Help with Celestron Star Sense Auto-Align

[spaceslug]

Hi all

I'm not new to astronomy nor technology but I am new to technology-assisted astronomy. I'm having problems getting my Star Sense Auto-Align to work properly on my AV-X EQ mount. It auto-aligns perfectly and can find objects accurately but I can't get it to polar align for the purposes of accurate tracking and - hopefully - imaging. The instructions for the polar align are completely different to what the handset actually does; it asks me to align it NS first and then EW using the manual alt/az adjustments. How can this be done as two separate alignments? I've tried just centring up on the alignment star but for some reason each adjustment just seems to take the mount more out of alignment, to the point where it won't find objects any more. Sorry if I'm being dumb - any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

C8XLT - AV-X

[knobby]

From what I remember, use polar alignment routine on handset , then starsense to align scope .

They are 2 very different things so need to be done separately. As you say if you starsense align for GOTO, then use pa routine on handset it upsets GOTO.

Someone will pop in and word this much betterer than wot I did I'm sure 

[ronin]

Sounds as if you are mixing up the Polar Alignment and the Goto Alignment.

You have to first perform the polar alignment of the mount - poalr scope and Polaris position on the reticle. Get that done then consider the viewing scope and whatever alignment stars.

Then you use the scope to perform the goto alignment - that is when the goto software works out where it is, the local time (changes by longitud), and whatever additional corrections and compenstions it needs in order to point the scope at an object and then track it.

It seems fairly easy for the 2 aspects to get mixed up then nothing makes sense. I suspect that when explaining it they simply use the word "alignment" in both actions. Would beter perhaps more obvious if they used "Polar Alignment" and "Goto Alignment", but they seem not to.

[spaceslug]

Thanks for the comments. I think I do get the differences between the alignments. According to the instructions, you can only do the polar align after a star sense auto align. The sequence seems to be

1. Roughly align the mount.
2. Star Sense Auto Align
3. Polar Align
4. Do another auto align.

(NB Time/date/location already done)

DO more experienced users know a better way?

The bit I don't understand is the NS then EW steps for Polar alignment. That just doesn't make sense as if I'm only adjusting one axis at a time, I'm unlikely to be able to actually see the alignment star in the eyepiece to confirm the alignment. Weirdly, this isn't mentioned in the printed instructions or the on-line PDF. 

Firmware updates have been mentioned which I will investigate though I've not done this before. I've only had the kit a year so I'd have though this was still relatively up-to-date.

Thanks

 

[spaceslug]

UPD8

It looks like firmware rev. is the issue. Looking on the net, earlier versions of the firmware were buggy and didn't support EQ mounts properly.  The version currently installed is from June 2014 so it's way out of date. Clearly I need to get that up to date before any further use. Looks like I need to recommission my old laptop......

 

[ronin]

This appeared over on CN. Second post has detail and information that may be useful.

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/551380-evolution-8-with-starsense-autoalign/

Guess it is for a different mount but there may be bits in there that will shed light on the darkness that is StarSense.

[spaceslug]

On ‎25‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 19:11, ronin said:

This appeared over on CN. Second post has detail and information that may be useful.

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/551380-evolution-8-with-starsense-autoalign/

Guess it is for a different mount but there may be bits in there that will shed light on the darkness that is StarSense.

Thanks for that, some useful info. There were definitely some major issues with earlier firmware revs. I have now managed to get it all updated and I'll be trying it out on the first clear night we get!

Again, thanks for the help folks.

[noah4x4]

I too have just updated all of my firmware. GOTO's after Starsense alignment had always worked highly accurately on my Evolution, but were always a tiny fraction off in my SE4, which I had attributed to it being a less specified 'scope, but the margin of error was not enough to worry me.

Now after the firmware upgrade without any new calibration or additional alignment points the Starsense on my SE4 is also perfect. I believe the Celestron Firmware Manager also auto-upgraded my Mounts, so which was the solution is in doubt, but it was definitely worth letting the CFM find all devices and upgrade them all. It even appears to have cured my WiFi woes, or have I spoken too soon.....

[noah4x4]

On Sunday, September 25, 2016 at 18:40, spaceslug said:

UPD8

It looks like firmware rev. is the issue. Looking on the net, earlier versions of the firmware were buggy and didn't support EQ mounts properly.  The version currently installed is from June 2014 so it's way out of date. Clearly I need to get that up to date before any further use. Looks like I need to recommission my old laptop......

 

".......recommission my old laptop"

Does this possibly mean to use Windows 7 because you can't get the Celestron Firmware Manager to run in Windows 10? A few people have contacted me because I mentioned in another thread that I had successfully run CFM in Windows 10.

I used a Trendnet TU-S9 H/W.v.or Serial to USB adapter cable and not  a Celestron branded cable. This came with a Windows driver on CD-ROM.  

After driver installation, Windows 10 then demanded an auto-upgrade; then Norton AV demanded an upgrade. I then downloaded CFM, but it demanded the latest Java, so I had to download that too. Then on clicking on the downloaded file CFM.jar, its logo screen would just flash and vanish. I repeated this with the same result. However, after a reboot, Windows 10 demanded yet another upgrade and a second reboot. To my surprise and delight, CFM.jar  then opened and worked perfectly in Windows 10.

My conclusion is either that older cables need a Windows 10 driver or you need an earllier Windows driver and then permit multiple Windows, AV and Java updates to get Microsoft to install the correct Win10 driver, or maybe Windows perhaps needs to install an unzip feature? Who cares, it worked!

[spaceslug]

I decided after my experience of managing the Windows 10 upgrades at work that there was no way I was letting it anywhere near my home systems. I had an older Win 7 laptop that I hadn't used for a while so that was the issue for me. Doing the firmware upgrade was a big enough technical challenge alone, without having to try to do it on the car crash of an OS that is Windows 10!

 

[PeterCPC]

I had Starsense and tried to get a good Polar Align but eventually I gave up. If you sign up to Team Celestron there are instructions on there about Polar Aligning.

Peter

[spaceslug]

Yeah I just couldn't get the polar align to work properly. Currently I'm still waiting for a clear night to test the firmware upgrades! Thanks for the tip, I'll check out Team Celestron if the upgrades don't fix it.

Mike