synscan polar alignment

[alacant]

syn 3.27

Hi everyone

If  do a 2 or 3 star alignment, I get the 'Alignment Successful' message but it never then moves onto the polar offset information. How long must I wait after the alignment for the success message to go away and for this info to be seen? I've waited about 2 minutes so far, but then I lose patience! Is there a way I can access this info via the menus?

TIA

[ngwillym]

You don't wait - that a 'for information' message - just press enter.

[alacant]

Yeah, I tried that but it takes me to a menu: no polar information.

[Paul M]

It's a while since I set up my synscan, but don't you get the hour angle of Polaris ( I think that's what you want?) right after you enter your lat/long and time and before you enter the star alignments menu?

I have the GPS mouse so that gets entered automatically. I'm sure it then just displays the HA. You need that for Polar Alignment (if you need it at all!) before going onto Synscan 2 or 3 star alignment. 

So after getting the 3 star alignment success message you are good to go!

[alacant]

Hi

I do indeed get the Polaris HA BEFORE the alignment, no problem with that. What I'm after is the polar alignment offset which I believe is displayed AFTER the 'successful alignment' message. With that information I can then decide if I want to tune the alignment more. Or so the manual tells me...

Cheers

 

[Owmuchonomy]

Upgrade to v3.35 or later.

[Tinker1947]

You need to upgrade the firmware mine has 3.37 installed and after the 2 star alignment scroll through the options and a Polar Alignment Option will be there, the 2 Star alignment is required before the PA option will appear the PA gets really good if you do a couple of them on different stars each time.....

[Paul M]

1 hour ago, alacant said:

Hi

I do indeed get the Polaris HA BEFORE the alignment, no problem with that. What I'm after is the polar alignment offset which I believe is displayed AFTER the 'successful alignment' message. With that information I can then decide if I want to tune the alignment more. Or so the manual tells me...

Cheers

 

Ok, I get you now.

You get further than me then. Like I say, as soon as I get the 3 star alignment success message I'm off!

I've never looked at refining my polar alignment Synscanically. That's a new word, by the way,  Synscanically....

[alacant]

 

4 hours ago, Paul M said:

That's a new word, by the way,  Synscanically....

LOL!

New words need new OED entries. Here they are:

synscan v. t. To contol a telescope using an overpriced flimsy plastic hand contoller; 'I sysnscanned it all the way to Sirius after downing 6 pints last night'.

synscanically adv. The art of contolling a telescope via a synscan conroller; 'I hate polarscopes, me. I always polar align synscanically.'

 

[jambouk]

If your handset has the appropriate firmware, it will display the Polar Alignment errors after the Alignment Successful display, either wait or press enter after Alignment Successful. If it's not there then it sounds like you don't have the correct firmware on the handset. V3.37 is the latest.

There is an option in the menu tree to find the information subsequently about how well or not your mount is polar aligned, I think it is in Utilities but will only be there if you have done a 2 or 3 star alignment since booting up.

James

 

[alacant]

Hi

OK. Thanks. It looks as though 3.27 doesn't have it, nor under the utiities menu. We're Linux only here with no computer COM port so there'll be a bit of hoop jumping to begin with. We've started by ordering a usb-rs232 cable. AliExpress as theres nothing available locally here in third world Europe. Should be here by the end of June!

[jambouk]

Good luck with theflash update. Don't use a cheap cable from ebay, they don't work.

james

[alacant]

Hi James

Thanks for the heads up. Any ideas which do work? We have this on order:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Beautiful-Gift-New-USB-TO-RS232-DB9-Serial-COM-Convertor-Adapter-Support-PLC-Free-Shipping-Jan29/32604252550.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.71.hEKHq1&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_2,searchweb201644_4_505_506_503_504_301_10020_502_10001_10002_10017_10010_10005_10006_10011_10003_10021_10004_10013_10022_10009_10008_10018_10019,searchweb201560_8,searchweb1451318400_-1,searchweb1451318411_6452&btsid=f2b6f73d-6cd2-4070-a494-39ca8ec0e356

All the amazon stuff seems to come from china too these days, or at least from amazon.es. And they cost 10 times more!

I wonder: if it fails, do I brick the handset?

Cheers

[jaygpoo]

Hi, All you need to polar align as near as dam it is a free app on your phone. There are loads of them and they are FREE. open it up and you will see a display showing you the polar position on the transit circle and you just swing the mount round the the approx position and the align the mount to place to star in the circle. Lock up and start star alignment. Jay

[alacant]

Hi

Yeah,  I often thought about how accurate I need to be. I'm getting 30 seconds with round stars in most photos. I really don't wanna have to take a laptop into the mix to guide so am trying to squeeze a few extra seconds so I thought I'd try the handset method. Maybe it's not worth it?

 

[jambouk]

It depends on what you want to achieve. If you want to get longer subs, you need your pilr alignment to be as good as possible. If you are happy as you are don't change what you are doing.

That lead is $2.33... I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't work. There is always a worry it may stall the process half way through the update and freeze the handset... Alarmist but a possibilty.

James

[alacant]

Hi. Anyone recommend one which works OK? I can't see differences between the models. Maybe I need a field flattener!

Cheers