Synscan v3.36 released

[jambouk]

I wouldn't have thought so. Is there not a confirmation as you press enter or an option to see what elevation is set on the handset, such as in "show information"?

What advantage does adding elevation give to the setup?

[sbooder]

I wouldn't have thought so. Is there not a confirmation as you press enter or an option to see what elevation is set on the handset, such as in "show information"?

What advantage does adding elevation give to the setup?

According to the manual: "for atmospheric refraction compensation"

[Tinker1947]

Start your elevation numbers from the right side so if you only use 3 digits the left most one is a "0" and i made the (-) a Plus (+).....

[jambouk]

Blimey. That sounds complicated! I knew the altitude of objects in the sky was related to how much atmospheric disturbance would be present, but looking at this presentation, i wonder if the altitude one enters is used to calculate "atmospheric pressure" rather than be used for anything else:

http://www2.astro.psu.edu/users/rbc/a501/c3_astrometry.pdf

James

[NickMorris]

Surely the firmware would also need to know atmospheric pressure if it was going to compensate for atmospheric refraction?

[libraryman]

Hi, is there any benefit loading the new update for those who control the mount through EQmod.....i do añ initial home alignment with the handset!

Will this be improved with the update?

Ray

[sbooder]

Hi, is there any benefit loading the new update for those who control the mount through EQmod.....i do añ initial home alignment with the handset!

Will this be improved with the update?

Ray

Not really. I might be wrong but I am not sure any of the flash is taken up by the mount once the HC is connected.  Again, I might be off base but I do not think even the motor updates are transferred to the mount circuit board?

[libraryman]

Cheers Simon i would think that you are correct

Ray

[FairviewSteve]

Anyone know if these updates can be applied with a Mac? Or do I need to find someone friendly with a PC?

[RamsayS]

Hi Guys, 

I done this update as i bought a goto and GPS mouse... But telling me GPS not found after this update. 

I have never once had this synscan working. Any tips on how to get the GPS to read? 

[johnpd]

Anyone know if these updates can be applied with a Mac? Or do I need to find someone friendly with a PC?

Since all the software to load the firmware is Windows PC only, you need to find a friend with a PC. The other option (a little costly) is to install something like Parallels and get a copy of Windows and install that under Parallels.

JohnD

[sbooder]

Hi Guys, 

I done this update as i bought a goto and GPS mouse... But telling me GPS not found after this update. 

I have never once had this synscan working. Any tips on how to get the GPS to read? 

As far as I can remember, the first time you connect the GPS to the mount it can take up to 30 mins to register, so try again and go make a cup of tea, or crack open a beer and give it some time.

[RamsayS]

Thanks! I will leave it in plugged in for a bit and try it. 

I will go buy an astro trac while I wait! 

[johnpd]

There is a another item on the Skywatcher download site that is a little confusing: a new Synscan Hand Controller Firmware Update Instruction pdf. It states that these instructions should be used in place of instructions in the User Manual. The problem is that it has screen prints from a v2 Updater and the date associated with it is October 2007???? I don't know what to make of it.

JohnD

[FairviewSteve]

Since all the software to load the firmware is Windows PC only, you need to find a friend with a PC. The other option (a little costly) is to install something like Parallels and get a copy of Windows and install that under Parallels.

JohnD

Thanks JohnD didn't think of that, I do run windows 7 via parallels, will have to see if it gets recognised as a device. Have to use USB though as have no serial port!

[philming]

Hi all!

I've had trouble with the alignment of any fw above 3.27. When performing a 1 star alignment, with a star near the object to shoot, I've always been off. So I reverted back to 3.27 that has always put the DSO in the dead middle of my DSLR's sensor. 

If anyone tests this new fw, can he-she report as to the precision of the gotos after alignment ? Be it 1 or 3 stars ?

Thanx all !

[jambouk]

I've just updated to v3.36. Had a play with it in the garage and seems OK.

Looking through the latest version of the instruction manual which accompanies this firmware update (link below), it is interesting that the text relating to "polar aligning without a polar scope" has changed. It used to say to use the altitude knob, and then the azimuth knobs to "centre" the star each time. Now it says: "...bring the reference star back to the closest point to the center of the FOV of the telescope’s eyepiece. Remember the reference star’s current position in the eyepiece for later adjustment..." then when making the azimuth adjustments: "...By using ONLY the azimuth control of the mount (do not touch the altitude control), bring the reference star back to the closest point to the previous position (at the end of Step 6)...." I certainly never did this before, as I would alwasy try and get the star as close to the centre of the FoV as possible, not nearest to the position the altitude adjustment had achieved, and I did wonder why sometimes my PA varied with this technique between cycles. I will be interested to see how much better (or worse) applying this technique results in next clear night.

The other thing which is new is the cone error compensation. It looks like the default value for this is zero. The user can insert their own values, but after a 3-star alignment, the handset works out the cone error and stores this. The one thing I'm not sure about is when it applies the cone error compensation:

"1. Access menu “Setup\Alignment\Cone Error“ to display and modify the cone error.
• The cone error compensation will be applied to 1-Star, 2-Star and Brightest-Star alignments.
• In a 3-Star alignment, SynScan hand control measures the current cone error and overwrites the old cone error value.
• Cone error is quite common in most telescope systems, but and alt-az mount is less sensitive to cone error. Generally, user can set cone error to 0 on a alt-az mount."

From: http://www.skywatcher.com/downloads/Synscan%20V3%20Hand%20Control%20Manual_SSHCV3-F-141110V1-EN.pdf

Does the handset use this data when slewing to objects in GOTO after a 3-star alignment, or just after a 1- or 2- star alignment? Or has it always applies this error after a 3-star alignment even if in previous versions of the firmware didn't quantify the error?

