First light with EQ5 pro was a disaster

[acharris77]

Hi all, I need some advice. Tonight was clear so I thought I would give the new EQ5 pro a go. Set it up, and because I was only going to try it on visual use, I thought I would skip a detailed polar alignment as I struggled to get my head around it and set it up north and give it a whirl.

I balanced the scope, etc and I set up the date, time, co-ordinates in the handset checking carefully if I entered the month right, as it is dd/mm/yyyy and ensured I set the 003 14 W  51 14 N accurately (used to this as I had a alt/az goto) and thought great, 2 star alignment.

Then the scope started to turn move to arcturus but it decided to start going and pointing downwards into the ground. So I stopped the scope and check my handset, all seemed fine. Power Tank was charged, but the scope went wayward. And I can't see what went wrong.

Then the clouds started rolling in. I have some questions below which might or might not be of an issue:

1) when polar aligning how do you align polaris in the polar scope?  As When I look through mine, I see a circle in the middle with 0, 3, 6, 9, 12. I see a pattern of stars at the bottom right of the scope. So Which of those circles do I put polaris in??

2) I pointed the tripod with the N on it to north, and then looking at a vid on youtube the guy says that the 2 black knobs sit over the locating pin? when I try that the mount head won't fit and I can't tighten it up. I can fit it if I rotate the head, but then the polar scope is pointing west. This confused me completely.

That is all for now. Any help you can give will be appreciated as I am pretty disappointed as I guess it was my error, but I could not see how. Thanks in advance.

[Dave grim]

Yes you're right the tripod leg with n on it points north you will need a compass to get that as accurate as poss , the two black knobs that you refer to are the azimuth adjusting bolts and therefore should be one either side of the locating pin ,as with the input into your handset , I take its a synscan the date needs to be entered in the American format which is mm/dd/yyyy , hope that helps .

Dave

[Steve Ward]

As above , date inputted incorrectly , it's all in the manual  ... 

[acharris77]

Thanks for the replies. Sorry for the confusion I meant to put up there mm/dd/yyyy. I do own a alt Az syncscan so do know it is American format, so that was not the issue. I double checked the date twice.

I can't locate the black knobs either side of the locating pin as the mount will not sit flush.

Thanks

[Stu]

Could you post some pictures up to help us?

When you put the tripod down facing north, is the locating pin also on the north side?

Did you put the scope on the right way round? It has to be pointing the right way initially in its home position otherwise it will end up pointing to the ground.

[Owmuchonomy]

Thanks for the replies. Sorry for the confusion I meant to put up there mm/dd/yyyy. I do own a alt Az syncscan so do know it is American format, so that was not the issue. I double checked the date twice.

I can't locate the black knobs either side of the locating pin as the mount will not sit flush.

Thanks

You have loosened them right off first I presume? Also I wouldn't use a compass as suggested above. There are a couple of reasons why that may give a false position. It's best to wait until you can just see Polaris and then crouch behind your tripod and with your eye line up the Az pin with Polaris.

[acharris77]

Thanks for the replies. Yes the locating pin is pointing north as well as the North on the tripod.

Hmm come to think of it, i am now wondering if I loosened the 2 adjustment knobs off enough to sit it on the pin. I slacken them, but did I leave enough gap. I will check that later.

Thanks again, appreciated.

[trazor]

A picture, is worth a thousand words.

[Stu]

Thanks for the replies. Yes the locating pin is pointing north as well as the North on the tripod.

Hmm come to think of it, i am now wondering if I loosened the 2 adjustment knobs off enough to sit it on the pin. I slacken them, but did I leave enough gap. I will check that later.

Thanks again, appreciated.

That's quite likely the problem then. It can be quite awkward to get them seated either side of the pin, but as you say, loosen them right off and it should sit flush and you can then tighten them up

[acharris77]

Thanks for the replies, that is one part sorted, due to a rookie mistake. I didn't even think of the 2 having to be slackened off more. I did that and the mount head fits lovely and flush now in the North position lol.

My next thing to work out is the position of the scope, as thinking about it that might have been partly to due with the scope not moving the right way. I simutate a setup procedure this afternoon in doors and put a picture up of how I position the scope on the mount, as I probably got that wrong as well being new to EQ mounts.

Then I need to work out the reticle for polar aligning as I can see the octant circles, the center piece with NCP and SCP but I can not see the circle to position Polaris in.

Thanks again for the great advice for a EQ newbie with probably stupid questions lol.

[acharris77]

Just thought I would update everyone. Thanks to the advice above I managed to sort out my mount head fitting problem, so that is sorted now.

The reason I had the scope going to the ground was because of what big Sumorian said. I had the home position wrong. Followed a YouTube video, I put the scope on the right way and when I tried an test alignment in the garden. I selected Arcturus, the scope turned ok and stop. I used Google Sky Map to see which area of the sky arcturus was in and the scope was in the right area lol.

So I think I have sussed that part of the scope thanks to the advice here. Now I need to learn about Polar Aligning lol. Thanks all.

[Davey-T]

Ignore the pictures of constellations, they only confuse people, get a polar app for your phone or laptop to see where Polaris should be on the clock face, assuming you've got it set with 12 at the top, or you can look on Stellarium and put it in the reverse place in the polar scope.

Dave

[acharris77]

Thanks for that suggestion on Polar Aligning. That sounds much better than using the diagram. As looking at it, I was thinking "how do that work then?" lol

I shall try that the next time we get a clear night.

Thanks again.