synscan help

[Neil H]

Hi all I hope your all well and keeping safe 

tonight I asked the mount to go-to M81 as it slewed round  it got to a point where the telescope bottom hit the leg of the tripod so messed up the alignment 

Will adjusting the slewing limits stop this ? I am worried about adjustment as I may mess the mount

[wookie1965]

I dont think so have you extended the legs 6-8 inches should suffice. can you post a picture of your OTA in its rings they may be too far forward leaving the back end lower than it should do.

[Owmuchonomy]

Sounds like you need a pier/tripod extension.

[Neil H]

10 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

I dont think so have you extended the legs 6-8 inches should suffice. can you post a picture of your OTA in its rings they may be too far forward leaving the back end lower than it should do.

Hi Paul the OTA is back a little in its rings to balance it ( you do balance it with the heaviest eyepiece in )or is that wrong , the only thing I can think of doing is to add weight to back end so the OTA so it will balance more towards front of rings 

It hits the top 1/4 of the leg . I can't change leg angle because of the leg spreader

40 minutes ago, Owmuchonomy said:

Sounds like you need a pier/tripod extension.

Hi thanks that may be a way round it but I need to be careful I don't make the telescope to tall as my wife uses it as well 

Edited April 11, 2020 by Neil H

[wookie1965]

Yes you do balance it with a eyepiece in but you can move the rings back a bit and adjust the position of the dovetail so you still have balance. It maybe just that M81 is straight above you at the moment and thats why it has caught.

[Fraunhoffer]

I think there is a setting for maximum and minimum altitude somewhere in the settings to try and avoid things directly overhead where the back of the scope can be very close to the tripod legs.

A pier extension (as above) could be used and reduce the leg extension to keep the overall height the same but with less spread, but you will need to check if that is stable enough with your set up and it doesn't tip over.

 

[Neil H]

Hi the telescope is long 1200mm so the tripod legs are at there lowest , it may be what Wookie1965 said M81/M82 were over head , the only extension I can find will add loads of height , so I will try and get the telescope balanced higher I. It's rings by moving the dove tail 

[theeruditefrog]

my EQ5 mount with 750x150mm Skywatcher just started doing this.

What's the OTA?

[Cornelius Varley]

8 minutes ago, theeruditefrog said:

What's the OTA?

OTA = Optical Tube Assembly

[theeruditefrog]

@Cornelius Varley that now makes perfect sense. If the tube is set too far back, it will hit the stand.

Also - while I'm here...

With  a Synscan - how accurate do I need to be with my Polar Alignment? Does it need to be perfect on the etched ring for the time - or is there some leeway that the motor system will adjust for?

[saac]

14 minutes ago, theeruditefrog said:

@Cornelius Varley that now makes perfect sense. If the tube is set too far back, it will hit the stand.

Also - while I'm here...

With  a Synscan - how accurate do I need to be with my Polar Alignment? Does it need to be perfect on the etched ring for the time - or is there some leeway that the motor system will adjust for?

If you are just doing visual observation then don't waste too much time over your polar alignment. Better to save the time you would have spent tweaking alignment to use on actual observation. A rough alignment will be good enough for the handset to get the object you want to view into the field of view of your low power eyepiece.  If you were looking to do astrophotography, especially with guiding, then a more accurate alignment would be needed. 

Jim 

[theeruditefrog]

@Sub Dwarf - more for photography. So yes, I do need accuracy - and that would be better if I hadn't unscrewed my polar scope by mistake!