Star Adventurer 2i Sideral tracking issue

[SECSIO]

Hi! 

I received this new mount yesterday in the afternoon and today I am learning to set it up. When I select "Sideral track" mode and N switch, the mount starts tracking correctly (I can check it in live camera view), however, after a whlile it suddenly stops and the mode selector LED stays on. I am powering it up with 6 AA batteries, "App" mode tells me that the voltage is 5,8 V, so I am not sure if that is the problem. If a restart the mount, it behaves in the same way, I hear the engine at the beginning but after 20s it just stops. I thought it wa a payload issue so I removed my scope from the mount with the same result... I have tried to power up the mount with a Celestron Power Bank (5V OUTPUT) but the LED starts blinking so finally I decided to use 6 AA batteries. The mount is balanced correctly so the only thing comes to my mind is a power-up issue... Testing manual control from "App" mode, I have cheked that the engine stops moving after 3 degress of rotation but it let me rotate it in the opposite direction until again after the same number of degress it just stops... I leave some pictures of my mount, scope and powertank.

Thank you for your time.

[Davey-T]

The N / S slide switch is only for timelapse photography so the camera rotates then stops.

Dave

[SECSIO]

7 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

The N / S slide switch is only for timelapse photography so the camera rotates then stops.

Dave

I feel like a complete dummy... thank you for tour reply!

[Gfamily]

6 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

The N / S slide switch is only for timelapse photography so the camera rotates then stops.

Dave

Are you sure? I only have the original SA, and on that the N/S slider is to set the direction of motion for Northern/Southern hemisphere astro tracking.

I've had a look at the manual for the 2i, and I'm not seeing that action described. 

 

 

[SECSIO]

26 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

Are you sure? I only have the original SA, and on that the N/S slider is to set the direction of motion for Northern/Southern hemisphere astro tracking.

I've had a look at the manual for the 2i, and I'm not seeing that action described. 

 

 

I have just read the manual and you are right,it sets the direction of the tracking. I have tried the astrophotography option using App Mode and it tracks correctly in this way, I will try to update the firmware.

[Davey-T]

4 hours ago, Gfamily said:

Are you sure? I only have the original SA, and on that the N/S slider is to set the direction of motion for Northern/Southern hemisphere astro tracking.

I've had a look at the manual for the 2i, and I'm not seeing that action described. 

 

 

Mines an original one and never moved the slide switch from centre, tracks ok.

Dave

[Gfamily]

37 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Mines an original one and never moved the slide switch from centre, tracks ok.

Dave

Ah yes, checking the manual again; the centre (Timelapse) position tracks in the same direction as North does. 

The difference between the Timelapse and North position seems to be if you are using the camera release cable - as the two positions give different exposure times (50s and 100s respectively on sidereal tracking mode) 

[quiksilver895]

So I am not sure if this was ever resolved but I had a very similar issue for ages and finally determined the cause. I was tracking for a minute or two then it would stop. Would only start if I forced it to slew using the arrow buttons on the unit. Turns out if you connect the 2i to the app and use the astrophotography mode any changes you make are written to the celestial tracking mode on the dial. For example I set the astrophotography mode in the app to 60 seconds and 2 images just to test. After doing that it wrote that to the celestial mode on the dial so even though I wasn't using the app it still used those settings. So had I connected a cable to my camera it would have taken 2 images at 60 seconds then stopped tracking for my next shot. I did the factory reset (app mode and hold the left/right arrow buttons until fast blink then release and reboot the unit). After that I tracked for over an hour with no pause or interruption. It's mentioned in the manual in one of the appendixes in passing. Hopefully this helps someone else. 

[R1k]

On 03/04/2021 at 21:19, quiksilver895 said:

So I am not sure if this was ever resolved but I had a very similar issue for ages and finally determined the cause. I was tracking for a minute or two then it would stop. Would only start if I forced it to slew using the arrow buttons on the unit. Turns out if you connect the 2i to the app and use the astrophotography mode any changes you make are written to the celestial tracking mode on the dial. For example I set the astrophotography mode in the app to 60 seconds and 2 images just to test. After doing that it wrote that to the celestial mode on the dial so even though I wasn't using the app it still used those settings. So had I connected a cable to my camera it would have taken 2 images at 60 seconds then stopped tracking for my next shot. I did the factory reset (app mode and hold the left/right arrow buttons until fast blink then release and reboot the unit). After that I tracked for over an hour with no pause or interruption. It's mentioned in the manual in one of the appendixes in passing. Hopefully this helps someone else. 

Had this exact issue yesterday evening and your very helpful post sorted everything out. Thank you so so much!