Aligning problems with EQ 3 pro mount!

[John MK]

I recently got the EQ3 pro mount (https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq3-pro-synscan-goto.html)

and at the moment I'm having a few problems with aligning.

Got it facing true north and got my right longitude and latidude. now just a few things, I have the the counter weight at the botton and scope to the top. so it vertical as it says in the manuel. But when ever I tell it too align to Betelgeuse and it'll go in the opposite direction and when align to Betelgeuse. The second star it asks for are stars that are in so far to the right I can't align to them! I choose something like Capella thinking it'll go to give me stars to the right of likie it did with Betelgeuse. But it didn't it gave me stars so far left I couldnt align to them either.

 

Now I was able to get it to choose two stars, Capella and Castor and it came up failed ... Came up with an NP error of something like 45 degrees, but got this message:

Mel=+002° 01' 42"

Maz=+041° 40' 41"

Anyone have ANY idea why it says this?

 

John

[wimvb]

GoTo alignment with the synscan on the EQ3 can be tricky at times. I've had quite a few alignment failures myself. This checklist may help.

When you set up the mount check the following:

0. Make sure you have entered the correct values for your longitude, latitude and time (including being West or East). There is an android app called SynscanInit that is of great help here.

1. Polaris mus be visible in the polar scope (if it is visible from your position). Otherwise, use a compass to point the north leg of the tripod north, and set the altitude position to your local latitude.

2. Determine two stars on the same side of the meridian you want to observe. Make sure you have identified the stars correctly.

3. When doing the first star alignment, you can release the clutches and point the scope manually to the star. This applies ONLY to the first star

4. If the 2-star alignment gives results that are not plausable, power down the mount and restart from scratch.

5. If some stars are obscured by houses or trees, you can use the star filter in the synscan to always exclude them from alignment.

For me things improved once I got to know the more common stars by name.

 

Good luck