az gte Sky-Watcher AZ GTe - EQ Mode

[JBracegirdle]

I'm new to the forum and astronomy in general. I have just bought a Sky-Watcher StarTravel-102 AZ GTe. After some help from FLO I'm all set up and ready for the rain/clouds to pass. I also have an Orion StarMax 90 on a table-top/tripod mount and have done some observing with that. I really like observing the moon with my little Mak, but thought adding tracking would help a lot as trying to keep Mars in view was tricky.

I bought the Sky-Watcher StarTravel-102 AZ GTe as it seems to cost not much more than the Sky-Watcher AZ GTe mount. The telescope seems to complement my little Mak and they're both fairly cheap as starter scopes.

I'm sorry if the introduction was a bit long but I thought it may be useful to introduce myself. The reason for this post is to ask if anyone has managed to get the EQ firmware to work on the AZ GTe. I know it's unsupported and just a bonus.

I managed to get the AZ GTi EQ firmware loaded on the AZ GTe, but it kept pointing to the ground instead of the sky for all objects. It did this in AZ and EQ mode in the Windows version of SynScan Pro. I saw a forum post from January about the AZ GTi pointing downwards but there was no solution. Does anyone know if the EQ firmware works on the AZ GTe, or if pointing downwards has been a problem with the AZ GTi as well? I was running the 5 November 2018 Right Arm Dual AZ/EQ firmware version 3.16. I reverted back to the AZ GTi stock AZ only firmware and it works fine and points at object in the sky as expected.

John

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Hi John, & welcome...

The first thing I'd suspect, would be that the date\time\location settings need to be updated.

[R26 oldtimer]

I think that with the eq firmware, you change also from right hand to left, (or the opposite- can't remember) the telescope's position on the mount.

[happy-kat]

The eq mode does work as there are members using it in eq mode so hopefully you'll be sorted soon with how to do it.

Do you have a wedge?

[JBracegirdle]

Thanks for your replies. I think the problem was my starting positions. I thought the start position for the AZ mode with the Dual AZ/EQ firmware would be the same as the standard firmware but it doesn't seem to be.

I also thought CNP was 0 RA / 0 Dec but I found out it's 90 Dec.? ops, that explained EQ mode. Thanks for your help, hopefully I'll get better as I learn.

[JBracegirdle]

I thought I'd feedback what I found. The mount swaps from "left handed" to "right handed" when the EQ firmware is loaded.

This is great for EQ mode, but means the telescope is upside down in AZ mode. It's not really a problem, the focuser works in either position and the red-dot finder can be viewed from a long distance back to it works fine upside down in EQ mode. I just use it in EQ mode with a Star Adventurer wedge and a counterweight.

I've been using it with a ZWO ASI224MC camera with the red-dot finder for initial course alignment and Sysnscan Pro on Windows 10 and StellairumScope for everything after that. I use SharpCap to view the output. With a Windows remote desktop I can leave a laptop outside and view and control from inside with all the lights on full.

My First Astrometry Album

I'm sorry if I'm reviving an old post, but I've been waiting for the clouds to clear for testing and learning.