Are GOTO mounts really as noisy as they seem?

[cletrac1922]

First of all, welcome from Land Down Under

Club field nights, where mounts are set up from 5 - 10 meters apart, I have not noticed the noise from other adjacent mounts

I have an ED80 on a EQ5pro mount, and when slewing doing 2 star alignment, have noticed a bit of noise

Once tracking, have not noticed any noise

John

[Anne S]

3 hours ago, Waldemar said:

My iEQ45Pro is very silent as well... maybe because I used PTFE grease on all contact surfaces.

 

 

His ieq45 isn't a pro and is mounted using the altaz base. It's only noisy when slewing. I originally had a Ieq30 which was not as quiet as its replacement, my current ieq30pro.

[oymd]

Yes, they are all noisy when slewing at max speed, particularly Celestron mounts. 
 

I have a Nexstar 8SE, and it is pretty noisy. 
 

I have seen a CGX-L slewing at max speed, and it is very, very loud and noisy. 
 

I think Sky-Watcher mounts are a tad quieter. My AZ-EQ6 Pro is very silent up to speed 7, speeds 8 & 9 a clearly audible, but nowhere near Celestron levels. 
 

IOptron mounts are the quietest I think. I had a CEM25P, which I regret selling. It was very, very quiet even at max slew speed. 
 

On the other hand, if  you want a totally SILENT mount, consider ASA, but then be prepared to sell a kidney!

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by oymd

[tooth_dr]

My Meade LXD75 was the loudest mount I’ve owned. I cringed every time I skewed to anew target in the middle of the night. 

[Vox45]

I belt modded my previous mount (Sirius = HEQ5) because I found the noise when slewing very annoying ... Of course, my main reason was to improve on backlash but it was a nice side effect

 

 

[skywest]

On 28/04/2020 at 08:53, JOC said:

I was going to post much the same.  I would just question the term "are noisy".  Yes, they are noisier when driving fast, but I don't think you would deem it 'noisy'.  It makes proportionately more noise the faster it drives, but I don't think its excessive.  Maybe on youtube the microphones are just very close to the things being demonstrated?

Ys I did wonder about mic placement. I guess the only answer is to buy one and see!

[Waldemar]

19 hours ago, oymd said:

Yes, they are all noisy when slewing at max speed, particularly Celestron mounts. 
 

I have a Nexstar 8SE, and it is pretty noisy. 
 

I have seen a CGX-L slewing at max speed, and it is very, very loud and noisy. 
 

I think Sky-Watcher mounts are a tad quieter. My AZ-EQ6 Pro is very silent up to speed 7, speeds 8 & 9 a clearly audible, but nowhere near Celestron levels. 
 

IOptron mounts are the quietest I think. I had a CEM25P, which I regret selling. It was very, very quiet even at max slew speed. 
 

On the other hand, if  you want a totally SILENT mount, consider ASA, but then be prepared to sell a kidney!

 

Absolutely true, it makes no sound at all even not when slewing @ 13°/sec.  but the high price is not just for being silent...

Edited April 29, 2020 by Waldemar

[Louis D]

On 29/04/2020 at 13:17, Waldemar said:

Absolutely true, it makes no sound at all even not when slewing @ 13°/sec.  but the high price is not just for being silent...

Are they using harmonic drives?

[Waldemar]

6 hours ago, Louis D said:

Are they using harmonic drives?

No, ASA makes direct drive mounts (and optical systems as well)
 

[Davey-T]

Meade LX200 sounds like dive bomber when slewing at speed, iEQ45 sounds like an old charabanc going uphill in first, 10Micron, you have to have your ear really close to hear it slewing just as well if I do an eighty point sky model in the middle of the night 😂

Dave

Edited May 1, 2020 by Davey-T

[Neil H]

Hi all I did this video it may help this link is not working so go-to one below 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by Neil H
link not working

[Neil H]

 

[Supernova74]

Lol if you want noisy should own a Meade LX90 however has an function that allows to put it on quiet slew slower however have no problems of worring waking the neighbours up no the modern goto mounts are not that noisy at all more of a humming type sound I think

[PEMS]

On 26/04/2020 at 20:51, skywest said:

Hi, Just returning to astronomy after a long time away (before goto scopes!). All the GOTO mounts I see demoed on youtube seem excessively noisy in operation and i suspect i would get a lot of complaints from my neighbours at 3AM with all that screeching and graunching in my garden! Are they really that noisy?

I honestly that simply means that the people posting their great understanding of things on Youtube leaves a lot to be desired concerning their actual knowledge.

Some are or were bad, one was nicknamed "The Coffee Grinder". So yes there are bad ones. Nothing recently has received that bad a name. You can check out the gear meshing and adjust. Would suggest that most people should do so. They are after all mass produced item and not to often talked of delicate, accurately set up items they get described as.

