starsense, been gone awhile

[Redbird48oo]

Not been doing much here in last 2 years, healt problems but back now, have a starsense i purchased 2 years ago (gussin) never used, going to set it up on a slt mount with orion 80st to start with. Now the main ?, need to update firemare any dos and dont do's. Will move to my 8" scope at a later date.

[Pig]

Only one piece of advise ....... don't buy a cheap lead ? they do not work.

[Redbird48oo]

okay, got all the firmware updated on star sense and hc and mc, got celestron gps working with starsense, guess tomorrow night, little more fighting to get the starsense unit working right. The firmware was really easy to update. Shame instruction are so poorly written for such a expensive device.

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[noah4x4]

Key to Starsense success is accurately setting time; date; zone; location and DST. There lies the typical first user gaff.......

Starsense only asks you to input <Location>  ONCE. So mess up on its very first use and it will default to California. It is easy to fix this via <menu> but this issue leaves almost everybody scratching their heads having inevitably practiced in daylight hence NOT fully completing that crucial first correct alignment. If you are not observing in California your first auto-align will inevitably fail. But after correcting <location>  it will work fine. Other tips.....

The auto-align process always follows the same seek pattern and if the Starsense camera hits an obstruction (example ; trees or clouds) it will skip over to the next clear expanse of sky. If your unit takes more than three photo plates to resolve an alignment try pointing your telescope at another horizon. I deliberately aim mine at a brick wall as I know it's next three (same) movements will then be into three bits of unobstructed sky. 

Starsense is typically very accurate once tube and camera are calibrated (once only task). But do take the trouble to (add up to) ten additional alignment points. Spread these across the sky and seasons for best results. These act like SYNC and improve accuracy around these Cal-stars.  The joy is that unlike the Nexstar + HC, Starsense will remember all (up to) ten. As the skies do change over seasons (and with Earth's rotation) the more alignment points the better. 

[MBJ]

On 03/09/2017 at 00:13, Redbird48oo said:

okay, got all the firmware updated on star sense and hc and mc, got celestron gps working with starsense, guess tomorrow night, little more fighting to get the starsense unit working right. The firmware was really easy to update. Shame instruction are so poorly written for such a expensive device.

 

My advice after many nights of frustration....dont use starsense auto align.....swap it for manual align in the settings on your device as it tends to try and take pictures of houses and trees.

In manual mode you tell it where to point for the alignment images and it never fails.

[noah4x4]

True MJB,  and if blighted by many obstructions that is good practice. But generally a Starsense auto-align is probably best for most of us.

The camera movement pattern for a Starsense auto-align is always identical. So if you observe that a couple of times, you can soon identify which start point (e.g. which initial direction to point the OTA) takes it into three vacant areas of sky.  Unless on a wedge, Starsense isn't fussy.  I now always aim mine at a particular corner of my house from which it moves towards east then south (my obstructions are north). 

Thereafter,  you can switch on; select auto-align; and walk away with confidence to fetch the rest of your gear; then return to find a perfect alignment. But if surrounded by trees or in a very congested area, then the manual route is a good solution. 

[Pig]

Kind of defeats the object doing a manual align, I used to leave mine to do its thing and by the time I had cooked spaghetti to aldente, both were ready ??