AZ EQ5-GT Mount Tuition

[Coastliner]

Hi,

I've just moved up a gear and took delivery of one of the above mounts yesterday.

(From FLO, phenomenal service, they gave good advice prior to the purchase and delivered early the next day).

I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew here, I have a very steep learning curve to climb.

Are there any good tutorial books or vids on setting up and using these? I realise I may have to look at separate articles for an AZ and an EQ.

For example, the guide says that before using the RA and DEC dials they need to be calibrated by pointing to a known coordinate and adjusting the dials accordingly. Presumably the calibration will change as the mount is moved? And what do I calibrate to? Any star that I can find the RA and DEC for?

Having had a quick flick through, it seems Celestron have the edge when it comes to alignment simplicity - just point to any three naked-eye stars (you don't need to know their names) and away you go. SynScan seems more complicated.

Anyway, any good books, Youtube channels, etc?

Ta as always,

Neil.

[jambouk]

Neil,

Sorry nonone has replied, the whole forum seems a bit quiet these last few weeks as is often the case in the summer, so don't it personally

Do a search on "azeq5" across all the forums on here and see if therenis any advice, if not private message someone who has one and ask them to comment on here as there will be people in the future who will probably ask the same questions.

Hope you get it set up and running smoothly.

James

[jambouk]

Is the manual available online?

[jambouk]

On my AZEQ6, I only use the setting circles to help with Polar Alignment (PA). When the small Polaris circle is at the 6 O'clock position (like below), my RA setting circle is at zero; I did spend some time calibrating this, but this has now been superseded in my routine by using the handset PA routine.

I don't think you need to worry about the setting circles. Once you have plonked it all facing north, pointing roughly at Polaris, do a two star alignment (making sure the scope is starting from the home position) using stars on the same side of the meridian, then do a couple of handset PA routines and you will rapidly get a pretty accurate PA. For EQ mode, without a polar scope, I'm not sure I'd bother with the setting circles; once the star alignment is done the handset will always tell you were you are pointing at and take you to wherever you want to go anyway.

James

[jambouk]

I've not used the Celestron version so I can't comment on the comparison. If you start at the home position and the kit is well balanced, and your PA is roughly OK, then doing a star alignment is pretty easy. There must be one or two stars in the sky that you know; most of these will be in the list of potential stars. If you don't know any, then this is a cracking opportunity to learn a few. 

James

[Coastliner]

Thanks all, I guess I just need to get over my fear of this thing and read up and practice!

James, I've always had good responses to my posts this one being the exception, I guessed it must be because it is the start of the Summer holidays.

I think (!) , although I've not tried it yet, that as a quick and dirty "getting started" tracking routine I can simply set the Alt to 51 degrees, point the mount roughly North (Beech trees blockng Polaris), set sidereal rate and just point it anywhere and see what happens.

Off to the Youtube Astronomy Shed now!

Neil.

[Stu]

Thanks all, I guess I just need to get over my fear of this thing and read up and practice!

James, I've always had good responses to my posts this one being the exception, I guessed it must be because it is the start of the Summer holidays.

I think (!) , although I've not tried it yet, that as a quick and dirty "getting started" tracking routine I can simply set the Alt to 51 degrees, point the mount roughly North (Beech trees blockng Polaris), set sidereal rate and just point it anywhere and see what happens.

Off to the Youtube Astronomy Shed now!

Neil.

That's sounds right Neil. Nothing to be scared of, just take it slowly and give it a go. For visual a rough polar alignment is normally enough to get the tracking and go to quite close.

[kerrylewis]

Neil

Have you tried using it in AZ mode? No need to polar align and perfectly OK for visual.

Kerry

[Coastliner]

Kerry, funnily enough I've just put it into AZ and will probably give that a go first tonight.

BigS, it's good to know that a rough PA will be good enough for obs,

Am I right in thinking that if I have the mount in EQ mode then only one of the motors will be powered, the RA one? So I could leave the Dec motor disconnected?

