HEQ5 Standard Modified Hand Controller - OK for Guiding?

[bendiddley]

I'm thinking of modding the hand controller on my black HEQ5 standard mount to add an ST4 port so I can start having a go at guiding, but before I do I'd like to know how good this mod is and if its worth doing or not? I've heard that the auto guide adjustments on the Standard HEQ5 are at 2x which is not as fine as the Pro which is a lot slower (0.75/0.5x I think??), what effects could this faster adjustment speed have on the system to guide successfully and in general what is guiding like with the modded hand controller? I will be linking it up to a QHY5/finderscope guider and will be using PHD. Does anyone have any experience with this and could tell me what its like? Does it work OK for you or not? I could upgrade the mount to the pro version but would prefer not to at the moment if I can get a way with it, to save some money. Hope someone has some thoughts. Cheers.

[steppenwolf]

I carried out this mod on my early EQ6 mount (same hand controller that you have) and it was reasonably successful although it didn't help that I was only using a Philips Toucam (unmodified) as the guide camera on a SW ST80 refractor as guide 'scope. Despite the x 2 guiding speed, it certainly made a difference, so well worth doing while you save up for the Pro version which is a totally different beast and all the better for it! I put my handset in a bigger box so that I didn't have to cut the original around to help with future re-sale value although in the end, I upgraded the original mount with the SynScan upgrade.

Inside

Outside

Close-up of the connections

 

[RuralBill]

As long as you can use a soldering iron it's a doddle....

i would assume you have seen this but here is a link anyway

Bill

 

[RobertI]

I also modded the handset on my non-goto CG5 (same as EQ5) using the GPUSB gizmo assisted by the excellent instructions in Steve's book. It was very straightforward. I  found it could guide accurately for several minutes using a Lodestar guide cam but I was only using a focal length of around 300mm. I used PHD and the whole setup worked first time with no fiddling necessary, although I had tuned the mount beforehand. I guess I was lucky!!