The other is as said the noise comes at the fast slew rates, reduce the maximum slew rate down by 2 steps. Makes a huge difference.

Finally if they were seriously quiet astronomers would complain they cannot tell if the mounts are actually doing anything.

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by PEMS

[david_taurus83]

My first mount an EQ5 Pro was very noisy at full slew. The next mount, an AZEQ6 was much quieter, it made a gentle whine when slewing, nothing to worry about even if the neighbours had the windows open at night. The iOptron CEM25P I have now though is whisper quiet. You would barely hear it if you were a few metres away.

[Mick H]

I love the sound my NexStar 8se makes when it does it's auto align using StarSense.

Yeah it would be loud to neighbours in the wee hours, but I play my bugle to cover up the sound of the scope.

I'm lucky though I have no neighbours anymore, I guess they didn't like the sound of my 8se. 😉

[oymd]

5 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

My first mount an EQ5 Pro was very noisy at full slew. The next mount, an AZEQ6 was much quieter, it made a gentle whine when slewing, nothing to worry about even if the neighbours had the windows open at night. The iOptron CEM25P I have now though is whisper quiet. You would barely hear it if you were a few metres away.

Agree. I had both, AZ-EQ6 Pro, the new one, and a CEM25P. Both are quiet, but the CEM25P was dead silent, and much quicker at slewing. Sadly the CEM has gone now!

[baggywrinkle]

I have an iOptron CEM25P, whisper quiet. However my LX850 mount is the noisiest mount I have ever owned, I'm hoping that the observatory it is n cuts down some of the noise.

[DaveS]

My HEQ5 and AZ-GTi both sound like cement mixers when slewing. My DDM60, on the other hand is utterly silent, to the point that I need to keep an eye on the scope to avoid getting a clip round the ear when slewing.

[Brent]

My Meade LXD75 is extremely loud and high pitched at full slew. So bad that straight after purchase 8 years ago I immediately changed the HC setting to quiet slew and have left it there ever since. Although I wouldn't describe it as quiet myself, it's comparatively so and cuts the the noise by over half. Takes maybe three times as long to complete a 180 degree slew but I only really image so makes no difference at most twice a night.

It's still loud enough that I wouldn't slew if my neighbours window was open though because I set up only 3 feet from my house, right next to the boundary and live in a semi-detached.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Brent

[malc-c]

Sod the neighbours, I mean with the UK weather it's only going to be a couple of times a year

It's nice to see so many new Skywatcher mounts coming factory fitted with belt drives, they make a lot of difference to the noise levels these mounts make when slewing at full rate, it was this and the better performance (reduced backlash) that led to my experimentation with converting my HEQ5 to belt drive many years ago (around 2012 if I remember).  Rowan engineering then took this a stage further to make the kits on the market now.  

Edit: - Just found the original post from October 2011 https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/121114-heq5-experiments-with-belt-drive/

Now if you want a noisy mount, the old Celestron CG5 used be called the coffee grinder.... for good reason !

In terms of noise... whilst my mount is quiet, and from the location in the observatory wouldn't wake the neighbours... setting the alarm on the observatory at 3am probably does

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by malc-c
link added

[Louis D]

I just realized that, at least in the summer, a noisy telescope mount isn't going to be any worse than my neighbor's ailing A/C compressor which is so loud that you have to yell to hold a conversation when standing within 10 feet of it.  I know because I replaced mine 4 years ago, and the installation technicians couldn't talk to each other every time the neighbor's started up, and the two compressors are within 10 feet of each other.

As such, I wouldn't expect any complaints from them about noisy mounts in my backyard being over 30 feet from their house.

[DaveL59]

less of a problem over here tho, few have A/C esp the split system type, tho they're getting more common

[Louis D]

9 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

less of a problem over here tho, few have A/C esp the split system type, tho they're getting more common

Texas would mostly be cattle ranches, cotton farms, and oil rigs without A/C systems.  Las Vegas and Phoenix would still be empty deserts without them.  Washington, D.C., used to empty out every summer due to the oppressive heat and humidity, effectively shutting down much the US government with it.  Many parts of the desert southwest and mountain west use "swamp", or evaporative, coolers because the dew points are so low there.  They also humidify the indoor air as a side benefit.

Given enough global warming, more of Europe may end up needing A/C systems in the future.

[Paul M]

My standard issue NEQ6pro makes all the usual noises when slewing but since mounting a DSLR on the scope to do some imaging I now have a new problem at night; the clatter of the camera mirror. It doesn't lock up on the Canon 1200D so every exposure start/end echoes round the houses. The mount is noisy but once my target is acquired that's it for mount noise.

On recent nights I've been at the back of the garden so nearly under the back neighbour's bedroom windows, which they tend to have open all night long. Just waiting for them to pop round for a chat about the clattering from the camera.