[kerrylewis]

Kerry, funnily enough I've just put it into AZ and will probably give that a go first tonight.

BigS, it's good to know that a rough PA will be good enough for obs,

Am I right in thinking that if I have the mount in EQ mode then only one of the motors will be powered, the RA one? So I could leave the Dec motor disconnected?

Ok. Just set it roughly north and level and use the brightest star alignment method and you'll be up and running in no time. I have the 6 version but I'm assuming everything is the same with the 5

[Stu]

Kerry, funnily enough I've just put it into AZ and will probably give that a go first tonight.

BigS, it's good to know that a rough PA will be good enough for obs,

Am I right in thinking that if I have the mount in EQ mode then only one of the motors will be powered, the RA one? So I could leave the Dec motor disconnected?

Not sure how to disconnect the motors individually, but definitely leave everything connected. Both axes move when the goto is moving to a new target. In theory, with perfect polar alignment, just the one motor is moving, but in reality you will always need to correct every now and then, plus you will want to move the target around in the eyepiece.

I always use my AZEQ6 in AZ mode. I'm purely visual and it is much simpler. It also keeps the eyepiece in a more comfortable position. The tracking is perfectly good, and field rotation is not an issue for visual.

[Coastliner]

Good pont BigS re goto using both motors if PA not spot on, hadn't thought of that.

Kerry, I will go for brightest star if that's the quickest to get me going.

[tonylumley]

Hi,

I've just moved up a gear and took delivery of one of the above mounts yesterday.

(From FLO, phenomenal service, they gave good advice prior to the purchase and delivered early the next day).

I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew here, I have a very steep learning curve to climb.

Are there any good tutorial books or vids on setting up and using these? I realise I may have to look at separate articles for an AZ and an EQ.

For example, the guide says that before using the RA and DEC dials they need to be calibrated by pointing to a known coordinate and adjusting the dials accordingly. Presumably the calibration will change as the mount is moved? And what do I calibrate to? Any star that I can find the RA and DEC for?

Having had a quick flick through, it seems Celestron have the edge when it comes to alignment simplicity - just point to any three naked-eye stars (you don't need to know their names) and away you go. SynScan seems more complicated.

Anyway, any good books, Youtube channels, etc?

Ta as always,

Neil.

bought the EQ5 pro from FLO, and then, like you thought were do I go now, so looked on youtube, type in eq5 set up, Adrian Clark and  chap who goes by Bogglewoodle, I found set me on the right track, also loads of other helpful vids, hope this helps Lum Essex

[Coastliner]

Thanks Lum,

I'm looking at vids now. I had a go last night, a real struggle with the 200p tube. I couldn't find anywhere that defined which way you should orientate the scope ( which way round you place it in the dovetail bracket) , consequently I had the tube goto an object but although it was roughly in the right orientation it had the mirror end pointing at the object rather than the eyepiece end. I'm going to try with a short piece of wood rather than an OTA later, it's a real pain loading the tube to find that you can't use it.

I should point out that with this mount you load the tube with the bracket horizontal rather than up/down, hence the "which way" confusion!

Neil.

[Geordie mc]

The Astronomy Shed videos are good on Youtube. Loads of helpful tips. I have the same mount and usually just polar align using the free ioptron app on my ipad to see where Polaris should be in the polarscope, but you can also read this from the Synscan handset. I the use Mizar as my first alignment star as its easy to find and identify. Then the mount usually puts any reasonably bright star you've chosen as your second star in the field of view. If i'm imaging I do a 3 star alignment and then run the PA routne on the Synscan. I have never used the setting circles.

[Crose01]

I believe that this mount does not have a polar scope

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Coastliner]

You're rigt, no polar scope as standard but one can be retro fitted. I can't see polaris from my garden so i am hoping to use the Synscan pa feature.

Astronomy Shed - I have watched all five vids on setting up an eq5, number five was a blinder - cone correction. Thank heavens I kept those four funny little screws that I removed from the end of my dovetail bar! I thought they were alternative fixings!

Expecting delivery of my 150PDS today, I found the 200p Dob too big to handle.

