Adding EQ5 goto upgrade to Skywatcher EQ5

[William Jones]

Hi Guys

I am pondering over whether to add the EQ5 goto upgrade kit to my Skywatcher EQ5 Mount.

Has anyone done this ?

Could you tell me how easy/difficult the installation is and how useful is the upgrade in practice.

thanks

Will

[almcl]

I'll jump in since no one else has.  I didn't fit the official goto upgrade kit, just the tracking motors and handset.  I found this pretty straight forward and I think the goto kit is similar but with a few extra components.

I then decided to fit Tom Carpenter's AstroEQ, complete with belt mods, home made bracketry and custom pulleys.  I did this to improve guiding accuracy, but found the goto ability it also provided was a real bonus. 

Having now got an EQ6 AltAz with the Synscan handset, I don't find the handset as convenient (and would cheerfully strangle the person responsible for fitting a coiled cable as the mount connection) but compared with failed star hops, it takes all the frustration/fun out of finding a target.

[david_taurus83]

Hi. I fitted one of these to my EQ5 mount. Very easy. Probably only took me an hour or so whilst watching a you tube clip. If you search for "EQ5 Synscan upgrade" in Youtube then the top result should be by Luka Botic. I watched that a couple of times and tbh once you get started its pretty obvious of what to do. The only difference I found on my mount compared to the Vixen mount on the video was I faced the grub screws of the brass cogs into the mount but that's probably the slight design difference. You just need to make sure the flat faces (sides) of the cogs don't rub against each other and that only the teeth are in good contact with each other .  The Goto function is superb. Polar alignment needs to be very accurate though. There is a polar align feature on the handset which is good but takes a little time to do adjustments. I eventually bought a Polemaster and after using that my Goto accuracy was bang on.

 

Feels slightly ironic posting this as I've just sold my upgrade kit as I've bought an AZ EQ6!

[fozzybear]

47 minutes ago, almcl said:

I'll jump in since no one else has.  I didn't fit the official goto upgrade kit, just the tracking motors and handset.  I found this pretty straight forward and I think the goto kit is similar but with a few extra components.

I then decided to fit Tom Carpenter's AstroEQ, complete with belt mods, home made bracketry and custom pulleys.  I did this to improve guiding accuracy, but found the goto ability it also provided was a real bonus. 

Having now got an EQ6 AltAz with the Synscan handset, I don't find the handset as convenient (and would cheerfully strangle the person responsible for fitting a coiled cable as the mount connection) but compared with failed star hops, it takes all the frustration/fun out of finding a target.

+1 for astroeq works a treat

[Perrywarburton]

Did your kit come with a RS-232 cable? Just got mine and it’s not in the box...

[AdeKing]

I fitted the SynScan upgrade to my EQ5 and can second the comments made by @david_taurus83 it was very straightforward to do.

I just followed the provided instructions and didn't struggle.

As David said above the most fiddly bit is getting the teeth of the cogs to mesh without the flat sides rubbing. 

Ade

[FaDG]

No instructions, just removed a used GOTO kit from one EQ5 and fitted it to another one. 

VERY easy job, not much that can go wrong... 

Fabio