Skywatcher mounts - "Freedom Find". Does anyone use this successfully ?

[GarySC]

I'm tearing my hair out with it. It just does not work. Or perhaps I am getting the wrong idea of what it is used for.

I thought this is what it is designed to do....

I setup scope. align, slew to an object, centre it, confirm - all ok.

I then select another object, goto ad scope slews, I centre and confirm - again fine.

So goto functionality works fine. Now I want to point it to something at opposite side of sky without having the scope slew all way around taking ages and making a noisy racket.

So for example I want to look at M42 in Orion. So I release the clutches and move the scope to say Betelgeuse. I can centre Betelgeuse manually then tell Synscan I am at Betelgeuse. So I then tighten the clutches and select M42 in Synscan it and it slews to M42. Is this how it is supposed to work ?

However how do I tell Synscan I am now at Betelgeuse ? There seems no option. Or does the mount know it from the electronic setting circles in the mount.

This feature does not work and I have enabled "auxiliary decoders". I've lost count of how many people I have asked this question. No-one seems to know how to use it.  There is no proper documentation on it.

Any ideas while I still have some hair left ? !!!

[Dr_Ju_ju]

You NEVER release the mount clutches after the initial setup....  I'm afraid you'll have to put up with the noise....

Edited November 17, 2020 by Dr_Ju_ju

[Cornelius Varley]

@GarySC Which mount do you have ? Some of the newer Synscan mounts have Freedom Find, the older ones don't.

5 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

You NEVER release the mount clutches after the initial setup....  I'm afraid you'll have to put up with the noise....

I you have a mount that has Freedom Find then you can release the clutches and move the mount around manually and then return to your original target without losing alignment.

[happy-kat]

Freedom find works ok for me

I've set up and aligned the mount, I've been using the mount but I've knocked the telescope off what I was tracking, I use the handset to select my target again and the mount will slew to it.

The point of freedom find is that the mount doesn't lose alignment once it has been assigned in that session. If the mount was moved by knocking the telescope for example.

Freedom find also means the mount can be moved manually by hand should you have no power, other goto mounts can't do this. Edit: must loosen clutches first

Edited November 17, 2020 by happy-kat

[Gfamily]

55 minutes ago, GarySC said:

So goto functionality works fine. Now I want to point it to something at opposite side of sky without having the scope slew all way around taking ages and making a noisy racket.

So for example I want to look at M42 in Orion. So I release the clutches and move the scope to say Betelgeuse. I can centre Betelgeuse manually then tell Synscan I am at Betelgeuse. So I then tighten the clutches and select M42 in Synscan it and it slews to M42. Is this how it is supposed to work ?

However how do I tell Synscan I am now at Betelgeuse ? There seems no option. Or does the mount know it from the electronic setting circles in the mount.

You shouldn't need to tell it that you've manually moved to Betelgeuse, the Freedom Find encoders should have kept track. 

Once you have moved it, what happens if you go straight to the 'Identify' command on the app? It should tell you that you are on Betelgeuse (or near it at least), if so, then it's working as expected. 

 

[GordonD]

Yes agree with Gfamily - once you have carried out the alignment you don't need to tell it where you move it to when you push it manually. The whole point is it already knows where the scope is pointing even after a manual slew, and will track correctly. And you definitely should be releasing or easing the clutches before moving it manually too (so as not to damage the motors). Freedom Find is SkyWatcher's name for encoders - devices on the axes that measure any movement of the scope so it knows where it is pointing now. You rightly have identified that you need to enable the auxiliary decoders (which annoyingly always turns itself off in the Synscan Mobile App when you  start it up or lose connection).

So you should be good to go once you are aligned and be able to move the scope manually and combine that with GoTo at any point - mix and match.

It is not always 100% reliable on my set ups, to be honest, but mostly it works and then it is really very clever and very helpful.

 

This review might help as well. It is of a Synscan Dob with Freedom Find.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG8nOMGb3q4&ab_channel=AstronomyandNatureTV

Edited November 17, 2020 by GordonD

[GarySC]

Hi all, thanks for the advice. 

Its a AZ-GTI with Freedom Find.  A couple of people on different forums have mentioned an "Identify" button. There is no such option in my Synscan app. 

So Freedom Find does not mean you can manually point to another part of sky amd then tell Symscan its new position, resync and can slew around that area ?

All it means is you can leave the last object you looked at, manually point somewhere else then have to go back to the object again in order to do gotos ?  

[GordonD]

No that's not it. Freedom Find DOES mean you can manually point to another part of the sky and then continue using GoTo from there, or continuing to manually slew as you choose. At no point do you have to tell Synscan where it is pointing - it already knows -  that is where you are I think you may be missing the point. Just tell it where you want to go next. You don't have to re-sync or anything - just carry on using it.

Hope that helps and it becomes clearer if you get a chance to try it out.

Good luck!

Gordon

[Gfamily]

2 hours ago, GarySC said:

Hi all, thanks for the advice. 

Its a AZ-GTI with Freedom Find.  A couple of people on different forums have mentioned an "Identify" button. There is no such option in my Synscan app. 

I'm surprised you don't have an Identify button. Do you have the latest version? 

On my version (Android v1.17.0) the Identify button is inside the Utility menu. 

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by Gfamily

[GarySC]

Aah thanks for this extra information folks. This how now confirmed to me how it should work. Yes I have seen the identify button. I'll try it again and see if identify works. 

[GarySC]

Thanks again. I've finally got it working....

Aligned with Dubhe
Selected Regulus
Selected Point and Track"
Released clutches and manually moved scope to where I estimate it to be.
Selected "Identify" and it showed "Castor" and "Pollux" and objects around there.
Looked at Stellariunm on ipad and I could see I had not moved scope enough.
So I moved scope further west and hit "Identify" again and it showed Regulus, Leo Triple etc.

It might work without the "point and track" bit by just moving it around and pressing Identify again.
 
Works fine now. Many thanks again.

Aligned with Dubhe

Selected Regulus

Selected Point and Track"

Released clutches and manually moved scope to where I estimate it to be.

Selected "Identify" and it showed "Castor" and "Pollux" and objects around there.

Looked at Stellariunm on ipad and I could see I had not moved scope enough.

So I moved scope further west and hit "Identify" again and it showed