SkyWatcher synscan Goto AZ not playing ball !! Help !!!!!

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

been googling around see exactly what the merlin is and found this site.

it shows both ALT and AZ motors-gearboxes and optical encoders,

it also shows the mainboard driving the encoders, ( note jmpr 1 -2 -3  ?) 

http://twiki.cis.rit.edu/twiki/bin/view/MVRL/BioGigapan

my version is the tabletop one, i do have a tripod but it is not upto the job.

the merlin head WILL NOT fit a standard EQ-1 leg-set  ( the catchment bolt is to short in length.).

so i have it plonked on the floor 5ft away from the window, 

more playing tonight but no camera, just a 2x barlow and a 10mm sw eyepiece with lots and lots of coffee ( super strong)

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

Have the mount up and running. 

brightest star alignment, used regulas and a rough guess on polaris. 

time-date-gps all exact 

i can slew to m66 but am not seeing nothing ( ie no cores(bright stars) in the st80 and 25mm )

i can slew back to regulas and its bang on. need to wait for other named stars to come into view to test

but it looks not bad'ish at the mo. 

still frustrated no m66 or m65  , and being stuck indoors when i need to be outside to see the good stuff in the sky.

[Jon Sales]

Park your scope before switching off and changing battery.

Switch back on and it should retain all settings.

[TwoPi]

brightest star alignment, used regulas and a rough guess on polaris. 

time-date-gps all exact 

i can slew to m66 but am not seeing nothing ( ie no cores(bright stars) in the st80 and 25mm )

i can slew back to regulas and its bang on. need to wait for other named stars to come into view to test

When you say "a rough guess on Polaris", what do you mean? Both alignment stars need to be precisely centred otherwise it won't work properly. In fact, I would expect it to find Regulus again if this was precisely centred but struggle with other objects if Polaris was off.

One other question - apologies if I've missed this earlier in the thread - but with the near full moon (and I'm not sure why/how you're doing this indoors?) how have you been assessing if you are in the right place for M66?

It would be much easier to test whether you've got the mount correctly aligned by moving to something bright, e.g. Jupiter, Mars etc.

Good luck.

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

ok here is the workflow. 

procyon is my first star ( brightest alignment ) , when asked to goto a second star 

i have the scope track to regulas , both of these are centered. regulas is very high up its right on my slew limit boundry,

any higher and i am looking at a ceiling/window frame.

tell scope to goto Zosma its above charlon  , from here i slew down  to the  bright star below, charlon ( spelling wrong here)

following charlon, i slew down then i skip east a tad. 

in more simple terms, i look for regulas, its the third brightest star in my sky (procyon around 210 degree, then regulas thats on my alt limit  then spica thats just sitting below the moon and mars)

and at around 11pm its roughly 210 degrees between 4-5 fists away is the tail end of leo and the ebola star ( denebola aka ebola its easy to remember)

and just below the tail thats a kinda triangle is  m66 and m65, and just below these to the south west is a 

small very unforgetable star in the shape of a triangle.

mars was off center in my 25mm eyepiece, it layed right at the top edge of field in my 25mm eyepiece

so my guess on polaris was close. 
i have a heart condition so being outside is very much frowned upon ( thats how i had my heart attack, jupiter is both beautiful and was nearly my maker)

when its cold so thats my reason i tend to view and image from behind double glazing.  a few more days

and that moon will be gone again, and my finding of objects becomes a little less strain on the old eyes.

i know i am close because i have imaged leo's tail ( the off shaped triangle, and the smaller three star triangle.... see image )

[TwoPi]

OK, with you now (and sorry to hear you can't go outside, must be frustrating ).

So I would repeat your test but this time make sure you align as precisely as you can for both alignment stars, using accurate time & location.

Then GOTO Mars, again get this dead centre and use PAE to record Mars' position.

Then GOTO Denebola and hopefully it should be centred. If it's almost centred but not far off, centre it and try PAE again. If it's way off then something's gone wrong.

Then finally GOTO M66 and presumably at this point you connect your camera.

M65 & M66 are tricky visually so I think trying this with the Moon up is going to be hard work, but then again I'm not an imager so I might be talking rubbish on this point.

As an aside, have you got the park / power off / power on / no re-alignment required problem solved?

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

OK, with you now (and sorry to hear you can't go outside, must be frustrating ).

So I would repeat your test but this time make sure you align as precisely as you can for both alignment stars, using accurate time & location.

Then GOTO Mars, again get this dead centre and use PAE to record Mars' position.

Then GOTO Denebola and hopefully it should be centred. If it's almost centred but not far off, centre it and try PAE again. If it's way off then something's gone wrong.

Then finally GOTO M66 and presumably at this point you connect your camera.

M65 & M66 are tricky visually so I think trying this with the Moon up is going to be hard work, but then again I'm not an imager so I might be talking rubbish on this point.

As an aside, have you got the park / power off / power on / no re-alignment required problem solved?

yes if we have some more clear skys tonight, if not should be dark moonless skys from 20th onwards. 

i turned off and recycled power, and it asked if i wanted to start from park/home

after saying yes, it took me straight to set up menu, ( before it would ask to align or skip )

so i think its fixed in that way. But thinking about it logic wise, it would not hurt to just align each time

bit like checking an EQ and its polarsight is bang on every so often. but am hopeful this new 3.35 firmware is a better

version of the 3.08 i was running

just need the warmer summer nights to come on , so i can atleast get out  even if drapped in thick coats n gloves.

these winter/spring evenings-nights i can stand out for about 5 mins before i cant feel the fingers - toes ( thats having gloves on and in pockets lol),

not ideal trying to fumble around the 350d buttons and fine focus, 

[mitchelln]

Sorry, to ask the obvious, but I haven't seen it mentioned. You have Daylight Saving set to yes?
 

[Lonestar70]

i have a heart condition so being outside is very much frowned upon ( thats how i had my heart attack, jupiter is both beautiful and was nearly my maker)

when its cold so thats my reason i tend to view and image from behind double glazing.

Hi Tam,

Sorry to see you have such limiting medical issues... it cannot be easy for you.

How are you set up when it's cold?... is the scope also behind double glazing or is it outside with just you inside?

If it is the former, then trying to align accurately on a star through 2 layers of glass will cause problems due to the double refraction through 2 spaced planes of glass... this will put the image in the wrong place relative to the real world sky.

The other issue is that the amount the image is offset will depend on the angle between the scope and the window glass... the more acute the angle the further double refraction will move it... hence you would be miss-aligning your GOTO... and any alignment data would be false... hence GOTO errors.

Just a thought... and my apologise if this is not the case.

My very best regards.

Sandy.

[Mr TamiyaCowboy]

Hi Tam,

Sorry to see you have such limiting medical issues... it cannot be easy for you.

How are you set up when it's cold?... is the scope also behind double glazing or is it outside with just you inside?

If it is the former, then trying to align accurately on a star through 2 layers of glass will cause problems due to the double refraction through 2 spaced planes of glass... this will put the image in the wrong place relative to the real world sky.

The other issue is that the amount the image is offset will depend on the angle between the scope and the window glass... the more acute the angle the further double refraction will move it... hence you would be miss-aligning your GOTO... and any alignment data would be false... hence GOTO errors.

Just a thought... and my apologise if this is not the case.

My very best regards.

Sandy.

Makes lots of sense and yes i am shooting through double glass, and the angle of incedence is big. regulas does have a semi disc like fuzzy just below ( reflection).

will just mess around until the nights get alot warmer then i can get it onto the front lawn also gives me time to find an old windsaver/shield 

stop some of the street lights causing problems.