working correctly, you may have been unlucky and just have a duff one. Have you tried mains power to eliminate it ?

If none of this works I fear it may be something more serious and you may have to return it to the supplier.

[knobby]

I am using a new power pack 17ah fully charged.

I could see just by looking that the Moon wasn't going to be in my FOV it had gone that far past.

MDY and time were all correct.

My first star Vega when aligning wasn't that far out and Capella was in the EP,25mm by the way and it was tracking Jupiter fine all the time i was looking at it,staying bang in the middle of the EPs as i changed over,for well over an hour.

Is the mdy in the U.S. format? Is your location in degrees minutes and seconds or decimal?

[earth titan]

Well i set up last night in the back garden with my EQ3 GOTO and ED80,polar aligned using Vega and Capella,first target was Jupiter which it went straight to bang in the middle of the EP.

Then as the Moon was so bright thought i would have a quick look at that so set the Moon for the next target and the GOTO was way off target slewing right past it by some margin???

So i slewed to get it in the EP and re-centered it,but i wasn't happy so targeted Jupiter to see if that would be found  but again was way off.

So parked the scope and set up again and got exactly the same results this happened half a dozen times with me trying after double checking everything again and again.So packed up in the end in frustration.

Yet last time i was out on the 28th Dec the GOTO worked a treat all night.

But the night was not a complete waste of time as before i went to bed i was looking out he bedroom window using the bins and had a orange coloured meteor shoot across my FOV with a thin long tail then just as i was looking north a really bright meteor shot down with a green and white flame that lasted a good few seconds so was chuffed seeing those.

Ahh the joys go GOTO...

Never got on with it myself. Even when everything is aligned properly, I never found things were GOTO.

Even in the obs, with good polar alignment and EQMOD / CDC things are GOTOish and no better.

The manuals and sales hype kind of suggest it will GOTO thousands of objects, but I wonder if the marketing department have ever tried it out !!

[avtaram]

I've had this problem a couple of times with the moon and found that if I did a two star alignment instead of the brightest star alignment it worked ok.

Avtar

[Pig]

I think Tom has hit the nail on the head, there is a lot of embellishing with the marketing strategy for GoTo thus users expectations are fixed at a very high level of accuracy, consequently there will be an element of disappointment.

To me GoTo is very useful and once you get used to it I find it very accurate indeed, even with the latest starsense accessory there have been alignment problems, mind you these seem to have been addressed.

Despite what people and the instructions say I find it best to level the mount each time I use it. I also begin the alignment process using with a very low power eyepiece I then use an eyepiece that will give around 120 x magnification before entering as an alignment position. (SSA excluded)

I must also add I have never used GoTo on an EQ type mount only AZ.

If I am honest most of the issues I have had have been down to user error and some unclear instructions.

[SteveOD]

Finding the same problem myself, I decided to "get to know my Synscan" in my living room a few nights ago (having also recently purchased a 10" GoTo dob).

Researching on the net for troubleshooting problems leads you down many pathways and the following are the main ones I have found that causes most problems. (Assuming it's neither a power nor hardware problem).

Doubtful that the temp will be causing the prob, tiz such a mild winter

Levelling. I have read, and found for that matter, that even if the scope is dead level before initial start up, one should have the scope turning one full revolution to ensure levelling accuracy,for sometimes the weight shift my slightly alter how level your scope actually is.

Aligning. I have been told by fellow members at my society that EQ mounts should be polar aligned whereas dobs should be aligned to magnetic north whist usuing a synscan. (dunno why but it also states this on more than a few websites.)

Autotracking. Ensure you have selected the right tracking mode. The options are sidereal, lunar and solar ( you can change these settings in the tracking menu under setup)

Pointing accuracy enhancement. If you find that the GoTo is off slightly, ie you notice a pointing error then the pae feature will allow you to improve the pointing accuracy, but will only achieve this if the pointing accuracy it out to within a 5 degree field of your chosen object, if the accuracy is out by more that 5 degrees, tiz best to perhaps think about realigning your encoder/s

Re-align encoders. Sometimes the encoders in the motor/s need to be re-aligned, as you said, you set up every thing perfectly many times and the GoTo was still out somewhat. There is a setting within the synscan that allows you to realign them, which is basically a prompt for you to select one of your initial stars chosen for your 2 star alignment, the scope will slew to your chosen star, after centring it as accurately as you can in your eyepiece fov, hit enter, it will tell you that the realignment encoder is completed, just hit enter to finish the process.

Be sure to do the realignment only after you are satisfied that your initial alignment WAS completed accurately mind.

Daylight saving should be set to no this time of year

Depending on wether you are east or west of gmt depends on wether it is -/+ 00 gmt, I live west of gmt so I set mine to -00 gmt

Your watch is wrong

All of the above are common problems, I'm sure the are a pelethera of others

[Paulus17]

OK thanks all some stuff there i haven't a clue about,but all i can say is that i set up as i usually do,leveling,PA-ing,co ords are correct,mdy,time correct,checked and double checked,and as i say it was working perfect a couple of weeks ago using the same set up method,only thing that has changed was the battery but that seemed ok,so will just have to wait and see how i get on next time i get out??

StevOD some interesting things there which i will have a look at.

[sbooder]

When you re-centred the moon did you use the re-centre object command on the HC by hitting escape once and then hitting it again and holding it down until HC said re-centre object?  If not try this and once re-centred and slew command completed, slew back to Jupiter and then slew back to the Moon and see if it is in the EP.

[Paulus17]

Hi Simon.

Yes i did do that when i re-centered on the Moon and when i found Jupiter again,then slewed back and both were out the same again.

I only had Jupiter in the ep when i fieach rst tried from set up,which is what i don't understand.

I can't wait to get out and try again now.