Alignment problems

[Planitair]

On 26/07/2021 at 12:25, Cosmic Geoff said:

Unless you explain in some detail what exactly you do or did to align, so we can spot your error, it may be difficult for us to do more than make random suggestions.

One thing I found out is that accurate polar alignment is not necessary for an equatorial GoTo to work properly for visual observing.  The precise polar alignment is only required for imaging (to prevent field rotation).  If you are still not convinced, I will point out that alt-azimuth mounts manage the same task just fine without any polar alignment at all.

Newbies are often confused by the design concept of the Synscan software - you are meant to use a 'start position' so that the mount can slew to the approximate location of an alignment star before you have carried out the GoTo alignment.

Another thing I found out is that the mount can GoTo accurately on one side of the sky but allow it to do a 'meridian flip' and it is out of alignment on that other side of the sky...

Agree regarding Start Position, often overlooked by beginners.

[Planitair]

On 27/07/2021 at 04:16, DDH said:

Thank you very much for all the replies I will look at all of your advice .  Last night I tried to set the system up again, so will run through what I did to setup.

Level the mount in both RA and Dec and check its pointing North.  Turn on Synscan and delete PAE then did a factory reset. ( I assume at this point all previous settings should have gone).  I checked NPE and it showed a value of 0.  Check PSU voltage  Reading on handset 13.5v.  Shut down Synscan at Home.  Restart, enter location E 24.56  N 42.49 enter,  time zone +02.00 enter, now the strange one, the system remembered the elevation setting from previous. ( I thought it should have deleted all previous info).  elevation  +352 enter, date 07/26/2021 enter, time 22:04 enter,  daylight saving yes enter, Polaris pos. set HH MM on center circle at time shown on handset, ( must remember to make a log of this) enter, start alignment, 2 star,  Arcturus, mount stopped high to left, center star enter, align success, 2nd star Dubhe enter,  Now the same happens the mount stops high to left, center star enter, align success,  ESC enter, select object list enter,  from this point on all objects selected the mount stops high to the left.  All of the final positions were exactly the same amount out of alignment and I had to re center.  The strange thing is previously before the handset upgrade the mount did work perfectly with all the same settings as above and was very accurate and did track objects very good.  One point to note though, was that the scope would never locate Polaris when I selected Star object, the mount would stop high above as though the scope was not aligned with the polar scope, another point I noticed last night was on my 2nd attempt to setup, Polaris did not appear on the clock, it was to the right of 12 above the circles?  This was probably due to the fact that I had to switch off while the mount was moving to another star as it was moving below the horizon and the scope was about to collide with the tripod!.  Sorry for the long post and I will look at all your suggestions today.

After a PA, do you return the Mount to home position ? if not you will be way out with your first alignment star and the second.

ew

 

[StevieDvd]

14 hours ago, Planitair said:

After a PA, do you return the Mount to home position ? if not you will be way out with your first alignment star and the second.

ew

 

FYI

The problem was found by the original poster.

[malc-c]

 

On 02/09/2021 at 20:03, Planitair said:

After a PA, do you return the Mount to home position ? if not you will be way out with your first alignment star and the second.

ew

 

The OP had a faulty mount, which was returned under warranty