Celestron CPC Manual Controls

[RickyD85]

Hi 

I’ve had a Celestron CPC for well over a year now, but only used a handful of times because of the bulk, and had also been meaning to get either a battery or cigarette lighter power adapter to use the go-to features as was finding manual control almost impossible.

Go-to wasn’t important to me and was intending on using it more manually. 

Does anyone else use the CPC series telescopes without power? Is it possible to adjust the scope smoothly by hand? Any tips?

I came from binocular viewing so apologies I am very much a scope amateur!

Many thanks

Edited December 7, 2020 by RickyD85

[Cosmic Geoff]

The whole point of a CPC is the powered GoTo mount. It is not really worthwhile to use it without power, but you can unlock the altitude and azimuth clutches and reposition it by hand, but you will not have the slow-motions that would make a scope with a 2metre+ focal length usable. If a powered mount is not what you want, sell the outfit, get a similar OTA and put it on a manual mount.

The GoTo is actually quick and easy to align once you have done it a few times.

[RickyD85]

Hi thanks Geoff, to be honest I was expecting to have some some sort of smooth manual functionality but that’s clearly not the case, and power is a must for this scope. 

Not a big problem as I will get the battery or adaptor for the lead to plug into the mains, but would have been nice to have the option of both powered and slo-mo manual use of the mount. Retrofitting some slo mo controls looks fairly doable.

The current method of loosening the clutches and ‘tapping’ the mount to move isn’t great...

Edited December 8, 2020 by RickyD85

[Sunshine]

Well, having had a CPC i can say that you won't find it comfortable to use unpowered, you can loosen the clutches and move it manually but, it will move easily as there are no friction bearings or the sort to prevent the slightest force from moving the scope. What i have done on occasion was use the scope powered but instead of using the goto feature i would manually move the scope to target, engage clutches then use the arrows on controller

to move the scope in azimuth mode. Otherwise this scope is built through and through to be used under power.

Edited December 8, 2020 by Sunshine