Polar alignment - NEQ6 pro

[Cornelius Varley]

11 minutes ago, Starlight 1 said:

Am I right in saying you can only do this on Star 1

You can only release the clutches and move the mount manually on a 1 star alignment or the first star of a 2 or 3 star alignment. Once the mount has been aligned on the first star the clutches need to be left locked.

[Starlight 1]

You allways have a good way of putting it.

[Paul M]

The OP said he selected Vega as an alignment star and the mount/scope slewed to a point miles away.

Two things here, I think. The home position wasn't calibrated. The encoders had no idea where the mount was pointing while in the home position. So no chance of finding Vega.

Also, if the mount thinks it's pointing at Vega make it so! Undo the clutches so as to avoid moving the encoders (remember, it thinks it's already on Vega), get Vega in the eyepiece, lock the clutches and fine tune with the hand control. Using the handset to fine tune an alignment star also fine tunes the encoders positional fix. After accepting the Vega alignment the second alignment star should be within or very close to the field of view.

I've never used the home position because I have to set up each time I use the scope. Too much room for movement and loss of calibration.

My way of doing it takes no time and cuts out what I consider an unnecessary step for portable set-ups. 

[Starlight 1]

3 minutes ago, Paul M said:

encoders

Do this mount have them.

[LightBucket]

5 minutes ago, Starlight 1 said:

Do this mount have them.

Just on the RA axis AFAIK....

[Paul M]

8 minutes ago, Starlight 1 said:

Do this mount have them.

Yes, it's the only means of positional feedback from the axes.

Some mounts have two per axis so the mount can be slewed with the drives disconnected (clutches released) without losing it's positional fix on the sky. The NEQ6 only has 1 per axis so once the clutches are released the mount has no way of knowing if and where the mount has moved.

[spillage]

There is no reason why you cannot use the home position even if you strip down every time. If say home is 12 o'clock and vega is say 3 o'clock but the mount points to 6 o'clock and you move the mount by releasing the clutches to 6 o'clock and then move to the home position you will go to 9 o'clock which would be wrong.

I would roughly polar align the mount, check you settings on the handset fully, run a 3 star alignment. If you need to correct the mount use the handset to slew for any alignment adjustments.

[Paul M]

I'll agree that if the scope, mount and handset are all in agreement then the mount is sucessfully star aligned. Everything else is to the users taste and requirements!

[newbie alert]

6 hours ago, Paul M said:

I've never used the home position because I have to set up each time I use the scope. Too much room for movement and loss of calibration.

My way of doing it takes no time and cuts out what I consider an unnecessary step for portable set-ups. 

I also set up and take down every session and always use the home position.. I have pencil lines to make sure it's in the same place, every time..which it is