RA/DEC clutch tightness? HEQ5

[willcastle]

I have two questions:

1) can I manually move the scope around whilst the mount is switched on, without damaging the motors?

the handbook suggests that you can, as long as you loosen the RA/DEC clutches. But it also says that it will then lose alignment. Is this correct?

2) how tight do the RA/DEC clutches need to be whilst the mount is switched on? 

You can either nip them up a bit or you can really tighten them? Does anyone know how these “clutches” even work? It seems strange that they have variable resistance / tightness 

[Jiggy 67]

1) Yes you can but there’s no need, just slew using the controller (I mean manually with the four buttons) and you will keep alignment which you will lose if you unlock the clutches

2) As hand tight as you can get them, which isn’t always tight enough. If you have a reflector and need to turn the OTA for a more comfortable viewing position, you often find the clutches slip.....very annoying!!

Edited January 11, 2020 by Jiggy 67

[jif001]

1) yes you can if you unlock then clutches, as stated. ‘Alignment’ can mean two things - polar alignment and GOTO alignment. The clutches don’t affect polar alignment so you will not lose polar alignment unless you also move or otherwise adjust the mount. However you will lose GOTO alignment. Your GOTO relies upon starting from a known position called ‘home’.  In this position it knows where the scope is pointing at the start. If you then unlock the clutches and move the scope the GOTO doesn’t know anything about it. 
 

see my comment near the bottom of this thread regarding home position and how the GOTO works: