New EQ5 pro frustration setup

[si717]

Hi all as title ive got a new EQ5 pro trying to get aligned  a single star is impossible

im setting align a simple star arcturus in the west

and the mounts slewing of into the east complete oposite direction

now am i over looking something simple here im startig out from home position aligned on polaris

and well im frustrated hope someone could offer some idea thanks

[Gfamily]

Are you using SynScanInit to check what you should be entering for your position and time? 

Edited August 6, 2020 by Gfamily

[Starwatcher2001]

I don't know your scope, but are you entering the date in the correct format? Many scopes are made by our American cousins, who insist on entering the date as MM/DD/YY. At this time of the month when 06/08/20 and 08/06/20 are both valid, things can be confusing for the scope and catch people out.

[Robindonne]

Did you start with the scope aiming at polaris(roughly).  Its the mounts home position, and you really have to start from there.   So before you start to do a 1/2/3 star alignment, and having the mount Polaraligned, you unlock the cluthes and aim the main scope parallel with the polarscope(aiming at polaris).  
 

The aiming does not have toe be exactly accurate.  The 1/2/3 star alignment will filter your Mistakes on the “near”home position.  A good polaralignment on the other hand is kind of important.

Edited August 6, 2020 by Robindonne

[si717]

hi thanks all i was polar aligned iam setting up as instructed ,yet on all attempts the scopes slewing to allign in the wrong direction ,ive updated the firmware just now still the same ive tried getting it to slew to the moon and its telling me its not above the horizon  yet and its clearly in the sky and i will have a look at synscaninit not heard of that all new to me but never seen anything like this before ? confused with it thanks for your replys

[jambouk]

Do a three star alignment, it should be better. The first star is often way out.

If the third star is way out in the alignment process, there is something wrong, most likely operator error... 

[Marvin Jenkins]

4 hours ago, si717 said:

hi thanks all i was polar aligned iam setting up as instructed ,yet on all attempts the scopes slewing to allign in the wrong direction ,ive updated the firmware just now still the same ive tried getting it to slew to the moon and its telling me its not above the horizon  yet and its clearly in the sky and i will have a look at synscaninit not heard of that all new to me but never seen anything like this before ? confused with it thanks for your replys

Hi si717,

I have the same mount as you and I too encountered a few little problems at the beginning of the sort you are describing.

Firstly, make sure your mount is polar aligned using the in built polar scope. It is a great help to calibrate the scope reticle (good tutorials on YouTube) and if you do not have one, get the polar scope illuminator thingy, it plugs in the front of your mount and lights up the polar scope.

Second, make sure that when you have Polaris dead in the cross hairs that your scope when turned to the sky can see Polaris too.

Third, and the easiest bit to mess up is improper imputing of position data into the hand set. Best way to get this right is to get the Synscaninit app previously mentioned by #Gfamily. This app will give you a picture of the off set needed for perfect North Celestial Pole alignment and GPS details conveniently in US format.

Fourth, how are you powering your mount? At first I was using a decent brand new car jumper pack which according to the details was more than enough. It was not!

Unless fully charged and warm my mount did all sorts of odd manoeuvres. As soon as I ran out the 50m AC extension lead all was solved. I will say though that the first star is quite often a long way out, then the second much better, the third normally bang on.

I lost three valuable nights in a long winter of cloud due to the problems you describe. I know it is frustrating but keep with it and change one thing each time to iron out the bugs. Good luck

Marvin

[johngm]

5 hours ago, si717 said:

hi thanks all i was polar aligned iam setting up as instructed ,yet on all attempts the scopes slewing to allign in the wrong direction ,ive updated the firmware just now still the same ive tried getting it to slew to the moon and its telling me its not above the horizon  yet and its clearly in the sky and i will have a look at synscaninit not heard of that all new to me but never seen anything like this before ? confused with it thanks for your replys

I would most definitely say, if its saying the moon is not above the horizon yet, and it clearly is, you have input the wrong time/date. Make sure also, you set you time zone UST and daylight saving, because, don't forget, we are in British summer time which is one hour ahead of GMT.

John

[si717]

hi and thanks iam inputing the data correctly polar aligning right i have owned telescopes in the past

iam not a complete newb just been a few years since i last used

iam using a brandnew skywatcher battery pack fully charged

i would understand if it went sort of in the correct direction of the star but to the complete opisite side of the sky is confusing and frustrating

i have also tried -00.00 hours and +00.00 hours also daylight savings ive tried on and off

none of which is making any difference iam stumped and ive tried downloading synscaninit but it wont connect to gps

it just gets locked in that part so of no use

so yes iam a little confused and in alot of doubt about the mount its brand new making more upsetting ,but thanks all for replys

[Robindonne]

2 hours ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Second, make sure that when you have Polaris dead in the cross hairs that your scope when turned to the sky can see Polaris too.