Fascinated to try the new firmware out.

James

[johnpd]

I've just updated to v3.36. Had a play with it in the garage and seems OK.

Looking through the latest version of the instruction manual which accompanies this firmware update (link below), it is interesting that the text relating to "polar aligning without a polar scope" has changed. It used to say to use the altitude knob, and then the azimuth knobs to "centre" the star each time. Now it says: "...bring the reference star back to the closest point to the center of the FOV of the telescope’s eyepiece. Remember the reference star’s current position in the eyepiece for later adjustment..." then when making the azimuth adjustments: "...By using ONLY the azimuth control of the mount (do not touch the altitude control), bring the reference star back to the closest point to the previous position (at the end of Step 6)...." I certainly never did this before, as I would always try and get the star as close to the centre of the FoV as possible, not nearest to the position the altitude adjustment had achieved, and I did wonder why sometimes my PA varied with this technique between cycles. I will be interested to see how much better (or worse) applying this technique results in next clear night.

James

James,

  Those are the same instructions included with v3.35. v3.32 (which is the only other manual I have) does not go into adjusting the ALT and AZ in separate steps. I think the procedure might have been changed in v3.34.

JohnD

[sbooder]

There is a link in the description on the download page to the new manual v3.6

[jambouk]

JohnD, you are right. I've been working off an old copy of the manual, 1150113V3 which talks about centering the star, but in the other old copy I have which accompanies v3.35 (280313V3) it talks about getting it back to the closest point made by the previous adjustment.

An important lesson to make sure you get the latest version of the manual when updating the firmware!

Thanks for highlighting this.

James

[johnpd]

I updated my firmware Monday. I had to run it twice because for some reason after the first time the hand controller screen came up blank.

1) I usually have my mount set up in AZ Mode. I tried one problem scenario inside. Back in May I had slewed from Jupiter (low in the west) to M81 (higher up in the northwest). Instead of the mount going clockwise from Jupiter to M81 (the shortest path), the mount began rotating counter-clockwise from west to south to east past north, past M81, and past Jupiter and probably would have gone on rotating ad infinitum if I had not stopped it. I had reported that problem to my dealer and Synta was able to reproduce it and said it would be fixed in the next firmware release. Testing with the new firmware, they indeed fixed it.

2) The only other issue I and others have encountered was the occasional triple up/down loop the mount would sometimes go through after slewing to an object. It would eventually end up about a degree off the object. There was mention in the Release Notes about fixing an "occasional irregular approach at the end of a GOTO". I hope that is what they were referring to. I need to use the Big Dipper to test it as I was able to easily reproduce that issue slewing between some of the stars there.

3) I am not sure what they mean by "New algorithm for alignment stars filtering to improve alignment quality". It appears like the stars being presented are still the brightest ones even though they may not be optimal (too high or too low according to their own recommendations in the manual).

JohnD

[kerrylewis]

Missed the update release but thanks for the heads up everyone. Have now updated the handset and motor controllers and a clear night is forecast so I can try them out. What more can we ask?

[jam1e1]

Upgraded my az eq6 mount motor controllers and handset to latest versions this weekend, also got a few hours of play Saturday night as was quite clear despite 50% moon.

Pleased to say the accuracy in az mode does seem to be much better than before. Set up as follows:

- ensured mount properly levelled

- set azimuth to point to Polaris , altitude to zero. By this I mean scope pointing towards Polaris direction but at 0 deg altitude. Had the power and connectors facing me , with the wedge screws on top side. This orientation may not technically matter but with previous issues I'm sticking to consistent setup to eliminate potential errors

- aligned to vega 1st star, mirfak 2nd

- aligned in a 26mm ep, whilst not the most accurate for repeated results, thought would try either way

- visited a load of objects ( doubles, clusters, IC, ngc) all objects via goto ended up in eyepiece fov . Main constellations tested in were Cygnus and Cassiopeia areas

- even after 3 hours the objects still ended up in fov after goto, no need for local alignment

- other fix appears to be when using skysafari and skyfi for control,the slew speeds direction buttons also now all work

With any luck will also work without issue on further occasions, although going by previous releases will try out a couple more times before have a conclusive 'ok'

Overall very pleased with early testing and these are now hopefully fixed, hope to hear back from others too [emoji1]

Jamie

[dph1nm]

Have just uploaded 3.36 (on an HEQ5) and I have an issue. When restarting from the (custom) park position, after going through the setup. you cannot GOTO any object. The handset displays what looks like the correct alt and az for the object but slews to something approximating to 0. 0 in alt-az (according to the handset). Any further attempt to GOTO a listed object leaves the telescope completely unmoved. However, if you then ask it to start an alignment it will slew perfectly to the requested star! This did not happen with 3.35.

e.g.

Select named: Capella

Slew to object - goes to a near horizontal position at alt-az 0,0

Select a.n.other object

Slew to object - telescope stationary

Align

1-star

Choose Capella - scope slews perfectly to Capella

Anyone else tried restarting from a custom park with 3.36?

NigelM

[Avocette]

I've just updated to 3.36 on my EQ5 Pro. In this (EQ) mode, I've found a similar bug to NigelM. When I switch on from cold it's no use to select GoTo objects from the Home Park position. Selecting a Named Star makes the mount turn through a right angle in DEC to 000*00 00*00 before indicating the RA and Dec and name of the intended star. The slew is either to the left or right depending on the star chosen.

However if I set up my polar alignment with my polarscope with care and then go through a full 3 star alignment (last night with Vega, Deneb and Capella) the GoTo works very well. I guess we should be reporting these bugs to SW?