Thanks for the interest all!

Neil.

[Snaxmuppet]

I have an AZ-EQ5GT. It is my first mount so I am quite a newbie and like you I found it all a bit daunting at first. But by following the SW instructions and watching a few vids on other, more common, mounts, I have got the hang of it (I think!).

In EQ mode, for me, key to putting the scope on the right way round was mark the HOME position with a small felt-tip pen mark on the mount body so that regardless of what the setting circles are set to I can always move the scope to HOME. Once in home it is then obvious which way round the scope needs to be... weights pointing down, scope pointing up. Then I realised (I am slow sometimes!) that providing I had the screws always on the same side then I couldn't get it wrong. DOH!

I am sure there are loads of different ways to help you remember that one so just find your own way and use that I don't bother using the setting circle dials at all. With a working GOTO there just isn't any need IMO.

For polar aligning I started using the PA procedure on the handset but I have now ditched the handset and use EQMOD instead as I am mostly imaging so now I use AlignMaster. Only tried it a couple of times so still getting used to it. In fact, still getting used to EQMOD too, in fact, still getting used to everything!!! A lot to learn.

If you are in AZ mode then there is no polar alignment to do and like the Celestron you mentioned you just point roughly north, do a star alignment and off you go. Easy. Only good for visual tho. I have a solar scope so I use AZ mode for solar observing where field rotation is not a factor.

If you get stuck just shout. There really isn't anything to be scared of... part of the fun is in the learning... and getting it wrong sometimes Just shout... I am sure we will help if we can

[Coastliner]

Snax, thanks for that - you are going to regret telling me that you have the same mount !

The problem I had with orienting the scope was when I thought I would set it up in AZ first (as I am used to that type of mount with the 4se). I wanted to go for a quick and dirty alignment as this was the first power-up, so I mounted the scope and set the mount into the home position as described in the manual - the "N" leg facing North, and the OTA pointing North and level. I had mounted the scope with the bracket knobs upwards, again as described in the manual. I powered on, selected the moon, and hit view. The scope slewed and pointed to the moon but with the wrong end - I had the tube in the wrong way round. I couldn't find anywhere that said you should have the tube pointing left or right when you mount it, so I wondered what I was missing, other than a few marbles, obviously.  I realise that having done it once and got it wrong I now know which way around the tube goes, but I'd like to know which bit I didn't read or understand. If you could have a quick ganders at the manual for AZ I'd like to know if you can see what I missed.

I'm not daunted, I'm really enjoying the learning.  As my profile says, my interest in the technology and mechanics will always get in the way of the goal!

Neil

[Snaxmuppet]

No problem... if I can help I will always be glad to do so

from the manual, page 10:

The telescope should be mounted in a way so that it is on the right-hand side of the mount when it points forward.

Is that the bit you missed?

[Coastliner]

No problem... if I can help I will always be glad to do so

from the manual, page 10:

Is that the bit you missed?

Ah. . If I'd known that this astronomy lark required left/right knowledge as a prerequisite I would never have started. .

That's the bit I missed, many thanks!

[Coastliner]

i've made sure that can never happen again.

[Coastliner]

Whoops - narrowly avoided disaster last night, slewing around caused the data cable between the RA and DEC heads to wrap around the mount, almost tore it out. I need a longer cable or look for a way of setting some limits!

[alexbb]

Why was the 200p to big to handle? Was is too big for the daily usage for you or for the mount? Ummm.. nightly usage maybe

I was planning to buy the az-eq5 too.

Alex

[Coastliner]

Alex, I am really enjoying this mount. I have not used EQ before, having had an altaz goto I'm sticking with altaz mode while I'm dragging myself up the learning curve.

I'm knocking on a bit and find the 200p just too heavy, long and unwieldy for regular use, the mount copes with it very well though. I have just taken delivery of a 150P DS OTA which is considerably shorter and lighter.

The 200p will still be used on the mount for observing now and again, but I have read that its weight is on the limits for AP. Should be ok for videoing planets though.

Go for it!