Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 GT

[DRT]

My new AZ-EQ6 GT arrived from Rother Valley Optics today - and what a beast of a mount this is!

I had seen but never lifted one in the past and what struck me immediately was how much bigger and heavier it was than I was expecting. It is also a product that seems to be of much better build quality than any other Skywatcher branded item I have owned - very solid, well designed and with no obvious cheap bits that so many other SW items suffer from.

It took me about an hour from having three large boxes sitting in the living room (the third being an 8" pillar extension) to having this set-up on the patio pointing at and (hopefully!) tracking the big shiny thing in the sky...

I am as pleased as Punch and very much looking forward to using it for the Mercury transit on Monday and hopefully some deep sky hunting between now and then if the clouds permit

 

[Knighty2112]

Very nice.  Me want one! Hehe! 

[Galactic Wanderer]

Awesome! Ive got an EQ3 which is not quite there!

SEB

[xtreemchaos]

that looks the biz Derek, well done mate, id love one myself, cracking mount and scopes.thanks charl.

[DRT]

There are two "nearly new" AZs on ABS UK today

[DRT]

2 hours ago, DRT said:

(hopefully!) tracking

It wasn't   -  but it is now!

Here is where I went wrong, which will hopefully help others...

When using the mount in Alt-Az mode use the following procedure to use tracking without going through star alignment, which is essential for Solar viewing as the mount does not allow you to align using the Sun...

1. Ensure the mount is turned off.
2. Set-up the mount with the tripod leg that has the Azimuth adjustment bolts above it pointing north.
3. Level your OTA horizontally and point it north.
4. Turn on the mount and go through the handset initialisation process. I have found that the only thing you need to re-set each time you turn the handset on is the time, everything else seems to hold its settings.
5. Use the handset to get to the Setup >> Tracking menu item and press Enter. Use the arrow keys to scroll through the options to get to the tracking speed you need (Sidereal, Lunar or Solar) and press Enter.
6. Press Esc to get back to the main menu.
7. Use the arrow keys to slew to the Sun (or whatever else you are viewing), ideally approaching from below and towards the right.
8. When the target is centred in the FOV you should now be able to leave the controls alone and just observe

For steps 2 and 3 I pointed the leg and the scope towards the area of the sky where I know Polaris is. It was only rough alignment but it worked a treat. For accurate alignment you would need a compass and the ability to point the leg and scope to true north, not magnetic north.

 

[Neil27]

4 hours ago, DRT said:

It wasn't   -  but it is now!

Here is where I went wrong, which will hopefully help others...

When using the mount in Alt-Az mode use the following procedure to use tracking without going through star alignment, which is essential for Solar viewing as the mount does not allow you to align using the Sun...

1. Ensure the mount is turned off.
2. Set-up the mount with the tripod leg that has the Azimuth adjustment bolts above it pointing north.
3. Level your OTA horizontally and point it north.
4. Turn on the mount and go through the handset initialisation process. I have found that the only thing you need to re-set each time you turn the handset on is the time, everything else seems to hold its settings.
5. Use the handset to get to the Setup >> Tracking menu item and press Enter. Use the arrow keys to scroll through the options to get to the tracking speed you need (Sidereal, Lunar or Solar) and press Enter.
6. Press Esc to get back to the main menu.
7. Use the arrow keys to slew to the Sun (or whatever else you are viewing), ideally approaching from below and towards the right.
8. When the target is centred in the FOV you should now be able to leave the controls alone and just observe

For steps 2 and 3 I pointed the leg and the scope towards the area of the sky where I know Polaris is. It was only rough alignment but it worked a treat. For accurate alignment you would need a compass and the ability to point the leg and scope to true north, not magnetic north.

 

Thanks for the update Derek, something to bear in mind for fellow 'AZers'.

Although looking at the sky around Lincoln now, the sun is the only thing I could view!

Clear skies,

[tich]

Glad you like it love mine & it'll be nice dusting the cobwebs off of it on Monday for the transit.
I like the extension pier Derek might look for one of those myself sometime, where did you get yours?

[kendg]

Love mine too. Hope you have lots of clear skies.

Soon things will be getting tough for viewing and imaging here. In the summer we never get completely dark. So in a month it will be time to insure everything is ready for September. 

 

 

[Stu]

Great stuff Derek, looks awesome!! Glad you are pleased with your initial session with it, good luck for Monday!!

[cotterless45]

Lovely mount, Mark next door at SGL had one. Best feature was the "shoot" plug in. Just plug in and camera options appear on the handset, if you like that sort of thing. I did notice how fantastically well engineered it was,

Nick.

[DRT]

6 hours ago, tich said:

Glad you like it love mine & it'll be nice dusting the cobwebs off of it on Monday for the transit.
I like the extension pier Derek might look for one of those myself sometime, where did you get yours?

This is it, tich: http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-extension-tube-for-eq6.html

I think most astro shops will stock it.

The only niggle I have with it is that the plate that fits to the tripod doesn't have a hole to take an azimuth pin so it is difficult to get it really tight and avoid the pillar turning when you apply any pressure to the mount. I'll probably drill a hole to fix that but apart from that it is excellent and puts the scopes at a nice height.

[tich]

2 hours ago, DRT said:

This is it, tich: http://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/skywatcher-extension-tube-for-eq6.html

I think most astro shops will stock it.

The only niggle I have with it is that the plate that fits to the tripod doesn't have a hole to take an azimuth pin so it is difficult to get it really tight and avoid the pillar turning when you apply any pressure to the mount. I'll probably drill a hole to fix that but apart from that it is excellent and puts the scopes at a nice height.

