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EQ mod woes

cuivenion

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cuivenion

cuivenion

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HI All, could reaaly do with some help on this one. I have a new CG5/EQ5 + Astroeq/EQMOD setup. evrything seems to be connected and running smoothly apart from the dec axis is pointing near zenith when i'm selecting a target low on the northern horizon.  I have set the Home position correctly with the dec circle set to 0 degrees and the scope pointing up as shown in the guide (its been set with a bubble level.

What I don't understand is the guide says to set the dec circle to 0 degrees yet when I park to home in eqmod it gives a dec reading of 89.99. Gotos seem to more accurate if I manualy shift the parked home dec position 90 degrees so the scope is horizontal not pointing up as it's supposed to.

I'm quite confused right now and would like to do a proper test of the scope tonight but I get the feeling I'm missing something obvious.

 

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cuivenion

cuivenion

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Hi Rob. The main problem is amount the gotos are very far out, something is fundamentally wrong with the set up. The home/park position of the mount is correct and eqmod slews right back to it with no problems. The main problem is the gotos and I have a feeling that it's due to the discrepancy between the dec on the mount set at the home postion of 0 degrees and EQMOD which says the PARK/HOME position is 89.9 degrees.

I'm just testing it indoors at the moment which is way I'm choosing stars in the N, W, S and E horizon to goto to but it's obviously miles out.

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roblegion

roblegion

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Try reversing your motors ( one at a time) and see what happens, if no joy start from scratch, work through methodically, including polar alignment.

It sounds like, at first thoughts, one of your motors is going in the wrong direction. I could be wrong, this has happened on many occasions.

If you look at the link I gave you earlier home/park is arbitrary to your own set up. And until you do a sync, the mount/eqmod hasn't really got a clue where it is pointing.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Waldemar

Waldemar

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On ‎7‎-‎3‎-‎2016 at 17:56, cuivenion said:

Thank you very much Rob. Turns out the RA was going in the wrong direction. I can chill out and have a brew before taking the gear out now lol. Made my day, thanks again.

 

How can that be? Straight out of the box? Is it an electric or a mechanical issue?

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cuivenion

cuivenion

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40 minutes ago, Waldemar said:

How can that be? Straight out of the box? Is it an electric or a mechanical issue?

Hi, I don't know whats caused it. It's always possible I wired the stepper motor the wrong way. As its working after changing the motor direction in the AstroEq config I think I'm better just leaving well alone.

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jaygpoo

jaygpoo

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If your using eqmod there is the ability in the software to set the polar alignment spot on with no effort at all. Go on to youtube and type eqmod polar alignment and the guy that wrote the programme called chris will guide you throught it and every other thing eqmod can do. Jay

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daz

daz

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Before you do, you need to make sure your polar reticule is accurately aligned with the RA axis.

I check this on a distant telegraph pole/aerial/church spire (or some other static object) by this process:

  1. Rotate DEC so you can see through polar scope :)
  2. Rotate RA so it is horizontal
  3. You'll need to adjust the angle of the mount to see your chosen target and put the centre of the reticule on the target
  4. Rotate the RA 180 degress
  5. Check if the centre of the reticule has moved off the target. If it has, use the 3 set screws on the polar scope to move the centre of the reticule back towards the target - HALFWAY
  6. Rotate the RA 180 degrees again
  7. Adjust the mount to reposition the centre of the reticule on the target
  8. Repeat steps 4 to 7 until the centre of the reticule remains on the target at each position

This can be a bit fiddly, but patience is the key here!

Then you can use the EQASCOM Polar Alignment - although I use this AND AlignMaster to get accurate alignment.

 

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