Try to use an app that tells you where polaris should be at the time of aligning.   Always somewhere near but never  centered in the crosshairs

[Robindonne]

17 minutes ago, si717 said:

hi and thanks iam inputing the data correctly polar aligning right i have owned telescopes in the past

iam not a complete newb just been a few years since i last used

iam using a brandnew skywatcher battery pack fully charged

i would understand if it went sort of in the correct direction of the star but to the complete opisite side of the sky is confusing and frustrating

i have also tried -00.00 hours and +00.00 hours also daylight savings ive tried on and off

none of which is making any difference iam stumped and ive tried downloading synscaninit but it wont connect to gps

it just gets locked in that part so of no use

so yes iam a little confused and in alot of doubt about the mount its brand new making more upsetting ,but thanks all for replys

Im not sure but there is always some confusion about the date input.   Not the input like you used to.   And its a shame that the synscan doesn’t have a loop from 1-12 months in it.  You can easily switch months and days without noticing.  And then your whole setup is messed up

[Cornelius Varley]

22 minutes ago, si717 said:

hi and thanks iam inputing the data correctly polar aligning right i have owned telescopes in the past

iam not a complete newb just been a few years since i last used

iam using a brandnew skywatcher battery pack fully charged

i would understand if it went sort of in the correct direction of the star but to the complete opisite side of the sky is confusing and frustrating

i have also tried -00.00 hours and +00.00 hours also daylight savings ive tried on and off

none of which is making any difference iam stumped and ive tried downloading synscaninit but it wont connect to gps

it just gets locked in that part so of no use

so yes iam a little confused and in alot of doubt about the mount its brand new making more upsetting ,but thanks all for replys

Using Ripon in N. Yorkshire, your coordinates will be similar to 001 31 W, 54 08 N. All the numbers should be entered into the handset in that format and order including all the leading zeros. Time zone is +000, DST is on, the date format is mm/yy/yyyy, If you cant get SynscanInit to connect check that you have location enabled on your phone.

[si717]

3 minutes ago, Robindonne said:

Im not sure but there is always some confusion about the date input.   Not the input like you used to.   And its a shame that the synscan doesn’t have a loop from 1-12 months in it.  You can easily switch months and days without noticing.  And then your whole setup is messed up

ive  tried the dates either way around and no change still slews in the wrong direction ,if i turned the scopeto the south and not the north

it would possibly get close to its target i have little faith in it working

i tried for 5 hours lastnight with all different sollutions to end up with the same problem

and first clear night in weeks lost due to it but thanks

[si717]

3 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

Using Ripon in N. Yorkshire, your coordinates will be similar to 001 31 W, 54 08 N. All the numbers should be entered into the handset in that format and order including all the leading zeros. Time zone is +000, DST is on, the date format is mm/yy/yyyy, If you cant get SynscanInit to connect check that you have location enabled on your phone.

hi yes i was using those coordinates and time and date settings the scope surely shouldnt be going east instead of west anyway

i know a little time and date difference wont help but iam sure i am getting it all correct

i shall try again today but i doubt any change thanks

[Starwatcher2001]

Not surprised you're frustrated, and sorry if you feel treated like a newbie. I've been a software developer for 40 years, into astronomy for over 20, and I still got caught out by the MM/DD/YY format with my new scope. I just didn't see the wood for the trees, and my  scope exhibited the same sort of behaviour as yours is doing, including trying to find an object by pointing at the lawn!

However, you seem to have eliminated the date confusion from the possibilities. I bet it's something equally obvious that we're all missing. Maybe you could post a photo or two of how you've got it set up? Someone might spot the problem.

Don't give up mate, you'll get there!

Cheers,

Mark

[si717]

5 minutes ago, Starwatcher2001 said:

Not surprised you're frustrated, and sorry if you feel treated like a newbie. I've been a software developer for 40 years, into astronomy for over 20, and I still got caught out by the MM/DD/YY format with my new scope. I just didn't see the wood for the trees, and my  scope exhibited the same sort of behaviour as yours is doing, including trying to find an object by pointing at the lawn!

However, you seem to have eliminated the date confusion from the possibilities. I bet it's something equally obvious that we're all missing. Maybe you could post a photo or two of how you've got it set up? Someone might spot the problem.

Don't give up mate, you'll get there!

Cheers,

Mark

thanks for the reply and well the scopes setup as it should now brought indoors sat in my living room until i can face it again

it is frustrating and i dont believe im overlooking anything obvious and ive even tried things in the wrong direction just to see if that would help

but to no joy ,the only thing that jumps to mind is if i turned the scope and pointed it to the ground it may go in the right direction

or closer to the chosen star thats the confusing part and the worst part it being new

so other than keep changing dates and location around theres little i think i can do

i was kind of hoping someone maybe experienced the situation before and possibly yes im over looking the obvious 😂 i new getting back into astronamy would have me scratching my head again but well this ones got me haha thanks i will try not to give up cheers

[wookie1965]

My routine is tripod out levelled mount on polar aligned I do not put Polaris in the cross I use the circle around it like a clock. Synscaninit shows you position e.g 9 o'clock I will then position Polaris on the ring at the 9pm position.

