Help with SynScan GOTO

[riverrik]

Hi

I've recently purchased a SynScan Goto.

I have a Skywatcher Virtuoso 114p Telescope. I set it up tonight for the first time and have a slight problem. After reading the thread I'm still unsure what I'm doing wrong. I level the mount, enter all the correct information and do the 2 star align. I use Betelgeuse and Polaris. I then start to go to different objects, I go back to Betelgeuse, it's still bang in the middle, go to The Orion Nebula, again bang in the middle. Andromeda next, slightly off, then back to The Orion Nebula and its quite a distance off. Certainly out of the field of view, maybe half a degree out.

I re aligned several times and it continued to happen. My telescope mount is auto track as is the Goto , do I have to turn off the telescope tracking or is there something in the Goto settings I need to do?

Any help would be gratefully recieved as I'm scratching my head

[happy-kat]

Hi

Is the mount level.

Do you have good power.

[Steve Ward]

Do you have the tracking set to Sidereal Rate .. ? .. if set to Lunar or Solar it would throw you out.

Is the mount facing North to start .. ? 

[ronin]

I wish it were possible to download the data that the handset has, it would make life a lot easier all round.

You should have:

Longitude: 3 : 54 W(est)

Latitude: 54 : 54 N(orth)

Timezone: UTC, or UTC 0. They altered the format.

DST is OFF.

Do not use Polaris, too close to what is I suspect 0 in the software. Software does not like anything around the 0 value.

Date is US so is I think: 01 - 06 - 2016

Get that wrong and it thinks it is July 1st.

The Longitude may be in + or - format, if so you need to enter it as "-3 : 54".

For your location I think that a simple 55N and 4W would be accurate enough, if you want to make things a little less time consuming.

It is usually best to supply Long, Lat, Timezone indoors where it is warm and light.

[Tinker1947]

I would look at the power if it has a power LED and it flickers then your power supply isn't up to the job the ideal PSU is a mains 13.8v type, if it has to be a battery a good quality typemy GoTo Dob runs very well on a Tracer they keep a good voltage level untill close to running out....

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/tracer-12v-8ah-lithium-polymer-battery-pack.html

[knobby]

Does that mount have clutches ? If not balanced well they may be slipping

[Peter Drew]

+1 for checking balance and power in the first instance.

[happy-kat]

Yes the virtuoso has clutches and can be used as a totally manual dob base.

[Cornelius Varley]

The choice of Polaris as an alignment star is probably not a good one. Ideally the two alignment stars should be either side of the meridian and about at the same altitude.

[riverrik]

many thanks to everyone for taking their time to give me advice on this topic, it's greatly appreciated!!

I will try everything that you've advised and hopefully I'll get it sorted out.

I won't use Polaris as and alignment star and I'll check balance/ level.

I'll also check the tracking on the handset and make sure it's set to sidereal rate.

I face the mount north when I first switch it on, but I'm unsure if I need to do that or not with having the handset?

As for the power, the mount is run off the Mains via and extension cable with a 12v DC 1 Amp Power Supply that connects the mount to the extension cable. Could this be a factor?

Last night was the first night I could try it out because of the rubbish weather we've been having!

[Cornelius Varley]

The 12v 1amp supply should be ok if it has a regulated output, although this is minimum recommendation - more is better.. A psu with a lower output than recommended would cause more obvious problems.

[Peter Drew]

Interesting regarding Polaris as an alignment star. When I'm in Tenerife using my 8se I always use Polaris for a one star alignment to initiate the tracking, it never fails to succeed and the tracking seems good. I don't use the goto so I can't comment on that. My main advantage using Polaris is that I have defined its position in relation to a feature on a nearby hotel as well as an index mark on the fork arm for elevation. This allows me to set up if cloudy (I say IF ) in that area or in daytime for solar observation.