heq5 to belt mod or not

[thunderchild]

good evening, i am contemplating having the belt mod done to my heq5, but i would like to know if the benefits out way the cost. i would like to know how much of an improvement it has made to your guiding, i have seen that quite a few have had the eq6s done but not many heq5's any help would be greatly appreciated many thanks.

[Skipper Billy]

I fitted the Rowan Astronomy belt drive kit to mine. Was it worth it ??  100% yes.

Quiet, smooth, accurate and transformed my guiding from a saw toothed graph to nice smooth lines.

Would do it again in a heartbeat - half an hours work.

[Demon Barber]

Another vote for the Rowan mod 

Regards

Mike

[SnakeyJ]

I have to concur with Billy and Mike, the Rowan mod has massively improved my HEQ5 Pro.   Now quiet and smooth and far less backlash on changing direction, though there will always be a little on the worms.

[thunderchild]

Thank you for your opinions Billy,Mike and Jake, it looks like the mod has made a difference. I won't be doing the mod myself ( heavy handed ) i will send it off to Graham @ Astrotec. 

 cheers Stuart

[Nathan_Pembs]

I've considered the belt mod, but held off for now anyway.

The graphs for me on PhD are pretty flat anyway, so to me why fix what's not broken?

One bonus for me would to get rid of all the grinding noise before and after slewing, makes me cringe lol

If I could see some PhD screen grabs of post mod graphs, I could be persuaded if guiding gets even better/smoother

[thunderchild]

Hi Nathan Pembs the reason for considering the mod is because the mount is 5+ yrs old, i have only had it for 2yrs it does have a blip every now and then, the phd graph is good most of the time but if i am going to have it serviced i might as well go the whole hog and get the belt mod done and there is no way i can afford a new one    .

[lensman57]

good evening, i am contemplating having the belt mod done to my heq5, but i would like to know if the benefits out way the cost. i would like to know how much of an improvement it has made to your guiding, i have seen that quite a few have had the eq6s done but not many heq5's any help would be greatly appreciated many thanks.

I have got it on my HEQ5. I have wasted £100s on a lot of useless gadgets but the belt mod was worth the money. Just don't expect miracles after the mod it is still a HEQ5.

A.G

[MattJenko]

I get the point about it still being an HEQ5.

I really don't need an improvement as my ED80 is so overmounted my phd graphs are positively himalayan compared to most on these forums and my stars are still fine, so this mod is way down the list of priorities, but I wonder what kind of mount weight/focal length would be closer to the 'would make a difference' line?

[lensman57]

I get the point about it still being an HEQ5.

I really don't need an improvement as my ED80 is so overmounted my phd graphs are positively himalayan compared to most on these forums and my stars are still fine, so this mod is way down the list of priorities, but I wonder what kind of mount weight/focal length would be closer to the 'would make a difference' line?

I will improve the backlash and the periodic error to some extent and it will be a lot quieter than before.

A.G

[Carina Lass]

I reckon if you are getting Himalayas with your graphs on an ED80-, your balance is too perfect and it's bouncing around on the backlash - this will be eliminated with beltmod - so go do it.

[MattJenko]

Very interesting - thanks. I have read of positive support of this mod before, seems there is very little downside. I feel a post-Christmas task brewing.

[thunderchild]

Thank you Lensman57 and Carina Lass for your helpful comments, it looks like i will go ahead with the mod as there obviously some benefits. Mattjenko  i can only agree with Carina Lass  if your peaks are that bad its too well balanced i had the same problem when i first started. Thanks to all that have helped.

[ollypenrice]

If your balance is too perfect why not offset it to run slightly east heavy? This is a well known and effective trick.

Olly

[Skipper Billy]

The belt mod doesn't remove all the backlash - there are still a pair of gears for each direction that have backlash. I always make the rising side heavy and it works a treat.

[MattJenko]

I appreciate the assumption that my balance is perfect , I know it isn't as I am just not that lucky, but I do know that a far from perfect guide graph can be and in my case certainly is compensated by a very forgiving scope/mount/dslr combination. I don't want to take away from the OP, but I guess continuing the discussion helps, and there is some very useful info imparted by people on this thread and it has certainly convinced me that I should look to do what I can to both improve my guiding and also get the best I can from my mount, which this mod appears to do. Sold.