Tracking Celestron EdgeHD on HEQ5 mount (indoors)

[SimM]

Is this the norm? I unpacked EdgeHD and placed it on my mount - it's in the sitting room awaiting clear skies without rain!

I can "do" a 2 or3 star alignment and "pretend" that the stars are already centred and complete the alignment.

Afterwards if I monitor the position e.g. display RA and Decl, I don't see these being completely stable.

Is that normal e.g. get it outside and polar aligned and referencing "real" stars and that shouldn't happen?

I have the OTA  balanced on the mount - 10Kg about 1 1/2" from the side of the mount e.g. bar pushed up inside and locked.

Simon

[SimM]

I realise this isn’t a real test. I did a polar align and some "error" numbers drop to 0 - the significance of these non-zero numbers isn't in the manual.

Simon

Edited January 22, 2020 by SimM

[Thalestris24]

Hi

What mount do you have? Are you intending to do imaging? If so, you'll also need an autoguider. Certainly you need to balance properly, polar align (assuming you have an eq mount) and then star align.

Louise 

ps sorry, see you have an heq5. You might consider a Rowen belt mod to improve the mount's performance

Edited January 20, 2020 by Thalestris24

[SimM]

I worked out what is going on...

When the scope is “parked” or the scope is turned on and a star alignment isn’t done then the scope stays “still”. Using Utility -> Show Position on the HC, I see the R.A. and Declination which are changing e.g. R.A. increases by one second each second! Only if I switch to show Alt Az will the numbers stay the same.

If I didn’t skip a step in the Setup and do a one star alignment, then the scope will track R.A. correctly. Now Alt Az. Is constantly changing but R.A. and Declination are “stable”. By stable the values do vary a bit, but only for R.A. To get a clear understanding it helps to move the R.A. minutes slightly and the variation of seconds can be seen. It’s up to 0.4 seconds e.g. +/- 0.2 seconds in the right most number (arc sec) changes.

When I listen to the mount I can detect a mechanical “swishing” sound several times a second as the R.A. moves. The numbers on the display update more frequently. So it is doing it’s thing OK. I’m pretty sure that when I get it outside it will be fine especially for visual use.

Simon