Worthless EQ5 goto

[wookie1965]

21 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

If it's doing the same thing and out by the same amount every time, it's almost certainly either a setting or else your PA is way out. What is the mount standing on - concrete?

Louise

Block paving I will check polar scope calibration again after taking it out to strip the mount it was out a bit, I am trying everything. Yes it looks like its same every time.

[Thalestris24]

Just now, wookie1965 said:

Block paving I will check polar scope calibration again after taking it out to strip the mount it was out a bit, I am trying everything. Yes it looks like its same every time.

Just looking at the Synscan manual, it looks like you have to put a '-' prefix for the western hemisphere time zone?

[wookie1965]

I use the synscaniit app here is what I put in.

[Thalestris24]

Yes, but you first have to select - or + depending on western or eastern hemisphere before entering the 00:00. Also, the App takes the time from your Android device - which I assume is correct?  

Louise

[wookie1965]

This is what I get obviously with only entering so many digits it has been rounded up. As far as I know I only enter the + or - when entering coordinates into the handset to find an object.

Paul

 

[Thalestris24]

I was just referring to the time zone setting:

It should be a + for Europe (not the minus I said before, d'oh)

ps be careful about sharing your location - I would delete the map in your post above

[wookie1965]

18 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

I was just referring to the time zone setting:

It should be a + for Europe (not the minus I said before, d'oh)

ps be careful about sharing your location - I would delete the map in your post above

Right thank you deleted  I think the time is right anyway.

[Thalestris24]

3 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Right thank you deleted  I think the time is right anyway.

Actually, thinking about it, it probably should be minus after all (it was late when I posted before...). The manual is a little unclear but since the Meridian runs through Greenwich, anywhere to the West is '-' and anywhere to the East is '+'. So if your ~3 deg west of Greenwich then it should be entered as -3 to denote West  for Merseyside as opposed to +3 deg which would be in the North Sea! So I'm at about -4.2571 deg  (W) /55.878 North for Glasgow. Hope that's clear!

Louise

[gazza]

I have seen this before and the issue was with power. It is almost certainly not a mechanical issue. To eliminate power attach a 12-13.8 volt,  5 amp power supply and try running the mount with that. I have seen Synscan mounts draw up to 3 amps when slewing - particularly when people tightened up the worm engagement too tight. Battery packs can measure the correct voltage but are often unable to supply sufficient current to run Synscan mounts (see if the voltage drops under load). (I use a 40amp hour deep cycle battery to run my HEQ5 - it does OK for ONE night.) This assumes that the mount is being initialized correctly and has the correct settings in the handbox. I have also seen issues when one of the connectors on the handbox cable has been pulled a bit too much - try re crimping the connectors.

FWIW

Gary

[Stub Mandrel]

13 minutes ago, gazza said:

(I use a 40amp hour deep cycle battery to run my HEQ5 - it does OK for ONE night.)

Yikes.

I can run my HEQ5 for more than six hours on a 7Ah battery.

[gazza]

32 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Yikes.

I can run my HEQ5 for more than six hours on a 7Ah battery.

I used to use one too, but found that on a cold night things got iffy after 4 hours or so of viewing. The 40amp hour allows me to go literally all night (if I travel 3 hours to a dark sky sight, I'm gonna use ever minute of the night!!!) and not run the battery down excessively. Need to look after deep cycles if you want to make them last years.

Gary

[lenscap]

Paul I know you have checked that there is no slop in the gears.

Are you sure there is no backlash in the worm drives? (with scope & weights loaded).

Try this. Centre a star in your reticle eyepiece. Make sure the last RA command is East. Let it track.

If there is any backlash the star will drift off centre until it is taken up. The offset will a measure of the RA backlash.

If there is little offset we can eliminate backlash as a cause.

[wookie1965]

31 minutes ago, lenscap said:

Paul I know you have checked that there is no slop in the gears.

Are you sure there is no backlash in the worm drives? (with scope & weights loaded).

Try this. Centre a star in your reticle eyepiece. Make sure the last RA command is East. Let it track.

If there is any backlash the star will drift off centre until it is taken up. The offset will a measure of the RA backlash.

If there is little offset we can eliminate backlash as a cause.

If I can get my head around that I will. I have tracked the sun before.

