HEQ5 setup queries

[AstroFrog]

Hi folks,

Could I trouble you with a couple of daft queries about heq5 mounts please? A friend of mine just bought one, and having my own kit he asked me to come help him set up. Unfortunately all of my experience has been with an alt-az mount, so I've not been much use so far!!

We've managed to get the scope on and balanced, and just about to power it up...Might sound like a daft question, but do you lock the RA and Dec axis 'locks' before you power it up and start driving it / aligning it?!

I've been quite surprised how much useful information is NOT in the skywatcher instruction booklet!

Many thanks for any advice! :-)

Cheers

Fred

[jambouk]

Yes, you need to lock the clutches else the motors won't be able to turn either axis.

[jambouk]

And once you've done a star alignment, don't release the clutches else your star alignment will be useless and goto will be totally wrong.

[jambouk]

Should also say, it's ok to power the mount on with the clutches released, and to release the clutches to perform the polar alignment, but once the polar alignment is finished, manually put the scope into the home position, then lock the clutches and start the star alignment.

James

[AstroFrog]

Wow, James, thank you for your super quick and helpful response! :-) Very kind of you sir!

[jambouk]

There are three articles here which go through the basics:

http://m.skyatnightmagazine.com/feature/general-guide/equatorial-mounts-part-1

Thy don't use an HEQ5 but the principles are the same.

James

[AstroFrog]

Awesome! Thank you! :-)

[Marky1973]

Check out AstronomyShed videos on YouTube as well -  I have been using them on my NEQ6 (which is, essentially what they are for) but the principles are largely the same and they go through all the basics from leveling, to alignment and using the handset - I'd recommend them! Just search for setting up an NEQ6 in YT and you should find them