Syn Scan question.

[wayland]

Hi. I have a 200p goto Dobsonian. I have never yet been able to get the handset to remember the start up coordinance after power off. So every session I have to re enter the start up procedure. The manual states that it will remember the fed in data. If this is a quirk of my scope being a Dob, then would I do any damage if I just parked the scope but do not power off?

Cheers Chris.

[Cornelius Varley]

The handset should remember the last coordinates and date used. Have you tried updating the handset's firmware ? The latest version of the v3 firmware is v3.39.05 and for v4 handsets is v4.39.05

[happy-kat]

My v3 handset is on version 3.37... and on start up I have to confirm settings displayed though I don't think I have to actually enter them again (I refer to the long/lat) though it's quick to do and things are cooling down anyway.

[ronin]

The handset should remember the Longitude, Latitude and Timezone. These should be on the display when you power on the handset for a few seconds. Think you may have to press Enter to confirm the settings. Not sure what happens if you do not press Enter - that is if you have  to.

What it does not remember is the Date, Time and DST, these you have to reenter at each use.

Is there any chance that you are being asked form Date and Time and DST and presuming that all dta has been lost ?

I suppose there may be an internal battery for the positional data, but I have not heard of one. However if there such an item and it is dead then the data would be lost. Needs a question either in the moubts section or maybe direct to the (a) retailer who may know more, even OVL the importer.
 

[Astro Imp]

I have the same scope as yourself and on start up need to confirm coordinates, time zone and daylight saving, have to enter current date and time.

 

[wimvb]

On my synscans (v3 and v4), location, time zone, and last date, are stored in flash memory (no batteries needed), but time isn't. Saving time is of no use, and keeping track of time would make the synscan more expensive.

There is an (android) app, called Synscaninit, that makes it easier to enter the correct settings. Highly recommended.

[wayland]

Thanks for the replies. Perhaps I have misunderstood the meaning of saved cordance of my scope. The handset does retain Lat/Long etc but the three star alignment coordination it does not. I was under the impression that I would not need to re align if the scope is not moved. If this is not the case if I did not power off would the star alignment adjust itself to the later time set?    Thanks again.

[JOC]

I concur will all the replies above - you will have to re-enter dates and times, but not lats and longs, altitude etc.  Callibration won't be remembered.

[Stu]

1 hour ago, wayland said:

Thanks for the replies. Perhaps I have misunderstood the meaning of saved cordance of my scope. The handset does retain Lat/Long etc but the three star alignment coordination it does not. I was under the impression that I would not need to re align if the scope is not moved. If this is not the case if I did not power off would the star alignment adjust itself to the later time set?    Thanks again.

If you park your scope and don't move it, you can restart from park without doing an alignment I believe. This page of the Synscan manual covers it.

[Cornelius Varley]

1 hour ago, wayland said:

Thanks for the replies. Perhaps I have misunderstood the meaning of saved cordance of my scope. The handset does retain Lat/Long etc but the three star alignment coordination it does not. I was under the impression that I would not need to re align if the scope is not moved. If this is not the case if I did not power off would the star alignment adjust itself to the later time set?    Thanks again.

As above the mount can be parked and the next time used the handset will display the message "start from parked position" . This only works if the mount is permanently set up in an observatory and nothing moved.

[wimvb]

15 hours ago, Stu said:

If you park your scope and don't move it, you can restart from park without doing an alignment I believe. This page of the Synscan manual covers it.

 

15 hours ago, Cornelius Varley said:

As above the mount can be parked and the next time used the handset will display the message "start from parked position" . This only works if the mount is permanently set up in an observatory and nothing moved.

Has anyone actually tested this? This is the academic question of how accurate do you have to enter time? My first thought would be, even if you start from park, you might still want to do a one-star alignment.

[Stu]

1 hour ago, wimvb said:

 

Has anyone actually tested this? This is the academic question of how accurate do you have to enter time? My first thought would be, even if you start from park, you might still want to do a one-star alignment.

It's not something I've tested. Accurate time input would be important, as is making sure the scope has not been moved at all whilst parked. I can probably try it on my AZGTi sometime soon as I have a Synscan handset to use with it.

[wayland]

So I am still a bit in the dark, so to speak. I have followed the setup procedure to the letter. Then done the star alignment and had a session scanning around the sky. Everything is working fine. I finish the session  by parking the scope and powered off when told to. To test the setup I turn the power back on. I am asked if I want to start from the park position. Yes I do. The scope now operates but has no clue where it is!!!. The only way I can proceed is to do a star alignment. Do I have a problem or is this normal and I have just misunderstood the manual. 

[Geoff Lister]

This is how I understand it, although I have never tried it, as I always move the Skyliner OTA and base back into my garage after each session.

When the Synscan software parks the mount in the "Home" position, it leaves the OTA level and pointing North, and with the axis encoders at electronic zero, based on the alignment performed earlier in the session, and compensating for any mount levelling errors. When you power-up, later on, the encoders restart at electronic zero, and if you select the "resume from park" option, the software assumes that the mount and OTA are unmoved (OTA still level and pointing north).

If you leave the setup untouched, or covered without moving it, then, after entering the correct time (and date if another day), the restart should be as good as the alignment from the previous session. If you have to move the mount, and/or the OTA, and can re-position them, exactly as before, (after setting time/date) you should still have good alignment. If there are small errors, it should be possible to correct them by using the PAE option in the Utility menu.

Geoff

[Stu]

I'm the same as Geoff, I have not actually tried this out but do have the same understanding that it should work!

Hopefully someone who has got it to work will come along and comment.

Did you re-enter time and date when you re-powered up?

[wayland]

Thanks again lads. I am careful to re enter correct time and date. My understanding of the system is as Geoff describes but this is not happening with my setup at present. I noticed that after set up the handset states that previous data is taken into account, or words to that effect. Perhaps previous mistakes are confusing things. If I reload the firmware I may be able to start from square one.  

[Geoff Lister]

At the end of last night's observing, I parked my mount in the "Home" position, and cycled the power and then responded with the "Yes" option to "Restart from Park?" question. I stepped through the setup options and re-entered the correct time, and then the system wanted me to "begin Alignment". Clearly, I did not want to do this, so I stepped through the options and selected "Sidereal Tracking" and then "Automatic Tracking". I exited back out of the "Setup" menu, and then selected the "Show Position" function in the "Utility" menu. I believe the RA/DEC displays showed static readings, but the Alt/AZ were incrementing slowly, indicating that the mount was moving. Sirius was showing, nicely, well above the horizon, towards the south (roughly 180 degrees Az and 15 degrees Alt from the "Park" position) so I selected Sirius for the GoTo target. With my Startravel's 600mm fl, and a 24mm EP, Sirius was about half-way between the centre and edge of the FOV.

It is possible that I could have skipped one, or more, of the tracking steps, but this seemed to give me adequate GoTo, without having to repeat the alignment.

Geoff

[todick]

Are you putting the co-ordinate correctly only the hand se use's  deg or is it mins I know I had to look up on google to get both then try each.

not sure !