[wookie1965]

1 hour ago, gazza said:

I have seen this before and the issue was with power. It is almost certainly not a mechanical issue. To eliminate power attach a 12-13.8 volt,  5 amp power supply and try running the mount with that. I have seen Synscan mounts draw up to 3 amps when slewing - particularly when people tightened up the worm engagement too tight. Battery packs can measure the correct voltage but are often unable to supply sufficient current to run Synscan mounts (see if the voltage drops under load). (I use a 40amp hour deep cycle battery to run my HEQ5 - it does OK for ONE night.) This assumes that the mount is being initialized correctly and has the correct settings in the handbox. I have also seen issues when one of the connectors on the handbox cable has been pulled a bit too much - try re crimping the connectors.

FWIW

Gary

I have a battery box with a 85amp deep cycle battery, I have tried that hooked up to a charger on trickle charge so it never went below 13 volts

[wookie1965]

22 hours ago, Thalestris24 said:

Yes, but you first have to select - or + depending on western or eastern hemisphere before entering the 00:00. Also, the App takes the time from your Android device - which I assume is correct?  

Louise

I will plug the handset in and show you what it says when entering time.

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, gazza said:

I used to use one too, but found that on a cold night things got iffy after 4 hours or so of viewing. The 40amp hour allows me to go literally all night (if I travel 3 hours to a dark sky sight, I'm gonna use ever minute of the night!!!) and not run the battery down excessively. Need to look after deep cycles if you want to make them last years.

Gary

I'm imaging, so I probably have less consumption that you viewers who are continually waving your scopes all over the place ?

[wookie1965]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I'm imaging, so I probably have less consumption that you viewers who are continually waving your scopes all over the place ?

I go for doubles and clusters especially from home with light pollution and I normally stick to one constellation.  So like the other night I had about 10 doubles in Auriga to go for so did one star alignment then to check went for the Auriga clusters, after not hitting them went back to Capella it was miles off. As Cygnus was up I tried to align with Deneb then go to Albireo it was  nowhere in sight.  That is when I give up because I knew something was wrong.

[cotterless45]

I'd check the voltage . I remember getting 9.4v connected to a 70 Ah battery which was fuelled by a drip charger. The motors were going on and off , even the handset was flickering .

i'd also check all the cables , both 8 pin DIN and handset  cables. 

Then I'd give up,

old Nick.

?

[Stu]

On 15/12/2018 at 20:14, wookie1965 said:

I've tried my battery box hooked up to trickle charge never went under 13 volts even under load.

Nick said power and could of been with the adapter I use but when I used the box I knew for certain it was not power.

I am at a loss, going factory reset handset and try that otherwise may as well pack in doing my head in 

Yep, it a power related in some way, shape or form. Check cables and I would still try another power source to rule it out, a trickle charger wont supply the necessary current will it?

[wookie1965]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

Yep, it a power related in some way, shape or form. Check cables and I would still try another power source to rule it out, a trickle charger wont supply the necessary current will it?

The Trickle charge was just to keep the battery fully charged when I used it.

[CraigT82]

50 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

he Trickle charge was just to keep the battery fully charged when I used it.

Are you charging the battery whilst using the mount? This is your problem if so.... You're effectively trying to power the mount with the trickle charger. 

[Stu]

51 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

The Trickle charge was just to keep the battery fully charged when I used it.

Understood, but it is worth ruling the battery and cable out by trying another.

It is strange that most people find these mounts to be pretty reliable and robust, I wonder if there is anything that you might be doing differently which is causing issues? I mean no offense by that, just trying to think about identifying the cause so it can be sorted.

[Moonshane]

54 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Are you charging the battery whilst using the mount? This is your problem if so.... You're effectively trying to power the mount with the trickle charger. 

you know more than I do but what's the difference between this and say using your phone while plugged into the charger? perhaps the voltage is more critical with a mount?

[CraigT82]

17 minutes ago, Moonshane said:

know more than I do but what's the difference between this and say using your phone while plugged into the charger? perhaps the voltage is more critical with a mount?

No diffetence really but depends on the output of the charger. If you use your phone heavily the battery still goes down whilst charging 

Say the mount draws 3amp but charger is 1.5 amp, then the mount should theoretically draw 1.5amp from charger and 1.5amp from battery and shouldn't be an issue,  but knowing how fussy these mounts are about their power id bet 1 shiny pound that this is the problem! 

[Moonshane]

Cheers for that - all makes sense. It's definitely worth ruling out the power source first as this seems to be a known issue with these mounts based on what people say. I use a 240-12v mains transformer with my HEQ5 and it seems OK.