Goto Mount Too Loud to Use

[dd999]

After going ahead and purchasing the AZ Gti and a Manfrotto 055 xprob tripod I've now set everything up for a first night viewing last night - and I'm bitterly disappointed how noisy the mount is when in goto (slew) mode. This is my first goto so had little to compare it against. 

Using the free Synscan app you can track slow and quiet, adjust the speed of manual skew to around 6 or 7 which is still fast enough and pretty quiet to use.... ....but the moment you choose an object for your mount to slew or goto, it disregards any skew speed setting, immediately cranks to maximum of 9, and well basically it's too loud for me to feel comfortable using at 1am. 

Unfortunately my neighbours are close by and with summer here and windows open, I can't use the goto at night - which is pretty crap, as it's the main reason I purchased.

Apparently, reading on this forum, someone asked Skywatcher about this two years ago, and whether a firmware update could be released to choose the speed of the goto. They basically said no. 

Has anyone found a way around this - or will one of the 3rd party apps allow you to select the speed the mount chooses in goto mode?

I'd be happy to pay an extra premium just to have this control.

Its so loud I'm at the verge of returning it, but thought I'd try you clever people first - it's nuts really when such a simple UI control would fix!

Edited June 22, 2020 by dd999

[Freddie]

Set the rate to something slow like 3 or 4 and move to roughly where your target is and then use GOTO for the last bit of movement. That will keep the overall amount of noise down.

[dd999]

1 minute ago, Freddie said:

Set the rate to something slow like 3 or 4 and move to roughly where your target is and then use GOTO for the last bit of movement. That will keep the overall amount of noise down.

Thanks - this was my Plan D ................. was just hoping for a Plan B or C first

[Dr_Ju_ju]

How we perceive loudness, often depends on the environment that is in, e.g. reflective surfaces, our approximation to the source of the sound, any extraneous noises, if you are being sensitive to noises etc.

As you say, unless you will always be slewing around, then the mount is effectively silent during operation, therefore, as a test, slew the mount when you are at different distances away, to get an idea of the nuisance volume..

You may then find that being a number of metres away from the mount makes the slewing sound more tolerable....

[endless-sky]

My NEQ6 Pro is pretty loud, too, when slewing. It's always been a concern of mine, as well, from the neighbours point of view. Unfortunately, whether I use the hand-controller or a planetarium, the slewing rate of the GO-TOs is always chosen to be the highest possible, completely disregarding the rate I chose (in the hand-controller or the planetarium). I guess the chosen rate is only accounted for when making the adjustments with the arrow keys. "Plan D" seems the only solution, for me as well, I guess...

Edited June 22, 2020 by endlessky

[dd999]

2 hours ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

How we perceive loudness, often depends on the environment that is in, e.g. reflective surfaces, our approximation to the source of the sound, any extraneous noises, if you are being sensitive to noises etc.

As you say, unless you will always be slewing around, then the mount is effectively silent during operation, therefore, as a test, slew the mount when you are at different distances away, to get an idea of the nuisance volume..

You may then find that being a number of metres away from the mount makes the slewing sound more tolerable....

I did a number of tests on the noise of the mount - putting it on full skew being downstairs, then upstairs, windows open and shut. Even had the missus inside to see if she could hear. Guess I'm a considerable neighbour - and I'd be miffed off if a neighbour of mine were making noise at night.

Even she, whilst being upstairs and windows just ajar, felt it was too loud in full goto slew mode to use at night - and she's quite a tolerable person (well to everything except me that is!).

It's very quiet here at night, so much you can hear a pin drop. Doesn't help. Perhaps noise is relative - but unless I can control the goto to a max speed of '6', it's probably going to have to go back. Shame as it's a nice piece of kit, just lacking such a stupidly obvious feature!

 

Edited June 22, 2020 by dd999

[dd999]

6 minutes ago, endlessky said:

My NEQ6 Pro is pretty loud, too, when slewing. It's always been a concern of mine, as well, from the neighbours point of view. Unfortunately, whether I use the hand-controller or a planetarium, the slewing rate of the GO-TOs is always chosen to be the highest possible, completely disregarding the rate I chose (in the hand-controller or the planetarium). I guess the chosen rate is only accounted for when making the adjustments with the arrow keys. "Plan D" seems the only solution, for me as well, I guess...

Thanks - that's helpful to know before I shell out on a pro version of a planetarium app to find out!

[endless-sky]

1 minute ago, dd999 said:

Shame as it's a nice piece of kit, just lacking such a stupidly obvious feature!

If the noise my mount makes - and pretty much all the Sky-Watcher mounts I heard on YouTube videos - is indicative of it being a constant, despite the higher or lower end models, taking it back won't be a solution. The only mounts that I have heard on the videos that do not make that kind of noise are the ones that have been "belt modified" or that have belts to begin with.

[dd999]

2 hours ago, endlessky said:

If the noise my mount makes - and pretty much all the Sky-Watcher mounts I heard on YouTube videos - is indicative of it being a constant, despite the higher or lower end models, taking it back won't be a solution. The only mounts that I have heard on the videos that do not make that kind of noise are the ones that have been "belt modified" or that have belts to begin with.

No I meant just getting a refund, rather than a replacement. I agree I don't think any goto in the price range of the AZ GTi is going to be quiet enough.

As I said it's just nuts that the ability of the mount is there (just automatically slew in slow motion on speed 5 or 6) - just not the functionality

I don't care if it takes 5mins for the telescope to reach the desired location rather than 15 seconds..........but it's just nuts for SW (and others) not give the user the option. 

