SW AZ - Gti mount

[jaygpoo]

Hi I have just brought the SW AZ Gti and the intructions are not helpful at all. Can you tell me how I set the moun t up in the first  place before I star align. Standing behind it do I have the scope on the right or the left?  DO I set it up facing north?  When aligning to 2 bright stars I am asked to manually align to the first star. So do I loosen the clutches an move it myself or use the motors to move it?  At the moment if I have the scope on my right and ask it to go to venus it points down to the ground ? very frustrating that for any amount of money no intructions tell you how to start????   A little help would be much appreciated.  jay

 

[Helen]

7 minutes ago, jaygpoo said:

Hi I have just brought the SW AZ Gti and the intructions are not helpful at all. Can you tell me how I set the moun t up in the first  place before I star align. Standing behind it do I have the scope on the right or the left?  DO I set it up facing north?  When aligning to 2 bright stars I am asked to manually align to the first star. So do I loosen the clutches an move it myself or use the motors to move it?  At the moment if I have the scope on my right and ask it to go to venus it points down to the ground ? very frustrating that for any amount of money no intructions tell you how to start????   A little help would be much appreciated.  jay

 

Hi Jay,

You should set up the mount with the scope on the left and the mount on the right.  If you are star aligning then it doesn't matter where it starts.  I'd use the motors to move the scope to the stars for alignment.

It is a nice little mount once you get it set up, so worth keeping going. 

Let us know how you get on 

Helen

 

[jaygpoo]

Thanks for the swift reply. Will get back. Jay

 

[Cornelius Varley]

This should help

 

[jaygpoo]

I am standing behind the mount which is facing north. I 3 star align and the first star is arcturus. The mount moves round in the right direction BUT the scope points to the ground in  what appears to 90 degrees out. What is going on?  Ps the scope is on my left at the start

 

[Stu]

10 minutes ago, jaygpoo said:

I am standing behind the mount which is facing north. I 3 star align and the first star is arcturus. The mount moves round in the right direction BUT the scope points to the ground in  what appears to 90 degrees out. What is going on?  Ps the scope is on my left at the start

 

Do you have the locking thumb screw at the top? I assume that would make a difference.

As the others have said, if I’m standing behind the scope I have it on the left to start. It doesn’t really matter how you get to the first star, or what the starting position is, just slew the scope to it and confirm then go to the second one.

Are you using a mobile or connecting a handset? If a handset have you checked all the basics like location, time etc?

[jaygpoo]

Yes I have the scope to the left and locking knob on the top. I am using a iphone app. I have looked at the youtube video as above and carried out the north level alignment as well but I get the same result each time. I ask the scope to go to Arcturus and it moves to the right direction but is looking down at the ground. I move the scope miles to get it on the star and then ask it to go to vega only foir it to look at the zenith??  All I can say is its rubbish. It surely should go to the named star etc withing a close range of it. Should I face the locking knob at the bottom? Why o why dont sky watcher just tell us how to set the mount an scope position. It would be so easy to do so.

 

[stash_old]

9 hours ago, jaygpoo said:

Yes I have the scope to the left and locking knob on the top. I am using a iphone app. I have looked at the youtube video as above and carried out the north level alignment as well but I get the same result each time. I ask the scope to go to Arcturus and it moves to the right direction but is looking down at the ground. I move the scope miles to get it on the star and then ask it to go to vega only foir it to look at the zenith??  All I can say is its rubbish. It surely should go to the named star etc withing a close range of it. Should I face the locking knob at the bottom? Why o why dont sky watcher just tell us how to set the mount an scope position. It would be so easy to do so.

 

Forgive me for pointing out the obvious but try turning the scope round - i.e. if the scope is 180 degree's out (right direction but is looking down at the ground) this should then be pointing up towards Arcturus. Also check the mounts clutch release is tight and the scope is balanced and not over loaded else it might be "slipping". 

[Stu]

I would agree, if it is 180 degrees out then just turn the scope around and try it like that. Perhaps yours is assembled differently????

They are far from rubbish, they are excellent, portable mounts which work very well when setup correctly. Mine has revolutionized my observing, it is so much easier than before.

Keep at it!

[SpaceBass]

On 5/5/2018 at 11:20, Stu said:

Mine has revolutionized my observing, it is so much easier than before

Just curious as to why that is?  

[Stu]

4 hours ago, SpaceBass said:

Just curious as to why that is?  

Because everything is so much easier. It is a lightweight mount so can be picked up in one hand with the tripod attached. Alignment is easy as it automatically gets location from GPS or phone and it does work with SkySafari although it is a little awkward with iOS. If only using a lightweight scope, it is ideal. Mine copes with an FC100 with wedge and binoviewers very well which must be at the limit. The only negative is the tripod, which I don’t use, I put it on something stronger.

[Butchless1]

I just received my AZ GTI yesterday and set it up last night.

Agree the instructions are woefully lacking and could do with some basic images of the set up alignment.

The techniques that worked for me first time, was as follows.

I set up the mount with a tripod where I have 1 leg to north as an easy reference.

Then I alignment the mount with the scope on the left and pointing north away from me.

Then using brightest star alignment I select the one I want to use, and then select Polaris as my next star in order( I use this as essentially it should go back to where it came from pointing close to north.

It asked me to centre the first star I chose which at the moment was Procyon based on my location and time. So I have moved the mount manually releasing the  alt and az thumbscrewsl, centred the star in the eyepiece, then locked the alt az clutches again. I then confirm it, and the  mount then moves to Polaris and it went directly to where Polaris was

a few tweaks on the motor alignment and then completed.

It then went to Jupiter, Arcturus and M13 on each go to ask. (I couldn't fault it for putting me in the ball park)

 

I then repeated the procedure but using the motors to drive to the first star in the alignment method and got the same outcome.

It sounds as though either the scope is facing the wrong way when on the left or I can only imagine there is an error in the encoder direction on one of the motors.

 

Hopefully its something simple for you.

My first impressions are it will make quick go to viewing a breeze

 

Nick

 

[Starcloud]

Hi, I had the exact same problem and this was due to the scope being the wrong way round. I started with the scope on the right as this suited the position of the finder on the scope and otherwise followed the mount instruction (also as per recommendations in this thread). However the scope went in wrong direction for second alignment star. Once I figured it out and moved the scope to the other side and then, after failed second attempt, around the other way the goto has been excellent. In fact I am amazed how accurate this little mount is. However, I can’t relocate the finder (red dot) on the Explore Scientific ED80 (bought same time) so it’s not in an ideal position at about 8 O’clock!

Unfortunately the mount is not tracking correctly in the horizontal (azimuth) axis and this is due to that axis being stiff, unlike the altitude axis which is smooth as a hot knife through butter ?. I did notice it was a bit stiff and jerky using it manually when I first set up but thought it was perhaps the design.  This became apparent  and obvious at high magnification and using my Atik Infinity camera with the object drifting out of view within a few minutes. Needless to say I am returning to RVO today.

Mark

[SpaceBass]

Oh dear, so many reports of issues.  Starting to wonder if my order on Friday was a wise move.  

[Stu]

36 minutes ago, SpaceBass said:

Oh dear, so many reports of issues.  Starting to wonder if my order on Friday was a wise move.  

I would give it a chance to prove itself, you can always return it if these is a problem. They are such handy products that I think it well worth giving it a try.

[SpaceBass]

24 minutes ago, Stu said:

I would give it a chance to prove itself

I agree.. well worth a try, cheers Stu!