EQ5 pro goto Mount

[Megalot]

Hi

I am using a Skywatcher explorer 150P on a Skywatcher EQ5 Pro Goto Mount.

I have spent the morning setting up the mount and polarscope.

So far I have levelled it all, set the home position, checked the polarscope is correctly aligned (as far as I can indoors during the day)  and finally attached the telescope/weights and balanced it all.

I have connected all the cables and to all intents and purposes is it ready to switch on.  My questions are:

1.     Do I need to wait until its dark and everything is polar aligned until I switch it on and initialise the handset?

2.     Do I still need the star finder if using synscan?

3.     I have stellarium on my macbook, is it possible to use the laptop connected to the sys can control box auto guider socket &, if so, what connections would I need.  I have no serial port on the macbook just USB and lightening connector.

4.     One for the future, how do I connect my DSLR, I have a T Mount, is there anything else I need?

I'm pretty certain that there will be more questions to come but that is it, I think, for now

Thanks

[ronin]

You need it to be dark enough to see Polaris and whatever other alignment stars are selected in order to perform the alignment set up and procedure.

No idea what Star Finder is but you can use Synscan to goto objects once it is all set up and aligned. If you are referring to the finder scope then yes that needs to stay on.

Stellarium will control a scope but you need suitable drivers and (I think) a few other bits of software and no idea if these exist for a Mac.

DSLR, you will need the T-ring, I half think you may need something for T-ring to focuser as well - it is never easy.

Big problem will be that the focal plane of the scope will not reach the DSLR sensor, so no sharp image. Youi will likely need to move the mirror up the scope by about 25mm or 30mm to "push" trhe focal plane out. The means recollimating as it all moves. After that the focal plane may be too far out for eyepieces so you could need a short extension tube for visual.

For getting/taking the images you will need a suitable Intervalometer or Remote Timer, around £20 from Amazon, for the DSLR. Also at least 2 fully charged batteries.

[Eri]

I have Windows but cant see it being much different for Mac

For controlling the mount with Stellarium as long as you have version 0.10 or higher i think (currently on 0.14) there is a telescope plugin preloaded, you will need to get a USB to RS232 adaptor this is what I got took a bit of sitting down and thinking but it works to control my HEQ5 without any other software, you do need to have the synscan firmware version 3 or higher.

I just plugged the scope in and after I unplugged then re-plugged the usb it controls fine. I'm hoping for clear skies in a few hours to really test this out.

[Megalot]

Thanks for the advice, I'll get a lead tomorrow and try it

[D4N]

Mac is a little different to Windows since Ascom is Windows specific. To drive the mount from your Mac you need drivers, indi supports the SynScan mounts so you could use this.

www.indilib.org

Otherwise you will need to use Windows to control the mount. I use Windows since indi doesn't support my mount, I use VMware to run a virtual Windows XP machine on my Mac and run ascom on that.

/Dan

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[Helite]

Thanks for the advice, I'll get a lead tomorrow and try it

You would be better off getting the EQDIR lead from FLO for about the same price as the maplins cable , it will lead to less headaches, trust me, I have been here before with the EQ5 and the proper adapter from FLO works straight out of the box where the cable into the handset had me faffing about for ages. 

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/astronomy-cables-leads-accessories/hitecastro-eqdir-adapter.html

[D4N]

If you use that cable you will need to also use the EQMac software.

www.eqmac.hulse.id.au

I made my own cable, I wouldn't recommend that if you don't know how to solder though.

/Dan

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[Megalot]

Thanks everyone for the advice.  I have ordered the marlin lead (before I saw all of this) so I'll try with that first.