Edited June 22, 2020 by dd999

[endless-sky]

This thread prompted me to do a little research about setting custom slew speeds at least with a planetarium software. If I find anything, I'll let you know here. As for the price of the planetarium softwares, you shouldn't worry: there are plenty free ones and they are all great (Cartes du Ciel, KStars, Stellarium, for example).

[dd999]

16 minutes ago, endlessky said:

This thread prompted me to do a little research about setting custom slew speeds at least with a planetarium software. If I find anything, I'll let you know here. As for the price of the planetarium softwares, you shouldn't worry: there are plenty free ones and they are all great (Cartes du Ciel, KStars, Stellarium, for example).

Thanks I appreciate that. I've also contacted Optimal Vision and Rother to see if they have anything to say. If they do I'll let you know. I'm really keen to solve this too - probably because it seems like a really annoying inconvenience that could so easily be fixed!

Oh I thought only the pro paid for versions of the planetarium apps allowed the control of a WiFi mount?

[endless-sky]

2 minutes ago, dd999 said:

Oh I thought only the pro paid for versions of the planetarium apps allowed the control of a WiFi mount?

I don't know about WiFi mounts - mine is an old model - but I was talking about USB controlled mount, hooked up to the laptop or - in my case - the Raspberry Pi 4. I think as long as the planetarium on the laptop sees the mount as connected, it shouldn't matter if the connection is wired or wireless, though.

[cuivenion]

If you're using it in equatorial mode you could try controlling the mount through EQMOD. EQMOD has a setting to control goto rates.

[endless-sky]

Well, there is hope, then! I am going to do some indoor testing with KStars/EKOS and play with the mount settings. I don't use EQMOD (since I had to switch from my Windows laptop to a Raspberry Pi 4) anymore, so I'll have to see if I can find an equivalent method that works in EKOS.

[dd999]

Looks like someone had the same issue 11 years ago! - with the same workaround suggestions.....

Maybe one day SW will get round to taking a look 🙄

 

Edited June 22, 2020 by dd999

[Peter Drew]

Have you asked your neighbours if they can hear it and if so does it bother them?     🙂

[dd999]

1 hour ago, Peter Drew said:

Have you asked your neighbours if they can hear it and if so does it bother them?     🙂

Yes ..... and yes I'm afraid

Sounds like a damn cement mixer going off in the garden at 1am

Edited June 22, 2020 by dd999

[bomberbaz]

it isn't difficult to convert to eq mode, just need the star adventurer wedge and a counterwieght/bar and away you go.

Download the relevant frmware of course, it's easy enough to do. Use eqmod and reduce the slew speed to 6 or 7.

Edited June 23, 2020 by bomberbaz

[dd999]

18 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

it isn't difficult to convert to eq mode, just need the star adventurer wedge and a counterwieght/bar and away you go. Use eqmod and reduce the slew speed to 6 or 7.

This is going to be my next step. I assume the firmware upgrade allows both Altaz and EQ modes? 

Although I was on the understanding I'd have to connect to a laptop or PC to control the mount using EQMOD - which I'm not too keen on doing.

Is it available as an app?

Last night I tried again. I used the Skysafari Plus app (cost of £6.49) - it's really buggy though and the connection to the mount drops every few seconds (have to go back to Synscan app, tap any button, go back to Skysafari and all is fine) - and although I still can't control the slew of goto I can 'visually', via the planetarium view, manually slew the scope to where I'm trying to get - and then use goto when I'm near. 

I did contact Skywatcher yesterday about this. In fairness they did reply and said they would speak to their developers to see if there's any workaround - I'm sure I'll get a token reply, but will post if anything meaningful comes of it. 

Edited June 23, 2020 by dd999

[bomberbaz]

Yes it does run off both eq and az, it isn't difficult. I am not aware of an eqmod app, it may work directly from phone via a web browser, not sure though. Not really my thing these days technology.

[dd999]

1 hour ago, bomberbaz said:

it isn't difficult to convert to eq mode, just need the star adventurer wedge and a counterwieght/bar and away you go.

Download the relevant frmware of course, it's easy enough to do. Use eqmod and reduce the slew speed to 6 or 7.

I'm struggling to track down a counterweight and bar for EQ mode.

There's suggestions of getting the Star Adventurer counterweight and bar, and then buying a M8 - M12 connector - is this still the best way to go?

 

 

[bomberbaz]

4 minutes ago, dd999 said:

I'm struggling to track down a counterweight and bar for EQ mode.

There's suggestions of getting the Star Adventurer counterweight and bar, and then buying a M8 - M12 connector - is this still the best way to go?

 

 

thats what I did dd999

Edited June 23, 2020 by bomberbaz

[dd999]

Thanks

[bomberbaz]

Might be cheaper to just buy the weight and a bolt like this https://www.fastco.co.uk/m12-x-260mm-zinc-plated-coachbolts-with-nuts-pack-of-10.html?kw=pla-78642209055+c&fl=1000&ci=144812954065&network=pla&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0Mb3BRCaARIsAPSNGpU76fzLCXIUxptcoj0vlw7U32sn92ZxtUs3YIH2JKlDbSJ2ACHM9DwaAsf2EALw_wcB

[bomberbaz]

Having just checked, it is only £23 for the bar and weight anyway https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-star-adventurer/skywatcher-star-adventurer-counterweight-kit.html