AZ GTi help please if possible!

[Mr niall]

Thanks for your comments everyone and information. It certainly does sound like a plausible explanation; particularly stuff like the weird behaviour of sometimes being right and sometimes quite off.

Believe it or not I actually owned it for more than 30 days before I got to try it in anger due to our wonderful weather, so I've had it about 6 weeks. RVO asked me to fill out a big engineer report for the distributor but I've emailed them again with the thoughts from you all in case that helps. I'm really really hoping I don't end up having a battle with the retailer over this... they say they almost never get problems with them. I cant afford powerpacks or external power systems unfortunately (well... I can technically afford one but the accounting department would never authorise additional purchases for "telescope stuff"!).

Eugh I'm having horrible flashbacks as to why I gave up on this hobby the first time. 

Ach, onwards and upwards.

[banjaxed]

37 minutes ago, Mr niall said:

Thanks for your comments everyone and information. It certainly does sound like a plausible explanation; particularly stuff like the weird behaviour of sometimes being right and sometimes quite off.

Believe it or not I actually owned it for more than 30 days before I got to try it in anger due to our wonderful weather, so I've had it about 6 weeks. RVO asked me to fill out a big engineer report for the distributor but I've emailed them again with the thoughts from you all in case that helps. I'm really really hoping I don't end up having a battle with the retailer over this... they say they almost never get problems with them. I cant afford powerpacks or external power systems unfortunately (well... I can technically afford one but the accounting department would never authorise additional purchases for "telescope stuff"!).

Eugh I'm having horrible flashbacks as to why I gave up on this hobby the first time. 

Ach, onwards and upwards.

You probably already have a power adapter that will do the job, just make sure it is 12volt DC. The plug might be different but you can buy the correct plug for very little money. 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

17 minutes ago, Mr niall said:

Thanks for your comments everyone and information. It certainly does sound like a plausible explanation; particularly stuff like the weird behaviour of sometimes being right and sometimes quite off.

Believe it or not I actually owned it for more than 30 days before I got to try it in anger due to our wonderful weather, so I've had it about 6 weeks. RVO asked me to fill out a big engineer report for the distributor but I've emailed them again with the thoughts from you all in case that helps. I'm really really hoping I don't end up having a battle with the retailer over this... they say they almost never get problems with them. I cant afford powerpacks or external power systems unfortunately (well... I can technically afford one but the accounting department would never authorise additional purchases for "telescope stuff"!).

Eugh I'm having horrible flashbacks as to why I gave up on this hobby the first time. 

Ach, onwards and upwards.

Niall, I know the extra expenditure is pants. Compared to some here I'm one step from the gutter! However, I've gotten used to the amateur astronomy caveat, 'There's always something else to buy'. Whether that be eyepieces, tripods, power supplies or cleaning cloths!

One reassurance I can give, is with a Talentcell battery ( in a bag to keep the dew off), my AZGTI works perfectly as do many others. The battery also has a USB port to keep a phone alive or power a USB dew band and when not being employed as an astro accessory can be used as a normal rapid charging & tough every day power brick that should last many years.

The cheap £2 Amazon cables work OK too, but I found during winter they can cause issues, so a Lynx Astro cable is recommended (Yes I know... more money, still they do look rather snazzy...).

I hope RVO can sort it for you. As I mentioned, only my third unit was satisfactory and I've read of plenty of others having more than one so don't let the retailer fob you off.

 

[Mr niall]

Just to wrap this up; RVO kindly sent me a 12v adapter to try. It was immediately and noticeably different which is interesting.

But still erratic - for example couldn’t get from Altair to M29 without help.

But before that it got from Polaris to Saturn perfectly!

Anyway RVO have agreed to replace mount. Thanks for your advice all fingers crossed for next one!

As a side note the OTA is absolutely fab.

[AstroNebulee]

2 hours ago, Mr niall said:

Just to wrap this up; RVO kindly sent me a 12v adapter to try. It was immediately and noticeably different which is interesting.

But still erratic - for example couldn’t get from Altair to M29 without help.

But before that it got from Polaris to Saturn perfectly!

Anyway RVO have agreed to replace mount. Thanks for your advice all fingers crossed for next one!

As a side note the OTA is absolutely fab.

Let us know how you get on with the replacement mount and hopefully this one will be better for you 👍

[Mr niall]

All - sorry, it’s a bit late, but just to wrap this up - RVO sent me a new mount.

Worked great straight out of the box, even with just AA’s

Out of interest though, there is a definite difference in “tone” and reactivity when using A DC adaptor instead of batteries.

thx again for all of your help

[AstroNebulee]

3 minutes ago, Mr niall said:

All - sorry, it’s a bit late, but just to wrap this up - RVO sent me a new mount.

Worked great straight out of the box, even with just AA’s

Out of interest though, there is a definite difference in “tone” and reactivity when using A DC adaptor instead of batteries.

thx again for all of your help

Pleased it's all working for you. I guess it's pot luck with which mount you get. Definitely update the firmware though and should run much better too. 

[Elp]

I had constant problems when using batteries, even fully charged ones would cause issues within minutes. Bought a Celestron Lithium LT power tank, no issues since.

For alignment I've found using an illuminated crosshair eyepiece as a final step for centering good though the mount is always a bit off when slewing to a new target.

It's a relatively cheap mount compared to others so not expecting too much from it. I do like it a lot.