Thanks Derek I shall look into getting one of those soon & modding it by the sounds of it, time to dust the cobwebs from mine & try it out ready for tomorrow I think.

[johnpd]

 Instead of manually slewing to the Sun, you can use the "User Object" option and RA/DEC values for the Sun to have the mount automatically slew there. It may not be 100% on, but you just need to then manually adjust from that short distance to the Sun. The Skywatcher AZ-EQ5/EQ6 mounts will not auto-slew to the first object when using Alt-Az mode, but you can pick the object (or star in case you are doing a two-star alignment) from a list and let it slew automatically. Then go through the alignment process. The new v4 hand controller firmware now has the Sun as a GoTo and Alignment object.

JohnD

[DRT]

Thanks, John.

Will upgrade the firmware when I find the adapter to connect the cable to my Macbook

[DRT]

I found a quirk with this mount today that others might find helpful. 

When setting up today I placed the tripod in it's usual position with the "north leg" roughly pointing at Polaris (as indicated by a compass lying on the ground beneath that leg). I wanted the fixed saddle to be on my left as that is where I wanted to place my heaviest scope, so I released the Az clutch and swing the mount head around so that the control panel was facing directly north. I then mounted the scopes facing north and horizontal, turned on the power and went through the set-up procedure. Nothing I had done contradicted the description in the manual. I then slewed to the Sun and started observing. 

After only a minute I noticed that the Sun had moved out of the FOV of my quark. The mount was not tracking it accurately. I repeated the setup with the same result. 

I then turned off, reversed the orientation of the scopes and swung the mount around so that the control panel was facing south. After going through the setup and re-acquiring the Sun in the FOV it has tracked extremely well for almost three hours. The only difference was the orientation of the mount head at initiation. 

This is going to give me a problem to solve when mounting my OO VX12 when it arrives as I need it on the fixed saddle for maximum stability, which puts the focuser on the wrong side

[tich]

When I set mine up in AZ mode using the Newt at Hereford, I had to orientate the scope so if you were looking at it from behind the Newt would be on the right hand side, it put the finder lower or in my case the Telrad but it was the only way I could do it so I could do a 2 star alignment as having it so the scope was on the left you'd slew to the second star & it would slew downwards (Just ask Dave aka Rowan46 what my reaction & choice words were like lol)
You should be able to use the same saddle just flip the scope round so its on the right & not the left as after the alignment is done you should have the eyepiece etc at a decent level.
Hope any of that rambling made some sense Derek lol as I'm hopeless at explaining stuff.

 

[DRT]

Thanks, Tich. I will be trying it tonight with my F5 200P but it just feels a bit strange having the focuser on the right hand side, upside down, and with the finder scope underneath the EP

[tich]

I know mate I thought the same but if anyone else has a better solution then please share as that's the only way I could make mine work. As soon as you get alignment though you soon get used to it.

[DRT]

My upside down 200P and ED120 are now parked pointing north and waiting for Jupiter to appear. 

The Altair Finder looks a bit confused and the MoonLite is experiencing altitude sickness but I'm sure they will get over it

[tich]

Yup that's pretty much how I had mine unfortunately I haven't got any decent close up pictures I can share but fingers crossed it should align ok.

[jam1e1]

21 hours ago, DRT said:

I found a quirk with this mount today that others might find helpful. 

When setting up today I placed the tripod in it's usual position with the "north leg" roughly pointing at Polaris (as indicated by a compass lying on the ground beneath that leg). I wanted the fixed saddle to be on my left as that is where I wanted to place my heaviest scope, so I released the Az clutch and swing the mount head around so that the control panel was facing directly north. I then mounted the scopes facing north and horizontal, turned on the power and went through the set-up procedure. Nothing I had done contradicted the description in the manual. I then slewed to the Sun and started observing. 

After only a minute I noticed that the Sun had moved out of the FOV of my quark. The mount was not tracking it accurately. I repeated the setup with the same result. 

I then turned off, reversed the orientation of the scopes and swung the mount around so that the control panel was facing south. After going through the setup and re-acquiring the Sun in the FOV it has tracked extremely well for almost three hours. The only difference was the orientation of the mount head at initiation. 

This is going to give me a problem to solve when mounting my OO VX12 when it arrives as I need it on the fixed saddle for maximum stability, which puts the focuser on the wrong side

You've articulated the quirk well- sounds similar to what I experienced when first got the mount, I wrote to SW they also confirmed that the mount should be set up in a particular orientation as described above, otherwise won't work. If you set handset to coord mode so can see degree changes as move mount, the coord values go -ve after 180deg hence guess is the maths model gets messed up. Will be using mine with vx12 too, will let you know how works once I get the chance ? Remember to order a matching dovetail too (as I just found out!) standard SW dovetail doesn't work with OO

[DRT]

20 minutes ago, jam1e1 said:

Remember to order a matching dovetail too (as I just found out!) standard SW dovetail doesn't work with OO

I have three different CNC Losmandy plates (2 x ADM and 1 Altair) so am hoping one of those will work, Jamie, rather than forking out the ridiculous price OO are asking for their plate.

Presumably it is just a case of having holes in the right place? (which can be drilled if necessary)

[jam1e1]

More of case of holes in right place, also the rings are curved, I didn't have a spare dovetail so just went for one to save hassle

[DRT]

They are making me curved mounting blocks which fit flat to the dovetail and snug around the rings. Apparently these are not listed on their website but they have included them in the price. 

Hopefully won't be a problem.