Put weights and scope on  scope up weights down (park position) check Polaris position again sometimes needs a tweak.

switch on have Synscaninit app running on phone check my coordinates, next time zone 00:00 date month day and year,time set it exactly, daylight saving yes for this time of year press enter   check p.scope maybe just out and hour angle again maybe just out. Chose a star about halfway up the sky if you can see Ursa major use Dubhe if your doing 2 star use Deneb its in a good position. 

See how that goes, people on here can tell you ive had loads of trouble with my EQ5 now I do the same routine and I use a 10 amp cctv power pack as mine was losing power causing problems.

good luck stay patient check and double check everything especially daylight savings and month day year easy done I have done it several times.

Do you let it finish going to first star just thinking it maybe doing a meridian flip to get the star in the scope.

Edited August 7, 2020 by wookie1965

[AstroMuni]

9 hours ago, si717 said:

was polar aligned iam setting up as instructed ,yet on all attempts the scopes slewing to allign in the wrong direction

One thing I did notice when I first started using my EQ5. In the Home position, the bolts holding the scope need to be on the left hand side! Otherwise it slews off in opposite direction. HTH 🙂

[si717]

4 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

My routine is tripod out levelled mount on polar aligned I do not put Polaris in the cross I use the circle around it like a clock. Synscaninit shows you position e.g 9 o'clock I will then position Polaris on the ring at the 9pm position.

Put weights and scope on  scope up weights down (park position) check Polaris position again sometimes needs a tweak.

switch on have Synscaninit app running on phone check my coordinates, next time zone 00:00 date month day and year,time set it exactly, daylight saving yes for this time of year press enter   check p.scope maybe just out and hour angle again maybe just out. Chose a star about halfway up the sky if you can see Ursa major use Dubhe if your doing 2 star use Deneb its in a good position. 

See how that goes, people on here can tell you ive had loads of trouble with my EQ5 now I do the same routine and I use a 10 amp cctv power pack as mine was losing power causing problems.

good luck stay patient check and double check everything especially daylight savings and month day year easy done I have done it several times.

thanks but i do believe i went through those steps countless times and tried aligning with dubhe an deneb etc to only find whatever i was trying to align on it would slew to the oposite side align in the west id end up slewing east ,align east end up slewing west

its acting as tho the motors are running in the oposite direction i will try another power source but ive little hope of that solving the issue thankyou

[si717]

1 minute ago, AstroMuni said:

One thing I did notice when I first started using my EQ5. In the Home position, the bolts holding the scope need to be on the left hand side! Otherwise it slews off in opposite direction. HTH 🙂

yes thats how its setup i even spun it around and tried the wrong direction that kind of put me in a better position but still wrong iam lost with it 😂 i have to laugh now cause its beyond me im hoping the retailers come up with a sollution

[wookie1965]

4 minutes ago, si717 said:

thanks but i do believe i went through those steps countless times and tried aligning with dubhe an deneb etc to only find whatever i was trying to align on it would slew to the oposite side align in the west id end up slewing east ,align east end up slewing west

its acting as tho the motors are running in the oposite direction i will try another power source but ive little hope of that solving the issue thankyou

Very strange it does sound like the motors are going the wrong way I wonder if polarity is the wrong way round not sure whether that would blow the board, it's definitely tip positive but sounds like yours is not very strange. 

Yes try a different power source see how that goes. 

[si717]

4 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Very strange it does sound like the motors are going the wrong way I wonder if polarity is the wrong way round not sure whether that would blow the board, it's definitely tip positive but sounds like yours is not very strange. 

Yes try a different power source see how that goes. 

thats the conclusion i got to lastnight is its going in the wrong direction the motors are turning the oposite way

but then it telling me the moon wasnt in the sky either was another confusing thing to me the item is not right

but i will try another power source an see how it turns out thanks

[Cornelius Varley]

19 minutes ago, si717 said:

but then it telling me the moon wasnt in the sky either was another confusing thing to me the item is not right

That would suggest that the location/time/date info are incorrect.

[si717]

16 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

That would suggest that the location/time/date info are incorrect.

ive just had another go same problem its pointing toward oposite side ,yet when i check location on handset and star location they align ,its as if the motors are running the opposite way around running in the wrong direction anyway but still giving the correct coordinates ive also tried another battery pack no luck there something in the build just doesnt tally up its not that im inputting wrong ive checked that a 100 times 😒

[Synchronicity]

I did a runthrough on the setup and took some pictures - see below.

It is useful to know that you can just plug the controller and handset together, connect the power supply and do these checks rather than have to build everything.

The SynScaninit app is well worth having as it confirms what you type in.  https://synscaninit-2.soft112.com/
If you get to the end of the setup and the Polaris position and hour angle agree with the app then your settings are correct.  If the mount still doesn't behave it must be an electrical issue with the control box, wiring or motors.

If the polaris data doesn't agree then there's an issue with data entry or you have a faulty handset.
I've started using APT so don't need my handset at the moment, happy to let you borrow it if that would help?

 

All the best

Michael

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by Synchronicity
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